At the start of 2009, Obama took office in the midst of an economic and financial crisis unparalleled since the Great Depression. One of his key election pledges was to make the American money machine work for everyone. To many, the United States is synonymous with freebooting capitalism, but, as Schama discovers, since the birth of the republic there's been confusion over the role of banks. Are they the creators or the destroyers of the American Dream?
President Obama now finds himself confronting what is not just a historical but also a political dilemma. Will he act decisively to rein in Wall Street and end the cycle of boom and bust which has destroyed the lives of ordinary Americans, or is he too timid to tamper with the goose which lays golden eggs? It's a question which will determine whether the President is a political radical or a cautious pragmatist, and how he responds will shape America - and the face of capitalism - for years to come.
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