Too Big To Fail

“And the short-sellers, those who bet that a stock will go down, not up, and then make a profit once the stock is devalued, were pouncing on every sign of weakness, like Visigoths tearing down the walls of ancient Rome.” 

Sorkin describes what happened in March 2008 around the time of the Bear Stearns crash, with short-sellers turning their attention to each financial entity that seemed to be the weakest link. Sorkin details the destructive consequences of short-selling throughout the book.

“The battle between bankers and traders is the closest thing to class warfare on Wall Street.” 

Sorkin describes the personalities involved in the crisis in detail, and one piece of relevant information is whether each person comes from a banking or trading background. As described, investment banking is considered more of an art, whereas trading is akin to a sport.

“An exasperated Fuld thought Lauer’s question was just another example of the popular media’s tendency to frame complex financial issues in terms of class warfare, pitting Wall Street—and Paulson, Goldman’s former CEO—against the nation’s soccer moms, the Today show’s audience.” 

This was in connection with Lauer’s question to Treasury Secretary Paulson about how the Fed dealt with the Bear Stearns situation, saying that it has people asking, “Does the Fed react more strongly to what’s happening on Wall Street than they do to what’s happening to people in pain across the country, the so-called people who live on Main Street?” (32).