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The End of Wall Street
Book

The End of Wall Street

Penguin Group (USA), 2011 more...

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

How did mortgage loans to not-quite-prime borrowers evolve into the engine of doom for Wall Street? Journalist and best-selling author Roger Lowenstein uncovers the root causes and the culmination of the 2008 financial debacle. He explains how loans to formerly unattractive clients brought out the best in Wall Street innovation and the worst in Wall Street greed. His behind-the-scenes look at the people involved, their backgrounds and their decision making is a fascinating depiction of how the mortgage ball got rolling. Lowenstein’s recounting of this now familiar story manages to excite like a novel, with pulse-pounding deadlines, superhero bureaucrats and evil villains (too many to count). He even opens his book with a lengthy “cast of characters.” getAbstract recommends his saga for its you-are-there view of what really happened on Wall Street – and, particularly, what really happened during one fateful weekend in September 2008.

Take-Aways

  • The Wall Street crisis had its beginnings long before 2008 in easy credit and the myth of self-correcting markets.
  • Linking home ownership to democracy, the US government created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as funding agencies to make it easier for Americans to buy homes.
  • Subprime mortgages opened the dream of owning a home to those with weak credit.

About the Author

Roger Lowenstein has written four books about Wall Street, including two bestsellers: Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist and When Genius Failed. He writes for SmartMoney magazine, The New York Times Magazine and The Wall Street Journal.