by David Faber
First published 2009
The financial crisis begins brewing in 2001 when the Federal Reserve slashes interest rates to historic lows following the September 11 attacks. CNBC's David Faber chronicles the seven-year cascade of decisions that led to economic catastrophe. Investment bankers abandon lending standards in their pursuit of profits. Mortgage lenders push risky loans. Rating agencies rubber-stamp toxic securities. Regulators attempt to intervene but fail to contain the spreading damage. Meanwhile, savvy hedge fund managers recognize the housing bubble and position themselves to profit from its inevitable burst. Faber interviews the key players who shaped this crisis, from Wall Street insiders to government officials. Each character reveals their motivations and miscalculations as the financial system careens toward collapse. The book exposes how greed drove every major decision and how government complicity enabled the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression.
Genres: business, economics, non-fiction, 21st-century, finance
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: insider-perspective, investigative-journalism
Period: 2001, Great Depression
208 pages · Hardcover · Wiley