Review: Exceptional and Very Newsworthy!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 24, 2011
I've listened to people try to politicize the recession/market crash of 2007-09 but this "Short" book shines a light on the true cause of the recession: subprime loans and the greed of bankers to continue their profits.  Almost  of the trillion dollars of losses in the global banking system were due to CDOs (Collateralized Debt Obligations).  This book focuses on a Chicago hedge fund Magnetar who invested in specifically horrible deals with bets that won when the CDOs performed horribly: and perform horribly  they did.  Of course, we need some greedy investment bankers thrown in to complete the story and Merrill Lynch is a particularly gullible victim although JP Morgan and Citi come in for criticism also.  Now let's discuss the inadequacies of rating agencies and the graft of the managers of the CDOs whose job was to select securities with unbiased motives.  Now we have everything in place except consumers who thought they could afford anything and would add debt that they had no chance of repaying.OK, I've summed up what caused the worst economic crisis in most of our lives.  And it's a GREAT story told in short form.  I could not recommend this short higher.  Should be required reading for anyone wanting to understand the Great Recession.