Guaranteed to Fail: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Debacle of Mortgage Finance
'[Guaranteed to Fail]  is more multi-dimensional and nuanced than most other books on the  bloody crossroads where real estate and banking meet. . . . [The]  authors show convincingly that the GSEs' subprime lending was not a  noble idea that eventually went wrong or drifted into excesses--it was a  fool's errand from the beginning.'--Financial Times'[A]  valuable book on how two quasi-public companies became 'the world's  largest and most leveraged hedge fund'. . . . A balanced study,  [Guaranteed to Fail] rises above a clash between partisans on the  right--who call the companies 'ground zero' in the meltdown--and those  on the left who blame deregulation and Wall Street excess. . . . Part  primer, part policy prescription, the text explains in simple language  what these entities are, how they got so big, and why we must fix  them.'--James Pressley, Bloomberg News'In Guaranteed to Fail, a  quartet of New York University professors from its Stern School of  Business, focus on the 'debacle of mortgage finance' that Fannie and  Freddie helped create, and offer a plan for reform. In clear language,  and with plenty of data to support their arguments, the authors provide a  concise but comprehensive history of the GSEs--which alone makes their  book worth reading.'--Barron's