The Tsunami Of Cheap Credit

The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon. It was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge.

Entire countries were told the lights are out, you can do whatever you want to do and no one will ever know. - in The Spec

Comparing The Irish To The Greeks

The Irish just have a greater talent for suffering. If you imposed on the Greeks what the Irish have imposed on the Irish population, people would be getting shot. - in Reuters

Obama Is Going To Have Trouble

Obama is going to have trouble, because he has pursued much the same policy in relation to the Wall Street firms that the Bush administration did.

My feeling is that these people are more likely to energise the candidacy of some outsider, for example Elizabeth Warren, who is running for senate in Massachusetts. Her career could get very interesting very quickly, because she's been basically right about all this, yet she's been ostracised by the political system. She has this outsider, third party-ish aroma about her. - in GQ

OWS: I'm Just Surprised It Has Taken This Long

I felt the same outrage for three years working on The Big Short. Although I had this Wall Street background, I hadn't paid very much attention to the financial world. Until I started digging around and asking questions, I couldn't believe how bad it had gotten. When I published The Big Short, I sensed a level of outrage in this country that I had never felt before. I'm surprised it has taken this long for the political energy to develop, because it's so obviously outrageous what is happening. There are people at the top of the financial sector who think that the financial sector is out of control. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve has said he is sympathetic to the protesters. - in GQ Magazine

Merkel And Papandreou Are Not Going To Survive

I don't think Merkel is going to survive in Germany and I don't think Papandreou is going to survive in Greece - they have so alienated their populations. - in Reuters

The Credit Bubble: One Giant Temptation That Was Laid Before The Developed World

You can think about the credit bubble as one giant temptation that was laid before the developed world. Anybody who wanted to borrow basically could, in virtually unlimited sums. And given that temptation, different countries wanted to do different things with the money. - in NPR Books

Optimism Pays Off

Idiotic as optimism can sometimes seem, it has a weird habit of paying off. - in Boomerang, Travels In The New Third World

Video: The Big Interview

Michael Lewis on The Big Interview, WSJ.

Video Interview: Michael Lewis Talks About Occupy On Hardball

Michael Lewis talks about Occupy on Hardball and its latest book, Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World

Greece Is Defaulting, The Only Question Is How

Greece is defaulting, right? They are restructuring. Whatever you want to call it, Greece is defaulting. The only question is how. - in Reuters