Goldman Takes Shorts

UPDATE: I accidentally overwrote this post with an earlier draft so this version will necessarily be different from a previous posted one.  I regret the error.

Recently, as you’ve no doubt heard by now, Goldman Sachs has found itself in a bit of hot water over it’s role in the financial crisis that sparked off The Great Recession.  I firmly believe that this is due to, in no small part, the story Michael Lewis tells in his book,  The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.  People upon hearing it are generally shocked and dismayed, including some hardcore free market Republicans.

I had the good fortune to hear a really great interview of him by NPR’s Terry Gross on her program Fresh Air. In it, Lewis lays out the basic chain of event of on how the subprime crisis started, led to financial collapse and how a few non-Wall Street professionals saw things coming months, even years in advance, by using basic investing common sense.  Lewis claimed, “If everybody had thought the way they thought and behaved the way they behaved, the crisis never would’ve happened.”

Continue reading “Goldman Takes Shorts”

Pulling Your Card

Stewart seen as winner in showdown with Cramer – CNN.com:

“‘People want to see a lot of the financial gurus on a shish kabob, being skewered,’ Seaman said. ‘It’s really important to hold people accountable, and as we saw last night, Jon Stewart is a bit of a wild card, so if you aren’t living up to expectations, he may call you out.'”

(Via CNN.)

Which is exactly why I watch the show. I need that “powerful tool of illumination.”