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Reviews
All the Devils are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis by Bethany McLean, Joe Nocera
stevendedalus's review
5.0
Exactly what you want from a journalistic examination of the financial crisis: clear-eyed, succinct, and easily digestible. Mclean amd Nocera de-mystify a world that seems to have been purposely mystified by its denizens to make themselves seem more important and superhuman than they are.
But the book is very good at showing just how human investing is, just how dominated by greed and short-sightedness as other industries. In fact, it seems as if many finance people even fooled themselves into thinking they were perfect.
Of course it's a frustrating read that's a synecdoche of our current economy, of how mostly white, powerful men have managed to tear-down the regulations that have tried to keep them in check and in the process shafted anyone.
This book brings the finance giants down to earth and shows just how normal they are. It makes them less intimidating and leaves you feeling that with a new understanding, we just may be able to fight back.
But the book is very good at showing just how human investing is, just how dominated by greed and short-sightedness as other industries. In fact, it seems as if many finance people even fooled themselves into thinking they were perfect.
Of course it's a frustrating read that's a synecdoche of our current economy, of how mostly white, powerful men have managed to tear-down the regulations that have tried to keep them in check and in the process shafted anyone.
This book brings the finance giants down to earth and shows just how normal they are. It makes them less intimidating and leaves you feeling that with a new understanding, we just may be able to fight back.
xinganthony's review
5.0
One of the clearest and most engaging books about the mortgage bubble. It deals with the origins with the bubble head on, as opposed to people's reaction to it. Unlike some other books, it does not deal with people's reaction to the bubble as it came crashing down. So there is little discussion about the policy response in the aftermath. But as far as the policies and conditions that fostered the bubble is concerned, it clearly examine all the key issues.
franschulman9's review
5.0
Fascinating book tracing the history of the financial crisis going back 20 years. Each chapter focuses on a different company or person involved with the mortgage industry, as well as government agencies, political appointees and politicians. The book is crammed with detail and is not fast reading, but is well worth the time and effort.
christhedoll's review
4.0
This book goes back decades and looks at how the separate actions of CEO's, politicians, lenders, borrowers, analysts, WS traders, together with the myth of home ownership caused a global financial meltdown... and economists think humans are rational. Duh, we're not.
jeanm333's review
1.0
Along with Michael Lewis' "The Big Short" this is a must-read if you want to understand the recent financial crisis. The authors also did "The Smartest Guys in the Room" about the Enron scandal, and I found that book both enlightening and interesting. The story paints a picture of a true financial bubble. Anyway, maybe I finally understand CDOs and derivatives. Maybe.
It's a chilling story, and I found myself horrified many times. The worst was reading about synthetic CDO's, which were like zombie derivatives. They were derivatives of derivatives and allowed investors to either go long (betting the product would increase in value) or short (betting it would go down). Unbelievable.
The biggest thing I learned was "don't trust anyone." These guys were constantly saying, "everything's all right" when they knew or should have known, it wasn't. And, worse yet, none of this stuff was illegal. It just wasn't regulated.
The story jumps around a bit, introducing players and situations in different companies and organizations as it works toward the inevitable crash. Several thoughts from my reading:
1. The whole situation was a "boiled frog" one. It kept building little by little. No one got caught, so they kept doing more and more bad stuff.
2. This was a failure of regulation. Shame on Greenspan, who didn't believe in any regulation, ever. And this is one time Congress should have stepped in, but they were convinced by the financial people that they knew what they were doing. How do you know a financial person is lying? His lips are moving.
3. Bubbles happen. They've been going on since tulips in Holland in the 1700s. This bubble never looks like the last one, so we don't believe they will happen this time. One very important comment was that they happen when "greed overcomes fear." Good point, well illustrated in the book.
4. I kept thinking, "How in the world could the average investor have known what was going to happen?" I do know several people who pulled out just before the crash, but they are in the minority. Most of us lost at least 30% of our savings.
I'm heading toward the finish but wanted to share my thoughts. If you really want to know what happened, this is the book to read. Don't worry; it's really interesting as well as informative.
It's a chilling story, and I found myself horrified many times. The worst was reading about synthetic CDO's, which were like zombie derivatives. They were derivatives of derivatives and allowed investors to either go long (betting the product would increase in value) or short (betting it would go down). Unbelievable.
The biggest thing I learned was "don't trust anyone." These guys were constantly saying, "everything's all right" when they knew or should have known, it wasn't. And, worse yet, none of this stuff was illegal. It just wasn't regulated.
The story jumps around a bit, introducing players and situations in different companies and organizations as it works toward the inevitable crash. Several thoughts from my reading:
1. The whole situation was a "boiled frog" one. It kept building little by little. No one got caught, so they kept doing more and more bad stuff.
2. This was a failure of regulation. Shame on Greenspan, who didn't believe in any regulation, ever. And this is one time Congress should have stepped in, but they were convinced by the financial people that they knew what they were doing. How do you know a financial person is lying? His lips are moving.
3. Bubbles happen. They've been going on since tulips in Holland in the 1700s. This bubble never looks like the last one, so we don't believe they will happen this time. One very important comment was that they happen when "greed overcomes fear." Good point, well illustrated in the book.
4. I kept thinking, "How in the world could the average investor have known what was going to happen?" I do know several people who pulled out just before the crash, but they are in the minority. Most of us lost at least 30% of our savings.
I'm heading toward the finish but wanted to share my thoughts. If you really want to know what happened, this is the book to read. Don't worry; it's really interesting as well as informative.
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