Foreword ix
One: Gallery of the Immortals 1
First There Was J. Pierpont Morgan
1
Emulate Henry Singleton
4
Inside Isaac's Head
10
At the Bank of Graham and Dodd
18
Thomson Hankey was Right
17
Two: On Planet Stock Market 35
Crisis of the Big Guys
35
The Economic Consequences of Air Conditioning
44
Just in Case
50
Bull-to-Bull
58
Three: New Eras on Parade 69
Thank Mother Russia
69
Real Estate 36,000
73
Nasdaq's Peak was Greenspan's
80
Meet the New Mary Meeker
89
Whom Blodget Displaced
90
Snoopy Deploys Capital
93
Four: Perils of Tranquility 103
Parable of Perception
103
There Ought to be Deflation
105
Deflation a la Eisenhower
112
Not Too Big to Hit the Wall
119
Fill in the Suez Canal
122
Five: Mr. Market Buys a House 129
Hock-a-Home
129
Rope for the Neck of the Homeowner
131
Meet "Mr. I.O.–P.O."
134
For a Considerable Period
137
Your Home is Your Debt
138
The z9th Bubble
140
In Kansas We Busted
146
House Prices: Prepare for the Impossible
154
Six: Mortgage Science Projects 163
Find That Risk
163
Inside ACE Securities' HEL Trust, Series 2.005-HE5
169
Age of Aquarius
176
Inside the Mortgage Machine
180
Up the Capital Structure
184
Wheezing CDO Machine
192
Seven: Mr. Market in the Dock 199
Carter Glass, R.I.P
199
The Miscreants We Deserve
208
Mr. Market's Shiner
221
Houses of Ill Repute
232
The Peoples' Wrath—Delayed
233
Eight: Federalized Interest Rates 241
Monetary Regime Change
241
So It's the Government's Yield Curve
252
Mission Creeps
257
Bonds: The Next Generation
266
Nine: Bonfire of the Currencies 275
Paper Tigers
275
Money Less Bad
282
Broadside of the Barn
292
End of the Honor System
303
Ten: Lenders Don Lampshades 315
Missing Bankruptcies
315
Value at Risk
320
Our Friends, the Creditors
331
Subprime Companies
339
Fire the Brainiacs
343
Eleven: The Fine Art of Security Analysis 355
Pariahs' Club
355
Bearish on Corning
362
Risk in a Cheap Stock
369
Glowworm Will—Eventually—Turn
376
Three Years Later and Still Not Cheap
381
Bullish on Tata
390
Swing and a Miss
394
Postscript: The Close of the Era of Peace and Quiet 403
Index 413