Confidence Game: How Hedge Fund Manager Bill Ackman Called Wall Street's Bluff

by Christine S. Richard

Book Overview

An expose on the delusion, greed, and arrogance that led to America's credit crisis

The collapse of America's credit markets in 2008 is quite possibly the biggest financial disaster in U.S. history. Confidence Game: How a Hedge Fund Manager Called Wall Street's Bluff is the story of Bill Ackman's six-year campaign to warn that the $2.5 trillion bond insurance business was a catastrophe waiting to happen. Branded a fraud by the Wall Street...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0470648279
• ISBN13: 9780470648278
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Bloomberg Press
• Length: 335 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

The subprime market contained the hallmark of every Ponzi scheme.

One of the best books I have read so far and I have read a lot. It is an intriguing story about the bond-insurance business and the no-loss illusion of MBIA. The main character Bill Ackman, a hedge fund manager raised serious accounting issues with MBIA executives, rating agencies, regulators, analysts, etc. All is written in a natural way by Christine Richard's. It takes you step by step in the world of the subprime market. Some beautiful quotes in the book that gives you an inside impression: The no-loss illusion of MBIA was a farce. "Zero-loss"underwriting required such extraordinary machinations to stay on the right side of the law that it was hard to believe the concept was not fraud. Securitization can create value from thin air and assumptions. The subprime market contained the hallmark of every Ponzi scheme. It worked only as long as more money was put into the scheme. A must read in my opinion, because one thing I learned is do your research and don't believe everything a company is telling you.

Compelling, vivid writing, not just for those in the financial industry

CONFIDENCE GAME is a thoughtful, sharply observed piece of reporting on an historic moment in U.S. history--both financial and sociological--that brought the intricacies of the financial world into sharp focus for me. With a brisk pace, telling details, and the ability to explain the financial industry and its people with wasting a word, Richards has crafted an extraordinary book.

Buy this book

This book is an incredibly engaging story about a hedge fund's quest to expose an over-leveraged and unstable company - a company that would later play a major destabilizing role in our nation's financial crisis. Given the subject-matter, the book is surprisingly *fun* - it is a page-turner populated by entertaining personalities, and they really come to life. And the story is fantastic - the audacity of the companies involved will make you gasp out loud, if you are not too busy smacking your head. On a more serious note, I also believe this is an important story to tell. Our financial markets and regulators are very poor at highlighting bad and risky businesses - they need the help of the private sector to identify and expose these businesses. This book is about an incredibly courageous effort to bring market information to the light of day. This is one of my favorite books of the year.

great finance/investment story

this is a fascinating account of outlandish corporate greed and hubris and the author's and a fund manager's multi-year attempts to shed sunlight on the manifold fraudulent machinations one large company's management employed to keep its debt rating and "earnings" intact. it also contains insights into the then forthcoming credit crisis, the almost-fraudulent conflicts facing the sell side and bond rating agencies, and the ineptitude and politicization of the sec- sort of michael lewis meets harry markopolous. for me it's a five-star book; however, some of the more technical finance and accounting, while very clear, might make it a slightly less rich experience for those less interested in these details. i was surprised that this book hadn't been more broadly publicized or reviewed, then found out it's only on kindle; hard copy is released 4/26. really great read.