I just got back from a trip to Borders book store. I purchased four books: When Genius Failed, A People's History, Tipping Point and Undercover Economist (which I had actually never heard of, but it came free as part of a Buy 2 Get 1 Free Deal). I am currently finishing up Den of Thieves, which is very good, just a little long and at times hard to follow since there are so many freaking people involved. For those of you who don't know, Den of Thieves is an account of the insider trading cases that occurred in the late 1980's. The most famous of course is Michael Milken, who amassed a fortune with his junk bond creativity (which seems perfectly legal as far as I can tell, its just extremely risky), but then used his connections to learn of impending deals, and then traded on that inside information and also sold his information to other big-name clients. Milken was sentenced to ten years in prison, but only served two. He was sentenced by Reagan appointee Judge Kimba Wood. She was later was nominated for AG by Clinton. Rupert Murdoch, one of Milken's largest clients, got wind of Wood's nomination and instructed his New York Post staff to do some dirt digging. It was discovered that Wood had previously hired illegal immigrants to work as nannies, and, even though she had filed the appropriate paperwork and not broken the law, the Post engaged in a mass character assassination against Clinton's nominee, forcing her to withdraw her nomination. So yeah, lets hope Murdoch doesn't buy the Wall Street Journal.
Rudolph Giuliani, who was then the U.S. Attorney for New York, with jurisdiction over Wall Street, is profiled extensively in the book. Apparently he was a media whore, the LaVar Arrington of politics if you will. He used the notoriety of the Milken case to gain the GOP nomination for Mayor of New York in 1989 (losing). He hung tough, and the rest is history. Interesting though, that Milken wound up serving less than two years, and was still a billionaire upon his release. So, all and all, he wound up earning $2 Billion in exchange for less than two years in prison. Not a bad deal. I wonder how much time Bodie Broadus or Omar Little would get if they walked in and stole $2 Billion from the Federal Reserve. I am guessing they would get more than two years. Just a hunch.
Anyway, as for the current books, I am really excited about When Genius Failed. I am hoping that it clears up a lot of confusion I have over hedge funds, the floating Baht and the Asian financial crisis of 1997, and the regulation of securities in general.
As for the other books, we shall see. I have a feeling I am going to really like Tipping Point, but since I've already seen the Brian Lamb interview, and read so much about the book, I will get bored fairly quickly and never finish it. Hopefully Undercover Economist is practical and reasonable, and not merely a sensationalist pessimistic critique of the dismal science that argues that every poor person will die miserable due to a rigged system.
The wild card of the bunch is a People's History by Howard Zinn. The book comes highly recommended by my friend Will Hunting, but I am a little worried that the book overemphasizes class struggle and romanticizes the victims of rich white male dominance to such a degree that it may become cliched. The problem with books like that in today's society is that anyone with any intelligence whatsoever recognizes the dark side of America's founders, and we no longer need to be convinced that racism, sexism, and flat out evil existed among America's elite. But, American history is what it is. Hopefully though, the book gives greater support to an across-the-board estate and inheritance tax, something which I strongly support. We shall see.
Please leave me some book recommendations in the comments section. Thanks.
