Customer Reviews

Take on the Street: What Wall Street and Corporate America Don't Want You to Know and How You Can Fight Back

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Chances are anyone who rates this book as a 1 is a broker, member of AICPA, or serves on the Senate Banking committee. I am an investor who is very concerned about the greedily protected lack of transparency in the way public companies report their earnings or lack thereof, so I am giving this excellent book a 5.

The book is useful because it describes how securities markets really work. It also functions as practical investment advice which details what is happening with your money after it leaves your hands. It should be required reading in MBA programs. Finally, voters will be much more informed about how Congress, through its protection of accountants, investment bankers, and brokers, is interfering with the efficient allocation of capital in the US economy.

Levitt's book should be used by business schools scrambling to put together courses on business ethics and corporate governance. As a student working towards my MBA, I found this book to be of great value in an environment that lacks a curriculum to explain many of the issues underlying recent corporate scandals.

As a young professional, this book has also helped me better understand and manage my mini-portfolio, including my 401K. Truly a valuable read that has given me much to think about as I manage my financial future.

I'm really shocked at all the negative reviews this book is getting. I think they are totally unfair.

A lot of the criticism of this book is by people who claim to be disgruntled investors who lost big in the stock market. They seem to be taking it out on former SEC chairman Levitt. They are dead wrong!

Arthur Levitt championed the cause of small investors. He championed investors' rights against tough opposition from the Big 5 (now Big 4 sans Andersen) accounting firms, some (but not all) Wall Street financiers, etc. Levitt stuck to his principles in spite of tremendous opposition, personal insults, and threats to the SEC. The ONLY reason he lost in his attempts to defend small investors was because some members of Congress were bought off by Levitt's (and investors') enemies. This isn't just something that Levitt believes; almost everyone who has followed the issue on Wall Street and on Capitol Hill (EVEN Levitt's enemies) ALL agree that the above were the facts. In spite of the opposition, Levitt did manage to get some issues on the table (Reg FD - 'Fair Disclosure' - and trying to make accounting for derivatives as well as the co-habitation between accountants & consultants issues for public debate). All of that was accomplished by Levitt even when some in Congress threatened to cut the funding to the SEC.

Mr. Levitt's book recounts his heroic efforts, in the face of fierce opposition, to reform a flawed system. His book should be applauded for those reasons alone! On top of that, Mr. Levitt offers some sound advice to investors that would have helped to prevent many of those who have lost their shirts (and foolishly bash Levitt's book) from getting fooled into bad investment decisions.

Do I think Levitt's book is perfect or all that it claims to be? No. But if people are going to bash a book, they better back it up with facts and review a book in a thoughtful and logical manner rather than getting the facts wrong, lying, and/or going off into a world of their own.

Bottom-line: If you want the truth about Wall Street and politics, Levitt's book is a great read. If you want to criticize this book AFTER you actually read it, then please do so in a honest, factual, and logical manner rather than in a dishonest and irrational manner as some of the other reviewers have (unfortunately and unfairly) done.

Edit (11/17/02): I whole-heartedly agree with the review by Phillip Brown (Pennsylvania, .... Note (11/20/02): Apparently the rest of my edited review was deleted by Amazon thus making me look bad. Which begs the question: Why aren't they similarly editing out the 1-star reviews of this book that are clearly slanderous? I'm actually doing Amazon a favor by making sure that accurate, fair, and positive info about this book gets out there which will lead to more sales for them. The looney 1-star reviews would lead to poorer sales. So what gives?

I really appreciated the honest insight that this fascinating book gives into the "shady" corporate dealings of Wall Street companies, their greedy, dishonest CEOs and ineffectual Board members. It also provides good, sound help for the trusting investor with practical advice on how to read between the company statement lines and cautions the investor about the many potential pitfalls of corporate corruption. I just wonder, if such shenanigans were so well known to the SEC, why was it allowed to continue and fester for so long? Anyway, Mr. Arthur Levitt's willingness to at least assist investors is to be highly commended.

While reading "Take On The Street" I was reminded of another book that preceded this one, entitled, "MANAGEMENT BY VICE" by the author/scientist C.B.DON. I would very much recommend that any wary investor interested in the high-tech industry sector also reads this marvelous book. The lessons and advice in "Management By Vice" are there for all to see in episodes of sharp, candid satire with a touch of wicked humor as it provides a very important insight into the inner workings of industry life, and in genuine "satire"-style, reveals the "vices" and follies of managers, the frustrations of high-tech technical staff, their "caveats" to investors and sheds a spotlight onto typical high-tech mis-management going on right now in such company settings.

As "Take On The Street" focuses on Wall Street trickery, so "Management By Vice" frankly exposes true-to-life examples of project blunders, corporate misrepresentations and misappropriations, management greed, managerial/corporate abuses, ignorance and bluffing and attitudes towards investors, to name but a few. Both books are indeed a must-read for cautious investors, though from different "insider" angles...and both arm the reader with information that is pertinent and all-important.

Only by reading eye-opening, superb books, such as this Wall Street insight, "Take On The Street", and the employee-inventors' perspectives/warnings of "Management By Vice", can we learn what to look for on corporate statements, which tough questions to ask of company managers or analysts, how employees view their company management and what demands to make for corporate accountability!!

Anything Warren Buffett recommends cannot be bad in terms of books. I read this book and found it to be extremely relevant given today's market backdrop and the corporate shenanigans on Wall Street. Levitt names names and points his finger at those he KNOWS are responsible for much of the questionable behaviour. Recommended reading for anyone who wants to know about the back room games played and how to protect one's self from being played by the big boys. Do yourself a favour and read this book.

I have the audible format, but I am going to keep a print copy. I follow stock market every day, i know the tricks of the analysts. They downgrade stocks when those have already depreciated almost 80%, and upgrade and make 'strong buy' recommendation when stocks have already rocket high. Why? you know why! Luckily, we still have some good stock analysts, though there are not many.

I absolute agree with what Levitt says: brokers are no more than a salesman.... Don't listen to your broker for using margin account... Should avoid using margin account at all cost..

What have happened this year on the Street? Why the big invesment firms have to pay 1.4B fines last week? As an individual investor, you know why.

I highly recommen this book/audible listen to individual investors and those who wish to revisit how they make money from making untruth recommendations to their clients.

Mr. Levitt's brilliant and direct assessment of what's wrong with Wall Street should be high on everyone's list with a dollar in a 401(k) plan or with a brokerage.

For all the money spent on educating market professionals our country has apparently not been well served. In fairness that's an overstatement, but it does illustrate that for all the CPA's, MBA's, and CFA's carrying a brief-case around America, technical knowledge means very little if people cannot tell the difference between ethical and unethical, a lie and a truth, or good and bad behavior.

In reality we should all perhaps strive to take several pages from Warren Buffett as well: get a hobby, buy value, mistrust Wall Street, don't gamble, choose your friends wisely, when you're on the mainline to Chicago from NY there are no side-trips in Altoona, etc...

Above all else read Benjamin Graham's 'Security Analysis'. If you have any trouble understanding what it is you are buying, you should not be laying down your money. PERIOD!

Every best wish to Mr. Levitt on the success of this book!

I found this to be a informative if depressing read. For all the one star reviewers, Levitt did speak out during the Clinton administration. But politics aside the book offers a behind the scenes view of the SEC and its relationships with Congress, FASB, industry etc. The view is not a good one. Read it and take heed. Hopefully it will help prevent another Enron. Maybe people will finally learn about financial mania.

I can't tell you how eye-opening it was to read the honest, clear words of a person who truly seems to care about the small investor. This book should be mandatory reading for every american with a dollar in the stock market!

I don't know if the feeling I got back from reading this book was put by Mr. Levitt intentionally or not, I just think that all what this book is about are, in a nutshell:
1 - apologies (i.e. author apologizes because he was not able, as an SEC President, to stop the madness of the speculative bubble that left many small investors bruised);
2 - explanations (why he was not able to stop..., you know what);
3 - remedies (how to avoid making again the same mistakes); and
4 - thanksgiving to all those supporters that let him do a tremendous work during those very difficult years.
How actually difficult were those bubble years? Let's see just an example, in the author's own words:
"When (...) tried to stop abusive practices in the way that many companies accounted for mergers, two of Silicon Valley's VIPs, Cisco Systems Inc. CEO John Chambers and venture capitalist John Doerr, tried to persuade me to rein in the standard-setters. When I refused, they threatened to get "friends" in the White House and on Capitol Hill to make me bend."

One entire chapter is devoted to "Regulation Fair Disclosure", certainly the best success achieved by Mr. Levitt:
"In the summer of 2000, the time had come to give final approval to a controversial new rule, Regulation Fair Disclosure, or Reg FD."
"I think it's important that investors know how the rule came about, and why the securities industry bitterly opposed it. Even today, Wall Street firms would like nothing better than to turn back the clock and either erase Reg FD or water it down."
He tells us of how the Security Industry Association put on a lobbying blitz to urge him to back down; there's and interesting - if worrying - account of how big businesses influence politicians to act against the interest of the people.

This book is five-stars one, it is a must if you are a novice investor in the stockmarket: "By learning about conflicts, motivations, and political favoritism, investors can become more discerning in how they use the power of their money and the power of their shareholder vote. I hope this book makes you a more informed, skeptical, diligent and successful investor."
While I rate it as a three-stars one, if you are an experienced investor (you should already know a lot about what's written here) - so this is why my overall rating is just four stars.

Levitt about brokers:
"How serious are the conflicts between broker and investor? Serious enough that a former top official of a major brokerage firm confessed to me privately that he would not send his mother to a full-service broker."

The stockmarket is no shortcut to riches: investors have responsibilities and have to do their homework:
"In the end, investors must change their behavior, too. You should not follow the herd and grab for shares just because the headline on a press release trumpets an increase in pro forma earnings per share. Conversely, investors should not abandon ship just because a company fails to meet analysts' expectations. It's your responsibility to dig deeper to see what the company's true prospects are. It's a lot safer to own shares in a company that believes in transparency and whose earnings have not been gilded than to own shares in a company that smooths out earnings by manipulating reserves. (...) If you demand more transparency and an end to the numbers game - and you back up those demands with your investment dollars - companies will have little choice but to change their behavior, too."

I have three last questions for the investor-taxpayer-consumer: How much money makes the SEC President? How much money makes the average CEO? How much shareholders' money CEOs put in politicians' pockets?