A Colossal Failure Of Common Sense

A Colossal Failure Of Common Sense Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle version is available to download in english. Read online anytime anywhere directly from your device. Click on the download button below to get a free pdf file of A Colossal Failure Of Common Sense book. This book definitely worth reading, it is an incredibly well-written.

A Colossal Failure of Common Sense

Author : Larry McDonald,Patrick Robinson
Publisher : Random House
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2009-11-24
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781407030678

Get Book

A Colossal Failure of Common Sense by Larry McDonald,Patrick Robinson Pdf

When Lehman Brothers bank went under, the world gasped. One of the world's biggest and most successful banks, its downfall was the event that sparked the slide of the world economy toward a Great Depression II. This is the gripping inside story of the dark characters who ruled Lehman, who refused to heed warnings that the company was headed for an iceberg; the world-class, mid-level people who valiantly fought to get Lehman off its disastrous course; the crash that didn't have to happen. A news-breaking explanation that answers the question everyone still asks: "why did it happen?" Larry McDonald, a former vice-president at Lehman Brothers in charge of distressed debt trading and convertible securities, was right at the centre of the meltdown of the company and gives an intimate look at the madhouse that Lehman became. This book shows beyond a doubt that Richard Fuld, the long-time CEO of Lehman, and his top executives, were totally out to lunch, allowing Lehman's risk profile to reach gargantuan proportions. While the traders, like Larry McDonald, clearly predicted more than two years in advance that the market for packaged subprime mortgages and credit default swaps would evaporate, the high-flying Lehman bosses pushed hard on the gas pedal until the very end.

A Colossal Failure of Common Sense

Author : Lawrence G. McDonald
Publisher : Crown Pub
Page : 351 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780307588333

Get Book

A Colossal Failure of Common Sense by Lawrence G. McDonald Pdf

A former vice president of Lehman Brothers explains the financial collapse of the securities giant in 2008, what led to the financial crisis, and who had been responsible for its downfall.

All the Devils Are Here

Author : Bethany McLean,Joe Nocera
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2011-08-30
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781101551059

Get Book

All the Devils Are Here by Bethany McLean,Joe Nocera Pdf

"Hell is empty, and all the devils are here." -Shakespeare, The Tempest As soon as the financial crisis erupted, the finger-pointing began. Should the blame fall on Wall Street, Main Street, or Pennsylvania Avenue? On greedy traders, misguided regulators, sleazy subprime companies, cowardly legislators, or clueless home buyers? According to Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera, two of America's most acclaimed business journalists, the real answer is all of the above-and more. Many devils helped bring hell to the economy. And the full story, in all of its complexity and detail, is like the legend of the blind men and the elephant. Almost everyone has missed the big picture. Almost no one has put all the pieces together. All the Devils Are Here goes back several decades to weave the hidden history of the financial crisis in a way no previous book has done. It explores the motivations of everyone from famous CEOs, cabinet secretaries, and politicians to anonymous lenders, borrowers, analysts, and Wall Street traders. It delves into the powerful American mythology of homeownership. And it proves that the crisis ultimately wasn't about finance at all; it was about human nature. Among the devils you'll meet in vivid detail: • Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide, who dreamed of spreading homeownership to the masses, only to succumb to the peer pressure-and the outsized profits-of the sleaziest subprime lending. • Roland Arnall, a respected philanthropist and diplomat, who made his fortune building Ameriquest, a subprime lending empire that relied on blatantly deceptive lending practices. • Hank Greenberg, who built AIG into a Rube Goldberg contraption with an undeserved triple-A rating, and who ran it so tightly that he was the only one who knew where all the bodies were buried. • Stan O'Neal of Merrill Lynch, aloof and suspicious, who suffered from "Goldman envy" and drove a proud old firm into the ground by promoting cronies and pushing out his smartest lieutenants. • Lloyd Blankfein, who helped turn Goldman Sachs from a culture that famously put clients first to one that made clients secondary to its own bottom line. • Franklin Raines of Fannie Mae, who (like his predecessors) bullied regulators into submission and let his firm drift away from its original, noble mission. • Brian Clarkson of Moody's, who aggressively pushed to increase his rating agency's market share and stock price, at the cost of its integrity. • Alan Greenspan, the legendary maestro of the Federal Reserve, who ignored the evidence of a growing housing bubble and turned a blind eye to the lending practices that ultimately brought down Wall Street-and inflicted enormous pain on the country. Just as McLean's The Smartest Guys in the Room was hailed as the best Enron book on a crowded shelf, so will All the Devils Are Here be remembered for finally making sense of the meltdown and its consequences.

The Devil's Casino

Author : Vicky Ward
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 310 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2011-04-05
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781118011492

Get Book

The Devil's Casino by Vicky Ward Pdf

The inside story of what really happened at Lehman Brothers and why it failed In The Devil's Casino: Friendship, Betrayal, and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers, investigative writer and Vanity Fair contributing editor Vicky Ward takes readers inside Lehman's highly charged offices. What Ward uncovers is a much bigger story than Lehman losing at the risky game of collateralized debt obligations, swaps, and leverage. A can't put it down page turner that opens the world of Wall Street to view unlike any book since Bonfire of the Vanities, except that The Devil's Casino isn't fiction. Details what went on behind-the-scenes the weekend Lehman Brothers failed, as well as inside Lehman during the twenty years preceding it Describes the feudal culture that proved both Lehman's strength and its Achilles' heel Written by Vicky Ward, one of today's most connected business and finance writers On Wall Street, Lehman Brothers was cheekily known as "the cat with nine lives." But as The Devil's Casino documents, this cat pushed its luck too far and died?the victim of men and women blinded by arrogance.

When the Cows Got Out

Author : Dorothy Clarke Koch
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 44 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 1958
Category : Cows
ISBN : UCAL:B4098802

Get Book

When the Cows Got Out by Dorothy Clarke Koch Pdf

A city boy visiting his grandfather's farm accidentally lets the cows out of the barnyard and searches for a way to get them back.

Diamondhead

Author : Patrick Robinson
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 414 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2022-09-13
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781667201290

Get Book

Diamondhead by Patrick Robinson Pdf

In order to save his son's life, exiled Navy SEAL Mack Bedford will have to take the life of a known terrorist ally. But before he can strike, a jilted mercenary group intervenes. Can Mack succeed...and survive? Navy SEAL Mack Bedford is expelled from the military after recklessly avenging the death of fellow soldiers who were killed by insurgents wielding a deadly Diamondhead antitank missile. Then he learns the weapons were sold illegally by the infamous terrorist abettor, Henri Foche. Meanwhile, Mack has a gravely ill son whose life can be saved only by an expensive and experimental medical procedure. When Mack is asked to assassinate Foche, his hand is forced. His reward: survival—for his son, and for his country. But before Mack can reach his target, mercenaries threaten to thwart his chances. This non-stop action thrill ride is perfect for fans of Vince Flynn, Andy McNab, and Frederick Forsyth.

China and the Credit Crisis

Author : Giles Chance
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780470825075

Get Book

China and the Credit Crisis by Giles Chance Pdf

The western world attributed China’s role as world’s largest financer of the developed world and third largest economy in the world to new economic efficiencies, a revolution in risk management and its own wise policies. China and the Credit Crisis argues that if the extent of the role played in the new prosperity by an emerging China, and the fundamental nature of the changes it brought had been better understood, more appropriate policies and actions would have been adopted at the time which could have avoided the crash, or at least limited its impact. China’s Credit Crisis examines the larger role that China will play in the recovery from the current credit crisis and in the post-crisis world. It addresses the major questions which arise from the financial crisis and discuss the landscape of the post-credit crisis world, initially by continuing to provide growth to a world deep in recession, and later by sharing global economic and political leadership

The Lehman Trilogy

Author : Stefano Massini
Publisher : HarperCollins
Page : 958 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2020-06-02
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780062940476

Get Book

The Lehman Trilogy by Stefano Massini Pdf

Basis for the 2022 'Tony Award Best Play' winner Magnificent in scope, internationally lauded, and transcendent, the novel in verse that inspired the sensational West End and Broadway play of the same name. The Lehman Trilogy follows the epic rise and fall of three generations of that infamous family and through them tells the story of American ambition and hubris. After leaving his native Bavaria, Henry Lehman arrives in America determined to make a better life. Sensing opportunity in the Deep South, he opens a textile shop in Alabama, laying the foundation for a dynasty that will come to dominate and define modern capitalism. Emanuel and his brother Mayer begin investing in anything and everything that will turn a profit, from cotton to coal to railroads to oil to airplanes—even at the expense of the very nation that forged them. Spanning three generations and 150 years, The Lehman Trilogy is a moving epic that dares to tell the story of modern capitalism through the saga of the Lehman brothers and their descendants. Surprising and exciting, brilliant and inventive, Stefano Massini’s masterpiece—like Hamilton—is a story of immigration, ambition, and success; it is the story of America itself from a daring and original perspective. Translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon

The Money Noose: Jon Corzine and the Collapse of MF Global

Author : Scott E.D. Skyrm
Publisher : ibooks
Page : 259 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2014-10-29
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781883283353

Get Book

The Money Noose: Jon Corzine and the Collapse of MF Global by Scott E.D. Skyrm Pdf

“Skyrm makes complex financial scenarios accessible to all interested readers in an informative and entertaining manner. We can all learn something from this book.” —Thomas Peterffy, Chairman, CEO, and President of Interactive Brokers “Skyrm put together the story of MF Global like no one else could in providing the ultimate autopsy covering destructive financial engineering that’s played such a big role in our capital markets.” —Lawrence G. McDonald, New York Times best selling author of A COLOSSAL FAILURE OF COMMON SENSE “God is in the details...first come the reporters, then the lawyers. Skyrm’s book is the necessary antidote. Only someone who has ‘done’ it can explain it. Perhaps the best ‘counterfactual’ rationale for reading The Money Noose: If John Corzine had been able to before, there would likely have been no after.” —Stan Jonas, Managing Partner, Axiom Management Partners In 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. MF Global was bankrupt less than a year after the law’s passage. THE MONEY NOOSE is a general accounting of the facts that led to MF Global’s collapse, as well as the story of the major players involved. It is a chaotic story, one in which individual actions taken in and of themselves are relatively minor. But the sum of those individual actions equal the same end result. This book is designed to tell the story of MF Global, what went wrong and how things came to an abrupt end. In those regards, it’s an incredible story.

The Apple Revolution

Author : Luke Dormehl
Publisher : Random House
Page : 546 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2012-08-02
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781448131365

Get Book

The Apple Revolution by Luke Dormehl Pdf

On 26 May, 2010 Apple Inc. passed Microsoft in valuation as the world's largest technology company. Its consumer electronic products - ranging from computers to mobile phones to portable media devices, not to mention its iTunes, iBook and App Store - have influenced nearly every facet of our lives, and it shows no sign of slowing down. But how did Apple - a company set up in the back room of a house by two friends, and one that always marketed itself as the underdog - become the marketplace leader (and the world's second largest company overall), and is it a good thing to have one company hold so much power? In The Apple Revolution Luke Dormehl shares the inside story of how Apple Inc. came to be; from the formation of the company's philosophies and user-friendly ethos, to the "iPod moment" and global domination, leaving you with a deep understanding of how it was created, why it has flourished, and where it might be going next.

The Cult of Smart

Author : Fredrik deBoer
Publisher : All Points Books
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2020-08-04
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781250200389

Get Book

The Cult of Smart by Fredrik deBoer Pdf

Named one of Vulture’s Top 10 Best Books of 2020! Leftist firebrand Fredrik deBoer exposes the lie at the heart of our educational system and demands top-to-bottom reform. Everyone agrees that education is the key to creating a more just and equal world, and that our schools are broken and failing. Proposed reforms variously target incompetent teachers, corrupt union practices, or outdated curricula, but no one acknowledges a scientifically-proven fact that we all understand intuitively: Academic potential varies between individuals, and cannot be dramatically improved. In The Cult of Smart, educator and outspoken leftist Fredrik deBoer exposes this omission as the central flaw of our entire society, which has created and perpetuated an unjust class structure based on intellectual ability. Since cognitive talent varies from person to person, our education system can never create equal opportunity for all. Instead, it teaches our children that hierarchy and competition are natural, and that human value should be based on intelligence. These ideas are counter to everything that the left believes, but until they acknowledge the existence of individual cognitive differences, progressives remain complicit in keeping the status quo in place. This passionate, voice-driven manifesto demands that we embrace a new goal for education: equality of outcomes. We must create a world that has a place for everyone, not just the academically talented. But we’ll never achieve this dream until the Cult of Smart is destroyed.

The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium

Author : Martin Gurri
Publisher : Stripe Press
Page : 465 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2018-12-04
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781953953346

Get Book

The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium by Martin Gurri Pdf

How insurgencies—enabled by digital devices and a vast information sphere—have mobilized millions of ordinary people around the world. In the words of economist and scholar Arnold Kling, Martin Gurri saw it coming. Technology has categorically reversed the information balance of power between the public and the elites who manage the great hierarchical institutions of the industrial age: government, political parties, the media. The Revolt of the Public tells the story of how insurgencies, enabled by digital devices and a vast information sphere, have mobilized millions of ordinary people around the world. Originally published in 2014, The Revolt of the Public is now available in an updated edition, which includes an extensive analysis of Donald Trump’s improbable rise to the presidency and the electoral triumphs of Brexit. The book concludes with a speculative look forward, pondering whether the current elite class can bring about a reformation of the democratic process and whether new organizing principles, adapted to a digital world, can arise out of the present political turbulence.

U.S.S. Seawolf

Author : Patrick Robinson
Publisher : Harper Collins
Page : 500 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2009-10-13
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780061829734

Get Book

U.S.S. Seawolf by Patrick Robinson Pdf

Armed with stolen U.S. military technology, the Chinese are producing a frightening new breed of weaponry,led by the ICBM submarine Xia III--a vessel that just might be able to launch a nuclear warhead across the Pacific Ocean and take out an American West Coast city. National Security Adviser Admiral Arnold Morgan can't let that happen, and he dispatches the most stealthy hunter-killer submarine in the U.S. fleet, the 9,000-ton ultrasecret Seawolf, deep into the dark, forbidden waters of the South China Sea. But then the unthinkable happens: Seawolf, collides with a Chinese destroyer and falls into enemy hands. A team of cunning Navy SEALs--the biggest Special Forces assault group assembled since Vietnam--is sent in to free the captive Seawolf, crew and bring them home. The American Eagle confronts the Chinese Dragon with the balance of world power on the line. Failure is not an option...

Brilliant Blunders

Author : Mario Livio
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2014-05-27
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781439192375

Get Book

Brilliant Blunders by Mario Livio Pdf

"Drawing on the lives of five great scientists -- Charles Darwin, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle and Albert Einstein -- scientist/author Mario Livio shows how even the greatest scientists made major mistakes and how science built on these errors to achieve breakthroughs, especially into the evolution of life and the universe"--

The Rise and Fall of Bear Stearns

Author : Alan C. (Ace) Greenberg
Publisher : Simon & Schuster
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2011-05-03
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1439101426

Get Book

The Rise and Fall of Bear Stearns by Alan C. (Ace) Greenberg Pdf

Former CEO of Bear Stearns, Alan Greenberg, sheds light on his life as one of Wall Street’s most respected figures in this candid and fascinating account of a storied career and its stunning conclusion. On March 16, 2008, Alan Greenberg, former CEO and current chairman of the executive committee of Bear Stearns, found himself in the company’s offices on a Sunday. More remarkable by far than the fact that he was in the office on a Sunday is what he was doing: participating in a meeting of the board of directors to discuss selling the company he had worked decades to build for a fraction of what it had been worth as little as ten days earlier. In less than a week the value of Bear Stearns had diminished by tens of billions of dollars. As Greenberg recalls, "our most unassailable assumption—that Bear Stearns, an independent investment firm with a proud eighty-five-year history, would be in business tomorrow—had been extinguished. . . . What was it, exactly, that had happened, and how, and why?" This book provides answers to those questions from one of Wall Street’s most respected figures, the man most closely identified with Bear Stearns’ decades of success. The Rise and Fall of Bear Stearns is Alan Greenberg’s remarkable story of ascending to the top of one of Wall Street’s venerable powerhouse financial institutions. After joining Bear Stearns in 1949, Greenberg rose to become formally head of the firm in 1978. No one knows the history of Bear Stearns as he does; no one participated in more key decisions, right into the company’s final days. Greenberg offers an honest, clear-eyed assessment of how the collapse of the company surprised him and other top executives, and he explains who he thinks was responsible.