The Big Short

In this summary you will learn

• How, leading into 2008, major financial institutions overlooked the risk of securities backed by subprime mortgage loans
• Why some contrarian money managers bet against interest-bearing mortgage securities, even as mortgage credit expanded
• How the mortgage securities market’s collapse in 2008 enriched prescient investors at the expense of the largest banks

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Why you should read The Big Short

The global financial panic of 2008 stemmed from the collapse of the market for mortgage-backed bonds and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). Executives at many major financial institutions were slow to recognize the true risk of interest-bearing securities backed by home mortgages. Yet some money managers not only predicted the collapse of the mortgage securities market but also profited from it. Best-selling author Michael Lewis writes a narrative that moves along like a novel. He profiles a handful of money managers who correctly forecast that an explosion of mortgage loan defaults would flatten the housing industry and slam U.S. economic growth. Though he focuses his engrossing narrative on these contrarian investors, Lewis also traces the roots of the 2008 crisis to original U.S. policy decisions in the 1980s that allowed major Wall Street firms to become publicly held – thus making the investment banks themselves objects of speculation and letting bankers gamble with their stockholders’ investments. getAbstract recommends this compelling book to readers who want deeper insights into the U.S. financial system from the perspective of obscure money wranglers who bet against the subprime industry when few others would – and made a fortune.

About the Author

Michael Lewis is author of The Blind Side and Liar’s Poker, the international bestseller that depicts the culture of Wall Street during the 1980s. He is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and Vanity Fair.