Financial Crisis

Financial Crisis 2009

 

Listed below are some books that might be of interest to those who are tracking the crisis in which we are still mired. The opinions vary; the ideas about the root causes and suggestions for potential relief abundant. Here you will find some offerings from business intellectuals who are attempting to tackle our current day fiscal dilemmas. Check out the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis for a timeline of  events as they unfold.

See also the section below on : Everything Old is New Again and On a Lighter Note

Websites:
The Crash of 2008 from CIBC World Markets: The Week Ahead October 10, 2008
Sub-Prime As Prime Target: The Surging Non-Conforming Mortgage Market in Canada from CIBC World Markets: Consumer Watch Canada October 10, 2006

Electronic Books:

Allen, Franklin. Understanding financial crises. DBW stack HB3722.A357 2007 Paper Electronic

Turner, Graham. The credit crunch: housing bubbles, globalisation and the worldwide economic crisis

Waggoner, John M. Bailout : what the rescue of Bear Stearns and the credit crisis mean for your investments.

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Books:

Rotman School of Management. The finance crisis and rescue : What went wrong? Why? What lessons can be learned? HB3722.F52 2008
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Hudson, Michael. The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America- and Spawned a Global Crisis HG2040.5.U5H843 2010

Charan, Ram. Leadership in the era of economic uncertainty : the new rules for getting the right things done in difficult times. HD57.7.C47375 2009


García, José. Up to our eyeballs : how shady lenders and failed economic policies are drowning Americans in debt. HG3756.U54G37 2008

Before most people had heard of subprime mortgages - before Washington had shown any concern or Wall Street had seen anything but a new source of huge profits - there was a debt crisis brewing in this country." "With boundless expressions of faith in the private sector and endless denigration of government, the giants of the American lending industry were allowed to write their own rules, aggressively marketing a succession of new loan products that were rigged to put people into near-perpetual debt." "Up to Our Eyeballs is an exploration of the causes and consequences of the explosive rise in consumer debt, and of the fast-spreading financial and economic crisis. After explaining how we got into our credit fix, the authors sketch out a plausible escape route, based on proven good ideas that our political and economic elites have temporarily forgotten, at the expense of the rest of us.

George,Bill. 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis. HD49.G464 2009

Gerst, Eric D, Vulture culture : dirty deals, unpaid claims, and the coming collapse of the insurance industry. HG8531.G47 2008

"We all dutifully write out checks for insurance coverage each month, assuming that if the worst should occur, we'll be protected financially. But what we don't know about the insurance business could -and most probably will - hurt us. Vulture Culture is a hard-hitting expose of the sorry state of the industry,from tales of rampant, widespread corruption to inconsistent state regulations and the inability - and often unwillingness - of the federal government to protect the rights of denied claimants.""The book takes readers into a world of bid-rigging, fraudulent commissions, and secret payoffs,revealing shocking abuses and ominous new trends. Readers will hear about a rogue's gallery of shady executives, including a CEO whose massive claim denial schemes eventually got him fired... at great cost to consumers. From the Hurricane Katrina fiasco of unpaid claims, to a revolving door in which former insurance executives regulate their own industry before returning to it themselves, this is a shocking account of an industry on the brink of collapse, and what must be done to fix it before it's too late."

Knoop, Todd A. Modern financial macroeconomics : panics, crashes, and crises. DBW stack HB172.5.K63 2008

Kosman, Josh. The Buyout of America: How Private Equity Will Cause the Next Great Credit Crisis. HG4751.K673 2009 

Kuttner, Robert. Obama's challenge : America's economic crisis and the power of a transformative presidency. DBW stack HB3743.K79 2008 Kosman, Josh. The Buyout of America: How Private Equity Will

Lewis, Michael. Panic: The Story of modern financial insanity. HB3722.P36 2009 (Lewis also delves into historical financial crises)

Lowenstein, Roger While America aged : how pension debts ruined General Motors, stopped the NYC subways, bankrupted San Diego, and loom as the next financial crisis HD7125.L68 2008

Mason, Paul. Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed. HB3722.M376 2009

McDonald, Lawrence. A colossal failure of common sense : the incredible inside story of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. HB3722.M34 2009

Muolo, Paul. $700 billion bailout : the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and what it means to you, your money, your mortgage, and your taxes. HB3743.M86 2009

Muolo, Paul. Chain of blame : how Wall Street caused the mortgage and credit crisis. HG5095.M86 2008

"In the summer of 2007, the subprime empire that Wall Street had built all came crashing down. Banks like Countrywide and non-banks such as New Century Financial--all financed by Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and others--were in danger of closing, or actually failing. On average, 50 lenders a month were going bust. Chain of Blame will chronicle the disaster, focusing on the players - the executives on Wall Street but also the lenders and brokers. It's a national story of greed and avaraice, one that hasn't come down the pike since the S&L scandal."

Read, Colin. Global financial meltdown : how we can avoid the next economic crisis.

Shiller, Robert J. The subprime solution : how today's global financial crisis happened, and what to do about it. HG2040.15.S55 2008

Stephenson, John. Shell shocked : how Canadians can invest after the collapse. HG4521.S7567 2009

Sull, Donald. The upside of turbulence : seizing opportunity in an uncertain world. BUS stack HD30.28.S885 2009

Zandi, Mark. Financial shock : a 360⁰ look at the subprime mortgage implosion, and how to avoid the next inancial crisis. HG2040.5.U5Z36 2009

Everything Old is New Again

See the Business Library Guide - Crash of '87

Bernstein, Jacob. Beat the millennium crash : how to profit from the coming financial crisis. HG4661.B46 1999

Jackson, Karl D. (ed) Asian contagion : the causes and consequences of a financial crisis. HB3808.A85 1999

Jao, Y. C. The Asian financial crisis and the ordeal of Hong Kong. HG187.H85J348 2001

Perrin, Tim. Short-changed : victims of the Canadian financial crisis. HG5152.P44 1989

Robinson, Michael A. Overdrawn : the bailout of American savings. BUS stack HG2626.S76R63 1990

Stuart, Reginald. Bailout : the story behind America's billion dollar gamble on the "new" Chrysler Corporation. HD9710.U54C53 1980

 

 

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On a lighter note:

An Explanation of the Financial Crisis in terms we can understand. Author Anonymous

 

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Berlin . In order to increase sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are unemployed alcoholics - to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around and as a result increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar.

Taking advantage of her customers' freedom from immediate payment constraints, Heidi increases her prices for wine and beer, the most-consumed beverages. Her sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic customer service consultant at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit.

He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral.
At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert bankers transform these customer assets into DRINKBONDS, ALKBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then traded on markets worldwide. No one really understands what these abbreviations mean and how the securities are guaranteed. Nevertheless, as their prices continuously climb, the securities become top-selling items.

One day, although the prices are still climbing, a risk manager (subsequently of course fired due his negativity) of the bank decides that slowly the time has come to demand payment of the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar.

However they cannot pay back the debts.

Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy.

DRINKBOND and ALKBOND drop in price by 95 %. PUKEBOND performs better, stabilizing in price after dropping by 80 %.

The suppliers of Heidi's bar, having granted her generous payment due dates and having invested in the securities are faced! with a new situation. Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor.

The bank is saved by the Government following dramatic round-the-clock consultations by leaders from the governing political parties.

The funds required for this purpose are obtained by a tax levied on the non-drinkers.