Table of Contents
Introduction.
1 Bubbles Are For Bathtubs.
The Real Estate Boom.
2 Unsafe at Any Rating.
CDOs and the Companies that Judged Them.
3 Priced For Perfection.
The Financial Gene Pool Economic Darwinism Couldn't Improve.
4 Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere.
Global Liquidity's Search for a Profitable Home.
5 Judgment or Luck.
The Profits Banks Couldn't Understand—or Protect Against.
6 Knight in Rusty Armor.
An Ill-Advised Rescue Helps Show Banks Just How Much Value Their Collateralized Debt Has Lost.
7 The Noose Tightens.
Frozen Money Markets Confound Central Bankers, Hurt Consumers, and Drive Imploding Investments Back onto Bankers' Books.
8 Central Banks, Unbalanced.
Caught Off Guard, the Financial Authorities Make Up the Rules as They Go Along.
9 Et Tu, Money Markets and Municipals?
The Crunch Catches Vanilla Investments.
10 Giants Fall.
The Credit Crisis Reaches Its Climax.
11 Conclusions and Policy Prescriptions.
Index.
