Funny Money [Paperback]

Mark Singer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 2004

From esteemed New Yorker writer Mark Singer comes this cautionary tale of the Penn Square Bank, the oil and gas broker in an Oklahoma City shopping mall whose collapse in 1982 staggered America’s banking industry. Recounting the whole spectacular story and its colorful characters, Singer makes brilliantly (and hilariously) clear what actually happened and why it had to happen in boom-time Oklahoma. Nowhere else did money flow in quite the same spontaneous fashion. “[A] tale of wonderful verve” (New York Times), Funny Money comes to life through Singer's vivid prose and continues to resonate in today's culture of corporate corruption.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Singer has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1974. He is the author of Funny Money, Mr. Personality, Citizen K, and Somewhere in America. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (June 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618197273
• ISBN-13: 978-0618197279
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #394,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Okiesmo Lives, February 19, 2001

By 

Fred "Technology is your friend." (CHAPEL HILL, NC, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Funny Money (Hardcover)

Growing up in Oklahoma my only real memory of the Penn Square Bank failure was when they pulled down the red-piggy-bank logo from the top of the building. It was something that was talked about on the national news every evening, but it wasn't well understood just how such a small local bank could cause such a ruckus.

Mr. Singer's book explains what was at the bottom of all of the trouble, how Penn Square fell from grace, and in the process of doing so provides interesting commentary on Oklahoma culture, as well as some history and other facts pertaining to the oil business. The book is very well written and quick paced, providing just enough detail to be considered in depth, while not languishing on unnecessary detail.

It is interesting to remark that the same conditions that caused everyone to say oil at $100 per barrel was a no-brainer are those that caused people to put forth the indestructible nature of internet-retailing. The Okiesmo of wildcats in pursuit of oil bears striking resemblance to the aggressive idiocy of venture capitalists fighting to put money into business plans that ignored common sense.

This book is satisfying on a lot of levels, the depth of information on the figures behind the bankruptcy, the environment that spawned and incented those figures and also the culture, both nationally and locally, which created this collapse. This is a very interesting book, and I highly recommend it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting read on the Penn Square failure, November 7, 2000

By 

J. K. Kelley "literary mercenary" (Eastern WA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Funny Money (Hardcover)

Singer, an Ivy Leaguer from Oklahoma, gives us a pretty good look at how the failure of Penn Square bank nearly took several much larger ones with it back in 1982.

Where Singer's portrayal contrasts with that of others is that he speaks from personal and cultural acquaintance with many of the primary characters. This does not stop him from having a little fun at the expense of what he calls 'Okiesmo', the wildcatting and high-living ethic of the oil and gas industry, but it does mean that he sees his subjects as being (in most cases) basically decent human beings who made bad assumptions and boneheaded business decisions.

The only thing Singer lacks is a deeper exploration of the factors at the upstream banks (Seafirst, Continental, Michigan National, Chase, and more) that allowed Penn Square to balloon out of control. As someone who has seen a few related documents that he can't say much about, I can tell you with certainty that the 'wild and crazy guy' ethic was not limited to Penn Square, and that without the eager participation of larger banks, the whole affair would have been relatively insignificant. Good book for those interested in Oklahoma history, the gas drilling industry or (naturally) the Penn Square failure.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but a little light, October 2, 2006

By 

Gary N. Clark "Gary N. Clark, CFA" (La Crescenta, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Funny Money (Paperback)

As one who lived through this, and is trained in economics and finance, and knew several of the individuals of the era, I enjoyed this book, but found it not as thorough nor displaying a comprehensive grasp of the context of the times as it could have. I felt like the author was striving more to be entertaining and engaging, than to provide a comprehensive historical record or in-depth economic analysis. I would recommend Philip Zweig's "Belly Up, the Story of Penn Square Bank" in its place for those seeking a more in-depth history. Zweig's book is better researched and also does an excellent job of communicating the flavor and energy of those years. I might give Singer's book a 3.6, but I think a 4.0 is too high.