In this powerful lecture, Professor Mehrsa Baradaran exposes how neoliberalism and the modern financial system have fueled racial and economic inequality across centuries. She traces money’s origins in slavery, empire, and patriarchy—showing how law, capital, and ideology intertwine to sustain extraction and dispossession. Connecting the evolution of money from gold-backed empires to the rise of neoliberal capitalism, she argues that our current system—driven by corporate charters, privatization, and debt—is a continuation of colonial plunder by new means. Baradaran calls this the “quiet coup”: a capture of democracy by financial elites and market fundamentalism. Through historical and legal analysis, she reveals how neoliberal policies transformed banks into engines of profit rather than public service, worsening racial wealth divides and debt slavery. Yet, she ends with a challenge: to reimagine money as a democratic public good and build systems rooted in care, cooperation, and justice. This talk—part of the American Monetary Institute series—is both a searing critique and an invitation to transform how we understand and govern money.