{"id":3583,"date":"2009-03-08T16:26:28","date_gmt":"2009-03-08T21:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=3583"},"modified":"2009-03-08T16:26:28","modified_gmt":"2009-03-08T21:26:28","slug":"go-fish-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/go-fish-2","title":{"rendered":"Go fish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Lewis’s cogent writing and commentary on the subprime collapse and the attendant economic meltdown are in huge demand. I’m reading Liar’s Poker<\/a>\"\", his book about working at Salomon Brothers in the mid-’80s, at present. I’m just at the point where the market for mortgage bonds is blowing through the roof. Written in 1989, it’s scarily prescient.<\/p>\n

This weekend, I also read Mr. Lewis’ new Vanity Fair article\/travelogue on the financial collapse in Iceland<\/a>. I enjoyed that plenty, even though it was vague on the chain of events in 2003 that led to Iceland’s push into the world financial market. Still, it combines a history of the financial explosion (after that moment) with some entertaining observations about Iceland and its insular natives:<\/p>\n

A nation so tiny and homogeneous that everyone in it knows pretty much everyone else is so fundamentally different from what one thinks of when one hears the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that it almost requires a new classification. Really, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s less a nation than one big extended family. For instance, most Icelanders are by default members of the Lutheran Church. If they want to stop being Lutherans they must write to the government and quit; on the other hand, if they fill out a form, they can start their own cult and receive a subsidy. Another example: the Reykjav\u00c3\u00adk phone book lists everyone by his first name, as there are only about nine surnames in Iceland, and they are derived by prefixing the father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153son\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dottir.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to see how this clarifies matters, as there seem to be only about nine first names in Iceland, too. But if you wish to reveal how little you know about Iceland, you need merely refer to someone named Siggor Sigfusson as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mr. Sigfusson,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or Kristin Petursdottir as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ms. Petursdottir.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d At any rate, everyone in a conversation is just meant to know whomever you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking about, so you never hear anyone ask, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Which Siggor do you mean?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Go give it a read.<\/a> And bully for Mr. Lewis! It’s nice to know that someone besides John Paulson<\/a> is making a killing right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Lewis’s cogent writing and commentary on the subprime collapse and the attendant economic meltdown are in huge demand. I’m reading Liar’s Poker, his book about working at Salomon Brothers in the mid-’80s, at present. I’m just at the point where the market for mortgage bonds is blowing through the roof. Written in 1989, it’s … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Go fish”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[439],"class_list":["post-3583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-business","tag-michael-lewis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-VN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2914,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/i-changed-my-mind","url_meta":{"origin":3583,"position":0},"title":"I changed my mind","author":"Gil","date":"November 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"That Michael Lewis article on the collapse of Wall St. actually should be Required Reading, not Unrequired Reading. Now go read it.","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2901,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-nov-14-2008","url_meta":{"origin":3583,"position":1},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Nov. 14, 2008","author":"Gil","date":"November 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Time for another roundup of oddball links, dear readers! Just click more! From the Batter Blaster to Rocket Balls! * * * Yarr! Movie-time, mateys! * * * The former Jane Galt on saving the rust belt. (Of course, it's not just the Big 3 2.5) * * * The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3465,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-21609","url_meta":{"origin":3583,"position":2},"title":"What It Is: 2\/16\/09","author":"Gil","date":"February 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: Montaigne & Clive James. And this lengthy article by Michael Lewis about Shane Battier and the intangibles on NBA statistics. What I'm listening to: Some podcasts of the B.S. Report. What I'm watching: To Die For, Lisa Lampanelli's HBO special, and the first episode of Dollhouse. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2409,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/long-term-my-ass","url_meta":{"origin":3583,"position":3},"title":"Long-Term, my ass","author":"Gil","date":"September 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently read When Genius Failed, Roger Lowenstein's chronicle of the rise (1994) and collapse (1998) of Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund staffed by Harvard and MIT Ph.D.s. The LTCM team developed \"risk management\" models that would allow them fund to \"vaccuum up nickels\" in massive (leveraged) quantities. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0375758259","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5913,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-the-februariad","url_meta":{"origin":3583,"position":4},"title":"Unrequired Reading: The Februariad","author":"Gil","date":"February 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's your monthly dose of Unrequired Reading, dear readers who are too lazy or otherwise uninclined to follow my twitter feed at twitter.com\/groth18 My dogs would get so confused on these awesome staircases. * * * Nothing about how Craigslist enables Arab protestors and revolutionaries to get laid? #noitdoesnt *\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Gin"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Gin","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-gin"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14172,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-416-wendung","url_meta":{"origin":3583,"position":5},"title":"Episode 416 – Wendung","author":"Gil","date":"January 11, 2021","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 416: Wendung \"At 50, everyone has the face he deserves,\" said George Orwell, but he died at 47, so what does he know? To celebrate turning 50, I use an obscure Woody Allen movie to talk about why I can't take stock of my life. Then the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_7283.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_7283.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_7283.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_7283.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_7283.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3584,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3583\/revisions\/3584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}