Product Description Truth really is stranger than fiction. Who better than the author of the signature bestseller Liar-s Poker to explain how the event we were told was impossible-the free fall of the American economy-finally occurred; how the things that we wanted, like ridiculously easy money and greatly expanded home ownership, were vehicles for that crash; and how shareholder demand for profit forced investment executives to eat the forbidden fruit of toxic derivatives.Michael Lewis-s splendid cast of characters includes villains, a few heroes, and a lot of people who look very, very foolish: high government officials, including the watchdogs; heads of major investment banks (some overlap here with previous category); perhaps even the face in your mirror. In this trenchant, raucous, irresistible narrative, Lewis writes of the goats and of the few who saw what the emperor was wearing, and gives them, most memorably, what they deserve. He proves yet again that he is the finest and funniest chronicler of our times.
GREAT BOOKSeptember 5, 2010 LYDIA This book gives great insight into the financial meltdown told through the experience of a few people who saw it coming. Lets you know that greed and ignorance is alive and well in the financial market place.
Great bookSeptember 5, 2010 M. Hyman(Seattle, WA USA) The Big Short is a fascinating look into the financial meltdown that caused the collapse of the world economy. It explains in a very understandable way what tanked the economy, as well as looking in depth at the people that caused it, their motivations, the crazy and corrupt system that made it possible, and a variety of individuals who were smart enough (or lucky enough) to predict the meltdown and made fortunes from it.
The book is fast paced and easy to read. It will in part make you want to get in on the action, make you disgusted at the greed and idiocy that lead to the market collapse, and wonder if the market will ever recover. And it will make you even madder about the executives of the large financial companies who make millions and millions in bonuses for essentially stealing the futures away from most people.
A great read. It is one of those current economic event books you will not be able to put down.
A Safe BetSeptember 5, 2010 Ted Bender(Florida) The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Michael Lewis's Liar's Poker provides an interesting and believable explanation for the Recession of 2009. Taking the perspective of a number of smaller hedge fund managers who saw through the smoke and mirrors of the mortgage crisis, Lewis explains in understandable language how we got into this mess. Readers will see how the actions of mortgage originators, banks, rating agencies and Wall Street all contributed to the debacle. Well worth the read.
Simple CrimeSeptember 4, 2010 Stephen A Miller When mortgage lenders extorted the appraisers to keep jacking prices higher the banks and the rating agencies can't explain they didn't know their mortgage bonds were a huge bubble they created on purpose to continue making fees from borrowers they were suckering.
When the rating agencies testified under oath to Congress that their complicated mathematical models never existed they also committed perjury. These people can't be expected to testify we committed fraud, please arrest us. The rating companies can rate a single borrower like a corporation with a certified balance sheet, or a state with a visible budget. There is no way to rate millions of mortgages knowing that residential real estate prices are being forced higher by appraisers who are being extorted to either lie or to never get any more business.
Not one Congress person, the President, or the Attorney General ever contended the obvious, simple crime being committed to generate millions of foreclosures. The media pundits ordained the crime and even Michael Lewis skirts around the crime in his story THE BIG SHORT.
The Big Short by Michael LewisSeptember 3, 2010 walt2339 Well written in an historical, but enttertaining manner. Gets to the truth about what was really going on to cause the financial crash. A must reading for anyone remotely interested in the subject area.
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