This is the first book to examine the failure of the U.S. government to properly regulate, monitor, and prevent financial speculation and manipulation of various markets. While the nineteenth century is surveyed in chapter 1, the book's focus is on the period from the first congressional efforts at regulation in 1936 to the present. One chapter focuses exclusively on the legal and financial aspects of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. All of the U.S. financial institutions involved with such regulation--the most prominent of which is the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)--are discussed in detail.

Also covered is every major financial and legal wrongdoing, including the Enron scandal and various energy market manipulations, and price spikes of gasoline and natural gas (connected to the failure of the hedge fund Amaranth Advisors). For just the Dodd-Frank Act alone, topics covered include spoofing, banging the close, new position limits, increased margin trade requirements, and the recent move from floor trading from open outcry to electronic trading platforms. The author is a professor of law who has worked as chief attorney for the CFTC, and for the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission.