The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit CrashWe are living in the most reckless financial environment in recent history. Arcane credit derivative bets are now well into the tens of trillions. According to Charles R. Morris, the astronomical leverage at investment banks and their hedge fund and private equity clients virtually guarantees massive disruption in global markets. The crash, when it comes, will have no firebreaks. A quarter century of free-market zealotry that extolled asset stripping, abusive lending, and hedge fund secrecy will come crashing down with it. The Trillion Dollar Meltdown explains how we got here, and what is about to happen. After the crash our priorities will be quite different. But things are likely to get worse before they better. Whether you are an active investor, a homeowner, or a contributor to your 401(k) plan, The Trillion Dollar Meltdown will be indispensable to understanding the gross excess that has put the world economy on the brink—and what the new landscape will look like. |
Contents
Chapter Two Wall Street Finds Religion | 19 |
Practice Runs | 37 |
Chapter Four A Wall of Money | 59 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
Alan Greenspan American assets Bear Stearns Bernanke billion boom borrow capital cash Chapter Chicago-school China CMBS collateralized collateralized debt obligations companies consumer corporate counterparty countries Countrywide crash created credit bubble credit default swaps credit derivatives credit hedge funds crisis deal debt default rates deficits dollar economic economists Federal Reserve fees financial markets Fitch free markets global Greenspan growth hedge funds high-yield housing income increase industry inflation instruments interest rates investment banks investors junk bonds lenders lending leveraged loans long-term losses LTCM margin ment Merrill monolines mortgage-backed October paper Paul Volcker payments pension position private equity private equity funds profits rating agencies risk risky S&Ls securities sell shift SIVs Sovereign Wealth Funds strategy structured subprime mortgages tion trading tranches trillion triple-A U.S. Treasuries Volcker Wall Street writedowns York