That was the problem with money: What people did with it had consequences, but they were so remote from the original action that the mind never connected the one with the other.
Success was individual achievement; failure was a social problem.
Subprime mortgage lending was still a trivial fraction of the U.S. credit markets—a few tens of billions in loans each year—but its existence made sense, even to Steve Eisman. I thought it was partly...
Russians had a reputation for being the best programmers on Wall Street, and Serge thought he knew why: They had been forced to learn to program computers without the luxury of endless computer time....
Microsoft was twelve years old before people started talking about Microsoft millionaires; Netscape was one and a half.
I have a job to do. Make money for my clients. Period. But boy it gets morbid when you start making investments that work out extra great if a tragedy occurs.
First base was a far richer social opportunity. First base made catching feeling like a bad dinner party - what with the ump hanging on your shoulder and all the fans and cameras staring at you. At fi...
As they worked through the order types, they created a taxonomy of predatory behavior in the stock market. Broadly speaking, it appeared as if there were three activities that led to a vast amount of...
What’s amazing is that they make a market in this fantasy stuff, said Druskin. It’s not a real asset.
What do you tell your mother when she asks you where to put her money? I asked. Guns and gold,
Thus the only Goldman Sachs employee arrested by the FBI in the aftermath of a financial crisis Goldman had done so much to fuel was the employee Goldman asked the FBI to arrest.
They end when the career ends,
The technologist’s tendency to commit all his resources to new technology,
The larger the number of people involved, the easier it was for them to delude themselves that what they were doing must be smart.
The failure of decision makers to grapple with the inner workings of their own minds, and their desire to indulge their gut feelings, made it quite likely that the fate of entire societies may be seal...
People with Asperger’s couldn’t control what they were interested in. It was a stroke of luck that his special interest was financial markets and not, say, collecting lawn mower catalogues.
People in both fields operate with beliefs and biases. To the extent you can eliminate both and replace them with data, you gain a clear advantage.
Once handed the money, Paulson abandoned his promised strategy and instead essentially began giving away billions of dollars to Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and a few others unnaturally s...
Losing shouldn’t be fun. It’s not fun for me. If I’m going to be miserable, you’re going to be miserable.
How many people can pick up a book and find an instruction manual for their life?