I humbly believe Andrew Ross Sorkin‘s Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System–and Themselves is not only a great read and one of the best books written about the Wall Street catastrophe — it is a rather unique history book for this crisis.
BTW: This is the best book I have read this year.
Sadly this book reads like an intense thriller. Yet the truth reveals how Wall Street’s greed and “good ol-boy network” was too dumb to act in time to save the country from falling into a recession.
Sorkin’s revelations about those so called “financial titans” were more accurately described as totally clueless to the catastrophe surrounding them. Ego — really was the chief reason for making so many horrible financial decisions. Its rather shocking especially as the impact of the crisis rippled further away from Wall Street and into the homes and businesses of everyday Americans.
I cannot think of a more striking example Sorkin described as the Board members of Bear Stearns. They voted to send the firm into Chapter 11 bankruptcy — with one board member “choosing” not to participate in the vote because he was playing in a professional card tournament in Detroit and instructed his secretary not to be interrupted.
Titans….ha! Sorkin paints a more accurate picture of these guys closer to the attitudes of the out-of-touch imperialist British monarchy. Defined by The Dictionary of Human Geography, Imperialism is “the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.” Sorkin’s reinforces this definition about that failed Wall Street Empire.
I was amused to actually see a photograph of Mitsubishi’s $9 Billion check for Morgan Stanley….yep NINE zeros. Making it probably the biggest check ever written and the IQ of everyone who supported that decision. Simply shocking.
