Ever read ‘The Big Short’???
No, I read his ‘Liar’s Poker’ some years ago and I enjoyed Lewis’ writing style but I haven’t read ‘The Big Short’. I did read reviews of it and remember thinking that there is one point that I disagreed with him on but I don’t recall what it is. I’ll know if I ever get around to reading it.
The books I have read that relate to the bubble.... ‘Chain of Blame’, Padilla & Muolo... ‘Fool’s Gold’, Gillian Tett.... ‘The Sellout’, Gasparino.... ‘ECONned’ Yves Smith. Those are the ones I can think of offhand.
And there were some memorable articles like Wired Magazine’s ‘Recipe for Disaster: The Formula the Killed Wall Street’
I gleaned a lot of information from the seemingly prophetic Housing Bubble Blog. A blog that began in 2005 and attracted a group of people who knew that something was seriously wrong in the housing market. The regulars had a lot of experience in real estate finance and investing and I was able to fill in blank spots in my own understanding.
What I think we missed at the time was the sheer size of Wall Street’s role in the whole thing which really only became obvious as it blew up and rocked the world economy. I was aware of CDOs and other bundled debt but I didn’t realize that the derivatives piled on this stuff ran into the trillions and had been sold all over the globe.