Foreword
Many books have been written about the financial crisis. They are, perhaps, getting better with age. Perspective improves as time passes. Economic truisms that were obfuscated in the informational fog that surrounded the financial crisis are coming back into focus as the fog clears.
In the years leading up to the crisis, we somehow lost our way. We confused “free markets” with “free-for-all” markets. We transitioned from a society that valued hard work and entrepreneurship to one that worshipped housing speculation and financial arbitrage.
In the fall of 2008, we got our comeuppance, as an economy based on over-leveraged consumers, inflated real estate prices, and artificial derivatives products finally collapsed.
The Great Recession ...
