The Weekend That Changed Wall Street: And How the Fallout Is Still Impacting Our World

by Maria Bartiromo, Catherine Whitney (Contributor)

A first-person account of the white-knuckle weekend that brought the financial world to its knees, from one of America's most famous business reporters.

As bankers and government officials scrambled to keep the economy from total collapse during the weekend of September 12-14, 2008, top CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo was taking frantic phone calls from the most powerful players on Wall Street and in Washington.

Through these intimate conversations, she had an unequaled perspective on the crisis and its aftermath, the personalities involved, and the emotions at work. Now she draws on her high-level network to provide an eyewitness account of the biggest events of the financial crisis, including lengthy interviews with former treasury secretary Henry Paulson, former AIG chairman Hank Greenberg, and former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, among many others.

Writing with both authority and dramatic flair, Bartiromo also tackles the big questions: how did an unmatched period of market euphoria and growth turn sour, catapulting the economy into a dangerous slide? And in the long run, how will the near catastrophe really change Wall Street?

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Finance, History, Economics

250 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2010

Reviews

[Fadillah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The financial debacle was a crisis of the capitalist system that is the underpinning of our economy and our national prosperity. Now, almost two years after the worst economic weekend the United States has seen since the Great Depression, we are still trying to figure out what went wrong and how to fix the system that failed. Critics of Wall Street contend that the failure can be laid in the laps of the commercial bankers, investment bankers, and traders who took irresponsible risks and jeopardized not only the futures and savings of friends, family members, and fellow Americans but also the futures of young Americans who will be paying for the folly of the decade past for years to come. Others maintain that the root of the problem were liberal policies that, especially through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, encouraged lending to tens of thousands of people who were not financially equipped to be homeowners. Still others blame the inattentive regulators, or the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. Clearly, there is no shortage of theories and blame to go around. But blame won't fix the system and restore the most crucial element of America's economic success: confidence. In the best of all worlds, banks, investment firms, and major players such as AIG would be chastened by the devastation that their risk-taking wrought on America and would become stringent self-policemen of their own excesses. But let's not be naive that such a scenario is possible.
- Capitalism in the balance : The Weekend that changed the wall street by Maria Bartiromo
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‘The Big Short’ film taught me about housing bubble that crashed due to subprime mortgages which ultimately led to 2008’s financial crisis and ‘99 Homes’ film showed the reality of people who’ve been evicted from their house due to bank foreclosure and inability to pay back the high interest rates of their housing loan. The reason i highlighted these 2 films because i always recommended it to my students if they don’t want to read a book or long detailed article of what went wrong in 2008 economic downturn. The book, on the other hands, brought a different approach in understanding the unfortunate event. Maria Bartiromo, at that time, is already established journalist and have a good networking in order to get a good intel in the financial world. This is how she managed to retrieve hints and information that something big was about to happen. Company shares were being sold in a low price, government were forced to choose which companies to save, Other big corporations were incentivised to save others (Mergers or Acquisitions), some foreign governments were brought in to negotiate the price and tax payer’s money were being leveraged to bail out these ‘poor’ corporations. Maria Bartiromo claimed that the book was written to let laymen understand what really went wrong before the aftermath of housing market bubble burst but i doubt that. if you did not have any basic knowledge of economics and finance and on top of that, you are not American , it posed challenges in understanding the book particularly in seeing how everyone - every company is connected (one went bankrupt, the other will be impacted as well). Aside from some of very famous financial company like Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan, the other information felt like a ton of name dropping and i feel obligated to google one by one just to give me some insight before i continue with the following chapters. Don’t get me wrong, while the author gave us the glimpses of how it went on before the housing loan crash, i can’t help but to think that they really did not give a fuck about those Americans that lost their houses. It was predicted to be more than 3 millions of them. What i read is ‘Just assholes saving other assholes’ , ‘another story of riches rescued other riches’ and ‘we dont want government intervene in any of the policy except when we are fucked, this is the time government should interfere’ - which is why they took the bailout money to save themselves. Sure, Maria Bartiromo did write in impartial manner - no pinpointing, no blaming : just highlighting what these top players are doing in lessening the impact of the crisis. Unfortunately, its hard for me to sympathise with these power greeds capitalists - you’re telling me that this predatory housing loan that didn’t check the background of the borrowers is not risky enough? Get the f out here. Ultimately, the book highlighted ‘too connected’ that caused the major collapse. Capitalism was the main drive why it happened, check and balance between financial institutions and government were practically nonexistent and the delusion of everyone can own a house under the questionable scheme were the trigger for this. Financial companies filed for bankruptcy and suffered losses and Millions were driven out of their homes. Overall, an insightful reading if you wanted to read the inside story of Wall Street - Opinions, Point of Views and Dilemmas of these global business leaders and government officials. I did appreciate chapter titled ‘Greek Tragedy’ as it did highlight the repercussions of National Debt and the price of bailout - for this part, Maria highlighted Germany was forced to help Greece using their taxpayer’s money to escape the mounting debt (which is almost too similar when average Americans protesting the government when they decide to rescue big corporations).

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE FAMED TV REPORTER RECOUNTS THE CRUCIAL TIME OF THE 2008 FISCAL CRISIS

Maria Bartiromo (born 1967) is an American television journalist ("Closing Bell" on CNBC), managing editor of The Wall Street Journal Report, and author of 'The 10 Laws of Enduring Success' and 'se the News: How To Separate the Noise from the Investment Nuggets and Make Money in Any Economy.'
She wrote in the Introduction to this 2010 book, "I decided to write [this book] in the hope that I could bring an insider's perspective to what happened to those directly affected... In this book I will explore what happened behind closed doors and provide an intimate look at the personal stories of those involved... I will provide the inside story about what really happened during the weekend that changed the financial world I have covered for twenty years." (Pg. 2)

She notes, "Unlike Bear Stearns, where stock in the company was mostly held by the top executives, Lehman had a trickle-down ownership culture, with the lower rungs of the company, such as executive assistants, paid in stock. If Lehman fell, there would be a lot of average people left with nothing." (Pg. 22)

She suggests, "the fact that so few people saw the danger building during the boom years is remarkable." (Pg. 37) She adds, "By 2007, the boom times were effectively drawing to an end. No more lavish parties. No more euphoria. It was Judgment Day." (Pg. 38-39) Later, she laments, "Now that the fall was happening, I was deeply disappointed and personally shaken. I knew that whatever the outcome of the weekend, things would never again be the same for any of us. There was a lot of pain ahead." (Pg. 81)

When assessing "blame," she records, "I later learned that there were four hundred agencies overseeing AIG, and they all missed the debt that was taken on the company's financial products division. Four hundred agencies! It wasn't just the Wall Street executives who had dropped the ball. Regulators had messed up royally." (Pg. 91) Of the October 2008 House hearings, she observes, "The standout image of this period was a line of chief executives... lined up at tables in hearing rooms, ready to take their slaps from Congress... Humble pie was on the menu during these hearings, and in the middle of the bank crisis, the auto companies showed up wanting help." (Pg. 141-142)

She argues, "there is no question that TARP had problems in the way it was structured. I discussed this with Elizabeth Warren, the chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel... When I asked her, 'Where has the TARP money gone?' I was taken aback by her answer: 'We not only don't know. We're never going to know.' I was briefly speechless. How could we not know?" (Pg. 193)

She admits in conclusion, "Regulations fail; we've seen it time and again. The truth is, it's not possible to legislate perfection, even when the strictest regulations are in place. The health of the system is in the hands of the men and women who ply their trade in the halls of finance... they all emphasize their willingness to rethink practices. Complicating their task is the rapidity of growth and change in a global marketplace... And that in itself is a form of checks and balances." (Pg. 205)

This is an engaging account of a critical period of the 2008 fiscal crisis.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I grow up, I want to be like Maria Bartiromo!! :)

You won't find in this book the technical details on what derivatives are, or what "toxic assets" are, that sit in the banks financial statements (or not) and that created the systemic financial meltdown we had in 2008. What you'll find though, are the key players during the crisis as they come together to resolve it... or tried to. You would know who was the actual "too big to fail" company (or at least, I didn't b/c I didn't follow the news close enough and it was like, "wow"...).

Overall, this is rather a light read as she recounts the events in sequence of what happened in 2008, so it would have been a 3-stars read. But, I really like her take of the people involved in or dealing with the crisis, or the way she portrayed them. She doesn't pinpoint anyone in particular as villains for creating the "exotic" or "sophisticated" trades (they were not illegal or fraudulent) or the bad guys running the banks, as we would naturally want to do b/c of the wide impact and the extent the financial crisis affected us. Instead, she portrayed them as earnest people who work hard for their successes, people who love what they do, and these people shared a sense of camaraderie within their workplace (esp. Lehman!) and that makes them ... human! Yes, there were a few superego's like "Fab" who seem to be the worm that spoils the pot... but she posed enough questions and noted the blames that have been passed around, such that she almost convinces you (and herself) that it is a systemic failure. She also pointed out a few times that the borrowers who can't afford the loans and defaulted are your average Americans, and there were certain government agencies who pushed for this achievement of the American dream. So without saying explicitly, she seems to point out that they too, were part of this entire system breakdown involving subprime mortgage that led us to this crisis... and she's right, it takes two parties to make a transaction, and there were a whole lot of people who bought into the overall mantra.

There was one executive she noted that said of the crisis in a matter of fact way (she glossed over this quickly), but for anyone that has taken Econ 101, you'd have learned that... the market is cyclical and it goes up and down, and this is just another one of those event, a natural occurrence. And that is true (even if it sounds simple and not as nuanced as most of us would want to know considering the magnitude of the impact). "Next."

[Dave Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book examines the events and players behind the financial meltdown that started September 12-14 2008. Ms. Batiromo replays this weekend including the actions and insights of the major players. (She enjoyed first-hand access with many of these people.)

For students of economics and investments, there is a lot of information to ponder. The last chapter is the high water mark of the book in which she ponders whether Capitalism itself is to blame. Many lessor catalysts of this tragedy are also reviewed (sub-prime lending, repeal of Glass-Steagall, SEC shortcomings, et al.). While she rightly concludes that, despite its shortcomings, Capitalism is still a superior system; she stops short of identifying a specific bogeyman. This is probably appropriate. I’m no investment genius but I would say the lack of checks and balances behind sub-prime lending is the major player.

She also expresses a concern I share that the exploding national debt is putting our country at risk for future collapses.

This book was a gift from my brother-in-law. I would not have read it otherwise, frankly. This is a book which should be read on a Kindle (I had the hardbound edition). It desperately needs X-Ray references (it currently doesn't) for maximum benefit.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue to gobble up books about the '08 financial crisis, because a) it's important to know the details and important to simply know about it. b) I don't understand any of it. c) I'm fascinated by the fact that I understand none of it even though I'm inundating myself with information about it. Bartiromo has gotten me closer to understanding because, by dint of her capacity, has a unique perspective of the particulars. She explains much of the happenstance by way of metaphors, which is really interesting. She also explains the public psychology very, very well. Unforgiveable though, are a massive spate of typos, but those shouldn't be too big to fail the book.

[Phil Mullen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This may be the 7th of such books I've read since the Great Recession of 2008, & it's a lot more superficial than some of the others.

What's nice about it, though, is that it shows how, through the author's connections, she could see the crash coming, & feel the thrashing about as power-brokers tried to save themselves & their organizations.

So I'm glad I read it (AND that I got it from the library!).

[Shawn Q · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, is this a disappointment. Reads like a fans accounting of the crisis. Continually apologizing for and defending the bad actors who caused the mess. Also doesn't read so much as an insiders view as a viewers perspective. We all watched the news, I would appreciate some behind the scenes. That being said, it's a reasonable approximation of the crisis - as long as you read it as written by a diehard capitalist (and read it with a huge grain of salt).

[SallyStenger]

Brand new book about the weekend in September 2008. Didn't like it quite as much as some others I have read. Felt it was a little superficial. However it is helpful to fill in a little additional information. Maria Bartiromo has a news program called Closing Bell about the stock market and that's her experience.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made understandable why everything crashed at once and why it was too connected to fail, not "too big to fail".

[Jeremiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, a little on the fluff side. I did enjoy reading about the major players and seeing them from a more personal perspective.

[Gina]

OK bok. Didn't find it interesting enough to finish reading it.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it's been 5 years since I've read this, I remember it very well. Bartiromo writes about the financial collapse in a simple understandable way.

[Peter]

Abandoned this a few days after starting it. Don't know what didn't resonate with me. Well written, can't criticize it, it just wasn't a match for me.

Nmkt library ebook.