Michael Lewis looks at the subprime crisis
 

A Wall Street Trader Draws Some Subprime Lessons [ QUOTE ]
Don't get me wrong: I have nothing personally against the poor. To my knowledge, I have nothing personally to do with the poor at all. It's not personal when a guy cuts your grass: that's business. He does what you say, you pay him. But you don't pay him in advance: That would be finance. And finance is one thing you should never engage in with the poor. (By poor, I mean anyone who the SEC wouldn't allow to invest in my hedge fund.)



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Re: Michael Lewis looks at the subprime crisis
 

What a douchebag!

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At the time I bought the subprime portfolio I thought: This is sort of like my way of giving something back. I didn't expect a profile in Philanthropy Today or anything like that. I mean, I bought at a discount

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He bought it to make money and now he's whining because it went bad. He wasn't dealing with the poor, he was dealing with some other financial institution that sold him a bill of goods. He got bamboozeled by some other rich guy and deserves every bit of pain it brings him for not being as smart as the shark who unloaded that crap on him.

Re: Michael Lewis looks at the subprime crisis
 

It's called irony.

He's doing it to point out how silly it is for Wall Street to act surprised now when they should have known all along who was getting these sub-prime mortgages and what real risk was involved.

Re: Michael Lewis looks at the subprime crisis
 

This article is either a joke or Mr. Lewis should have been shot at birth - preferably by a poor person.

It's funny how he blames the poor for his fund's "poor" performance:
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Along the way, as these people have torpedoed my portfolio, I had some other thoughts about the poor

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Re: Michael Lewis looks at the subprime crisis
 

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This article is either a joke or

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this is pretty clearly about as sarcastic as humanly possible, I can't believe people are actually taking it seriously.

Re: Michael Lewis looks at the subprime crisis
 

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This article is either a joke or

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this is pretty clearly about as sarcastic as humanly possible, I can't believe people are actually taking it seriously.

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Thing is, I've met lots of people just like him.

The reason I suspected it was a joke was because Bloomberg (I assume) wouldn't print this stuff unless it was inteded to be a little tongue in cheek.

Re: Michael Lewis looks at the subprime crisis
 

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This article is either a joke or Mr. Lewis should have been shot at birth - preferably by a poor person.

It's funny how he blames the poor for his fund's "poor" performance:
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Along the way, as these people have torpedoed my portfolio, I had some other thoughts about the poor

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I"m pretty sure Micheal lewis doesn't have a fund, he's a well known writer ("liars poker").

Re: Michael Lewis looks at the subprime crisis
 

The well-known "Money Ball" too for you sports fans.

Re: Michael Lewis looks at the subprime crisis
 

[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Michael Lewis


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Some of these poor people must have skills. The ones that don't could be trained to do some of the less skilled labor -- say, working as clowns at rich kids' birthday parties. They could even have an act: put them in clown suits and see how many can be stuffed into a Maybach.

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wtf how can some of you guys even begin to think that this stuff is serious?!?!

Re: Michael Lewis looks at the subprime crisis
 

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I trusted these people to get their teams of lawyers to vet anything before they signed it. Turns out, if you're poor, you don't need to pay lawyers. You don't like the deal you just wave your hands in the air and moan about how poor you are. Then you default.

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One hilarious line after another. Thanks for posting.

Re: Michael Lewis looks at the subprime crisis
 

This is probably the best article Bloomberg has ever published. So many gems.

Re: Michael Lewis looks at the subprime crisis
 

I think this article is really a parody on how Wall Street works - ie:

1. Create a financial model that everyone believes works lending 110% of home value with no money down to people who have really bad credit or investors trying to flip propeties in Florida, California or Las Vegas

2. Sell pieces of this deal to various investors who believe the model and want the high rates of return that come from lending to these people.

3. Completely panic and overreact when they realize that these people arent really creditworthy and they shouldn't have lent to them in the first place.

4. Beg the Fed to help them by reducing rates.

FYI - Wall Street made $$$Billions lending to "poor" people

The Wall Street journal had an intersting article about a working class family in Orange County whose combined income was $90K with a poor credit history. A few years ago they bought a $600K house and borrowed $600K and when the rates reset they couldnt afford the home anymore. They said they said they didn't understand the mortgage deal or that their taxes would rise dramatically after they purchased the house.

Without Wall Street, these guys can't even think of buying a home Orange County - should we feel bad for them?