As special prosecutor, Butch joins the hunt for the double murderers, finding himself in conflict with his own Jewish heritage, and with the realization that Marlene's case is inextricably linked with his own. Rosner have crafted a deadly document, kicking ass and taking names of the people involved. But in their new book, Reckless Endangerment, the New York Times reporter Gretchen Morgenson and mortgage securities analyst Joshua Rosner try to revive the issue of their responsibility. Her search for answers leads Kara and her friend Safia al-Maaz, the gallery's curator, into a world they never dreamed existed. How our government could be so blind to what was happening is terrifying.
Our economic Armageddon is incredibly complex and the causes are more so. Before reading the If you like scary movies or stories that keep you from going to sleep at night, this is the book for you. Henry Paulson became a fellow at Johns Hopkins. Really opened my eyes to all the massive corruption and collusion going on out there, behind our backs, when we think that these industries and organizations are really there to protect us; far from it! But serious accounting irregularities under Raines, perhaps initiated under Johnson, left Fannie subject to immense pressure years later to get its books straightened out. I think they mostly follow through on that pledge, although I think they omitted some pieces of the puzzle.
The authors are forthright in their intentions. I enjoy reading business history, especially when the stories are told in an interesting way, and this book does that. So many of the people that drove the economy into the ditch were rewarded with huge retirement packages or powerful management positions in new companies. And folks would have a nest egg in old age, not a yoke around their necks. While I agree that the attack on Fannie Mae is somewhat myopic and insufficient to claim that this and only this was the cause of the bubble, I do believe that the author has correctly shown the environment of cronyism and political favoritism that led to de-regualtion for its own sake. Raines, was treated no less lavishly.
Overall, one of the most depressing books I have read. The relationship between Lucy and Vietnamese man was stellar. And nobody went to jail. At first I thought it might be somewhat boring and dry, but it's far from it! We have got to kill this beast, the unconstitutionally powerful Federal government, before it kills us. People had no equity, so who expects them to act responsibly? This book made me angry. The book reads pretty quickly. And while he didn't emerge victorious, it was nice to see that occasionally politicians are on the side of the people.
It is a great book, but left me seething. We found no such entries for this book title. I appreciate how they did not slant it to one party or another, no Bush Derangement Syndrome here. Unfortunately the key characters that helped fuel the crisis escaped under the radar. Johnson, to increase home ownership while enriching himself and other executives.
The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn. In 300 pages, the authors spend the first 200 condemning Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for their misdeeds, giving every impression that Fannie and Freddie caused Economic Armageddon. But I am also increasingly persuaded that governments and central banks could not have importantly altered the course of the boom either. This information helps us design a better experience for all users. The government knew that if something bad happened to Fannie Mae, we the taxpayers would be left to bail them out.
Photo Gretchen Morgenson Credit Fred R. The asset bubble was destined to follow the course of tulip mania and all the other bubbles of economic history--prolonged euphoria culminating in an abrupt and destabilizing outbreak of fear. This book goes into the process of how this craziness was enabled and why it was not stopped until the system collapsed. Repealing allows insurance companies, banks, and investments to all operate as a single company. But it happened over time and might have been stopped if we had only used common sense. An incredible story of all the ins-and-outs of what led to the housing and economic collapse of 2008, starting way back in the early Clinton years.
The only vote that matters is the dollar or, rather, millions of dollars. Overall mortgage debt grew by 11. Worst of all, the authors mostly missed the real story behind the most recent rush to housing. Narrator speaks so fast it is hard to understand him at times. Couple of points: One, does this sound plausible? Come on, we all know how we treat things that are given to us free vs. However, there are so many bad guys out there that they number in the thousands. What I do see is a 100% political animal just doing what instinctive political animals do.
We will not recover and get our economy going again until the housing industry comes back to life. Still, it should be stressed that a major reason Countrywide and other mortgage outfits were able to expand so rapidly, particularly in the new millennium, had to do with the fact that outside of Fannie and Freddie, there was great demand for the loans made toward an asset the value of which was rising. These goals were raised several times over the next dozen years so as to include more people, with the result that loans became cheaper. As Treasury secretary, Robert Rubin, formerly the head of Goldman Sachs, pushed for repeal of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act that had separated commercial from investment banking — a move that Sanford Weill, the chief executive of Travelers Group had long sought so that Travelers could merge with Citibank. At that time 64 percent of Americans owned their homes; within a decade the percentage would rise to nearly 70. None of it was cited.
The people involved are portrayed as morally unsound; which makes it read like a never-ending juicy gossip column exposing all the dirty behavior made by top executives and politicians involved with or working for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the subprime lenders of the 90's. Housing on its best day is an item of consumption — albeit a necessary one — that has little to do with real economic growth. Wall Street saw the money being made and figured out how to get in on the action. Even the most sophisticated private sector risk management was unable to neutralize the burst of euphoria and its inevitable consequences. However, this book is not hard to follow, a very clearly explained road to the financial crisis and the players. The authors describe well how, beginning in the 1990s, Fannie in particular betrayed its responsibilities. For example, according to an investigation by the House Oversight Committee in 2009 Fannie and Freddie issued almost no subprime securities until 2006.