fiscal crisis books- griftopia

bZkindle · 01-18-2011, 02:52 PM

I just finished reading matt taibbi- griftopia ...twice.. and am looking for more like it.
I'm after something that explains credit default swaps etc. in laymans terms but explicitly.
the inner workings of wall street basically.
there seems to be quite a bit out there but much of it seems pretty insider-y.
sigh. i guess there probably isn't much else that refers to alan greenspan as an a**hole!

kilohertz53 · 01-19-2011, 02:11 PM

Griftopia is on my TBR list. Reading financial autopsy accounts of the Great Recession became almost a hobby for me last year. One of the best in the genre was The Big Short by Michael Lewis. No index or reams of footnotes, just a great story, well told.

bZkindle · 01-19-2011, 04:12 PM

I'm just starting the big short. seemed like a good place to start but still it does seem a bit insider-y.
there's a danger writing about these subjects that the author will treat them like they are 'hero's' when, in my mind anyway, they are criminals.
Taibbi delivers!

Illinifan · 01-20-2011, 12:01 AM

I got All the Devils are Here by Bethany McLean from an Overdrive library. Here's the summary:

Before the dust even settled, competing theories emerged to explain the financial crisis. Should the blame fall on Wall Street, Main Street, or Pennsylvania Avenue? On greedy traders, clueless homeowners, or timid regulators? Or on foreign culprits in London, Beijing, or Tehran? Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera, two of America's most acclaimed business journalists, offer the definitive answer: all of the above and more. Many devils helped bring hell to the economy.

This surprising narrative goes back more than twenty years to reveal, in rich, anecdotal detail, how Wall Street, the mortgage industry, and the government conspired to change the way Americans bought their homes, creating a perfect storm. The authors take us inside elusive institutions such as Goldman Sachs, AIG, and Fannie Mae, to reveal who changed the game and why.

With new, sometimes startling details, and a surprising cast of characters, they get for the first time to the real roots of the financial crisis. It wasn't about credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligations, or other complexities. It was about basic human psychology—from the poorest Florida home buyer to the richest CEO.

01-18-2011, 02:52 PM	#1
bZkindle Fanatic Posts: 510 Karma: 1025024 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Canada City, Soviet Canuckistan Device: k2, k3G, kindle DXG, Sony T-1, iPad, iPhone, stone tablet	fiscal crisis books- griftopia I just finished reading matt taibbi- griftopia ...twice.. and am looking for more like it. I'm after something that explains credit default swaps etc. in laymans terms but explicitly. the inner workings of wall street basically. there seems to be quite a bit out there but much of it seems pretty insider-y. sigh. i guess there probably isn't much else that refers to alan greenspan as an a**hole!

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01-19-2011, 02:11 PM	#2
kilohertz53 Zealot Posts: 141 Karma: 671 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Harwichport, MA Device: Sony PRS-500, Sony PRS-350, Augen "The Book"	Griftopia is on my TBR list. Reading financial autopsy accounts of the Great Recession became almost a hobby for me last year. One of the best in the genre was The Big Short by Michael Lewis. No index or reams of footnotes, just a great story, well told.

01-19-2011, 04:12 PM	#3
bZkindle Fanatic Posts: 510 Karma: 1025024 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Canada City, Soviet Canuckistan Device: k2, k3G, kindle DXG, Sony T-1, iPad, iPhone, stone tablet	I'm just starting the big short. seemed like a good place to start but still it does seem a bit insider-y. there's a danger writing about these subjects that the author will treat them like they are 'hero's' when, in my mind anyway, they are criminals. Taibbi delivers!

01-20-2011, 12:01 AM	#4
Illinifan Connoisseur Posts: 95 Karma: 210032 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Dayton, OH Device: iPad 4, iPhone 4, iPod touch, Sony PRS 300	I got All the Devils are Here by Bethany McLean from an Overdrive library. Here's the summary: Before the dust even settled, competing theories emerged to explain the financial crisis. Should the blame fall on Wall Street, Main Street, or Pennsylvania Avenue? On greedy traders, clueless homeowners, or timid regulators? Or on foreign culprits in London, Beijing, or Tehran? Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera, two of America's most acclaimed business journalists, offer the definitive answer: all of the above and more. Many devils helped bring hell to the economy. This surprising narrative goes back more than twenty years to reveal, in rich, anecdotal detail, how Wall Street, the mortgage industry, and the government conspired to change the way Americans bought their homes, creating a perfect storm. The authors take us inside elusive institutions such as Goldman Sachs, AIG, and Fannie Mae, to reveal who changed the game and why. With new, sometimes startling details, and a surprising cast of characters, they get for the first time to the real roots of the financial crisis. It wasn't about credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligations, or other complexities. It was about basic human psychology—from the poorest Florida home buyer to the richest CEO.

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