The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine - Michael Lewis

Yikes. You know it really sucks that a bunch of Wall Street a-holes created mortgage backed securities and in order to continue to feed their machine, bundled riskier and riskier mortgages together, and then decided to sell portions of those bonds over and over again in a way that nearly bankrupted the company. And with their giant government bailout they turned around and gave themselves big fat bonuses in amounts greater than average Americans will see in their entire lives. So yeah, The Big Short is infuriating.

But... as with anything Michael Lewis, it's so damn well written. I mean, I have an English literature degree, there's no way I should understand and be able to speak intelligently about collateralized debt obligations, but I can. So thanks Michael Lewis. 

This book takes a deep dive into the origin and abuses that led to the financial collapse of 2007/2008 and the following recession. It's a hard look at the people on the inside of Wall Street that care only about making money for themselves and had no qualms about what their actions might do for the rest of America. And it applauds without glorifying the individuals who figured out the system was on the brink of collapse and bet against it. Everyone was asleep at the wheel on this one and it could absolutely happen again. Which is probably the worst part. 

I watched the movie after reading the book and it's very well done. I don't say that often.

4.5 Stars.