Great Britain slipped into recession again this week. Its worth another view of how close we came to economic collapse:
The HBO movie was good. The book was so much better….and rather shocking.
Tag: morgan stanley
Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System–and Themselves is clearly my favorite (for all the wrong reasons — you know economy on the brink of collapse) book in 2010.
Six month later Sorkin’s story of the financial meltdown and shocking background stories that stunned the world still resonate – due to news that Wall Street again is on shaky ground, especially with municipal bonds
Clearly the lack of oversight and Washington’s hands-off approach to Wall Street contributed, yet as Sorkin documents the big investment banks were playing with loose money, morals and an ego the size of Canis Majoris.
Its no wonder the rich get richer and the poor get poorer when you can lose the largest trade in the history of Wall Street and actually keep your job.
With companies like Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, Lehman, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and AIG its no wonder George W. Bush was forced to step in and save the country from a nuclear meltdown. I believe Hank Paulson’s book On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System tells the tale of the Bush Administration and made it to my top five list too.
With HBO’s recent commitment to make a movie from Sorkin’s book it ensures many more will be reading this in 2011.
Author’s website
Tags: Andrew Ross Sorkin, Too Big to Fail, Bear Stearns, Wall Street, Morgan Stanley, Lehman, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, recession, AIG, trends
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.