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The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash By Charles R. Morris ( PublicAffairs )
Release Date: 2008-03-03
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Product Description
We are living in the most reckless financial environment in recent history. Arcane credit derivative bets are now well into the tens of trillions. According to Charles R. Morris, the astronomical leverage at investment banks and their hedge fund and private equity clients virtually guarantees massive disruption in global markets. The crash, when it comes, will have no firebreaks. A quarter century of free-market zealotry that extolled asset stripping, abusive lending, and hedge fund secrecy will come crashing down with it. The Trillion Dollar Meltdown explains how we got here, and what is about to happen. After the crash our priorities will be quite different. But things are likely to get worse before they better. Whether you are an active investor, a homeowner, or a contributor to your 401(k) plan, The Trillion Dollar Meltdown will be indispensable to understanding the gross excess that has put the world economy on the brink—and what the new landscape will look like.
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 Deja'Vu
I no sooner finished reading this book than we all started living it. What we are watching unfold on Wall Street and in Washingtion D.C. is exactly what was fortold, in excruciating detail.
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I read this book 6 months ago....wow
Around 6 months ago I read this book. Talk about timeliness!! it deserves many accolades, I will definately read anything else this author publishes!
Excellent read, intelligent, concise and understandable for all.
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Incisive, Informative, Balanced History of the Current Crisis ( cvairag )
Buzz Aldrin once told me that the secret to success was to be in the right place at the right time. To that advice, I would add, that one must bring the right stuff to the table. The historian of this fluid and incisive analysis fulfills both criteria. Morris states that his intention is to tell the story of how we got there, "as briefy and crisply" as he can. He succeeds, brilliantly. The book seems to be the culminating work of a lifetime of preparation for solely this task - production of an unpretentious, eminently readable, accessible, closely argued and well-documented, to the chase, history of the cycles of financial markets over the past half century which have brought us to the point of possible national bankruptcy - a history of debt capitalism in its most perilous moment.
While the mechanics of banking have never held much interest for me, I found this read gripping and highly informative - at a time when we all need to become informed about the mess engulfing us.
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Did Anyone Say Prophetic ( vscarsella )
If he knew this was coming when he wrote this book, where were our politicians...hoping it would happen after the November elections. Did anyone say its time for a revolution - run out the bastards, including both McCain and Obama? Although dense at times (I got tired of all the acronyms - CDOS, CLOS, blah), if you could concentrate long enough, you got a smiggen of what is going on - what it boils down to is too much lent on too little value, and then sold to stupid investment houses trying to make a quick book - unfortunately, we, you and me, got stuck holding the bag.
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It's more than a trillion... ( igrigorik )
Couldn't have timed it better, Lehman Brothers sunk, Merill Lynch sold, AIG is on the brink of disaster - these are household names for many of us! Charles Morris offers a great primer on the current crisis, and the underlying causes. The book starts off well back, in the early 60's, and walks the reader through the economic downturns, recoveries, and their underlying causes - hinting at the fact that the current crisis is anything but a new occurrence.
The author also spends a good amount of time on the financial instruments that have been reinvented many times over in the last decade: CDOs, SIVs, etc. Instead of hiding behind a curtain of mathematical complexity, Charles Morris offers great explanations and the rationale (if you can call it that) that led us to the current crisis.
Last few chapters of the book are heavily infused with opinionated policy judgments, but other than that, this is certainly a very timely read.
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