Description
Book SynopsisCNBC''s David Faber takes an in-depth look at the causes and consequences of the recent financial collapse And Then the Roof Caved In lays bare the truth of the credit crisis, whose defining emotion at every turn has been greed, and whose defining failure is the complicity of the U.S. government in letting that greed rule the day. Written by CNBC''s David Faber, this book painstakingly details the truth of what really happened with compelling characters who offer their first-hand accounts of what they did and why they did it.
Page by page, Faber explains the events of the previous seven years that planted the seeds for the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. He begins in 2001, when the Federal Reserve embarked on an unprecedented effort to help the economy recover from the attacks of 9/11 by sending interest rates to all time lows. Faber also gives you an up-close look at where the crisis was incubated and unleashed upon the world-Wall Street-and
Trade Review
"David Faber is known as one of the cooler heads on financial news channel CNBC… True to his reputation, calm prevails through most of the book... Faber explains rather than rants about these mortgages, as well as securitizations and bogus credit ratings, making the case that greed and stupidity caused the financial crisis…"
—Lisa Von Ahn, Reuters
a" fantastic book on the housing meltdown . . .
—The Motley Fool
“CNBC’s David Faber delivers a clear-eyed look at the origins of the crisis. . . As an anchor of the Faber Report, the author was on the front lines of the financial crisis and spoke with many of its key players.
—Fortune magazine
"A slim yet substantial book based on Faber's riveting (and horrifying) CNBC special "House of Cards" that takes readers from the mosquito-ridden swimming pools of option-ARM ghost towns to a Norwegian town bankrupted by ill-advised investments in "synthetic" bonds on the mortgages left behind."
—NY Mag, Daily Intel
"…we wound up liking Faber’s book. He writes simply and well. He also uses real people to demonstrate the insanity of the housing boom. While this may not be the deepest book about the crash, it could be the most accessible."
—MoneySense magazine
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xi
Prologue “On the Verge” 1
Chapter 1 Bubble to Bubble 11
Greenspan’s Shock and Awe 13
Houses Built on Cow Dung 19
Chapter 2 Home Sweet Home 23
Opening Doors 24
An Industry Is Born 27
Subprime Returns 29
Chapter 3 The Subprime Machine 33
From Delivering Pizza to Delivering Mortgages 41
Living the Dream 44
Diving into Deep Trouble 45
Chapter 4 Eyes Wide Shut 49
A Warning Unheeded 50
A Dream No More 55
Chapter 5 The Great Enabler 57
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Hit the Scene 61
Fannie and Freddie Get a Timeout 63
Wall Street Takes Over 66
A Tsunami of Mortgages 71
From Ownit to Out of It 74
Back from the Grave 77
Chapter 6 Complicity 81
Moody’s the Money Maker 85
Repeat Customers 88
Chapter 7 The Securitization from Hell 95
The Making of a CDO 96
Tough to Kill 98
Turning “Crap into Triple-A” 101
From CDS to CDO 103
Insanity Sets In 106
Chapter 8 Narvik and Me 111
CDOs: An American Export 113
The Truth Revealed—But Does It Matter? 118
Chapter 9 Mortgaging Merrill’s Future 121
Climbing Out of Poverty 122
A Strong Start 124
The Secret Weapon 125
Raking It In 127
Taking Big Risks 130
Chapter 10 A House of Cards 135
Digging for Gold 136
Building a Case 139
The Investment of a Lifetime 147
Chapter 11 And Then the Roof Caved In 155
The Wheels Coming Off 157
The Call 159
A Crisis Begins 161
The CDO Blues 165
Lights Out 167
Epilogue 171
A Note on Sources 181
Resources from CNBC 183
Index 187
