Liar’s Poker and The Big Short by
Michael Lewis
If you want to restore your faith in America’s financial
future, feel good about the people in power at the country’s biggest investment
banks, and face today’s fiscal nightmare with the confidence that the system is
inherently good and will surely repair itself, I suggest you avoid these two
books like the plague.
Liar’s Poker gives
an insider’s account of the no-rules chicanery that took place on the trading
floor of Salomon Brothers and other major players in the ‘80s, which eventually
led to the stock market crash of 1987. Then, just when you think the power
brokers have surely learned their lesson and mended their ways, here comes The Big Short, describing how these same
frat boys rose up from the flames like so many phoenixes and proceeded to
concoct an even more mind-boggling get-rich scheme. The result of that one: the
stock market crash of 2008. The one we’re still reeling from.
They say that those who do not learn from history are doomed
to repeat it. But the postscript for these guys is that they managed to get
wealthier regardless. And not just a little wealthier. Incredibly,
inconceivably wealthier.
Michael Lewis is a great storyteller, and even though I didn’t
understand a lot of the financial goings-on that he described (and frighteningly,
neither did an awful lot of CEOs), both books were thoroughly readable and –
dare I say – enjoyable.
The takeaway: Grandpa was right. Under the mattress is a safe
place for money.
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