Bear, Stearns & Co., a storied Wall Street firm with a maverick reputation, had endured many crises in its 85-year history. Nothing, however, could have prepared the firm for the sudden death spiral that would lead to its takeover for a pittance. In a dramatic showdown with JP Morgan and the Fed, this is the tragic story of how fortunes were made and lost. Bill Bramber, a senior executive at Bear Stearns, had a bird's eye view of just what happened inside Bear's offices and on the trading floor that led to the most sensational financial crisis of our times.
Bear Trap, The Fall of Bear Stearns and the Panic of 2008
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"You just can't make this shit up...there has never been a more appropriate description for a situation like the one I lived through beginning on Monday, March 10, 2008. So appropriate did I find the phrase, in fact, that it was the last thing I said to a co-worker, a friend who, because of the time he'd spent on a Navy attack sub, had acquired the nickname of Captain Nemo on the trading floor. And so perfect a summation of our situation was it that the phrase became something of a battle cry for the two of us as the days went by, a sort of inside joke that made the pain of our demise more bearable. And it started on Monday, March 10, 2008, the day that, in my mind, came to be known as the beginning of the end."
About the Author
Bill Bamber, a senior executive at Bear Stearns, had a bird's eye view of just what happened inside Bear's offices and on the trading floor that led to the most sensational financial crisis of our times.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Wait for a good book on Bear collapse - this is not it!,
This review is from: Bear-Trap: The Fall of Bear Stearns and the Panic of 2008 (Hardcover)
My previous one-star review of this book was removed by Amazon, along with another one written by a different reviewer. So keep in mind that AMZN actively removes some reviews.
I am a former (long time ago) Bear employee. While I will give credit (and one star) for the author's good explanations of Wall Street and some of the more exotic products, if you are looking for insight into the causes of the Bear collapse, you won't find them here. Other reviewers have stated correctly that you would be better off reviewing newspaper coverage of the events to learn what happened.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful, but not of Bear Stearns,
By
This review is from: Bear-Trap: The Fall of Bear Stearns and the Panic of 2008 (Hardcover)
What I found interesting about this book is the complete lack of responsibility or culpability of a typical Wall Street trader in the financial collapse. Bill Bamber claims his firm was a "martyr for the sins of Wall Street" (chapter 10). That Bear Stearns was anything but a house of cards that employees were profiting handsomely off of while placing investor money at great risk is never made a case for. As the information has no depth other than any one else reading a newspaper would have, this book more supports that conclusion than refutes it.
I'd add that investors of Bear Stearns were also very poorly served by the firms employees, a group Bamber has very little sympathy for. Were the firm's employees really the unwitting dupes portrayed or the wizards of Wall Street they would like to think of themselves as? This book is also poorly edited and redundent, I slogged through it only to justify my review.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely BAD!,
By read everything "P" (boston) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Bear-Trap: The Fall of Bear Stearns and the Panic of 2008 (Hardcover)
Nothing new here. If one read the papers, he would be as informed as after finishing the book. Moreover, the author wants us to understand how intellectual he is by presenting historical facts which for the most part are irrelevant. And the whole discourse on being a "tragic hero" is just pitiful. I am not sure where the author is now, but I think he should stick to trading derivatives!
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