The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash

by Charles R. Morris
The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash  
published March 3rd 2008 by PublicAffairs
binding Hardcover
isbn 1586485636   (isbn13: 9781586485634)
pages 256
description The sub-prime mortgage crisis is only the beginning: A more profound economic and political restructuring is on its way.

We are living in the most...more

date added
02-03-08



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Nina
Nina rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
07/23/08

Read in July, 2008
This was a great explanation of how we got ourselves into this credit crisis. It was very thorough and really put our current financial mess into context, coming from someone who had very little idea of what was going on in the banking world. I like his overall premise of a swinging pendulum: the lefty Keynesians got us into our financial crisis of the 70s (embodied by price controls on oil) and since then the Chicago School free market right-wingers got us into the financial crisis we're in n...more
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Mike
Mike rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
06/19/08

bookshelves: books-i-own, business, economics
Read in June, 2008
This book is deceivingly short. It is dense, like...a black hole or something. A black hole about the mortgage crisis.

Anyway, the author goes into detail about the financial mess we're currently in and how we got there. He's a banker, so I trust he is qualified to discuss such things. He also used complicated terms that I can only pretend to understand. The gist is this: several factors, most notably the increased use of complex mathematical formulas to process loans resulted in an ex...more
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Mark
Mark rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
06/23/08

Read in June, 2008
recommended to Mark by: Read an ad in the "Wall Street Journal" and thought it looked in
This is not an easy book to understand. The author describes the new financial asset-instriments that are currently the cause of our credit crisis. I am amazed how the sharpest minds on Wall Street can create these financial instruments, sell them, and understand how they work. As for me, if I can't understand how the investment works, I won't invest. Too bad so many others did invest and lost a "pile" of money. The author obviously knows his stuff but you better read this book twice t...more
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Ed
Ed rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/24/08

Explaining the current sub-prime crisis. The crazy world of derivatives, financial instruments, credit, and the economy. The world economy on the brink. Some of the terminology is hard to follow, but the story of how the greedy and naive acquire and extend excessive credit makes some of these "world-class" bankers seem like people educated far beyond their intelligence. Scary.
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Elena
Elena rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/08/08

Read in August, 2008
recommends it for: Non-finance people
Let's be clear, I am not a finance person by any means, but I still found this book to be gripping and slightly frightening. Although the author is highly opinionated and gets slightly strident who he blames towards the end, this book offers a great overview and explanation of many of the events that led up to the current crisis in the financial markets.
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Andi
Andi rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
07/07/08

Read in July, 2008
recommends it for: budding economists
The best explanation of the current state of the financial market I've read so far. The author explains, simply and concisely, the causes and effect relationships that led to the 1987 stock market crash, the CMO crisis, the S&L bailout, the LTCM implosion, and the current credit crisis. Highly recommended!
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Jenna
Jenna rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
07/31/08

I'm attempting to understand what happened, and my conclusion is that it's way over my head (and I did give up after half way through). My friend lent me this book ... we may part ways when it comes to enthusiasm over following the market.
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Staceydz
Staceydz is currently reading it
08/28/08

bookshelves: currently-reading
Has a copy to sell/swap
I bought this book since it directly relates to me in my career. I don't know how much it would appeal to those not interested in reading about business and how we got to be in our current ecomomic state.
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Douglas
Douglas rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
08/25/08

Read in August, 2008
Based on the source (to the right), a strong argument that we have reached the extreme of unregulated markets introduced during the Reagan administration. Tell Steve Forbes not all regulation is bad.
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Al
Al rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/02/08

bookshelves: 2008-books
Read in August, 2008
recommended to Al by: NYT
Great overview of the credit crisis - how we got here and some ideas for where to go in the future. Well-written, crisp and informative. I feel much better about my financial future having read it.
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Dave
Dave rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
07/15/08

bookshelves: business-leadership
Read in May, 2008
The problem with this book is that it was at least 2 years premature. Otherwise, interesting (if breezy) explanation of the credit mess we're currently in.
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Mark
Mark rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
08/15/08

bookshelves: money
Read in August, 2008
Excellent overview of how the economy got into its current mess. Greed and hypocrisy: No surprise there.
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Alan
Alan rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
07/07/08

Read in June, 2008
The fastest book out on the subject of the great credit meltdown. Good writing and informative.
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Jesse
Jesse rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
06/12/08

current events and economics. find out why wall st execs make $28M more dollars than you.
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Ellen
Ellen added it
04/21/08

bookshelves: want-to-read
Well, maybe "want to read" is the wrong term... how about "feel as if I must."
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Duff
Duff rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
06/24/08

Read in June, 2008
Timely and compact, but not quite the book it might have been.
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Jason
Jason is currently reading it
09/04/08

bookshelves: currently-reading
Read in September, 2008
 

Kelly
Kelly marked it as to-read
08/30/08

bookshelves: to-read
 

Marc
Marc added it
09/03/08

 

Kyle
Kyle rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
08/29/08

bookshelves: bookoncd
Read in August, 2008
 


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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 3.33 (24 ratings)
number of reviews: 16






other editions