Dale Reviews The Big Short

Some time ago I put a post on the blog about my experience having dinner with Michael Lewis, author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, Blind Side and most recently The Big Short.  As I previously stated, Moneyball was a major inspiration for starting vAuto.  I’m a huge fan of Michael Lewis, I read everything that he writes, and The Big Short is truly a great read.

In The Big Short, Lewis examines the cause of the latest Wall Street sub-prime mortgage meltdown.  In typical Lewis fashion, he tells a fascinating story from the perspective of several unlikely characters each of whom saw it coming and bet against the crowd.  Lewis does a great job explaining the esoteric nature of complex mortgage derivatives and related instruments.  Most importantly, The Big Short sets the record straight that what happened on Wall Street wasn’t an ordinary panic but rather an insidious frenzy of self-serving individuals and financial institutions. 

Recently an enterprising woman from Goldman Sachs contacted me for the purpose of doing business with their institution.  This woman was clever enough to acquaint herself with this blog and my book choices.  She said that we shared many of the same interests in books and was kind enough to send me a book entitled The Lords of Finance.  I am now several hundred pages into this 1,000 page volume that chronicles earlier banking crisis starting in the early 1900’s.  While I appreciate the gift and the unique method of soliciting my business, I have to honestly say that after having read The Big Short, I could never do business with any of the present day Wall Street firms.  Simply stated, they’ve lost my confidence and I don’t think that it can ever be reclaimed.  I thank Michael Lewis for having taken the veil off of the thin veneer of Wall Street credibility.