Satyajit Das - Extreme Money: Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk (Frank Fengs Library)

Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk

Satyajit Das

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2011 by Satyajit Das

This book is sold with the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services or advice by publishing this book. Each individual situation is unique. Thus, if legal or financial advice or other expert assistance is required in a specific situation, the services of a competent professional should be sought to ensure that the situation has been evaluated carefully and appropriately. The author and the publisher disclaim any liability, loss, or risk resulting directly or indirectly, from the use or application of any of the contents of this book.

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Printed in the United States of America

First Printing August 2011

ISBN-10: 0-13-279007-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-279007-9

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Das, Satyajit.
Extreme money : masters of the universe and the cult of risk / Satyajit Das.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-13-279007-9 (hbk. : alk. paper)
1. Money. 2. Finance. I. Title.
HG221.D257 2012
332dc22

For Jade Novakovic without whom there is nothing

It is hard to change Gods.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Possessed

A true insiders devastating analysis of the financial alchemy of the last 30 years and its destructive consequences. With his intimate first-hand knowledge, Das takes a knife to global finance and financiers to reveal the inner workings without fear or favor.

Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics at NYU Stern School of Business and Chairman of Roubini Global Economics

Das describes the causes of the financial crisis with the insight and understanding of a financial wizard, the candor and objectivity of an impartial observer, and a wry sense of humor that reveals the folly in it all.

Brooksley Born, Former Chairperson of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

This is the best book yet to come out of the financial crisis. Das is a graceful, witty writer, with an unusually broad range of reference. He is also a long-time master of the arcana of the netherworlds of finance and nicely balances historical sweep with illuminating detail. Extreme Money is lively, scathing, and wise.

Charles Morris, Author of The Two Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash

Like Hunter S. Thompsons Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Extreme Money launches you into a fascinating and disturbing alternative view of reality. But now greed predominates, the distorted world of finance is completely global, and the people making crazy decisions can ruin us all. This is an informative, entertaining, and deeply scary account of Hadess new realm. Read it while you can.

Simon Johnson, Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management and Author of 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown

You know when Lewis Caroll, Max Weber, Alan Greenspan, and Sigmund Freud all appear on the same early page that you are about to read an intellectual tour de force. Das is an authoritative and colorful critic of modern markets, and here he weaves financial history and popular culture into an entertaining and blistering social critique of how so many people have come to chase endless financial reflections of the real economy. Extreme Money speaks truth to power.

Frank Partnoy, George E. Barrett Professor of Law and Finance at the University of San Diego and Author of F.I.A.S.C.O, Infectious Greed, and The Match King

Extreme Money is a highly entertaining, richly detailed account of how fools and charlatans, masquerading as investment professionals, pillage the world economy. Das is modern finances Candide: a cool, precise, globetrotting observer of decades of delusion and rapacity. The serial revelations of his picaresque tour will amuse, enlighten, and enrage both lay people and market insiders.

Yves Smith, Founder of www.nakedcapitalism.com and Author of ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism

Most books written about the global financial crisis have been written by those who only became wise after the event. Das is not one of them. Long before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, he warned about the flaws in modern finance. Extreme Money is his account of what went wrong. Read it!

Edward Chancellor, Member of GMOs Asset Allocation Team and Author of Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation

A rich analysis told with color and verve.

Philip Augar, Author of Reckless: The Rise and Fall of the City

...a distinctly timely book...tries to reach out to the mathematically challenged to explain how the world of derivatives really works...explaining not only the high-minded theory behind the business and its various products but the sometimes sordid reality of the industry, illustrated by lively anecdotes...very up to date, covering some of the new areas of finance, such as credit derivatives...also gives an excellent sense of the all-important cultural aspect of the business, detailing the complexities of trading-floor politics, the dangerously skewed incentive systems, the obsession with money and the cultural chasm that separates derivative traders from many of their clientsand from many other parts of the bank.

Gillian Tett, Financial Times, London

...an acerbic expose...Funny, readable and peppered with one-liners from Groucho Marx, Traders, Guns & Money offers an ideal primer for anyone tempted to take a walk on the derivative side.

James Pressley, Bloomberg

Long before the 2008-09 credit crisis and collapse, one of the strongest warnings about the dangers of derivatives came from Satyajit Das.... it reads more like a crime novel than a financial book.

Barry Ritholtz

...a scalpel of a book that pulls back the skin on the derivatives and risk management industry to expose the blood, guts and circulatory system underneath.

Nina Mehta, Financial Engineering News