Janet Tavakoli wrote "Dear Mr Buffett: What an Investor learns 1,269 Miles from Wall Street". She is one of the top experts in the fields of structured finance and one of the most vocal critics of a system gone horribly wrong and saw disaster looming early on. She even tried to sound the alarm many times with an SEC that in retrospect looks to be on the wrong side of the subpeona issuance business.
The current multi-trillion dollar financial crisis didn’t come about due to any single act of brazen greed or stupidity, rather it was a case of many people all looking for a little extra. Pushing the boundaries at each level has a multiplier effect. Common sense and ethics went out the window as it was all mostly legal and appeared at each level to be just a little “extra” nudge.One of the problems with securitization as elaborated by Ms. Tavakoli so adroitly is the chain of responsibility and accountability that was broken between lender and borrower. Long term responsibility was packaged up and sold in a heart beat to the next yield hungry bidder looking for a little "extra".
Like any drama involving a major loss for an entire generation, this one has many systemic failings. No single actor failed totally, many failed just enough. This multiplied into what is still unfolding as the largest economic crisis in many generations. The reality still hasn’t hit main street America. Wait 6-9 months.
Here's an extract from the book:
