Three Lessons That Stuck For Life

"Growing up in New Orleans, writer Michael Lewis learned three lessons that stuck with him for life:

Success and happiness are very different things.

Never become a lawyer.

You don't need to come from a bookish environment to know how to spin a helluva story." - in LA Times

How Easy Money Turned to Tough Times

Fahreed Zakaria interviews Michael Lewis, author of "Boomerang" & "The Big Short", who says the financial sector "basically abused" society. Too much credit, too much easy money, loaned by banks who were not doing their job of withholding loans to people who were a credit risk, led to the financial collapse.

The future is being undervalued. Americans have forgotten about the long term. There is a cultural problem of wanting public services but not wanting to pay for them. This is shortsighted. A crisis is necessary for change to happen. Lewis believes the end game will play-out at the local level. This could take years.

If The Law Was Enforced, Every Doctor In Greece Would Be In Jail

"The scale of Greek tax cheating was at least as incredible as its scope: an estimated two-thirds of Greek doctors reported incomes under 12,000 euros a year — which meant, because incomes below that amount weren't taxable, that even plastic surgeons making millions a year paid no tax at all….'If the law was enforced," the tax collector said, "every doctor in Greece would be in jail.'" - in CNBC

Video Interview: Michael Lewis On Charlie Rose

Michael Lewis, author of 'Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World' in Charlie Rose, Bloomberg TV.

A Good Quote: Dumb Decisions On Wall Street

“What are the odds that people will make smart decisions about money if they don't need to make smart decisions - if they can get rich making dumb decisions? The incentives on Wall Street were all wrong; they're still all wrong.” ― Michael Lewis, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

European Crisis: I Wouldn't Put My Money On All Of This Working Out Nicely

I doesn't know what is going to happen, but wouldn't put my money on all of this working out nicely. - in Motley Fool UK

Life Lessons From Baseball

"Moneyball" author Michael Lewis discusses the story and its real-world parallels. - CNN Video

The Irish Have a Greater Talent For Suffering

"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 Irish Times

The Greek: Of Control Public Sector

In just the past twelve years the wage bill of the Greek public sector has doubled, in real terms — and that number doesn't take into account the bribes collected by public officials. The average government job pays almost three time the average private-sector job. - in Trader Talk Blog

Greece: Who Sank Who?

'In Greece the banks didn't sink the country. The country sank the banks' - in Allen Lane Twitter