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‘…Lynn blends financial history, politics and current affairs to tell the story of government deceit, unfettered spending, and cheap borrowing.’ (Finance & Management Faculty, October 2010).
Product Description
In 2001, Greece saw its application for membership into the Eurozone accepted, and the country sat down to the greatest free lunch in economic history. However, the coming years of global economic prosperity would lead to unrestrained spending, cheap borrowing, and a failure to implement financial reform, leaving the country massively exposed to a financial crisis—which duly struck.
In Bust: Greece, the Euro, and the Sovereign Debt Crisis, Bloomberg columnist Matthew Lynn explores Greece′s spectacular rise and fall from grace and the global repercussions of its financial disaster. Page by page, he provides a thrilling account of the Greek financial crisis, drawing out its origins, how it escalated, and its implications for a fragile global economy. Along the way, Lynn looks at how the Greek contagion has spread like wildfire throughout Europe and explores how government ineptitude as well as financial speculators compounded the problem.
Blending financial history, politics, and current affairs, Lynn skillfully tells the story of how one nation rode the wave of economic prosperity and brought a continent, a currency, and, potentially, the global financial system to its knees. Lively, engaging, and thought provoking, Bust reminds us just how interconnected the world really is.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
Despite the cover and the title, there's really not a lot about Greece here. Mr Lynn appears entirely happy to settle for the "fable" view of the crisis being just desserts for an idle, sponging country - a borderline-racist portrait of Greek untermensch unable to compete with their German superiors. You'll look in vain here for any analysis of why Greek society took such a sclerotic turn, or even why the country enjoyed so much less benefit from EU membership than Ireland or Spain. I'm reasonably sure that Mr Lynn didn't visit Greece as part of his research - I couldn't find any original material or analysis, just tired - if telling - anecdotes like the "untaxed swimming pools" that has been repeated to death since it first appeared in the New York Times three years ago.
The tone of the book warms up a little more than half-way through, when it turns into an impassioned screed against the euro and the folly of locking such diverse economies into a single currency. I agree with Mr Lynn on this stuff, but even I found the recital tiring. Mr Lynn is uncritical of German policy, and appears not to have noticed the damage done by German capital surpluses far beyond the european periphery. Tellingly, bottomless pits like Depfa or IKB (Goldman Sachs' favourite subprime stooges) go unmentioned even as Greeks, Irish and Spaniards are castigated.
This book is an editorial against the euro, topped off with thin and half-hearted factual passages about Greece and the rest of the periphery. The arguments against the euro are exactly those that could (and were) mounted pre-crisis, but the role that bad lending (as opposed to bad borrowing) played is glossed over. Instead, the EFSF - the greatest emergency fiscal transfer in history - is presented as originating in the European Commission's "embarassment" at the prospect of the Greeks turning to the IMF. Nothing about rescuing the French and German banks, no this was about avoiding awkward silences at diplomatic cocktail parties. Mr Lynn also sprinkles his text with questionable non-sequiturs (EU member Bulgaria, with lower debt ratios than most of the EU will never be invited to join EMU).
In short, this book has little of the in-depth coverage of Greece you might expect from the cover, and not a huge amount of factual reporting, far less original factual reporting. Instead, it's mostly an impassioned editorial, but one undermined by its blindness to complexity and as such of little use even to those who agree with its critique of the economics of the euro. The decline of the European periphery does indeed match the pessimistic forecasts made before the euro formed, but Lynn is blind to the substantial differences, for example stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that - miserable though its growth record is - Italy has remained firmly outside the danger zone.
Manolopoulos' "Greece's 'Odious' Debt" actually looks at Greece and actually a lot more research (ie some) put into it.A much better look.
The tone of the book warms up a little more than half-way through, when it turns into an impassioned screed against the euro and the folly of locking such diverse economies into a single currency. I agree with Mr Lynn on this stuff, but even I found the recital tiring. Mr Lynn is uncritical of German policy, and appears not to have noticed the damage done by German capital surpluses far beyond the european periphery. Tellingly, bottomless pits like Depfa or IKB (Goldman Sachs' favourite subprime stooges) go unmentioned even as Greeks, Irish and Spaniards are castigated.
This book is an editorial against the euro, topped off with thin and half-hearted factual passages about Greece and the rest of the periphery. The arguments against the euro are exactly those that could (and were) mounted pre-crisis, but the role that bad lending (as opposed to bad borrowing) played is glossed over. Instead, the EFSF - the greatest emergency fiscal transfer in history - is presented as originating in the European Commission's "embarassment" at the prospect of the Greeks turning to the IMF. Nothing about rescuing the French and German banks, no this was about avoiding awkward silences at diplomatic cocktail parties. Mr Lynn also sprinkles his text with questionable non-sequiturs (EU member Bulgaria, with lower debt ratios than most of the EU will never be invited to join EMU).
In short, this book has little of the in-depth coverage of Greece you might expect from the cover, and not a huge amount of factual reporting, far less original factual reporting. Instead, it's mostly an impassioned editorial, but one undermined by its blindness to complexity and as such of little use even to those who agree with its critique of the economics of the euro. The decline of the European periphery does indeed match the pessimistic forecasts made before the euro formed, but Lynn is blind to the substantial differences, for example stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that - miserable though its growth record is - Italy has remained firmly outside the danger zone.
Manolopoulos' "Greece's 'Odious' Debt" actually looks at Greece and actually a lot more research (ie some) put into it.A much better look.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I had trouble scoring this. First of all it was turned out in a rush. It has too many spelling and editing mistakes, and this is annoying. On the content, I do not really see the point of coming out with a title that is so current that it has the shelf life of scallops. It is already historical as events have overtaken the analysis. The book claims no greater theoretical insights on the processes it describes. It is great fun to read (I know this sounds strange) and informative, but it is too grounded on events that will be of limited significance in a few months time. Further, I do have to say using a national flag in derogatory manner as a front cover is questionable if not outright inappropriate. The Greek government is keen to litigate against anyone who in any way writes anything they dislike, so the publisher ought to rethink the choice of cover image. If you have not already ordered the book, do not bother. If the author would like to make this lasting, he should come out with a paperback edition that expands on the meaning all this has in a way that uses Greece as a case study that illustrates wider trends. He does not achieve this as it stands. If this were a PhD thesis, I would fail it.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A good combination of modern history, economics and politics has resulted in a book that provides a fantastic picture of the events that have taken place in the EU over the last few years.
However, The author lets his own opinions come through to the reader too much and at points his conclusions seem unbalanced. Towards the end of the book we are put through an over opinionated spiel about how the Euro will ultimately be removed as the common currency of the union.
I would also put the argument forward that this book is too short for a book of it's type. Perhaps there is limits to the amount of information available to write a book of this sort, however if the author had put more effort into balancing this book it could have perhaps been longer.
However, The author lets his own opinions come through to the reader too much and at points his conclusions seem unbalanced. Towards the end of the book we are put through an over opinionated spiel about how the Euro will ultimately be removed as the common currency of the union.
I would also put the argument forward that this book is too short for a book of it's type. Perhaps there is limits to the amount of information available to write a book of this sort, however if the author had put more effort into balancing this book it could have perhaps been longer.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Timely analysis of what went wrong with Greece, the euro and the EU
For a relatively small country, Greece has made outsized contributions to the world: mythic legends and heroes, great art and architecture, illuminating philosophers and thinkers,... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Rolf Dobelli
Useful study of a busted currency
This is the most useful book on the euro's disastrous effects. The way that governments dealt with the credit crunch (printing money and lending at 1 per cent) paved the way to the... Read more
Published 11 months ago by William Podmore
Bust: Greece, the Euro, and the Sovereign Debt Crisis.
Bust: Greece, the Euro, and the Sovereign Debt Crisis. By Matthew Lynn. Published by Bloomberg Press. 282 pages. Hardback. RRP £18. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Gordon Ross
viva l'Euro !
The book is easily readable even if the subject could be obstic and "not for everybody".
Personally I enjoyed the book even if I found it biased by a strong anti-Euro feeling... Read more
Personally I enjoyed the book even if I found it biased by a strong anti-Euro feeling... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Ennio Piantato
A Timely Book
This is a very useful book for the reader who has no specialist knowledge of the euro and all things economic. Read more
Published 14 months ago by J. Michna
Everything you ever needed to know about the European Sovereign Debt...
"Bust..." is one of the best books I've ever read.
For someone who has followed the European Sovereign Debt Crisis closely over the past few years, I was fascinated by... Read more
For someone who has followed the European Sovereign Debt Crisis closely over the past few years, I was fascinated by... Read more
Published 16 months ago by D. Howard
TonyH
If you want to understand the EU and the Euro crisis, this is the book to read.
It is a well written, structured analysis of what has gone wrong and the problems just... Read more
It is a well written, structured analysis of what has gone wrong and the problems just... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Tony
A First-Rate Guide To The Euro Crisis
This is a really first-rate introduction to a very complex subject. The Greek economy is probably, well, Greek to most of us. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Dan Mollett
Don't spend your money on this
Although it is true that Greece tried to bring the global financial system to its knees, this was only possible due to the fact that our fellow citizens of the developed market... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Leitch
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