The Big Short by Michael Lewis is a Must-Read

I just watched the 60 Minutes segment on Michael Lewis and his new book, “The Big Short.” He had some terrific sound bites including my favorite about AIG: “…they didn’t know the mistake they were making.” Here’s one reason...

Bailout Strategy—Rip Off the Little Guy?

Who needs TARP to bail out financial institutions? Your local supermarket carries a retail version at the checkout counter. We know the program as “gift cards.” Last week while I was grocery shopping, the gift-card display piqued my curiosity. So I took a...

How Big is Too Big to Fail?

Over the past few days, I’ve spent way too much time inside planes and rental cars. And during my travels, I’ve been thinking about one idiom, the one we keep hearing when Washington discusses Wall Street: “too big to fail.” Do we know what it...

I, Bonus

Taxing Banks for the Bailout On Wednesday night I spoke at the Rotary Club in Boston. We discussed my novel, Top Producer, but concentrated on Wall Street and the topic of bonuses. It seems everybody wants the finance industry to justify its compensation. Bank CEOs...

Catch-22 Billion

For Bankers, Saying ‘Sorry’ Has Its Perils As a kid and Air Force brat, I didn’t like Catch-22 much. The novel, while laugh-out-loud funny, speared the military and hit too close to home. As a blogger and novelist, however, I admire Joseph Heller’s writing...