NORB VONNEGUT

Here’s something to consider the next time that trader yells in a throaty voice, “Five million Buckeye 5 7/8′s of ’47 to go at six.” Traders earn more money than neurosurgeons. So do I-bankers. According to Bloomberg today, the comparison isn’t even close.

In the Senate chamber yesterday, our elected officials grilled reps from Goldman Sachs. The Senators illustrated, I think, the outrage felt by Americans over bailout dollars that turned into banker bonuses. Even if—Senator Carl Levin trash-talked with the kind of language that triggered FCC fines of shock-jock Howard Stern:

Is paranoia necessary to survive on Wall Street?

In one sense, Goldman Sachs is no different from any other investment bank on Wall Street. When it comes to protecting the brand, junior employees are expendable. Like goldfish, investment banks eat their young when self-interest make cannibalism seem rationale.

Michael Lewis has done it again. The Big Short is a must read, even if you don’t know anything about finance. With his trademark ability to identify unlikely heroes, he chronicles the lives of people who bet against subprime mortgages. The prose is lucid. The explanations make sense. And Lewis explains what happened behind the scenes leading up to Wall Street’s 2008 debacle.

Michael Lewis has done it again. The Big Short is a must read, even if you don’t know anything about finance. With his trademark ability to identify unlikely heroes, he chronicles the lives of people who bet against subprime mortgages. The prose is lucid. The explanations make sense. And Lewis explains what happened behind the scenes leading up to Wall Street’s 2008 debacle.