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Editorial Reviews
The New York Times's Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist reveals how the financial meltdown emerged from the toxic interplay of Washington, Wall Street, and corrupt mortgage lenders
In Reckless Endangerment, Gretchen Morgenson, the star business columnist of The New York Times, exposes how the watchdogs who were supposed to protect the country from financial harm were actually complicit in the actions that finally blew up the American economy.
Drawing on previously untapped sources and building on original research from coauthor Joshua Rosner—who himself raised early warnings with the public and investors, and kept detailed records—Morgenson connects the dots that led to this fiasco.
Morgenson and Rosner draw back the curtain on Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance giant that grew, with the support of the Clinton administration, through the 1990s, becoming a major opponent of government oversight even as it was benefiting from public subsidies. They expose the role played not only by Fannie Mae executives but also by enablers at Countrywide Financial, Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve, HUD, Congress, the FDIC, and the biggest players on Wall Street, to show how greed, aggression, and fear led countless officials to ignore warning signs of an imminent disaster.
Character-rich and definitive in its analysis, this is the one account of the financial crisis you must read.
Related Reviews
Morgenson and Rosner have done their homework and written an in depth and hard-hitting book that reveals with perfect clarity how this mess began. It's refreshing to read a book that doesn't rehash the Wall Street stories we've all heard over and over. I'm much more interested at this point in the characters in Washington who were championing home ownership and enriching themselves as they set the stage for disaster, and who really have remained blameless up to now. The sense of outrage the authors feel comes through on every page and the book is actually a page-turner in addition to being a real narrative, unlike some of the other books on the crisis, with a beginning and an end. Great storytelling and great reporting as well. Read it!!!
We need more watchdogs like Gretchen and Josh!
I have long admired Gretchen Morgenson and cheered when she was awarded a Pulitzer. Perhaps this book in conjunction with her hard-hitting NY Times reporting will garner her another one. She deserves it. The authors echo my sentiments precisely in their introduction "...felt compelled to write this book because we are angry that the American economy was almost wrecked by a crowd of self-interested, politically influential and arrogant people who have not been held accountable for their actions." And the people who did it "...continue, even now, to hold sway in the corridors of Wall Street and Washington."
I have nothing against the vastly wealthy and sometimes - OK, frequently - dream wistfully of joining their ranks, but I do care about how this wealth is accumulated. Entrepreneurs who build companies, executives who take these companies to the next level and the one after that, highly talented and gifted persons - in arts and sports - who command premium remuneration all enrich society. Many financial titans, on the other hand, do not create wealth. They are unusually adept in extracting it for personal gain while simultaneously impoverishing society and holding it hostage. They operate on the principle that "My gain is mine and only mine. My loss is actually yours." And they know how to spread enough largesse that enablers like accountants, rating agencies and regulators fall into line and they buy off politicians with consummate skill. They try - increasingly ineffectively - to justify their existence by claiming that they perform crucial service by "allocating capital" and "increasing efficiency." They further claim that they should not be regulated because they can do a better job of regulating themselves. The fish is starting to stink pretty bad.
What makes this book a valuable read is that the authors explain exactly how this process works and they are not shy about naming names. For example, you learn how James Johnson, the erstwhile CEO of Fannie Mae built it into a colossus that gradually jettisoned all prudence in lending and vastly enriched himself and a bunch of cronies. He also suborned powerful legislators like Barney Frank, the powerful Massachusetts Democrat. And, lastly, he looked on and encouraged Wall Street firms to do the same and used that as justification to increase the scale of his own operations. And, Oh! I almost forgot, he also admonished fresh graduates to pursue their careers with "honesty and integrity". When Johnson left Fannie Mae, a senior executive recalled "...we always won, we took no prisoners and we faced little organized political opposition." He continued to be politically influential and was an adviser to the current president until forced to resign because it surfaced that he had received sweetheart loans from a leading purveyor of toxic financial junk.
Did you ever feel that "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" is the norm on Wall Street? Consider this: Stephen Friedman, former CEO of Goldman Sachs was a director of Fannie Mae when the directors improperly allowed company executives to set earnings targets that they could meet. Federal investigators concluded that "As a direct result, senior management reaped ongoing and extensive financial rewards through accounting manipulation." Johnson was then inducted to the board of Goldman Sachs - when Hank Paulson became CEO - and promptly made chair of the compensation committee. He dispensed some of the richest paychecks on Wall Street and these became the norm as other firms played catch-up. In fact, Johnson chaired the compensation committees of every board he sat on.
Angelo Mozilo, founder and CEO of Countrywide, was a good friend of Johnson's and used his methods to grow the cancer that was Countrywide. The company made it a policy to give sweetheart loans to persons in power - these VIP loans were informally known as Friends of Angelo loans. Richard Holbrooke got such a loan. So did Senators Chris Dodd, Kent Conrad and Barbara Boxer. So did Donna Shalala, former head of Health and Human Services and Alfonso Jackson, secretary of HUD. And Countrywide hired sons and daughters and relatives of the influential and made sure that they were not fired during mass layoffs. Do you think it is possible, just barely possible, that these policies are what enabled that tumor to grow so large without surgery even being considered?
There were people who tried to stem the disastrous tide such as Mark Kohodes the money manager who shared damaging information about NovaStar - a Countrywide clone - with the SEC to no avail. And Armando Falcon, the regulator who tried to rein in Fannie Mae and was bludgeoned for his pains. And William Brennan of the Atlanta Legal Aid who drafted tough anti-predatory-lending legislation and then had it go nowhere.
This book will make you well informed. It will also make you sad because not much has changed in the system and the same players are still active. Can someone please tell me why we "respect" these CEOs instead of crossing the street when we see them coming our way?
I have nothing against the vastly wealthy and sometimes - OK, frequently - dream wistfully of joining their ranks, but I do care about how this wealth is accumulated. Entrepreneurs who build companies, executives who take these companies to the next level and the one after that, highly talented and gifted persons - in arts and sports - who command premium remuneration all enrich society. Many financial titans, on the other hand, do not create wealth. They are unusually adept in extracting it for personal gain while simultaneously impoverishing society and holding it hostage. They operate on the principle that "My gain is mine and only mine. My loss is actually yours." And they know how to spread enough largesse that enablers like accountants, rating agencies and regulators fall into line and they buy off politicians with consummate skill. They try - increasingly ineffectively - to justify their existence by claiming that they perform crucial service by "allocating capital" and "increasing efficiency." They further claim that they should not be regulated because they can do a better job of regulating themselves. The fish is starting to stink pretty bad.
What makes this book a valuable read is that the authors explain exactly how this process works and they are not shy about naming names. For example, you learn how James Johnson, the erstwhile CEO of Fannie Mae built it into a colossus that gradually jettisoned all prudence in lending and vastly enriched himself and a bunch of cronies. He also suborned powerful legislators like Barney Frank, the powerful Massachusetts Democrat. And, lastly, he looked on and encouraged Wall Street firms to do the same and used that as justification to increase the scale of his own operations. And, Oh! I almost forgot, he also admonished fresh graduates to pursue their careers with "honesty and integrity". When Johnson left Fannie Mae, a senior executive recalled "...we always won, we took no prisoners and we faced little organized political opposition." He continued to be politically influential and was an adviser to the current president until forced to resign because it surfaced that he had received sweetheart loans from a leading purveyor of toxic financial junk.
Did you ever feel that "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" is the norm on Wall Street? Consider this: Stephen Friedman, former CEO of Goldman Sachs was a director of Fannie Mae when the directors improperly allowed company executives to set earnings targets that they could meet. Federal investigators concluded that "As a direct result, senior management reaped ongoing and extensive financial rewards through accounting manipulation." Johnson was then inducted to the board of Goldman Sachs - when Hank Paulson became CEO - and promptly made chair of the compensation committee. He dispensed some of the richest paychecks on Wall Street and these became the norm as other firms played catch-up. In fact, Johnson chaired the compensation committees of every board he sat on.
Angelo Mozilo, founder and CEO of Countrywide, was a good friend of Johnson's and used his methods to grow the cancer that was Countrywide. The company made it a policy to give sweetheart loans to persons in power - these VIP loans were informally known as Friends of Angelo loans. Richard Holbrooke got such a loan. So did Senators Chris Dodd, Kent Conrad and Barbara Boxer. So did Donna Shalala, former head of Health and Human Services and Alfonso Jackson, secretary of HUD. And Countrywide hired sons and daughters and relatives of the influential and made sure that they were not fired during mass layoffs. Do you think it is possible, just barely possible, that these policies are what enabled that tumor to grow so large without surgery even being considered?
There were people who tried to stem the disastrous tide such as Mark Kohodes the money manager who shared damaging information about NovaStar - a Countrywide clone - with the SEC to no avail. And Armando Falcon, the regulator who tried to rein in Fannie Mae and was bludgeoned for his pains. And William Brennan of the Atlanta Legal Aid who drafted tough anti-predatory-lending legislation and then had it go nowhere.
This book will make you well informed. It will also make you sad because not much has changed in the system and the same players are still active. Can someone please tell me why we "respect" these CEOs instead of crossing the street when we see them coming our way?
Lapdogs as watchdogs, pols in the pocket and giddyup greed!!!
Reckless Endangerment chronicles the screwing of America by just about everyone in power: dirty politicians, inept watchdogs and an insatiably avaricious financial community that knew better but didn't care. NY Times reporters Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner have taken the time to investigate not just players in the financial mess circa 2008 but the 15 years prior when Bill Clinton decided to get behind the dubious notion that everyone should have a stake in the American dream and own their own home.
In theory it all sounded perfect--who could object to people bettering themselves? The only problem was that to make the dream "accessible to all" generations of lending practices and protections would have to be dismantled. Safeguards would be gutted and due diligence would become a nuisance that is brushed aside. There are plenty of culprits here: the usual Wall Street money-mongers and in the 90s and early 00s a Republican Congress in their pocket. But Morgenson and Posner shine a powerfully bright light on the complicity of marquee Democrats such as Bill Clinton, Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank. Toss in Democrat insider Jim Johnson into the cauldron and it is a powerful witches brew.
Jim Johnson, quintessential DC insider used all of these connections in the 90s on behalf of empowering Fannie Mae and eviscerating sound financial practices. Greasing the wheels of powerful polls on banking and finance committees became standard procedure. Finding a sinecure for Barney Frank's boyfriend was a pleasure not a problem (if Frank isn't a criminal it is by a hair's breadth). Libeling the responsible, honest regulators and economists who tried to stop this train-wreck waiting to happen was all in a day's work, and a particular Johnson specialty. Edward DeMarco, Gary Gensler and Marvin Phaups are particularly heroic. When the occasional curious congressman tried to uncover Fannie Mae compensation packages, Johnson squashed them as well, more powerful than our own elected officials.
Sadly, all of the corruption above pales in comparison to Chris Dodd's attachment of an amendment that extended government protection to financial agency's other than bank (Fannie Mae, insurance companies, et al) As a result, we not only get to save Fannie and Freddie--we get to pay the legal bills of everyone who is being sued because of their reckless behavior. What did Chris Dodd get? Maximum campaign contributions and a sweetheart mortgage, naturally.
Today, who is getting the blame? The poor of course. The people who shouldn't EVER have qualified for a loan but could get one are now told they should have known better! Better than bankers who told them they could? Better than Wall Street regulators who told them they should? Better than Secretaries of the Treasury who told them they were fools not to? Today they are buried in bankruptcy or mountains of debt. Middle class Americans are paying the bill and the money class who created the mess are still meeting at Davos or presiding over their conservative and liberal think tanks.
If I have one criticism of the book it is with regards to full disclosure. While trawling the NY Times web site I learned that Gretchen Morgenson was once an employee of Steve Forbes and a campaign manager during his run for the presidency based in large part as a proponent of a flat-tax. Nothing wrong with that except Fannie Mae took the flat tax proposal as a threat and went after Forbes big time in New Hampshire. Their attack ads, which Morgenson presents as detrimental to the campaign were also detrimental to her self-interest at the time. This should have been revealed before chapter 1. Perhaps it means nothing but if we are critical of Fannie Mae for its lack of transparency, what about Morgenson?
Toward the end of the book I was incredibly depressed. It is one thing to be so royally screwed, but surely we have learned lessons from it and will prevent it happening again, right? Wrong. Morgenson and Posner make it crystal clear that pretty much the same financial system that was in place 5 years ago is still in place today. The 2009 revisions to regulations are about as dependable as New Orlean's levees. Massive bank failures in the 80s were followed by financial crisis and collapse in '08. Collective memory seems to be shortest of all and already fading. How sad and frustrating.
P.T. Barnum was wrong. In America today it seems there is a sucker born every second.
In theory it all sounded perfect--who could object to people bettering themselves? The only problem was that to make the dream "accessible to all" generations of lending practices and protections would have to be dismantled. Safeguards would be gutted and due diligence would become a nuisance that is brushed aside. There are plenty of culprits here: the usual Wall Street money-mongers and in the 90s and early 00s a Republican Congress in their pocket. But Morgenson and Posner shine a powerfully bright light on the complicity of marquee Democrats such as Bill Clinton, Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank. Toss in Democrat insider Jim Johnson into the cauldron and it is a powerful witches brew.
Jim Johnson, quintessential DC insider used all of these connections in the 90s on behalf of empowering Fannie Mae and eviscerating sound financial practices. Greasing the wheels of powerful polls on banking and finance committees became standard procedure. Finding a sinecure for Barney Frank's boyfriend was a pleasure not a problem (if Frank isn't a criminal it is by a hair's breadth). Libeling the responsible, honest regulators and economists who tried to stop this train-wreck waiting to happen was all in a day's work, and a particular Johnson specialty. Edward DeMarco, Gary Gensler and Marvin Phaups are particularly heroic. When the occasional curious congressman tried to uncover Fannie Mae compensation packages, Johnson squashed them as well, more powerful than our own elected officials.
Sadly, all of the corruption above pales in comparison to Chris Dodd's attachment of an amendment that extended government protection to financial agency's other than bank (Fannie Mae, insurance companies, et al) As a result, we not only get to save Fannie and Freddie--we get to pay the legal bills of everyone who is being sued because of their reckless behavior. What did Chris Dodd get? Maximum campaign contributions and a sweetheart mortgage, naturally.
Today, who is getting the blame? The poor of course. The people who shouldn't EVER have qualified for a loan but could get one are now told they should have known better! Better than bankers who told them they could? Better than Wall Street regulators who told them they should? Better than Secretaries of the Treasury who told them they were fools not to? Today they are buried in bankruptcy or mountains of debt. Middle class Americans are paying the bill and the money class who created the mess are still meeting at Davos or presiding over their conservative and liberal think tanks.
If I have one criticism of the book it is with regards to full disclosure. While trawling the NY Times web site I learned that Gretchen Morgenson was once an employee of Steve Forbes and a campaign manager during his run for the presidency based in large part as a proponent of a flat-tax. Nothing wrong with that except Fannie Mae took the flat tax proposal as a threat and went after Forbes big time in New Hampshire. Their attack ads, which Morgenson presents as detrimental to the campaign were also detrimental to her self-interest at the time. This should have been revealed before chapter 1. Perhaps it means nothing but if we are critical of Fannie Mae for its lack of transparency, what about Morgenson?
Toward the end of the book I was incredibly depressed. It is one thing to be so royally screwed, but surely we have learned lessons from it and will prevent it happening again, right? Wrong. Morgenson and Posner make it crystal clear that pretty much the same financial system that was in place 5 years ago is still in place today. The 2009 revisions to regulations are about as dependable as New Orlean's levees. Massive bank failures in the 80s were followed by financial crisis and collapse in '08. Collective memory seems to be shortest of all and already fading. How sad and frustrating.
P.T. Barnum was wrong. In America today it seems there is a sucker born every second.
Rosner came to the great Nouriel Roubini with key information regarding the housing bubble. The rest is history!
This book is a must read for anyone interested in understanding many aspects of the financial crisis. It is right up there with Roubini's book and also with "What Greenspan Can't Tell You", Jan '08, which predicted the real estate and stock market crashes. Read all of these books, especially the latter if you care about what money you have left.
This book is a must read for anyone interested in understanding many aspects of the financial crisis. It is right up there with Roubini's book and also with "What Greenspan Can't Tell You", Jan '08, which predicted the real estate and stock market crashes. Read all of these books, especially the latter if you care about what money you have left.
I an extremely disappointed to find two obvious errors in just the first few pages. Kerry was not the Democratic candidate for president in 2000, and Walter Mondale did not sit out the 1980 election (he ran for Vice-President). One must wonder what else was missed. A very disappointing beginning to a book I was really looking forward to reading.
5 Stars-The authors show how Wall Street speculators had looted Fannie Mae long before 2000
This is a very interesting book.It is especially valuable in demonstrating how practically all of Bill Clinton's appointments in his 1992-2000 administrations were generally Wall Street speculators who effectively looted Fannie Mae long before the 2007-2008 blow up in the subprime ,adjustable rate mortgage portion of the real estate market.Both Mozilo and Franklin Delano Raines had been playing leveraging games at Fannie Mae since 1997.Fannie Mae was stripped of all its firewalls so that Wall Street could peddle its misrated financial products at Fannie Mae for the benefit of Wall Street.
The main problem with the book is an insufficient understanding and coverage of the contributions of Adam Smith and J M Keynes in analyzing the historical problem of repetitive speculative activity,financed by the private banking industry, in their works published in 1759(The Theory of Moral Sentiments),1776(The Wealth of Nations) and 1936(The General Theory of Employment ,Interest and Money).What happened in 2007-2009 has ,in fact, occurred a number of times in past history.It is the failure to learn from the past that is the crux of the matter.
The main problem with the book is an insufficient understanding and coverage of the contributions of Adam Smith and J M Keynes in analyzing the historical problem of repetitive speculative activity,financed by the private banking industry, in their works published in 1759(The Theory of Moral Sentiments),1776(The Wealth of Nations) and 1936(The General Theory of Employment ,Interest and Money).What happened in 2007-2009 has ,in fact, occurred a number of times in past history.It is the failure to learn from the past that is the crux of the matter.
I expected much better of Gretchen Morgenson, whose reporting in the Times I admire. Perhaps her co-author is to blame.
Gretchen Morgenson is one of the key journalists who has detailed this complex story over its entire spectrum for a number of years - and yet pieces of this story - and why the agencies which were supposed to supervise failed to do - remain basically untold, and in certain circumstances, UNchanged.
One key piece of this story as it affects the average person is documented in a youtube video which relates the story of a group of 10,000 ordinary citizens who were IndyMac bank depositors in July of 2008, who lost 50% of their bank deposited funds that the FDIC declared UNinsured at that time and their unrelenting grass roots effort to restore $270 million of their "lost" accounts: [...] (amazingly, yes, the majority of these funds were returned!)
However, the results for the hedge fund moguls who acquired IndyMac were far more positive from the very start. When IndyMac was resurrected as OneWest, Dune Capital Management, the hedge fund which acquired the bank (e.g. ex-Goldman partners Steven Mnuchin and Daniel Niedich, plus John Paulson, George Soros, Christopher Flowers, et al), enjoyed a first-year RISE in their equity share of +$1.6 BILLION. And perhaps more ironically since, in this second wave, entertainment media (books, videos, movies, et al,) and the addiction of the consuming public to figure out the financial tsunami that has hit, has created yet ANOTHER revenue stream for our enterprising billionaires. All these books, movies, videos that we're buying? Check out Dune Capital's subsidiary, Dune Entertainment, which signed a $500 million deal with Fox in 2007 giving us, among other variants, Wall Street 2: Michael Douglas in Money Never Sleeps.
Furthermore, let's take a look at what our financial reforms might REALLY mean for the general population and the average person. Despite the complex Dodd Frank Financial Reform Act and the new Consumer Financial Reform Agency, the simplest steps are YET non-existent. Although this same UNinsured depositor issue has been around for 20 years, there is still no requirement placed upon the FDIC to simply tell depositors that ALL bank deposits are insured under aggregated umbrella limits and NOT EACH ACCOUNT SEPARATELY or to mandate that the same technologies which instantly alert you to missed mortgage payments and checking account overdrafts be used to alert any bank depositor if funds held in a bank account exceed insured limits and are therefore UNinsured.
What needs to be told to journalists and legislators alike is this: tell the whole story and stop perpetuating environments where the super rich become even richer and figure out different ways to layer the cake. The legislation that was required existed. As now, it simply needs to be ENFORCED and enforced upon people who have disastrously become a whole lot richer.
One key piece of this story as it affects the average person is documented in a youtube video which relates the story of a group of 10,000 ordinary citizens who were IndyMac bank depositors in July of 2008, who lost 50% of their bank deposited funds that the FDIC declared UNinsured at that time and their unrelenting grass roots effort to restore $270 million of their "lost" accounts: [...] (amazingly, yes, the majority of these funds were returned!)
However, the results for the hedge fund moguls who acquired IndyMac were far more positive from the very start. When IndyMac was resurrected as OneWest, Dune Capital Management, the hedge fund which acquired the bank (e.g. ex-Goldman partners Steven Mnuchin and Daniel Niedich, plus John Paulson, George Soros, Christopher Flowers, et al), enjoyed a first-year RISE in their equity share of +$1.6 BILLION. And perhaps more ironically since, in this second wave, entertainment media (books, videos, movies, et al,) and the addiction of the consuming public to figure out the financial tsunami that has hit, has created yet ANOTHER revenue stream for our enterprising billionaires. All these books, movies, videos that we're buying? Check out Dune Capital's subsidiary, Dune Entertainment, which signed a $500 million deal with Fox in 2007 giving us, among other variants, Wall Street 2: Michael Douglas in Money Never Sleeps.
Furthermore, let's take a look at what our financial reforms might REALLY mean for the general population and the average person. Despite the complex Dodd Frank Financial Reform Act and the new Consumer Financial Reform Agency, the simplest steps are YET non-existent. Although this same UNinsured depositor issue has been around for 20 years, there is still no requirement placed upon the FDIC to simply tell depositors that ALL bank deposits are insured under aggregated umbrella limits and NOT EACH ACCOUNT SEPARATELY or to mandate that the same technologies which instantly alert you to missed mortgage payments and checking account overdrafts be used to alert any bank depositor if funds held in a bank account exceed insured limits and are therefore UNinsured.
What needs to be told to journalists and legislators alike is this: tell the whole story and stop perpetuating environments where the super rich become even richer and figure out different ways to layer the cake. The legislation that was required existed. As now, it simply needs to be ENFORCED and enforced upon people who have disastrously become a whole lot richer.
Morgenson has done a good job of building her brand and she has a very high profile platform (NY Times) to perpetuate that brand. In order to sell this book she takes the popular perspective (Fannie Mae was a bad actor in the financial/housing crisis) and purports to tell the 'behind the scenes' story. The problem with this is that she uses that perspective and supports it with selective references, juxtaposing current events with out of context historical events, only choosing one 'bad guy' (where is Freddie Mac in this?) and generally choosing to use only those facts that make for interesting reading. A few glaring errors occur in the political arena - FYI, Kerry ran for President in 2004, not 2000.
An example of her selective references is how she talks about how James Johnson decided to 'grow the portfolio'. Even though this began at Fannie Mae in the middle 1980's (before Johnson arrived), was replicated by Freddie Mac and was being done by every financial company in the world at the time. She belabors Fannie Mae capital requirements being too low. Yet at the time they were set the US mortgage market was the envy of the world due to its absurdly low loss rates. These capital requirements, on a risk based capital basis, were the same as commercial banks at the time. Since Fannie Mae was precluded from investing in credit card receivables, venture capital or other higher risk assets it was consistent with banks to have relatively low capital requirements. At one point she comments on a CBO study that said Fannie Mae 'only' gave back to consumers 2/3 of the benefits accrued due to their charter. From a private company restricted by charter to one industry? Only 2/3's? Even though that number can be questioned, how can this not be a positive result? I wonder how many people would vote for just this arrangement to get that kind of return.
The book is replete with oversimplification, selective representation of facts and out of context comparisons. A good read if you like fairy tales.
An example of her selective references is how she talks about how James Johnson decided to 'grow the portfolio'. Even though this began at Fannie Mae in the middle 1980's (before Johnson arrived), was replicated by Freddie Mac and was being done by every financial company in the world at the time. She belabors Fannie Mae capital requirements being too low. Yet at the time they were set the US mortgage market was the envy of the world due to its absurdly low loss rates. These capital requirements, on a risk based capital basis, were the same as commercial banks at the time. Since Fannie Mae was precluded from investing in credit card receivables, venture capital or other higher risk assets it was consistent with banks to have relatively low capital requirements. At one point she comments on a CBO study that said Fannie Mae 'only' gave back to consumers 2/3 of the benefits accrued due to their charter. From a private company restricted by charter to one industry? Only 2/3's? Even though that number can be questioned, how can this not be a positive result? I wonder how many people would vote for just this arrangement to get that kind of return.
The book is replete with oversimplification, selective representation of facts and out of context comparisons. A good read if you like fairy tales.
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Thankfully though, in contrast to Sorkin's book and the HBO special about the same subject, Reckless Endangerment doesn't just put the blame of the mortgage meltdown on Wall Street. The authors rightly finds cause in the good-intentioned busy bodies of the federal government who promoted sub-prime loans with regulation and backed with taxpayer money. Neither political party was exempt from the wrongdoing, either. The authors make that clear.
I highly recommend this book, but of course, the story is bigger than the 2000s. If you want to understand what led to the economic climate that allowed the meltdown, get the excellent Juggernaut: Why the System Crushes the Only People Who Can Save It.