Fraud & Greed: Wall Street Banks & How to Invest book list
Discover the best books on Wall Street fraud, greed, and high-stakes finance. Explore Den of Thieves, When Genius Failed, and more in this essential investing book list.
Book
Den of Thieves
by James B. Stewart
How four men--Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Martin Siegel, Dennis Levine--"nearly destroyed Wall Street ... how they made billions and how they got caught."
Book
The Looting of America
by Les Leopold
How could the best and brightest (and most highly paid) in finance crash the global economy and then get us to bail them out as well? What caused this mess in the first place? Housing? Greed? Dumb politicians? What can Main Street do about it? In The Looting of America, Leopold debunks the prevailing media myths that blame low-income home buyers who got in over their heads, people who ran up too much credit-card debt, and government interference with free markets. Instead, readers will discover how Wall Street undermined itself and the rest of the economy by playing and losing at a highly lucrative and dangerous game of fantasy finance. He also asks some tough questions: Why did Americans let the gap between workers' wages and executive compensation grow so large? Why did we fail to realize that the excess money in those executives' pockets was fueling casino-style investment schemes? Why did we buy the notion that too-good-to-be-true financial products that no one could even understand would somehow form the backbone of America's new, postindustrial economy? How do we make sure we never give our wages away to gamblers again? And what can we do to get our money back? In this page-turning narrative (no background in finance required) Leopold tells the story of how we fell victim to Wall Street's exotic financial products. Readers learn how even school districts were taken in by "innovative" products like collateralized debt obligations, better known as CDOs, and how they sucked trillions of dollars from the global economy when they failed. They'll also learn what average Americans can do to ensure that fantasy finance never rules our economy again. As the country teeters on the brink of what could be the next Great Depression, we should be especially wary of the so-called financial experts who got us here, and then conveniently got themselves out. So far, it appears they've won the battle, but The Looting of America refuses to let them write the history--or plan its aftermath.
Book
Traders, Guns & Money
by Satyajit Das
Liar's Pokerwith more lies and more insight, Traders, Guns & Moneyis a sensational insider's view of the business of trading and marketing derivatives for a living. It reveals the nature of the business, the players and how the real money is made and lost. An accessible companion, a wise counsel and a great read. A sensational and controversial first-person account of the business of derivatives trading and the financial products industry. Offers a true insider's view. Funny and poignant, written in a wry and wickedly comic style. Reveals how shareholders, clients, regulators, and the tax paying ordinary public bear most of the risk in the trading rooms. Reveals the story of how one set of clients discovered the perils of unknowns in a derivatives deal. Traders, Guns & Money cleverly weaves together: the dazzling world of derivatives and how to work out what you know, don't know and need to know; an insider's, expert witness account of the rise and rules of the world of derivatives and the astonishing story of how one set of clients discovered the perils of unknowns in a derivatives deal. Benchmark: Liar's Poker 0340767006.Das now offers more lies and is set in today's derivatives market, and Traders Gun's and Moneyis written not by a journalist but by a world-famous insider.
