“All of a sudden I’ve become this caricature,” said Burry. “I’ve always been able to study up on something and ace something really fast. I thought it was all something special about me. Now it’s like ‘Oh, a lot of Asperger’s people can do that.’ Now I was explained by a disorder.”
More here, at least as of January 2011. If the link doesn't work, check out Michael Lewis' book, The Big Short, for more.
"And if an epitaph be my story, I'd have a short one ready for my own: I had a lover's quarrel with the world." -- Robert Frost
Showing posts with label Michael Lewis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Lewis. Show all posts
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Michael Lewis Goes Greek
Michael Lewis always delivers. He's easily my favorite magazine writer. Below is a link to his article on Greece:
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010?printable=true
My favorite sentence from the article: "In Greece the banks didn’t sink the country. The country sank the banks." Mr. Lewis also quotes the ancient orator Isocrates: “Democracy destroys itself because it abuses its right to freedom and equality. Because it teaches its citizens to consider audacity as a right, lawlessness as a freedom, abrasive speech as equality, and anarchy as progress.”
Bonus: if you haven't read Mr. Lewis's article on article on Iceland, you are missing out.
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010?printable=true
My favorite sentence from the article: "In Greece the banks didn’t sink the country. The country sank the banks." Mr. Lewis also quotes the ancient orator Isocrates: “Democracy destroys itself because it abuses its right to freedom and equality. Because it teaches its citizens to consider audacity as a right, lawlessness as a freedom, abrasive speech as equality, and anarchy as progress.”
Bonus: if you haven't read Mr. Lewis's article on article on Iceland, you are missing out.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Michael Lewis on Goldman Sachs
Reason #48756 why Michael Lewis is the best financial journalist working today:
http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a2X3hNaWcbeg
Every time we hear the phrase “the United States of Goldman Sachs” we shake our heads in wonder. Every ninth-grader knows that the U.S. government consists of three branches. Goldman owns just one of these outright; the second we simply rent, and the third we have no interest in at all. (Note there isn’t a single former Goldman employee on the Supreme Court.)
Devastatingly funny, isn't it?
http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a2X3hNaWcbeg
Every time we hear the phrase “the United States of Goldman Sachs” we shake our heads in wonder. Every ninth-grader knows that the U.S. government consists of three branches. Goldman owns just one of these outright; the second we simply rent, and the third we have no interest in at all. (Note there isn’t a single former Goldman employee on the Supreme Court.)
Devastatingly funny, isn't it?
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Michael Lewis on Iceland and its Financial Collapse
Why you never, ever want to tick off a great writer--especially not someone as good as Michael Lewis:
Maybe because there are so few Icelanders in the world, we know next to nothing about them. We assume they are more or less Scandinavian—a gentle people who just want everyone to have the same amount of everything. They are not. They have a feral streak in them, like a horse that’s just pretending to be broken.
Lewis castigates the entire Icelandic male race in explaining the country's financial collapse. You can read the full Vanity Fair article here.
Maybe because there are so few Icelanders in the world, we know next to nothing about them. We assume they are more or less Scandinavian—a gentle people who just want everyone to have the same amount of everything. They are not. They have a feral streak in them, like a horse that’s just pretending to be broken.
Lewis castigates the entire Icelandic male race in explaining the country's financial collapse. You can read the full Vanity Fair article here.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Michael Lewis on Wall St Corruption
Michael Lewis always has great stuff:
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom
My favorite parts? Here you go:
In Bakersfield, California, a Mexican strawberry picker with an income of $14,000 and no English was lent every penny he needed to buy a house for $720,000...
He called Standard & Poor’s and asked what would happen to default rates if real estate prices fell. The man at S&P couldn’t say; its model for home prices had no ability to accept a negative number. “They were just assuming home prices would keep going up,” Eisman says.
Oh, the hubris.
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom
My favorite parts? Here you go:
In Bakersfield, California, a Mexican strawberry picker with an income of $14,000 and no English was lent every penny he needed to buy a house for $720,000...
He called Standard & Poor’s and asked what would happen to default rates if real estate prices fell. The man at S&P couldn’t say; its model for home prices had no ability to accept a negative number. “They were just assuming home prices would keep going up,” Eisman says.
Oh, the hubris.
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