”The ability of Wall Street traders to see themselves in their success and their management in their failure would later be echoed, when their firms, which disdained the need for government regulation in good times, insisted on being rescued by government in bad times. Success was an individual achievement; failure was a social problem.”The real estate market in the United States after several years of frantic growth peaked in 2004, which was the year I decided to start buying properties. I was

Michael Lewis looks at a handful of people who saw what was happening in the US economy, tried to sound an alarm, but also used their knowledge to make barrels of cash.If the tales told here, following the fiscal 9/11 that is Wall Street ethics, do not scare you away from investing with any Wall Street firm, I do not know what will. Lewis may single-handedly revive stuffing cash in mattresses as a savings option. Michael Lewis - image from Boston’s WBUR - photo by Robin LubbockWhat becomes clear...

I have to SHOUT during this review. Now I finally know the sleaziest, oily, untruthful, and arrogant class of people in the US--financial brokers at the big Wall Street investment banks. The Big Short is a rare look deep inside the machinery that broke the spine of our real estate industry. This is not the more common bottom-up look at the mortgage loan sweatshop industry; instead, this is a top-down view from the rarefied air above 20 stories at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merryl Lynch, JP M...

Original review: May 4, 2010Lewis has a talent for making his readers feel smart. Taking in his best works, you’re granted kinship with the elite. Like a trader at Salomon Brothers, you might laugh at the chumps in the bond market; or like the money-constrained boss of the Oakland A’s, you might cobble together a winning line-up by way of statistics; or like a genius of modern day football, you would recognize the importance of a great left tackle in protecting your quarterback’s blind side. Now...

An extremely well-written account of the 2008 financial collapse. It explained complex ideas like subprime mortgage bonds and CDO's in a clear way, and almost read like a fast paced thriller.Essentially it seems that a bad ratings system and human greed created an economy that fostered the creation of a lot of bad debts, that eventually went bad, and caused a lot of big companies to go under (Lehman brothers, Bear Sterns), or require a bailout (Goldman Sachs, AIG). This is the real crime. These

Update: Christmas greetings to those of you who celebrate! Paul and I are seeing this movie today! I'm guessing the movie will be great!Hasn't everyone read this book? In my area --extra copies could be found at bus stops around town -on tables in Star Bucks -I wouldn't have been surprised if books were added to people's grocery bags. At one time this was the 'it' book to read. "The Big Short" was everywhere. Michael Lewis became a popular-household name....Hugely entertaining and informative lo...

Remember that point, in recent years, when we all started to notice something strange? Houses were getting more and more expensive, interest rates were dropping more and more, and most of us knew someone who had no money, but was able to get a huge mortgage. And then there were all the stories of people buying houses with no money down and interest-only payments for three years. How exactly were these people expecting to make principal payments in three years? And why was anyone lending them mon...

“Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.” - Warren BuffettSome of the most essential financial lessons I ever learned came from comic books back in the ‘90s when a bubble fueled by idiotic speculation on crappy books marketed as ‘collector’s editions’ eventually burst. It left me with several copies of all the variant covers for Jim Lee’s X-Men #1, and the realization that something is only as valuable as what someone will actually pay you for it. It was also e...

Wall Street is probably best known for the movie quote "Greed is good."But after reading The Big Short, Michael Lewis' excellent book about the lead up to the 2008 global financial crisis and the small group of people who saw the collapse coming and bet against it, I think Wall Street needs a new saying: "Y'all are a bunch of greedy assholes."I've read several Michael Lewis books, and he does a good job explaining complex subjects to lay people. I'd recommend this book (and the quirky movie base...

I feel a little late to the club reading this now. I did want to understand more fully understand what happened the last time we had a recession, especially now that we keep hearing about how there might be another one impending. I found the book informative but it did feel kind of dry and boring at points. I also kind of wish more time had been spent on the people who created the situation versus those who where able to realize what was going on and capitalize off of the crash.

I think most are aware of the role subprime mortgages played in the 2007 banking crisis and the resulting worldwide financial crisis that followed in 2008. The subprime market was made up of house purchase loans and secondary (often re-finance) loans which were also secured against the property. This book walks us through the timeline following the rise in the popularity of these loans, how and when they began to get batched together and sold off in packages and the resultant collapse of the mar...

Lawd. This book took my breath away. I remember what I was doing at several critical moments described in the book and to have been so unaware makes me breathless. I learned things and feel oddly vindicated and cheated at the same time. I knew dumb people were making money with my money: vindicated. I thought some people in the government might be smart enough to realize what happened and know what to do: cheated.Michael Lewis played two roles in writing this book about the subprime loan debacle...

The best book on Wall Street months before the recession hit. Its a Wall Street history book.