Arrived Lausanne

I read about this book on Tyler Cowen's blog and was interested in checking it out only to learn more about the Great Recession from another point of view. Bair is an accomplished writer and her storytelling focuses on the specifics and kept the extraneous info to a minimum. The book is interesting but very focused on policy and day to day operations of the FDIC which can wear the reader down after a while. She gives an excellent overview of the FDIC as well as some of the inner workings of government. She even manages to use some details from her personal life such as buying a new home to show both sides of the financial picture. This is an excellent but but be prepared for a very dense overview of one of the inner workings of one of the least understood parts of the government. ( )

I became fascinated by this topic as I watched and waited for SOME BANKER, ANY BANKER to get thrown in the pokey for the hideously deliberate destruction of the hopes and dreams of Americans wanting to own their homes by these greedy bastards. That's what Occupy Wall St was all about. No such luck so far but at least Sheila Bair and Elizabeth Warren were watching out for us and doing what they could. Great book, difficult topic if you are not a financeer but way worth it. Also fascinating indictment of Tim Geithner, good riddance to this craven apologist for the banking industry, who no doubt will go from being the fox guarding the henhouse to a hen. ( )