PANIC

Betsy Wuebker — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:54:26 +0000

Michael Lewis, whose work we referenced in our recent post, “Tenacity,” is at it again. When I read Liar’s Poker in the late 80′s, I was amazed. I had heard similar vernacular for years around our table at dinner parties populated by equity traders and institutional salespeople. Lewis is an extremely talented writer who spent a few years at Salomon Brothers, having been hired as an analyst with no experience whatsoever. Lewis quit in disgust and wrote an expose that ruined more than a few careers on Wall Street, including that of his former boss, John Gutfreund.

I’d never taken an accounting course, never run a business, never even had savings of my own to manage. I stumbled into a job at Salomon Brothers in 1985 and stumbled out much richer three years later, and even though I wrote a book about the experience, the whole thing still strikes me as preposterous… – Michael Lewis

The End, where he chronicles the build-up and practices in mortgage-based derivatives that led to the recent economic meltdown. Sounds dry, right? Wrong! You’ll go to the very end, wishing there was more. Lewis has a conversational tone, so when you read him, it’s like listening to a story. A horrifying story populated by ridiculously overcompensated bad guys, and not-so-bad guys who figure out how to make money from a house of cards. It’s a train wreck, and Lewis vividly puts you at the crossing.

I wondered if the article would spawn a book, as it was so impeccably researched and detailed. Now comes Panic, which looks to be a masterful analysis in the same vein as the article. Lewis has yet to disappoint, and I’m very much looking forward to reading it.

PANIC is a post from: Passing Thru

Passing Thru » The panic of ’08

PANIC

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