The Devil's Derivatives: The Untold Story of the Slick Traders and Hapless Regulators Who Almost Blew Up Wall Street . . . and Are Ready to Do It Again.
and Michael Grunwald's The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era.
The Lost Bank has some interesting anecdotes. One is that the head economist for the National Association of Realtors, David Lereah, earned the nickname Baghdad Dave, which refers to Iraq's Baghdad Bob. Also, there's a scene where a farsighted executive at WaMu predicts the housing bubble in a presentation given to WaMu employees at the 2003 "State of the Group" annual event.
...Customers, unable to make much money on the stock market, would invest in homes instead. "The consumer," Longbrake told the group, "has found that small increases in housing prices, given the substantial leverage that is much greater than ever was possible in the stock market, can lead to large gains in home equity." At the same time, refinancing a mortgage would become easier for the customer, as would taking out a home equity line of credit.
"The bubble then build through a reinforcing cycle of rising home prices and rising consumer confidence. This leads to an increase in the demand for investor properties and second homes, which, in turn, places further upward pressure on home prices."Second homes?
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