Reviews

Street Fighters: The Last 72 Hours of Bear Stearns, the Toughest Firm on Wall Street by Kate Kelly

jamiehandy's review against another edition

5.0

I read this after reading the big short. It was a great followup. This book covers only the last 72 hours of Bear Stearns. It was almost gripping even when you know how it will end. Will they figure out a way to stay afloat? Which deal will they take and why? And it offered such an insight into so many of the personalities at play. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am still amazed at just how quickly and how easily it was for them to go bankrupt. And you wonder, over and over again "Who exactly is to blame?" Should you blame the mortgagee who took out loans for homes they cannot afford or loans that they didn't understand? Should you blame the mortgage loan companies for their predatory lending practices and failure to disclose in meaningful words the exact costs and variable costs of the loans? Should you blame the investment banks for buying the bad loans, bundling them into securities and reselling them as investments? Should you blame the banks for foolishly buying these securities? Should you blame AIGFP for insuring these securities through credit default swaps? Should you blame the investment banks for rebundling the securities into collateralized debt obligations and reselling them? Should you blame the federal reserve for not allowing investment banks to borrow directly from the discount window? Depending on who you talk to and what you read you can make a pretty good case for all of them.

Personally, I just have to go back to the individual home buyer. For being stupid enough to take out loans they didn't understand-- for buying more than they could afford b/c they were banking on prices continuing to rise. It is a classic "count your chickens before they hatch" problem that individuals should see coming. The sad part -- does every borrower who defaulted on a loan even realize that they are the root of the entire 2008 credit crisis? I don't think they have any idea the dominoes that started to topple based on their default.

But then again, what kind of company loans money they know they will not get back and then sells it to another company?

And so on -- the lack of brains in America is the really scary part!

bryan8063's review against another edition

3.0

A closer look at the fall of Bear Stearns in March 2008. It's an interesting story. The big take-away: many were in denial about their company until the last moment.

mattyzmom's review against another edition

4.0

I don't know anything about finances but the author used such description that it felt like I was there. It was very well written.

blueranger9's review against another edition

4.0

I've always been fascinated by the world of high finance-probably because it has always been enshrouded with mystery. I've never fully understood this boys' club, and while a lot of this went way over my head, Kelly's account of the last 72 hours of Bear Stearns was equally thrilling and informative. I knew the ending, but I read enraptured by the fast paced environment, and think I better understand the bailouts, the declines, the crises.