Credit default swaps — those infamous three words: The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis is a fast-paced, right-to-the-point story about CDS and the collapse of Wall Street. While recent best sellers have addressed big players and multiple companies involved in the crash Lewis’s focus is just credit default swaps, how they were born, who made millions and how American taxpayers got burned in the end.
Criminal insanity with a slice of reality over a ton of F-bombs. I found it hard to put down and actually ripped through the book in a single night.
Lewis follows the few hedge fund managers who actually predicted the collapse, how they managed to bide their time and padded their wallets by betting against subprime loans. Crowdsourcing at it’s best….or worst?
Steve Eisman, Michael Burry, and Howie Hubler all have interesting roles in the credit swap and collapse (among others) that combine to document how greed, pure greed and outright criminal theft led to the economic collapse of financial giants and ruined our country.
Steve Eisman was blunt — to say the least when insulting financial CEOs but he was right all along about the coming collapse.
Why didn’t others listen to him? Maybe its how the game is stacked to reward the few and control the governing agencies. Wall Street views S&P and Moody’s as the guys unable to survive at a brokerage so they work outside the real game. Lewis has much more to show how the game is stacked for the wealthy and against middle America and especially the poor.
Maybe the best part was his explanation of how Wall Street actually pays S&P and Moody’s for their credit ratings….
Hubler made the worst trade in the history of Wall Street. He lost $9 Billion on a single trade for Morgan Stanley. And yet he was permitted to leave with a $100 million bonus. $9 B I L L I O N and he walks unscathed? Lewis briefly touches on how his actions were covered up by Morgan Stanley and buried from the light of day.