The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: credit hedge funds, leveraged loans, credit default swaps, Wall Street, United States, Federal Reserve (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Financial writer Morris explains the current sub-prime mortgage crisis that is affecting countless numbers of families in the United States and the economy as a whole. Morris details, in great length and description, where the market went wrong and the economic downfall that is soon to be ravaging the country and the global market. Nick Summers does his very best to make all of this sound as interesting as he can, but the material is overly depressing and incredibly monotonous. Summers spices things up a bit by offering a slight shift in tone and intention when reading quotes by the big business honchos responsible for the downfall, summoning a cutting sarcasm to portray them in a more comical and often realistic light. All in all, listeners will be hard-pressed to stay the course. A Public Affairs paperback. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Review

Morris (Tycoons) explains the subprime mortgage crisis and discusses the sobering reality of how this financial debacle is only the beginning of even more profound economic and political restructuring expected toward the end of 2008 and into 2009. Narrating his second audiobook for Phoenix (after Everything You Know About God Is Wrong), Nick Summers delivers a solid, composed performance. Recommended for learned listeners savvy to the heady complexities of high finance; most relevant to university libraries supporting graduate-level finance and economics curricula. [The PublicAffairs hc, released in March, was a New York Times best seller.-Ed.]-Dale Farris, Groves, TX



--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs (March 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586485636
• ISBN-13: 978-1586485634
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,665 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

198 of 212 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes the Incomprehensible Comprehensible, March 23, 2008

By	Andy Ross "Swimming with Dolphins" (Chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great book for those of you like me who are not in the financial services industry but who want to understand why our economy is melting down as we speak. It will also help you understand why this upcoming election is so important: The author describes the seismic ideological shifts over the last 40 years, from the Liberal/Keynsian era that imploded in the late 70s, to the current dying embers of the Chicago-School free market ideology that has held sway from Reagan up to the present moment. The author believes it is time once again for the pendulum to swing in the direction of more activist, socially conscious government intervention. He is not a liberal ideologue but a former banker who comes to his conclusions based on objectivity, knowledge, and lucid thought. The integrity of his thinking shines through every page. This is not always an easy book to read; due to the subject matter it is rife with all sorts of financial industry acronyms and terms like "tranch" and "quant" and "put", but don't let that throw you. Just keep reading with the big picture in mind and it will all come together in the end. It's well worth the effort!

102 of 112 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, great perspective, March 17, 2008

By	Gene Jus "Gene" (desert city USA) - See all my reviews

I am learning a lot reading this, even though I've followed the economy for years. The preface summarizes the situation and outlines the book, but is maybe slightly dense and technical for the average person. But the first chapter is great for giving perspective on how the US economy has evolved, especially the troubles of the stagflation period and what caused that. The book goes up to November 2007, with a clear understanding that the credit bubble was going to have to unwind, and it was either going to cost $1 trillion, or, if the government tried to paper it over, a lot more.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lucid explanation of the subprime mortgage crisis, April 18, 2008

By	Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In this excellent, highly readable book, Charles R. Morris combines legal and financial experience with literary craft. No ideologue, no partisan and certainly no salesman, Morris traces the roots of the 2007-2008 mortgage securities crisis to its distant origins in the 1970s. He argues that policy missteps under the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations, when Arthur Burns chaired the Federal Reserve, led to dollar debasement. He contends that the decline of America's currency and its business sector at that time led in turn to the Reagan administration's zeal for deregulation and Chicago-school economics. He details his belief that Alan Greenspan's policies took America from a relatively healthy financial status to a position perhaps as dire as in the late 1970s. Morris also reveals the privileges enjoyed by an out-of-control financial services system. getAbstract found this to be a trenchant and provocative read.