I have been reading a fascinating account of the financial meltdown by Michael Lewis called the Big Short. I first felt obliged to read this book because Lewis hails from my town, Berkeley. After page three I knew I was going to have trouble putting the book down.
Who are these people that were able to disregard every single piece of financial news in the paper and bet against the 70 year housing boom? Actually, who were these people who devised their very own credit default swaps and convinced two of the largest and esteemed brokerage houses to make funds for these hedges? It's amazing there were so few, but it also takes a certain kind of person to do this, one who has a remarkably high "internal locus of control" to use an organizational development term.
It astonishes me how badly I would like to be one of those people. I am not, I am a person who like to break rules but not write my own rule book. I don't think there is any virtue in compliance for the most part, and I would love to claim I am not, but I fear I am.
Such a heart break.
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