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57th out of 568 books
—
750 voters
Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America
by
Matt Taibbi
The financial crisis that exploded in 2008 isn’t past but prologue. The stunning rise, fall, and rescue of Wall Street in the bubble-and-bailout era was the coming-out party for the network of looters who sit at the nexus of American political and economic power. The grifter class—made up of the largest players in the financial industry and the politicians who do their bid...more
Hardcover, 253 pages
Published
November 2nd 2010
by Spiegel & Grau
(first published September 21st 2010)
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UPDATES - June 21, 2012 - at bottom
You don’t have to be Dorothy or “The One” to know that there is something foul going on behind the economic curtain. Matt Taibbi, a contributing editor at Rollingstone, rips away the misinformation that cloaks some of the most nefarious behavior in American history. He looks at a few elements of what can only be described as institutional organized crime and explains just what is going on in clear, understandable terms.
You don’t have to be Dorothy or “The One” to know that there is something foul going on behind the economic curtain. Matt Taibbi, a contributing editor at Rollingstone, rips away the misinformation that cloaks some of the most nefarious behavior in American history. He looks at a few elements of what can only be described as institutional organized crime and explains just what is going on in clear, understandable terms.
The engine for looting the old ghetto nei...more
"'Follow the money' has long been my mantra, and Matt Taibbi's cogent reporting does the best job describing various economic crises of the last fifteen years of any that I've read, peeling away each level of complexity in a way that the layman reader can easily understand our world turned upside down as a result of greedy financiers and their collusion with the government. He details the creation and bursting of the dot.com bubble, the 2004 energy crisis, and the 2008 economic collapse, and lik...more
This is the 6th book I've read about the recent financial catastrophes.
Fools Gold, The End of Wall Street, The Big Short, How Markets Fail, All the Devils Are Here are all worthy books, but Griftopia tops the rest with its insights and outrage.
Taibbi doesn't simply settle for exposition and analysis. He's angry that business (Wall Street, insurance industry in particular) abetted by our government has robbed us blind while citizens have amused themselves with a media circus that doesn't investi...more
Fools Gold, The End of Wall Street, The Big Short, How Markets Fail, All the Devils Are Here are all worthy books, but Griftopia tops the rest with its insights and outrage.
Taibbi doesn't simply settle for exposition and analysis. He's angry that business (Wall Street, insurance industry in particular) abetted by our government has robbed us blind while citizens have amused themselves with a media circus that doesn't investi...more
4 ½ stars. A good book to read after Michael Lewis (also excellent) Big Short. I know the story and machinations behind housing bubble of 2008, Matt Taibbi adds his colorful and a funny language to this horror story. The commodities bubble chapter was best for me, since this subject has got a little notice in media or books. I have read many complains that Taibbi is not an economist and therefore is not qualified to write about banksters. Not true. Taibbi knows what he is writing, and how he des...more
Well, I'm back on the crack - financial meltdown. Because I just haven't suffered enough. At least Matt (yes, I call him Matt) has a sense of humor - and he swears appropriately.
An excellent clarion wake up call. The only thing missing in what I've read so far is any suggestion of solutions. How, if even possible, do we fight the oligarchy. It's clear the government isn't the answer. We have no real political power over those truly in power.
Until the real revolution vs "Wall Street" happens, I'm going to keep raising consciousness.
Until the real revolution vs "Wall Street" happens, I'm going to keep raising consciousness.
Matt Taibi is a journalist for Rolling Stone. He has taken his engaging and easy to read style and turned his hand to writing about how and why the GFC happened. How it screwed the public over like you and me - this applies whether you live in the US, Greece or Somalia. It is about the rorts that take place amongst today's ruling class - the financiers and banks. Clearly they won't stop until someone puts some big fat regulations in place and because the politicians have been captured by the fin...more
Matt Taibbi's Griftopia is a good place to start to understand how many believe that derivatives and lack of regulation is damaging our financial system. Especially if you like your economic explanations to come with four letter words.
Taibbi - a frequent contributor to Rolling Stone - chronicles our national transition into a casino, where financialization of the economy takes precedence over allocating capital and actual work.
The result? Higher prices for food and oil, government officials paid...more
Taibbi - a frequent contributor to Rolling Stone - chronicles our national transition into a casino, where financialization of the economy takes precedence over allocating capital and actual work.
The result? Higher prices for food and oil, government officials paid...more
I've read three books concerning the financial collapse. The other two were by Yves Smith and Joseph Stiglitz and, while perfectly understandable and, in Stiglitz' case, as a dignified and careful critique, they didn't leave me steaming like this account. Matt Taibbi goes the full mile in this book and fills us in on all the facts that make up the big picture. I'm sorry to say that several of the events he mentioned got right by me when they were happening.
Would that every issue of national inte...more
Would that every issue of national inte...more
taibbi's blunt, profane and clear writing style is worth the read alone. his opening hard-hitting chapters detailing recent financial bubbles and the evil "geniuses" behind them are fantastic. his later chapter on obamacare illustrates two of the weaknesses of his overall argument — 1. any time a company uses influence to get a better deal its profoundly evil. taibbi doesn't, however, distinguish between a company using influence to make money AND make the world a better place (for all its limit...more
About the corruption between high government and high finance that Matt Taibbi, the best journalist in America, dissects in this book, there is really too much to say. About his refreshing candor and appropriate wit (his essay on Alan Greenspan is titled "The Biggest Asshole in the Universe" because Greenspan is, although Bob Rubin must have been hundredths of a second behind in that race with Sandy Weill and Lloyd "we bankers are doing God's work" Blankfein tying for the bronze), one cannot be...more
This book will wake you up and smell your coffee too. I don't read Rolling Stone but this is the second book I have finished in as many weeks written by Rolling Stone journalists and they were both excellent. This book in particular just grabbed me and pinned my down to the mat the whole way through. I could not break away from it. Matt Taibbi is a great writer. He makes complete sense out of complex and cryptic financial mumbo jumbo and transforms it into an intensely educational read. I just f...more
There was a lot going through my head when I was reading Taibbi's latest must-read book: disgust, anger, wonder, even laughter at his still-incredible powers of description, but at the very end, after I'd finished and had to take a minute to absorb what I'd just read, what I felt most was sadness. More than anything else, this is a book about a country in decline, a country that can't even recognize what its problems are, let alone try to fix them; instead feverishly running through one fraudule...more
"Funny, sarcastic, absorbing & ultimately depressing, this expose on how deep the tentacles of Wall Street & big money have dug into Washington is a must read for everyone. As Taibbi says, it isn't Red Vs Blue or Liberal vs. Conservative or even Democrat vs. Republican - it's the big money guys (and it's almost all guys) --ping our country, sucking it dry while they can, vs. everyone else. Some might find Matt Taibbi's rousing & confrontational new book a bit uncouth. It's actually m...more
This is my favorite book so far about the financial crisis. It's not the most informative, or the most well reasoned; you won't really come away with a more sophisticated understanding of derivatives or CDOs; there are few if any policy prescriptions.
But for sheer moral outrage and pitchforked-prose, it is unbeatable. The culprits of "the long con" may not ever be held to account in a courtroom or feel the public's outrage in the pocketbook - but at least they have not escaped Taibbi's poisoned...more
This is a book every American needs to read. It's likely that those on the right will be miffed that Taibbi calls their heroes douchebags and assholes. Those on the left will be pissed that he takes Obama to task for his incessant campaign lies and hypocrisy. But hopefully not enough to be deaf to his message: That both parties are owned by Wall Street, which constructed numerous bubbles over the past decade, profiting greatly even though they were merely middlemen. And then, when the inevitable...more
I've been looking for a concise, accessible explanation of the crash for awhile. Taibbi is not an economist (he's not anything, really -- he writes for Rolling Stone), but he's done enough investigation to provide a basic description of intentionally opaque concepts like credit default swaps, option ARMs, toxic assets, mortgage derivatives, the housing bubble, and the role the Fed plays in our economy. This book is delightfully irreverent and destined to piss you off.
I've read a few retellings o...more
I've read a few retellings o...more
Disclaimer: When it comes to money and the business world, I rank somewhere between a pacifier-sucking infant and college freshman stoned on paint fumes in terms of comprehension. Ask me about my financial portfolio and I'll just blink and stare at you. Talk to me about derivatives and I'll most likely suffer an acute case of diarrhea so I can run to the safety of the nearest bathroom. I try to keep these things in my head, I really do. But they leak out.
(Sorry--that was not an intentional refer...more
(Sorry--that was not an intentional refer...more
Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History by Matt Taibbi
"Griftopia" is the irreverent expose of the 2008 financial crisis. In this illuminating and at times infuriating book, investigative journalist Matt Taibbi digs into the main culprits of our economic chaos over the past decade. This 320-page book is composed of the following seven chapters: 1. The Grifter Archipelago; or, Why the Tea Party Doesn't Matter, 2. The Biggest ----- in the Un...more
"Griftopia" is the irreverent expose of the 2008 financial crisis. In this illuminating and at times infuriating book, investigative journalist Matt Taibbi digs into the main culprits of our economic chaos over the past decade. This 320-page book is composed of the following seven chapters: 1. The Grifter Archipelago; or, Why the Tea Party Doesn't Matter, 2. The Biggest ----- in the Un...more
A little of Matt Taibbi goes a long way, in my experience, but I ended up liking this book more than I expected, because it has an actual point.
There are moments where I felt as though Taibbi asserted something, expected the reader to take it as given, and plowed on ahead. In the end, though, I accepted this style--otherwise, the book would turn into All the Devils Are Here, which I couldn't get through. Talking about Alan Greenspan, Goldman Sachs, commodity speculation, and Obama's muddled prom...more
There are moments where I felt as though Taibbi asserted something, expected the reader to take it as given, and plowed on ahead. In the end, though, I accepted this style--otherwise, the book would turn into All the Devils Are Here, which I couldn't get through. Talking about Alan Greenspan, Goldman Sachs, commodity speculation, and Obama's muddled prom...more
before griftopia, i used to think of matt taibbi as something of a guilty pleasure. he's always been better than the average left/progressive pundit at grasping the ugly class snobbery behind a lot of our disdain for the tea party, and his writing reliably mirrors my own political beliefs with more exciting bombast than, say, paul krugman. put differently, he's someone i have typically turned to for catharsis and schadenfreude rather than information.
with that in mind, i'm happy to say that grif...more
with that in mind, i'm happy to say that grif...more
The word "polemic" comes to mind. Taibbi's Griftopia kicks off to a blistering start, and pretty much maintains that battery-acid tone throughout. The opening essays imply more of an anti-Republican stance than is actually the case - by the end it's clear that Taibbi is pissed at everyone just about equally, but most on the right wing could be forgiven for not managing to make it through the author's vituperation to the bits where he starts in on Obama and the Democrats. Hell, I had a hard time...more
I think the appropriate response is just kill me now. Taibbi's (Rolling Stone) story of our near financial collapse is best of many I've read. It's also highly understandable which is completely depressing. In fact, don't read this book before eating. I especially enjoyed his riff on the Maestro Alan Greenspan. What an idiot. I will always remember his testimony where he admitted being surprised by one thing. "Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect sh...more
One of the scariest books I've read in a long time. Too bad it's journalism, not fiction. Taibbi writes with energy and hysterical anger, and isn't afraid to call a spade "a spade" (there's a chapter chronicling the life and times of Alan Greenspan called "The Biggest Asshole in the Universe.")
But this style really works when he is explaining the bank and insurance mechanisms whose collapse led to the current economic crisis, and the government policies that allowed those mechanisms to exists (...more
But this style really works when he is explaining the bank and insurance mechanisms whose collapse led to the current economic crisis, and the government policies that allowed those mechanisms to exists (...more
This book very clearly shows the legislative origins of many of the financial problems that have plagued America in the last two decades. One example is the CFTC's deregulation of commodities speculation in the early 1990s leading to the high price of gasoline in the 2000s. Another example is the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945, which indirectly allowed insurance companies to collude and price-fix within their industry, leading to insurance and insurance-related paperwork becoming what is the bulk...more
Jun 30, 2011
Elizabeth Sulzby
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
history-politics,
nonfiction
I put off reading this book because the title sounded so gimmicky but then I read and heard more about it and realized I had been reading Taibbi's articles in Rolling Stone (magazine). He uses "down and dirty" language to document how greed and deliberate misrepresenting investments was wound all through the American financial institutes.
His explanation of the bundling of mortgages, re-bundling and re-rating the lower mortgages over and over actually made money with each resales. He has a chapte...more
His explanation of the bundling of mortgages, re-bundling and re-rating the lower mortgages over and over actually made money with each resales. He has a chapte...more
I really enjoy reading Matt Taibbi's works and this book was no different. This book carefully lays out how the mortgage bubble burst in a surprisingly interesting manner although I admit it took me awhile to get through it. I had to reread a few parts because of my lack of knowledge of how the financial world operates but I finally understand how that whole wall street thing works (or doesn't work), or at least I understand parts of it. The scary thing about this book is not reading about how t...more
May 19, 2011
Zombiestopperuno
added it
Bubble Lust
America’s biggest financial bubble burst in 1929 and then the bubbles went away for fifty years until they started re-appearing in the 1980’s as the American economy became increasingly bubblicious, leading to the crash of 2008. The book Griftopia by Matt Taibbi is the story of how the grifter class brought the bubbles back through a campaign of political lobbying aimed at both policy-makers and the general public.
The key to reviving a bubblicious financial system was getting rid of t...more
America’s biggest financial bubble burst in 1929 and then the bubbles went away for fifty years until they started re-appearing in the 1980’s as the American economy became increasingly bubblicious, leading to the crash of 2008. The book Griftopia by Matt Taibbi is the story of how the grifter class brought the bubbles back through a campaign of political lobbying aimed at both policy-makers and the general public.
The key to reviving a bubblicious financial system was getting rid of t...more
If you like acerbic wit, crystal clear explanations of dauntingly complicated financial ideas, and feeling completely hopeless about the future of the country, this is the book for you. Griftopia has had me depressed for weeks. That said, Taibbi is incredibly smart and incredibly funny, so you forgive the dark nature of the book. I can think of no one better to tackle the kind of difficult-to-understand and impossible-to-forgive shenanigans that are the subject matter.
My only real complaints are...more
My only real complaints are...more
Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That is Breaking America by Matt Taibbi (pp. 288)
This is an interesting, educational and opinionated look at the recent financial mess. Matt Taibbi is either uniquely positioned to comment or completely out of his element. The Rolling Stones writer, who also ends up as a pool journalist covering the 2008 elections pulls no punches. He lays into to every party, faction and side with the amusing color and ranting of someone who’s just pi...more
This is an interesting, educational and opinionated look at the recent financial mess. Matt Taibbi is either uniquely positioned to comment or completely out of his element. The Rolling Stones writer, who also ends up as a pool journalist covering the 2008 elections pulls no punches. He lays into to every party, faction and side with the amusing color and ranting of someone who’s just pi...more
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“In a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy.”
—
18 people liked it
“We paid for this instead of a generation of health insurance, or an alternative energy grid, or a brand-new system of roads and highways. With the $13-plus trillion we are estimated to ultimately spend on the bailouts, we could not only have bought and paid off every single sub-prime mortgage in the country (that would only have cost $1.4 trillion), we could have paid off every remaining mortgage of any kind in this country - and still have had enough money left over to buy a new house for every American who does not already have one.”
—
12 people liked it
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Nov 15, 2012 04:39am
Nov 15, 2012 07:00am