Michael Lewis, of Liar's Poker fame, another book recom- mendation, is a genius. His end of Wall Street piece in Portfolio is a long but worthwhile read, and today's letter to Henry Paulson on Bloomberg is his usual hilarity:
As much as I admire all of your decisions I can’t help but notice that the main qualification of the bankers to whom you have been giving money, so that they might make smart loans, is that they have gone almost bankrupt by making stupid loans.
As your mind is subtle, I can only assume that you secretly believe that the American economy right now needs not smart loans, but more stupid ones -- and thus that you have targeted the bankers who have proven they can make them.
The most ridiculous thing is the geniuses at GS thought they could pull this off (The Bail Me Out Bro!! TARP 08) under the cover of night, like the Internets was some far off black magic voodoo tool, and no one would figure out what just happened.
The take away: 1) Don't live in a silo. 2) Genius drones are still drones, 3) Respect the wizard.
Lesson not learned.
Carry on looting.
