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The Bullies of Wall Street: This Is How Greed Messed Up Our Economy
Can knowing how a financial crisis happened keep it from happening again? Sheila Bair, the former chairman of the FDIC, explains how the Great Recession impacted families on a personal level using language that everyone can understand.
In 2008, America went through a terrible financial crisis, and we are still suffering the consequences. Families lost their homes, had to give up their pets, and struggled to pay for food and medicine. Businesses didn’t have money to buy equipment or hire and pay workers. Millions of people lost their jobs and their life savings. More than 100,000 businesses went bankrupt.
As the former head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Sheila Bair worked to protect families during the crisis and keep their bank deposits safe. In The Bullies of Wall Street , she describes the many ways in which a broken system led families into financial trouble, and also explains the decisions being made at the time by the most powerful people in the country—from CEOs of multinational banks, to heads of government regulatory committees—that led to the recession.
In 2008, America went through a terrible financial crisis, and we are still suffering the consequences. Families lost their homes, had to give up their pets, and struggled to pay for food and medicine. Businesses didn’t have money to buy equipment or hire and pay workers. Millions of people lost their jobs and their life savings. More than 100,000 businesses went bankrupt.
As the former head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Sheila Bair worked to protect families during the crisis and keep their bank deposits safe. In The Bullies of Wall Street , she describes the many ways in which a broken system led families into financial trouble, and also explains the decisions being made at the time by the most powerful people in the country—from CEOs of multinational banks, to heads of government regulatory committees—that led to the recession.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published April 14, 2015
16 people are currently reading
179 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 7, 2022
This book is a non-fiction memoir about the effects of the 2008 financial crisis on the United States. The book was split into three parts: one about people experiencing the recession, another about the author herself, and the last part was about the future. The book was written by the chairman of the FDIC from 2006-2011, and played a big role in fixing the crisis.
She talks about her story of helping major banks, stopping greedy people, and helping smaller banks, such as community banks. The book covers several aspects about the financial recession, focusing on loans and mortgages. It goes deeper into securitizes and “exploding mortgages.” The information seems accurate, as it is written by someone who had experienced and dealt with the crisis.
I would recommend this book to others, it’s very interesting and detailed. It’s a fun read and it was filled with so many new things that I learned. The book may be a little advanced, and you should know a bit about economics before reading the book. Overall, the book is fun and interesting to read, and I’d recommend it to my friends and family.
- Nicholas, Grade 7
She talks about her story of helping major banks, stopping greedy people, and helping smaller banks, such as community banks. The book covers several aspects about the financial recession, focusing on loans and mortgages. It goes deeper into securitizes and “exploding mortgages.” The information seems accurate, as it is written by someone who had experienced and dealt with the crisis.
I would recommend this book to others, it’s very interesting and detailed. It’s a fun read and it was filled with so many new things that I learned. The book may be a little advanced, and you should know a bit about economics before reading the book. Overall, the book is fun and interesting to read, and I’d recommend it to my friends and family.
- Nicholas, Grade 7
April 17, 2020
Three was a generous rating. I had wanted to read this since it came out and I bought it for Matthew when he was a teen. The first half of the book was informative and good. The second half was whiny and self-serving. Matt felt similarly.
May 12, 2015
Two and a half stars. I *wanted* to like this more, and the good parts were really good: clear explanations of complex topics, excellent backmatter including an appendix w/key financial terms, thorough index, and sound advice about being a fiscally responsible business person, consumer, citizen, and parent. It was also an easy, interesting read. The six (fictionalized, based on real people) "case studies" that make up the book's first half do an excellent job of explaining various financial concepts and their impacts on individuals and families, and set the stage/prep the reader for the second half of the book, which delves into the banks' and feds' side of things. Excerpts would be great for several middle school classes (history, social studies, math.)
I was also especially pleased to see the sections dealing with predatory, "for profit" schools and student loan agencies, as those are some of the most horrible and damaging financial traps out there, and ones I saw many of my low-income, minority students fall victim to.
The bad: whoo boy. So, first of all, I think Bair and her editors didn't have a clear sense of who (age/gradewise) this book is really for, and the inconsistency in intended audience made for an uneven read.
pg. 56: "You have have seen your parents using a credit card" followed by an explanation of what they are, who uses them, and why.
pg. 124" Have you ever read A Midsummer Night's Dream..."
Show me a kid or a teen who doesn't know what a credit card is but who's reading Shakespeare. Weird. The tone/language really varied throughout, at times sounding (to me) condescending.
Another thing that really bugged me: the random fat shaming gag on page 105, in one of the fictionalized case studies. "Ian told stories about Mr. Sutter, the chubby manager at the hardware store where he worked, who was trying to lose weight by eating nothing but green vegetables. All those vegetables made Mr. Sutter very flatulent. "We've lost 20% of our customers since he started his diet, " Ian would joke" ...SO, fat people fart a lot, hahahah? Why would you, in a *fictionalized* case study, add a throwaway detail about a MADE UP fat person to laugh at?
Finally, while I appreciated that Bair depicted families of different backgrounds and ethnicities in the six stories that open the book, I thought it was weird that after dropping many signifiers that Imani's family in Atlanta was Black, the dying grandmother's skin is described as "as thin and white as fancy writing paper."
All in all, I would say that this is a book that will appeal to some middle schoolers, and they'll learn a lot from reading it, but any YA readers should probably read the author's adult book, "Bull by the Horns."
I was also especially pleased to see the sections dealing with predatory, "for profit" schools and student loan agencies, as those are some of the most horrible and damaging financial traps out there, and ones I saw many of my low-income, minority students fall victim to.
The bad: whoo boy. So, first of all, I think Bair and her editors didn't have a clear sense of who (age/gradewise) this book is really for, and the inconsistency in intended audience made for an uneven read.
pg. 56: "You have have seen your parents using a credit card" followed by an explanation of what they are, who uses them, and why.
pg. 124" Have you ever read A Midsummer Night's Dream..."
Show me a kid or a teen who doesn't know what a credit card is but who's reading Shakespeare. Weird. The tone/language really varied throughout, at times sounding (to me) condescending.
Another thing that really bugged me: the random fat shaming gag on page 105, in one of the fictionalized case studies. "Ian told stories about Mr. Sutter, the chubby manager at the hardware store where he worked, who was trying to lose weight by eating nothing but green vegetables. All those vegetables made Mr. Sutter very flatulent. "We've lost 20% of our customers since he started his diet, " Ian would joke" ...SO, fat people fart a lot, hahahah? Why would you, in a *fictionalized* case study, add a throwaway detail about a MADE UP fat person to laugh at?
Finally, while I appreciated that Bair depicted families of different backgrounds and ethnicities in the six stories that open the book, I thought it was weird that after dropping many signifiers that Imani's family in Atlanta was Black, the dying grandmother's skin is described as "as thin and white as fancy writing paper."
All in all, I would say that this is a book that will appeal to some middle schoolers, and they'll learn a lot from reading it, but any YA readers should probably read the author's adult book, "Bull by the Horns."
July 19, 2020
A good idea, brought down by a combination of somewhat sloppy editing/fact-checking (e.g. Bair writes that she was appointed to the FDIC in 2006 by President George H.W. Bush), seeming confusion regarding who the target audience is, and resulting inconsistencies.
The first section was the strongest, explaining real situations and concepts using fictionalized vignettes. Sometimes Bair's writing leans toward the saccharine, simplistic, or slightly awkward, but terms are well-explained on a middle grade level, and the stories help form a connection. The third section is quite short, and didn't feel very impactful. The second section is where things seem to go most wrong: the chapters become absolutely packed with names of important figures, acronyms of agencies and policies, and economic/political terminology. Perhaps there were just too many elements of general financial history and the specifics of the economic situation to really effectively explain to a younger audience in detail, but Bair's attempt was weighed down by jargon, often confusing, and not always compelling. While there is some back matter including a glossary with some terms and an index, a more thorough glossary would have been wise to include, especially for acronyms. This section especially also seems to recommend this book for use in classroom settings rather than as recreational or personally educational material: with guidance of an instructor, young readers might gain additional understanding about bias in nonfiction, asking themselves what makes Bair a good choice to write this book and what might make her a bad one; what her choices, like using the first names vs. last names of former colleagues, might quietly signal to the reader; or what about the book makes it a reliable or unreliable nonfiction text.
The first section was the strongest, explaining real situations and concepts using fictionalized vignettes. Sometimes Bair's writing leans toward the saccharine, simplistic, or slightly awkward, but terms are well-explained on a middle grade level, and the stories help form a connection. The third section is quite short, and didn't feel very impactful. The second section is where things seem to go most wrong: the chapters become absolutely packed with names of important figures, acronyms of agencies and policies, and economic/political terminology. Perhaps there were just too many elements of general financial history and the specifics of the economic situation to really effectively explain to a younger audience in detail, but Bair's attempt was weighed down by jargon, often confusing, and not always compelling. While there is some back matter including a glossary with some terms and an index, a more thorough glossary would have been wise to include, especially for acronyms. This section especially also seems to recommend this book for use in classroom settings rather than as recreational or personally educational material: with guidance of an instructor, young readers might gain additional understanding about bias in nonfiction, asking themselves what makes Bair a good choice to write this book and what might make her a bad one; what her choices, like using the first names vs. last names of former colleagues, might quietly signal to the reader; or what about the book makes it a reliable or unreliable nonfiction text.
September 22, 2017
Have you ever wonder how we were able to move on from the Great Recession or how lives were like for families at the time? If you do then this is the book for you. The author Sheila Bair talks about how the economy was like when the Great Recession was in act and how people that were in charge of the economy made their decision on what to do to help the people. In the book the author talks about made up families based on real stories to talk about how their lives changed and how they had to adjust to because of the Great Recession. Then after each story the author goes in deep and gives a brief summary of the economy side of it. This book really made me feel like I was in the shoes of these families in their financial crisis. That I had to find solutions to deal with the Great Recession to help my family strive. I myself recommend this book to people who love learning about the history of our financial system and how we can improve it.
Based on how I understood it and how it was affected in reading about the Great Recession I would also recommend this book to young adults before they go in the real world and be a part of the economy. Reading the book gave me an insight of how to better protect and be aware of the economy. The “Bullies of Wall St” is very detailed in explaining the Great Recession problems that occurred. This made the book have a very slow pace for me because their was so much to understand of the economy. It wasn’t on my top list of choices to read but I definitely wanted something new to learn about and this book certainly made me aware of how economy can be so fragile and hard at times. After reading this book it came to me and made me realize how big the Great Recession really was.
Based on how I understood it and how it was affected in reading about the Great Recession I would also recommend this book to young adults before they go in the real world and be a part of the economy. Reading the book gave me an insight of how to better protect and be aware of the economy. The “Bullies of Wall St” is very detailed in explaining the Great Recession problems that occurred. This made the book have a very slow pace for me because their was so much to understand of the economy. It wasn’t on my top list of choices to read but I definitely wanted something new to learn about and this book certainly made me aware of how economy can be so fragile and hard at times. After reading this book it came to me and made me realize how big the Great Recession really was.
June 6, 2024
This was an interesting book which explained what happened in the U.S. economy in 2008. The book is divided into three parts, which makes it easy to understand what the author is trying to accomplish. The first part details the housing crisis from the perspective of young people losing their homes and pets. The second part is her perspective from her role with the FDIC. In this part she names banks and individuals who made “interesting” choices. The last part is a call to action for young people to do better and to make better, sounder financial choices than the generation before them.
Overall, this book was easy to follow and understand. I liked the format and want to learn more. In my eyes, a book is successful if it gives you additional perspectives and information to explore, and this book did that for me.
Overall, this book was easy to follow and understand. I liked the format and want to learn more. In my eyes, a book is successful if it gives you additional perspectives and information to explore, and this book did that for me.
December 3, 2017
"Bullies" is a good word for these guys who do, indeed, operate out of greed, and a sense that they are untouchable. She is telling the personal stories about what happened in 2007-2008 and particularly about the awful results in people's lives who were victimized by these bullies. She does it in a way that is accessible to high school readers as well as adults. Despite what happened in 2007-2008 (much of what Sheila Bair warned them would happen) and in spite of some legislation since, the bullies are still operating in the same greedy way and continuing to game a system they control. Bair's book is compelling and educational and a warning all at once.
June 30, 2021
The explanations were thorough and easy to understand for younger readers and up. The author has done a great job at explaining the crisis that emerged during the early 20th century and how it started. I personally think that having Part 1 based on true stories from a family/children's perspective was a brilliant idea, (favorites are definitely Imani's story) showcasing the struggles that big families or the younger have faced during the financial crisis at the time. Overall, the story was great, providing a lot of knowledge on what the hell big banks/investing institutions were thinking during the crisis. (spoiler alert: they weren't thinking at all.)
October 22, 2019
I didn't really like this book the most because I don't like books like this a lot. i couldn't really understand a lot of the things happening in this book. I didn't know why stuff happened in the book a lot I didn't really get why they had to move to a different home and get rid of the god that lived there. one thing I liked about this book was that I really like the main character and the struggle how he went threw hard times but was still a good person
May 22, 2021
This book helped me understand the 2008 financial crisis through simple stories. They were fun to read. After the first half of the book it kind of got a little boring. The book sort of felt self centered and made no sense towards the end. The second half seemed to miss its target audience.
July 19, 2018
Nice insights and perspectives from real world practices
April 11, 2020
Good and important read.
November 27, 2014
Richie’s Picks: THE BULLIES OF WALL STREET by Sheila Bair, Simon & Schuster, April 2015, 272p., ISBN: 978-1-4814-0085-5
“Money, it’s a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash”
-- Pink Floyd (1973)
“Then something called ‘securitization’ happened, which dramatically changed the way people got home loans. With securitization, big financial institutions would pool together thousands of mortgages and put them into something called a trust. Investors--usually other big financial institutions like pension funds, insurance companies, and mutual funds--would pay for pieces of these trusts, which gave them the right to receive some of the loan payments. These pieces were called ‘mortgage-backed securities.’ Because of securitization, money for the mortgages didn’t have to come from banks lending their deposits anymore. So lots of people got into the business of making mortgages…
“But even more importantly, the people arranging the mortgages didn’t really have a reason to care if the borrowers could pay the loan back because they were just passing them on to big securitizers who were, in turn, selling interests in the loan payments to other big institutions...These ‘mortgage originators’...figured out quickly, the more loans they made, the more they got paid, so they started originating as many as possible, without regard to whether people could pay them back…
“Greed overtook the process, and mortgage originators started getting the idea that it was actually a good thing to make loans to people who couldn’t repay them, because that would force them to get another loan to pay off the unaffordable one.”
Six years have now passed since the dominoes began teetering and the U.S. government hastily bailed out the country’s largest financial institutions. Their futures and the nation’s entire financial system were threatened by the epidemic of greed described above. This greed resulted from the government deregulation that radically changed the system through which Americans sought home loans.
Now, in 2014, the nation’s economy is still far from being fully recovered. Why did this all happen? How has the Financial Crisis of 2007-8 affected millions of families around the country?
Former FDIC chairperson Sheila Bair has written a provocative book that begins with Illustrative fictional vignettes about the impact of the Financial Crisis upon young people. She provides clear explanations of what happened systemically to cause the Financial Crisis. She then details how, during her five-year term as chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, she was involved in the government’s efforts to avert a catastrophic collapse of the U.S. economy. And she explains what young people are facing in the long-term as a result of the Crisis.
Bair does not hesitate to point her finger at those in the revolving door of big business and government regulation who bear responsibility for engineering the deregulation. She graphically details how, even in the face of national disaster, they continued to put themselves and their cronies ahead of the common good.
“‘Your money’s in Joe’s house,’ [he says to one man] ‘right next to yours,’ [he says to another] ‘and in the Kennedy house, and Mrs. Backlin’s house, and a hundred others. Why, you’re lending them the money to build, and then, they’re going to pay it back to you as best they can.’”
-- James Stewart, From the bank run scene in the 1946 Frank Capra film “It’s a Wonderful Life”
In 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to help save the banking system and rescue the national economy during the Great Depression. It proved to be one of the great successes of the New Deal.
But now with so many characters in the mortgage originating business, and with securitization, the bank-regulating FDIC only oversees a slice of the home loan action. This means that the author couldn't control everything that was going on and was merely one of numerous players on the government side of negotiations as the system teetered on collapse.
Bair’s account of what happened is riveting and frequently anger-inducing. It is so clearly written that middle- and high-school students will readily grasp the otherwise intimidating subject matter. And, as someone with a business degree who learned a great deal from her eye-opening story, I can tell you that plenty of adults can similarly benefit from giving this one a read.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Pickshttp://richiespicks.pbworks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
https://www.facebook.com/richie.parti...
Moderatorhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_...
http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
“Money, it’s a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash”
-- Pink Floyd (1973)
“Then something called ‘securitization’ happened, which dramatically changed the way people got home loans. With securitization, big financial institutions would pool together thousands of mortgages and put them into something called a trust. Investors--usually other big financial institutions like pension funds, insurance companies, and mutual funds--would pay for pieces of these trusts, which gave them the right to receive some of the loan payments. These pieces were called ‘mortgage-backed securities.’ Because of securitization, money for the mortgages didn’t have to come from banks lending their deposits anymore. So lots of people got into the business of making mortgages…
“But even more importantly, the people arranging the mortgages didn’t really have a reason to care if the borrowers could pay the loan back because they were just passing them on to big securitizers who were, in turn, selling interests in the loan payments to other big institutions...These ‘mortgage originators’...figured out quickly, the more loans they made, the more they got paid, so they started originating as many as possible, without regard to whether people could pay them back…
“Greed overtook the process, and mortgage originators started getting the idea that it was actually a good thing to make loans to people who couldn’t repay them, because that would force them to get another loan to pay off the unaffordable one.”
Six years have now passed since the dominoes began teetering and the U.S. government hastily bailed out the country’s largest financial institutions. Their futures and the nation’s entire financial system were threatened by the epidemic of greed described above. This greed resulted from the government deregulation that radically changed the system through which Americans sought home loans.
Now, in 2014, the nation’s economy is still far from being fully recovered. Why did this all happen? How has the Financial Crisis of 2007-8 affected millions of families around the country?
Former FDIC chairperson Sheila Bair has written a provocative book that begins with Illustrative fictional vignettes about the impact of the Financial Crisis upon young people. She provides clear explanations of what happened systemically to cause the Financial Crisis. She then details how, during her five-year term as chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, she was involved in the government’s efforts to avert a catastrophic collapse of the U.S. economy. And she explains what young people are facing in the long-term as a result of the Crisis.
Bair does not hesitate to point her finger at those in the revolving door of big business and government regulation who bear responsibility for engineering the deregulation. She graphically details how, even in the face of national disaster, they continued to put themselves and their cronies ahead of the common good.
“‘Your money’s in Joe’s house,’ [he says to one man] ‘right next to yours,’ [he says to another] ‘and in the Kennedy house, and Mrs. Backlin’s house, and a hundred others. Why, you’re lending them the money to build, and then, they’re going to pay it back to you as best they can.’”
-- James Stewart, From the bank run scene in the 1946 Frank Capra film “It’s a Wonderful Life”
In 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to help save the banking system and rescue the national economy during the Great Depression. It proved to be one of the great successes of the New Deal.
But now with so many characters in the mortgage originating business, and with securitization, the bank-regulating FDIC only oversees a slice of the home loan action. This means that the author couldn't control everything that was going on and was merely one of numerous players on the government side of negotiations as the system teetered on collapse.
Bair’s account of what happened is riveting and frequently anger-inducing. It is so clearly written that middle- and high-school students will readily grasp the otherwise intimidating subject matter. And, as someone with a business degree who learned a great deal from her eye-opening story, I can tell you that plenty of adults can similarly benefit from giving this one a read.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Pickshttp://richiespicks.pbworks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
https://www.facebook.com/richie.parti...
Moderatorhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_...
http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
December 1, 2015
Have you ever been deceived or fooled by today’s economy? The majority of America would probably say they have in one way or another. In the book, “The Bullies of Wall Street,” by Sheila Bair, portrays several stories of families with economic struggles and what ends up happening to them. After each story the author explains everything about the situation the family was in. She also describes why it happened and even how it could have been avoided or solved. Bair’s “The Bullies of Wall Street,” amazed me with all of the information about our economy that I never knew before.
I believe the overall theme the author was trying to get across was to be smart with how you handle money and to be smarter than the system. By informing her readers of all these economic facts and explanations, it shows that the theme was to educate the readers and not fall for the tricks the economy may throw at you. The author’s style is informative and easy to follow along. I really like this author’s style mainly because I learned a lot and I could really see the settings the author portrayed. I also liked how her voice was unique from other books I read since most books I read are not as informative as this one. The characters in this book vary from story to story so it was hard to get attached to the characters. That was one of the things I did not like, however with each short story, I knew if I liked the character or not because of how detailed this author was. For example in one of the stories it said, “ Matt had never seen his dad cry, but he did that night.” That really gave me a sense of his dad being tough, however it also gave me a sense of how grave their situation was which made me closer to the story. The setting is all over the place in the United States in which really makes me feel like I am apart of the story because of how well this book was written. The plot basically is the author telling realistic stories about families who go through economic struggles and then in the next chapter goes into detail of why it happened. The author does a great job with this and explains how to prevent things like what those families went through from happening to you and other useful tips. I can connect this book easily with our country because that is what this entire book is about. This book as of now does not connect with me too much due to me being under age, however very soon this will be extremely helpful and connect with me on a personal level.
In conclusion, this book is a must read in my opinion. It is very unique from other typical books, in which this one you will learn a lot and possibly save you in the future. I would recommend this book to almost anyone, especially people who may have trouble financially or teens about to go into adulthood. I truly believe this book can be very beneficial to a lot of people, even if they may think they know everything about the economy. The economy can play deceiving tricks, it is up to you to educate yourself and to not be fooled. Reading this book is a great step in the right direction in educating yourself and possibly becoming more successful in life.
November 13, 2015
Yeah, so I'm AS OLD AS THE HILLS and have to admit I did not understand precisely what prompted the 2008 financial crisis. Bair, former head of the FDIC, explains clearly and cogently exactly what happened...and who let it happen.
The first third of the book is devoted to showing different causes and aspects of the economic meltdown, as experienced by different (fictional) kids: Matt's family lost their home because of a subprime mortgage for which they couldn't afford the payment increases; Anna's dad speculated in the housing market and overextended himself when prices dropped; Jorge's dad lost his job; Imani's family suffered when banks changed strategies and rushed to foreclose rather than helping families with mortgage payments; Mary's public school got screwed by cutbacks; Zach's recent-college-grad brother took out loans to attend a for-profit college and then struggled with stratospheric unemployment among teenagers and 20somethings.
The second third of the book is a condensed version of Bair's time at the FDIC. She's clearly still furious at and scornful of a lot of the players she dealt with there (especially Tim Geithner of the Federal Reserve, Vikram Pandit at Citi, Dick Kovacevich at Wells Fargo, plus Larry Summers and Bob Rubin). She explains what the FDIC does and how their attempts to strengthen subprime lending standards failed. I presume that if any of the men she disses here were writing their own book on the financial crisis for young readers, they'd tell a very different tale about cause and effect...but as a storyteller, Bair is awfully convincing. The fact that she started off her career under Republican auspices and continued it under Democratic ones is a point in her favor; she doesn't seem like a partisan hired gun.
The final third of the book, by far the shortest and weakest, basically says, "So, uh, the future! We screwed up! Good luck, kids!"
Basically, I feel about Bullies of Wall Street the way I feel about Steve Sheinkin's Most Dangerous. Before reading these books, I could have PRETENDED I understood the subject matter, at least well enough to do OK on Jeopardy. But I didn't really know what Daniel Ellsberg did and what the Watergate break-in was about, and I didn't really understand why Obama bailed out all those banks. SO YAY BOOKS FOR MIDDLE GRADE READERS THAT ADULTS CAN READ AND BE MADE SMARTER BY. SORRY I JUST ENDED A SENTENCE WITH A PREPOSITION.
The first third of the book is devoted to showing different causes and aspects of the economic meltdown, as experienced by different (fictional) kids: Matt's family lost their home because of a subprime mortgage for which they couldn't afford the payment increases; Anna's dad speculated in the housing market and overextended himself when prices dropped; Jorge's dad lost his job; Imani's family suffered when banks changed strategies and rushed to foreclose rather than helping families with mortgage payments; Mary's public school got screwed by cutbacks; Zach's recent-college-grad brother took out loans to attend a for-profit college and then struggled with stratospheric unemployment among teenagers and 20somethings.
The second third of the book is a condensed version of Bair's time at the FDIC. She's clearly still furious at and scornful of a lot of the players she dealt with there (especially Tim Geithner of the Federal Reserve, Vikram Pandit at Citi, Dick Kovacevich at Wells Fargo, plus Larry Summers and Bob Rubin). She explains what the FDIC does and how their attempts to strengthen subprime lending standards failed. I presume that if any of the men she disses here were writing their own book on the financial crisis for young readers, they'd tell a very different tale about cause and effect...but as a storyteller, Bair is awfully convincing. The fact that she started off her career under Republican auspices and continued it under Democratic ones is a point in her favor; she doesn't seem like a partisan hired gun.
The final third of the book, by far the shortest and weakest, basically says, "So, uh, the future! We screwed up! Good luck, kids!"
Basically, I feel about Bullies of Wall Street the way I feel about Steve Sheinkin's Most Dangerous. Before reading these books, I could have PRETENDED I understood the subject matter, at least well enough to do OK on Jeopardy. But I didn't really know what Daniel Ellsberg did and what the Watergate break-in was about, and I didn't really understand why Obama bailed out all those banks. SO YAY BOOKS FOR MIDDLE GRADE READERS THAT ADULTS CAN READ AND BE MADE SMARTER BY. SORRY I JUST ENDED A SENTENCE WITH A PREPOSITION.
May 11, 2015
Shelia Bair adds a human element to the Great Recession – a topic she covered in detail in her book “Bull by the Horns”. Like the Great Depression of the 1930s, it scarred a generation. The country is still recovering from the economic destruction. It should never have happened. It was caused by fundamentally flawed policies implemented by an inept President with a corrupt administration. Bair was one of the few honest members of that administration. Her anger is palpable and justified.
The book focuses on the housing crisis that unfolded slowly when home prices started to fall in March 2007. At the same time, an oil crisis was brewing. The timing and urgency of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s bank bailout suggests that it was more to help oil speculators than homeowners.
1. In January 2007, Britain’s Sunday Times revealed that Israel was planning a nuclear strike on Iran. Speculators started to bid up oil prices. Oil rose sharply from $55 per barrel.
2. In July 2008, oil prices peaked at $147 when news surfaced that President Bush had refused to support the Israeli air strike. Oil prices started a steep decline. Speculators suffered major losses.
3. In September 2008, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. The Bush administration started bailing out other investment banks.
4. Oil prices bottomed at $35 in February 2009.
I examined these events from an investor’s perspective in my own book “Exuberant Investing”. The mortgage crisis conveniently obscured the bailout of oil speculators. Mission accomplished, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson lost interest. As Bair points out “Congress had specifically told Hank to use the TARP money for foreclosure prevention, but he never launched a program.” We should all be angry.
The book focuses on the housing crisis that unfolded slowly when home prices started to fall in March 2007. At the same time, an oil crisis was brewing. The timing and urgency of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s bank bailout suggests that it was more to help oil speculators than homeowners.
1. In January 2007, Britain’s Sunday Times revealed that Israel was planning a nuclear strike on Iran. Speculators started to bid up oil prices. Oil rose sharply from $55 per barrel.
2. In July 2008, oil prices peaked at $147 when news surfaced that President Bush had refused to support the Israeli air strike. Oil prices started a steep decline. Speculators suffered major losses.
3. In September 2008, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. The Bush administration started bailing out other investment banks.
4. Oil prices bottomed at $35 in February 2009.
I examined these events from an investor’s perspective in my own book “Exuberant Investing”. The mortgage crisis conveniently obscured the bailout of oil speculators. Mission accomplished, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson lost interest. As Bair points out “Congress had specifically told Hank to use the TARP money for foreclosure prevention, but he never launched a program.” We should all be angry.
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January 28, 2016 In 2008, America went through a terrible financial crisis, and we are still suffering the consequences. Families lost their homes, had to give up their pets, and struggled to pay for food and medicine. Businesses didn’t have money to buy equipment or hire and pay workers. Millions of people lost their jobs and their life savings. More than 100,000 businesses went bankrupt. The Bullies of Wall St. tells the story of six fictional families and their struggles to survive and live through what is the abuse of banks.
Sheila Bair aims to young adults in this book, giving an insider and a professional perspective from what happened during the financial crisis and how it may affect the U.S. in the future. -“Many of his friends’ families had already left his Boston neighborhood. About one-third of the houses on his block were empty. Some of the families had to give up their houses because the parents lost their jobs. But many others, like Matt’s family, simply couldn’t afford to keep paying for their houses.”-. This excerpt from the beginning of the book gives a brief idea of how the book shows what happened during the crisis, in fictional (but very realistic) stories.
Overall I wasn’t very interested in the book, to me it was a slow read. At times I found interest in what I was reading but that came to a quick end when I was bombarded by bank terminology and statistics. If you aren’t interested in finance or have absolutely no care as to what the financial crisis was, I do not recommend this book.
Sheila Bair aims to young adults in this book, giving an insider and a professional perspective from what happened during the financial crisis and how it may affect the U.S. in the future. -“Many of his friends’ families had already left his Boston neighborhood. About one-third of the houses on his block were empty. Some of the families had to give up their houses because the parents lost their jobs. But many others, like Matt’s family, simply couldn’t afford to keep paying for their houses.”-. This excerpt from the beginning of the book gives a brief idea of how the book shows what happened during the crisis, in fictional (but very realistic) stories.
Overall I wasn’t very interested in the book, to me it was a slow read. At times I found interest in what I was reading but that came to a quick end when I was bombarded by bank terminology and statistics. If you aren’t interested in finance or have absolutely no care as to what the financial crisis was, I do not recommend this book.
July 24, 2015
It was condescending, like some other reviewers pointed out. Bair seemed to be writing for a younger audience. But that wasn't enough to hinder my enjoyment of the book. I don't know where else I could have received such an in-depth explanation of the events of the 2008 financial crisis so I didn't mind those things at all. Great book, very informative.
December 11, 2014
Reviewed for professional publication.
March 21, 2016
financial literacy column, April 2016
May 17, 2016
Well done. I was fuming by the time I finished it!
May 27, 2016
The info covered by this book would make a great documentary.
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February 20, 2018The Bullies of Wall Street By Sheila Bair is a non-fictional story about how selfishness messed up our economy in 2008. This book furnishes us with the details explaining how and why the economy crashed. The moral of this story is that don't bite off more than you, can chew.Blair provides the reader with such teachings that really makes you feel like your learning about the crisis and that you were in truth there. Blair uses the unique point of views to see where it all began and ended. The fact that this book is aimed at a much younger audience. I admire this about the story because I know that the generations that come after me have a chance. With the knowledge of this book of making out what the could happen if we have a financial crisis. Although this happened just a decade ago, this information is still critical. I read from another source that knowing our history entitles us to not make certain mistakes again. And if we do not recognize our history, we are doomed to repeat it. All in all, I think this a great book with plenty of information beneficial to not only me but the generations that are soon to come.
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