Griftopia by Matt Taibbi
New York : Spiegel & Grau Trade Paperbacks, 2011.
299 p. ; 21 cm.
How can you not want to read a book by the author who described the sleazy investment bank, Goldman Sachs, as "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money"? Taibbi writes with a lot of emotion (often peppering his prose with well-deserved name calling and occasional cuss words) but also with a quiver full of meticulously documented facts and knowledge. He manages to make a raucous, fun read out of a subject that is both very complicated - can you say Collateralized Debt Options and Credit Default Swaps? - and very infuriating .
After reading this book, you will never look at mortgages, investments, bailouts and Wall Street in the same light. This is a book which will shake your faith in the fairness of the financial system in the US, but it will also make you smarter as you start to understand the outright fraud and criminality that lead to the great crash of 2008.
And you might even find yourself laughing out loud as you read it. So what are you waiting for? Read it!
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