The Leverage Machine: How Volcker, Deregulation, and Wall Street Turned Money Into Momentum (1979–1994)

After the 1970s inflation and the end of Bretton Woods, the global system didn’t normalize — it hardened and then financialized. Between 1979 and 1994, Volcker’s shock therapy, Reagan–Thatcher deregulation, junk bonds, LBOs, and market-based credit built a new regime where leverage, not wages, became the main growth engine.