by Michael Lewis
“You don’t get rich in this business,” said Alexander when I complained privately to him. “You only attain new levels of relative poverty.”
Very enjoyable to read throughout.
The main thing I’ve come away thinking after reading is just how much activity is going on downstream of the word “finance” that most of us have no idea is happening, is well understood by incredibly few people, and yet moves millions and billions of dollars around in a way that shakes and shapes the global economy.
The other big observation I had is that Salomon Brothers was first to mortgage bonds (created them I think?) but got so bloated on its own ego and “way of doing things” that it refused to respond to a changing world.
I’ve been in an organization like this in my professional career and it’s quite hard to do much about it if you’re the young guy (Lewis in this case) who thinks he sees this playing out but are working for the old guard who shaped the identity that the organization can’t let go of. They really don’t want to let go of it.
Finance and economics remain a favorite way of mine to try and understand the revealed preferences of the world.