Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, And Corruption Led To Economic Armageddon (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
A bit too breezy in its exposition of its arguments. The authors tell their story as if they were writing a blog post - if you are inclined to doubt their conclusions, you won't find that the authors have offered you many obstacles to your skepticism - they make many broad and inflammatory statements that appear to be completely unsupported. The book would have benefited from a more academic or journalistic approach, and a bit more respect for the reader. All of this was very off-putting at the start - I almost quit this book after the first fifty pages. I am glad I did not.As the reader presses on, he is rewarded with an intelligent analysis and, even if there is a surfeit of opinion-piece writing here, it is nonetheless writing that is well-informed and interesting. In fairness to the authors, they cover a tremendous amount of ground without running on for a thousand pages. They are economical, in the final analysis, and by the end of the book one is grateful for that economy.Ultimately, I do not agree with every position or observation offered by the authors, but I did gain a much better understanding of the role played by Fannie Mae, the big mortgage lenders, the banks and regulators, and Congress. I would recommend this book as one of the must-reads for anyone seeking to understand the economic disaster that we are still slowly recovering from, and considering the policies we may need to implement to address the problems that were at the root of that disaster. You can tell before you have finished the prologue to Reckless Endangerment where Gretchen Morgenson of the Wall Street Journal will be placing the blame for the financial crisis. The bulk of the book is focused on Fannie Mae and James Johnson and how he manipulated democratic politicians during the Clinton years to allow him to retain perquisites that provided Fannie Mae with a competitive advantage in the home mortgage industry all the while disguising it as a home ownership strategy for the disadvantaged. It's a narrow focus on Fannie Mae, Countrywide Mortgage, and a Clinton years home ownership strategy.According to Morgenson these are the key factors that led us to the crisis of 2008. It is amazing how little is mentioned of the Bush years in this analysis. So much so that it makes the book appear to be a masterful spin job. If you want to understand the crisis better, other books should be read along with Reckless Endangerment in order to obtain a broader understanding of what really happened.
What do You think about Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, And Corruption Led To Economic Armageddon (2011)?
Very one sided account of the mortgage crises..She is an excellent story teller though.
—melissabeezy
If you want to know about Fannie and Freddie, read this book.
—sevendeadlysins
Depressing to see the wrongs of our political system
—JemZZ
