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Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe
 
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Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe [Hardcover]

Gillian Tett (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
RRP: £18.99
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown (30 April 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1408701642
  • ISBN-13: 978-1408701645
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.2 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank:: 36,129 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Gillian Tett
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Product Description

Review

`A truly gripping narrative . . . The fact that Tett is able to reproduce such raw private communications is a tribute to her journalistic abilities'
--Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times

Review

`Her blow-by-blow story is an impressive piece of detective work. She pulls back the curtain on a closed, unaccountable world of finance'
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe
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Customer Reviews

29 Reviews
5 star:
 (17)
4 star:
 (9)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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69 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Insight into the human drama, 8 May 2009
By Tim Scott (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe (Hardcover)
This is the first properly considered book about the financial crisis to be published. Gillian Tett is well known as a financial journalist (working for the FT in London). Accordingly, you might think this book has been rushed out to simply rehearse the emerging consensus view on the causes of the financial crisis. Not so! This is a very impressive volume. To start with - Gillian Tett knows the spider's web of complex structured products at the heart of this story well enough to be able to describe it simply. That is the mark of true mastery. What is best about this book, however, is the way it tells the human story. That is the story of the innovators at J.P. Morgan who created these products and realised at an early stage that they left behind a kind of nuclear waste that needed to be properly contained - particularly so in relation to derivatives based on residential mortgages (the default pattern of which was essentially unknowable until recently). Other banks didn't realise this (or didn't care) and just left that waste sitting on their balance sheets, or worse, shifted it to quasi-subsidiary vehicles where it was hidden and supported by short-term funding that quickly evaporated at the first sign of trouble. Ultimately, the book shows that financial innovation is not a problem per se - it's the use to which such innovation was put that created problems.

Overall - this is a very informative and interesting read which has clearly been in the planning for some time. A well considered book.
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars She should have called it: The story of the J.P. Morgan CDO desk, 9 Sep 2009
This review is from: Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe (Hardcover)
The book's content is less ambitious that its titles suggests. It is about how a team of derivative experts at J.P. Morgan contributed to the development of the securities, including credit default swaps and options, which led to the financial crisis. That's reasonably interesting, but it's a fairly narrow perspective on what happened. The collapse of Lehman is covered in a few pages. She doesn't even mention that the major banks were manipulating Libor. At points it sounds like she is writing to protect her sources. There is a lot about what a great CEO Jamie Dimon is at JP Morgan chase. She says the JPM team shouldn't be blamed for other banks misusing the derivatives they created. I've never heard anyone blame them for it.
There are a few mistakes: the internet bubble of 1999 was equity driven, not debt fueled. She uses acronyms too often, and there are no anecdotes explaining why the subprime default rates were so high. Indeed, she is very light on what happened in the subprime sector. The corruption there could have really livened up her book, and illuminated the causes of the crash. I learnt more about the crisis from the introduction to Niall Ferguson's Financial History of the World.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Heads they win, Tails we lose, 4 July 2009
By J. M. Goldthorpe (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe (Hardcover)
This is a gripping read from an author who is sure of her facts and can tell the true story of the banking crisis clearly and dramatically. Because she was one of the first to forecast financial disaster she has become a pundit on the subject and there is rarely a day when Gillian Tett is not on television or radio. Thanks to a useful glossary the reader is guided through the murky world of what Vince Cable dubbed "casino banking" with explanations of "Credit Default Swaps", "Mortgage-Backed Bond Security", the surreal sounding "Gaussian Copula" and the like. What started out as a well-thought out investment strategy turned into a glorified pyramid selling spree in order to generate bank profits, and therby bonuses. The author has a degree in anthropology and this gives the book a human interest beyond the world of high finance. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand the greatest economic trauma of our times.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Credit crunch
This book gives a clear un-compromised report on the credit crunch and the people who were directly responsible and who still seem to be benefitting at our expense.
Published 8 days ago by peteruck

4.0 out of 5 stars Fools Gold
The story of the Credit Crunch told as a narrative, mostly about one firm, J P Morgan. For an outsider it is a revealing story of what went on in the financial services world once... Read more
Published 10 days ago by David Wilson

5.0 out of 5 stars THE ORIGINATORS OF HIGHLY DANGEROUS IMPLEMENTS SEEN THROUGH ROSE TINTED SPECS
This is an excellent book and highly recommended to just about anybody who has been puzzled by what caused the recent Global Financial Armageddon or in financial speak I should... Read more
Published 24 days ago by Kerrigan J. A. Bethel

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
This is a very interesting book and I have enjoyed it greatly. The author writes with an engaging style that draws you it to the world she is explaining, leaving you with a "I... Read more
Published 1 month ago by grenerousgrace

4.0 out of 5 stars Tett offensive
I've now read no fewer than seven excellent books detailing the financial atrocities of 2007-9. Each takes a different spin. Read more
Published 1 month ago by O. Buxton

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent narrative of the financial crisis
A sober, detailed account of the recent financial catastrophe by the award-winning Financial Times journalist. In three acts - 'Innovation', 'Perversion' and 'Disaster', Ms. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Paul Bowes

2.0 out of 5 stars Mea non culpa
The subtitle could have been: 'How the Unrestrained Greed of Everyone Else Corrupted J.P.Morgan's Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe: How a Saintly Band... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Chuck E

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting perspective
A little slow to get going, but using the story of a group of JP Morgan bankers as a way of structuring the book makes it more accessible, human and balanced. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jaybird

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read
I believe I am in a select group of people. I had no idea what actually happened before the banks imploded and took a lot of interest during ands after. Read more
Published 6 months ago by A. Taylor

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique platform and insight into what happened
Gillian Tett has been writing on the subject of financial markets innovation for some time. I remember especially an early article in in the Financial Times magazine on how J. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Siriam

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