535 “the turd in the punchbowl”: According to an undisclosed official’s handwritten notes taken during a conference call in January 2009
535 Shareholders voting for BofA-Merrill deal: Ieva M. Augstums and Stephen Bernard, “Merrill Lynch, Bank of America Shareholders Approve BofA’s Purchase of the Investment Bank,” Associated Press, December 5, 2008.
536 “How do they justify this outrage?”: Michael D. Shear and Paul Kane, “Anger Over Firm Depletes Obama’s Political Capital,”
536 “We should hound them in the supermarket”: A few days after Cramer’s rant, AIG’s new chief, Edward Liddy, sent him a letter demanding a retraction and an apology to AIG employees. “It is one thing to criticize the executive leadership of AIG—that’s fair commentary,” he wrote. “But it is way out of bounds to incite people to confront and harass other AIG employees.” Shortly after, Cramer apologized on his show: “Sorry, regular AIG guys. I did not mean you.” Heidi N. Moore, “AIG CEO Demands Apology from Mad Money’s Jim Cramer,” WSJ/ Deal Journal
537 “Is Goldman Sachs Evil?” Joe Hagen, “Is Goldman Sachs Evil? Or Just Too Good?”
537 “great vampire squid wrapped ”: Matt Taibbi, “The Great American Bubble Machine,”
537 Goldman reported a profit of $5.2 billion: On April 13, Goldman reported net earnings of $1.81 billion for its first quarter. Three months later, its second-quarter earnings soared to $3.44 billion. See http://www2.goldmansachs.com.
537 Goldman’s VaR rising to record high: Christine Harper, “Goldman Sachs VaR Reaches Record on Risks Led by Equity Trading,” Bloomberg, July 15, 2009.
539 “emergency actions meant to provide confidence”: Department of the Treasury press release, “Secretary Geithner Introduces Financial Stability Plan,” February 10, 2009. See http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/tg18.htm.
539 Alan Blinder: “After the fact, it is extremely clear that everything fell apart on the day Lehman went under.”
540 “policy by deal ”: Simon Johnson, “Systemic Risk: Are Some Institutions Too Big to Fail and If So, What Should We Do About It?” Testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services during hearing held July 21, 2009. The phrase was originally coined as “regulation by deal” by Steven Davidoff and David Zaring in their paper Regulation by Deal: The Government’s Response to the Financial Crisis. 61 Admin, L. Rev. 463, 2009.
540 “At first, the Treasury”: Michael Lewis and David Einhorn, “The End of the Financial World as We Know It,”
542 “The problem in politics is this”: From a Barney Frank interview on CBS’s
543 It is not the critic: Theodore Roosevelt, “Citizenship in a Republic: ‘Man in the Arena.’” Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1920.
AFTERWORD
545
545 unemployment in the United States hovered at almost 10 percent for much of 2009: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
545 Goldman Sachs announced a record profit: Goldman Sachs earnings report, January 21, 1010.
546 Wall Street swarmed Washington with some 1,400 lobbyists: Not only were they lobbyists for the financial industry, but they formerly worked for lawmakers and federal agencies. Public Citizen and the Center for Responsive Politics, June 4, 2010.
546 paying the top ten lobbying firms $30 million: The Center for Public Integrity, June 8, 2010.
546 “I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat-cat bankers on Wall Street”:
546 “President Obama’s favorite banker”: Jackie Calmes and Lousie Story, “Washington, One Bank Chief Still Holds Sway,”
546 “I’m proposing a simple and common-sense reform, which we’re calling the ‘Volcker Rule’ ”: President Obama, the White House, Office of the Press Secretary, January 21, 2010.
546 “For a lot of Wall Street people, it was like, ‘Okay, first you slap us in the face’ ”: John Heilemann, “Obama Is from Mars, Wall Street Is from Venus,”
547 “I wish that somebody would give me some shred of neutral evidence about the relationship between financial innovation recently and the growth of the economy”: Paul Volcker: “Think More Boldly,”
547 “When there’s a delusion, a mass delusion, you can say everybody is to blame”: Warren Buffett, CNBC transcript, May 3, 2010.
548 Anton R. Valukas, issued a report that, at over 2,200 pages and a cost of more than $36 million, was the closest thing to an autopsy of Lehman: The report is available online: http://lehmanreport.jenner.com/.
549 “I have absolutely no recollection whatsoever of hearing anything about or seeing documents related to Repo 105 transactions while I was the CEO of Lehman”: Richard S. Fuld Jr., prepared statement before the U. S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, April 20, 2010.
549 “You know what, people are saying all sorts of crap”: Clare Baldwin, “On Dick Fuld ’s Trail, No Dinner but I Got Hugged,” Reuters, September 7, 2009.
550 “doing God’s work”: John Arlidge, “I’m Doing ‘God’s Work.’ Meet Mr. Goldman Sachs,”
