Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Michael Lewis

Quote by Michael Lewis

“They had stumbled either upon a serious flaw in modern financial markets or into a great gambling run. Characteristically, they were not sure which it was. As Charlie pointed out, “It’s really hard to know when you’re lucky and when you’re smart.”

Quote by Michael Lewis

Book:The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Create image

Work

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

The book delves into the intricate details of the financial crisis, providing an in-depth look at how a group of investors foresaw and profited from the impending disaster. It examines the role of Wall Street, the government, and the housing market in the lead-up to the crisis, offering a critical analysis of the events that led to the global economic downturn. more

Author

Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis, born on October 15, 1960, is a renowned American author. His works are known for their in-depth investigations and revelations of the truths in the financial, business, and sports worlds. more

You May Also Like

“It is ludicrous to believe that asset bubbles can only be recognized in hindsight,” he wrote. “There are specific identifiers that are entirely recognizable during the bubble’s inflation. One hallmark of mania is the rapid rise in the incidence and complexity of fraud…. The FBI reports mortgage-related fraud is up fivefold since 2000.” Bad behavior was no longer on the fringes of an otherwise sound economy; it was its central feature.”

EconomyFraudRecessionSubprime Mortgage LoansAsset Bubble
Book:The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Create image

“Long Beach Savings was the first existing bank to adopt what was called the “originate and sell” model. This proved such a hit—Wall Street would buy your loans, even if you would not!—that a new company, called B&C mortgage, was founded to do nothing but originate and sell.”

Wall StreetRecessionSubprime Mortgage LoansB C MortgageLong Beach SavingsOriginate And Sell
Book:The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Create image

“By early 2005 all the big Wall Street investment banks were deep into the subprime game. Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley all had what they termed “shelves” for their subprime wares, with strange names like HEAT and SAIL and GSAMP, that made it a bit more difficult for the general audience to see that these subprime bonds were being underwritten by Wall Street’s biggest names.”

Wall StreetRecessionGoldman SachsSubprime Mortgage LoansSubprime Mortgage CrisisBear StearnsMerrill LynchMorgan StanleySubprime Bonds
Book:The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Create image

“Back in July 2003, he’d written them a long essay on the causes and consequences of what he took to be a likely housing crash: “Alan Greenspan assures us that home prices are not prone to bubbles—or major deflations—on any national scale,” he’d said. “This is ridiculous, of course…. In 1933, during the fourth year of the Great Depression, the United States found itself in the midst of a housing crisis that put housing starts at 10% of the level of 1925. Roughly half of all mortgage debt was in default. During the 1930s, housing prices collapsed nationwide by roughly 80%.”

Wall StreetRecessionSubprime Mortgage LoansAlan GreenspanAsset Bubble
Book:The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Create image

“There was more than one way to think about Mike Burry’s purchase of a billion dollars in credit default swaps. The first was as a simple, even innocent, insurance contract. Burry made his semiannual premium payments and, in return, received protection against the default of a billion dollars’ worth of bonds. He’d either be paid zero, if the triple-B-rated bonds he’d insured proved good, or a billion dollars, if those triple-B-rated bonds went bad. But of course Mike Burry didn’t own any triple-B-rated subprime mortgage bonds, or anything like them. He had no property to “insure” it was as if he had bought fire insurance on some slum with a history of burning down. To him, as to Steve Eisman, a credit default swap wasn’t insurance at all but an outright speculative bet against the market—and this was the second way to think about it.”

Wall StreetRecessionGoldman SachsCredit Default SwapSubprime Mortgage BondsMike BurrySteve EismanAig
Book:The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Create image