{"product_id":"busted-life-inside-the-great-mortgage-meltdown-9780393067941","title":"Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eBusted\u003c\/em\u003e, Andrew bluntly recounts his misadventures in mortgages and goes one step further to describe the brokers, lenders, Wall Street players, and Washington policymakers who helped bring that money to his door. The result is a penetrating and often acerbic look at the binge and bust that nearly bankrupted the United States.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Enabled by know-nothing complacency in Washington, Wall Street wizards used \"collateralized debt obligations,\" \"conduits,\" and other inscrutable financial \"innovations\" to put American home financing into hyperdrive. Millions of Americans abandoned the safety of thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages and loaded up on debt. While regulators insisted that the markets knew best, Wall Street firms fragmented and repackaged unsound loans into securities that the rating agencies stamped with triple-A seals of approval.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Andrews describes a remarkably democratic debacle that made fools out of people up and down the financial food chain. From a confessional meeting with Alan Greenspan to a trek through the McMansion bubble of the OC, he maps the arc of the Frankenstein loans that brought the American economy to the brink.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e With on-the-ground reporting from the frothiest quarters of the crisis, Andrews locates what is likely to be the high-water mark in America's long-term embrace of higher borrowing, higher risk-taking, and the fervent belief in the possibility of easy profits.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e W. W. Norton \u0026amp; Company\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/01\/2009\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780393067941\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 238\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.90lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.24h x 6.50w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal Prepub Alert\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2009 pg. 61\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/27\/2009 pg. 124\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2009 pg. 12\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeople Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/06\/2009 pg. 53\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/05\/2009 pg. 5\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Edmund L. Andrews","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40893753131189,"sku":"9780393067941","price":39.09,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_7f9453ac-1941-49d8-b813-565b4cdcf3ab.jpg?v=1630412783","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/busted-life-inside-the-great-mortgage-meltdown-9780393067941","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}