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Reckless Endangerment
- How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
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Publisher's summary
The New York Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist reveals how the financial meltdown emerged from the toxic interplay of Washington, Wall Street, and corrupt mortgage lenders.
In Reckless Endangerment, Gretchen Morgenson, the star business columnist of The New York Times, exposes how the watchdogs who were supposed to protect the country from financial harm were actually complicit in the actions that finally blew up the American economy.
Drawing on previously untapped sources and building on original research from coauthor Joshua Rosner, who himself raised early warnings with the public and investors, and kept detailed records, Morgenson connects the dots that led to this fiasco.
Morgenson and Rosner draw back the curtain on Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance giant that grew, with the support of the Clinton administration, through the 1990s, becoming a major opponent of government oversight even as it was benefiting from public subsidies. They expose the role played not only by Fannie Mae executives but also by enablers at Countrywide Financial, Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve, HUD, Congress, the FDIC, and the biggest players on Wall Street, to show how greed, aggression, and fear led countless officials to ignore warning signs of an imminent disaster. Character-rich and definitive in its analysis, this is the one account of the financial crisis you must hear.
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According to business reporter Charles Gasparino, President Obama is faking his outrage at Wall Street, and his calls for new policies to rein in banks that are "too big to fail" are just pabulum. In reality, Obama has climbed into bed with Wall Street CEOs, giving them what they want so they will support his liberal, big-government agenda.
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Revealing and Convincing
- By Walter on 10-24-11
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Fooling Some of the People All of the Time
- A Long Short Story
- By: David Einhorn
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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At its most basic level, Allied Capital is the story of Wall Street at its worst. But the story is much bigger than one little-known company. Fooling Some of the People All of the Time is an important call for effective law enforcement, free speech, and fair play.
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where's the epilogue?
- By James Klein on 02-02-11
By: David Einhorn
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Fool's Gold
- By: Gillian Tett
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Gillian Tett brings to life in gripping detail how the Morgan team's bold ideas for a whole new kind of financial alchemy helped to ignite a revolution in banking, and how that revolution escalated wildly out of control. The deeply reported and lively narrative takes readers behind the scenes, to the inner sanctums of elite finance and to the secretive reaches of what came to be known as the "shadow banking" world.
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Outstanding narrative about the financial crisis
- By D. Littman on 07-17-09
By: Gillian Tett
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The Fine Print
- How Big Companies Use 'Plain English' to Rob You Blind
- By: David Cay Johnston
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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David Cay Johnston has made a name for himself as the defender of the common man, calling out the rich and powerful for cheating the system at the expense of everyone else. Whether he's exposing unjust loopholes in the tax code that help the rich get richer or pointing out how powerful corporations pocket government subsidies at excessive taxpayer expense, Johnston is an eloquent town crier for justice and equality.
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A must listen if you love or hate Trump
- By Rob D on 04-19-17
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All the Presidents' Bankers
- The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power
- By: Nomi Prins
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 19 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Nomi Prins ushers us into the intimate world of exclusive clubs, vacation spots, and Ivy League universities that binds presidents and financiers. She unravels the multi-generational blood, intermarriage, and protégé relationships that have confined national influence to a privileged cluster of people. This unprecedented history of American power illuminates how financiers have retained their authoritative position through history, swaying presidents regardless of party affiliation.
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You better like history about the elite and rich
- By Victor on 01-12-15
By: Nomi Prins
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Why Wall Street Matters
- By: William D. Cohan
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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William D. Cohan is no knee-jerk advocate for Wall Street and the big banks. He's one of America's most respected financial journalists and the progressive best-selling author of House of Cards. He has long been critical of the bad behavior that plagued much of Wall Street in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, and because he spent 17 years as an investment banker on Wall Street, he is an expert on its inner workings as well.
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An Inch Deep and A Mile Wide
- By Doug Sheridan on 04-26-17
By: William D. Cohan
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King of Capital
- The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone
- By: John E. Morris, David Carey
- Narrated by: George K. Wilson
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The financial establishment---banks and investment bankers, such as Citigroup, Bear Stearns, Lehman, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley---were the cowboys, recklessly assuming risks, leveraging up to astronomical levels, and driving the economy to the brink of disaster.
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Great Story Ruined by Monotone Reading
- By Marc on 04-23-13
By: John E. Morris, and others
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The House of Dimon
- How JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon Rose to the Top of the Financial World
- By: Patricia Crisafulli
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Jamie Dimon is Wall Street's biggest player. Following the 11h-hour rescue of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan, his profile has reached stratospheric levels. And while the deals and decisions he's made have usually turned out to be the right ones, his journey to the top of the financial world has been anything but easy. Now, in The House of Dimon, business writer Patricia Crisafulli goes behind the scenes to recount the amazing events that have shaped Dimon's career.
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Intriguing
- By Jean on 08-28-16
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Battle for the Soul of Capitalism
- By: John C. Bogle
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Abridged
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There is no one better qualified to tell us about the failures of the American financial system and the grotesque abuses that have taken place in recent years than John C. Bogle, founder and former chief executive of the Vanguard mutual-fund group. This legendary mutual-fund pioneer has witnessed firsthand the innermost workings of the financial industry for more than 50 years and has set the standards for sound investment strategies and stewardship.
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Do You Own a Mutual Fund?
- By M. Kettell on 02-02-08
By: John C. Bogle
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Other People's Money
- Inside the Housing Crisis and the Demise of the Greatest Real Estate Deal Ever Made
- By: Charles V. Bagli
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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In just over three years, real estate giant Tishman Speyer and its partner, BlackRock, lost billions of investors' dollars on a single deal. In Other People's Money, Charles V. Bagli, the New York Times reporter who first broke the story of the sale of Stuyvesant Town - Peter Cooper Village takes listeners inside the most spectacular failure in real estate history, using this single deal as a lens to see how and why the real estate crisis happened.
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Solid
- By BryanW on 05-22-24
By: Charles V. Bagli
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How the Other Half Banks
- Exclusion, Exploitation, and the Threat to Democracy
- By: Mehrsa Baradaran
- Narrated by: Priya Ayyar
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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The United States has two separate banking systems today - one serving the well-to-do and another exploiting everyone else. How the Other Half Banks contributes to the growing conversation on American inequality by highlighting one of its prime causes: unequal credit. Mehrsa Baradaran examines how a significant portion of the population, deserted by banks, is forced to wander through a Wild West of payday lenders and check-cashing services to cover emergency expenses and pay for necessities - all thanks to deregulation that began in the 1970s.
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The Borrowers at the Fringe
- By Darwin8u on 09-13-16
By: Mehrsa Baradaran
What listeners say about Reckless Endangerment
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Vernon
- 04-17-13
Interesting read
Any additional comments?
A good analysis of the real estate meltdown, which is overall in line with how I remember things going down.
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- Pipster
- 06-16-15
The unvarnished truth...
The authors take you through a journey into this financial maze and go point by point letting the listener know what happened, who made it happen and what the effects were over the course of many years.
If your understanding of the 2007 to 2008 financial meltdown has anything to do with cars, ditches or keys you need to download this audiobook and listen to it…
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- Rob
- 01-09-12
Captivating and enlightening story
Would you consider the audio edition of Reckless Endangerment to be better than the print version?
Not necessarily.
Any additional comments?
As a former commercial banker, I had some idea of the events leading up to the Financial Crisis of 2008, but the depth and breadth of the enabling institutions (e.g., Fannie/Freddie, US Congress, the Fed, etc.) on both sides of the political spectrum was at once enlightening and depressing. I think Morgenstern's history and argument structure is terrific and lacks the lazy criticism seen in so many other places.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Alex
- 02-16-12
A DIFFERENT VIEW FROM TOO BIG TO FAIL
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
This is a great book with some good insight to the Financial Crisis. Although I did enjoy Sorkin's Too Big To Fail, Reckless Endangerment takes a look at the push from the government (including Dodd & Frank) for affordable housing. If you have read/listened to other Financial Crisis books and enjoyed them, add this to your list, you will enjoy it.
What other book might you compare Reckless Endangerment to and why?
Too Big To Fail
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3 people found this helpful
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- David
- 10-24-11
Required reading
This is an essential look into how Fannie Mae drove down lending standards, leading to the real estate bubble of the last decade and terrible crash that followed. The prose is a bit purple at times, but a great story.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-16-21
Excellent
A superbly researched and executed story on the financial crisis. Comprehensive in every way, from main street to Wall Street and the regulators and legislators in between.
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- Bacon52
- 11-12-23
Outstanding
I’ve read many books about financial crisis from the S&L loan crisis, to the junk bond fiasco, to the Enron and Worldcom accounting scandals, and the mortgage crisis. This book is one of the better books. It’s instructive without being dry. Incisive and interesting.
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- D. E. B.
- 04-22-13
Name dropping without describing causes
What was most disappointing about Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner ’s story?
The authors believe that individuals (that they name and blame in "Reckless Endangerment") are the cause of systemic failures. If this were true, then by stopping a single person, or small group of people, a system failure could be avoided. Who have we killed/arrested/detained recently? Has that stopped the problem? System problems are caused by culture - "Boomerang" is a much better book describing the cultures that promote economic problems. Laying the blame on a small group of people, without describing the conditions that allowed and promoted them to misbehave is not very prescriptive.
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- S. Hawkins
- 11-15-11
Propaganda, not journalism
I wasn't previously familiar with the author's work, but I figured that a Pulitzer prize winner would make an effort to maintain some semblance of journalistic integrity. I knew from the title that the book would have a point of view, but I wasn't expecting it to be blatant spin.
I don't even necessarily disagree with the premise--Fannie and Freddie were indeed a big part of the problem--I just resent the fact that the book is being sold as something other than partisan hyperbole. The facts that the narrator presented are, from what I can tell, actual facts, but they're not being reported, they're being sold. It's even narrated in a sort of preachy, outraged tone. I got about three hours in, then gave up.
If you're looking for a more balanced examination of the same general events, I recommend The End of Wall Street. If you're just killing time until Glenn Beck comes on, this will probably be to your taste.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Elliott
- 01-09-15
Expected more
Disappointing – I expected more from the NYT columnist. The book begins with what can only be described as a rant attack on the GSE’s specifically Fannie Mae. The evidence? Large spending on lobbying efforts. No mention of the large amount of money spend by financial industry to eliminate the GSE’s. They then point out the capital requirements advantage held by Fannie Mae due to the assumption of credit risk and the implied backing of the US government. Ok, but that advantage was eliminated with the passing of the 2002 financial reforms. They mention the huge percentage of mortgage market held in portfolio but more importantly guaranteed by the GSE’s. True, but that share was dropping fast after the 2002 reform and the replacement private mortgages did not offer credit risk protection. As a result the majority of the mortgages issued by private lenders held significantly higher risk levels. They mention the financial restatement required by their regulator resulting in $9 billion in losses for Fannie Mae. True. But they don’t mention that the restatement was required because of FASB 133 and the assumption of no ineffectiveness and that KPMG, their auditor, felt that the accounting for hedge trades was correct. The restatement did not change the earnings over time, just the timing of the revenue by understating the value of the hedge transactions. They did not mention that a review committee for FASB 133 has since upheld the interpretation Fannie Mae used by issuing further clarification of the rules. They did not mention the billions in fines assessed to banks and financial institutions due to sales of mortgage pools to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac containing fraudulent underwriting data. Nor did they mention the underwriting restrictions placed upon the GSE’s by charter.
I am disappointed in the lack of analysis, the lack of supporting data, the overwhelming use of unnamed sources, the heavy reliance on opinion and the personal attacks on individuals. This book has very little to do with the causes of the 2008 financial collapse. I expected more from Gretchen Morgenson.
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