The Confidential Memo at the Heart of the Global Financial Crisis

I stopped reading at "toxic assets like financial derivatives." That sentence either suggests that the author has very little understanding of finance or has a sensationalist motive. Either way, there are much better articles and books to read about the financial crisis than this junk.

While an entertaining, if not terrifying, read it offers up no supporting evidence to confirm that this memo exists and is authentic. Not saying I can't image this actually happening, I easily can and often do, yet some tangible evidence would be nice.

Not sure how much if this is for real. I believe the fact Brazil happened to thrive during the financial crisis was due mainly to the China led resources boom and Brazil's plentiful supply of iron ore. Same reason Australia also thrived.

This is so lame, in 1997 Brazil's president wasn't "Lula" he took office in 2003. Lies and lies...

Completely mis-placed argument, although an interesting data point. Janet Yellen is fighting a massive PR battle to win the fed job. This article is clearly a PR plant, its obvious because there is no discussion or culpability attributed to Clinton or the Democratic party or other operatives (president directly is responsible for the WTO via the executive). The co-incidental exclusion of the predisent and the treasury secretary (presumably to protect Ms Clinton&#x27;s 2016 political position) is the hallmark of a pro, not a reporter. What kind of PR uses vice.com to support a candidate for the FED?<p>____________________<p><a href="http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21583276-what-does-it-take-run-americas-central-bank-summers-v-yellen" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.economist.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;finance-and-economics&#x2F;21583276...</a><p>The Economist: <i>HOW to choose someone for the most powerful economic job in the world? With name-calling and innuendo, it seems.</i><p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/20/why-the-white-house-is-uneasy-with-picking-janet-yellen-as-fed-chair" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;blogs&#x2F;wonkblog&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2013&#x2F;08&#x2F;20&#x2F;w...</a><p><i>Why the White House is uneasy with picking Janet Yellen as Fed chair</i><p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/summers-yellen-allies-wage-behind-the-scenes-effort-to-win-federal-reserve-nod/2013/08/20/5d7a3dfa-09a2-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;economy&#x2F;summers-yelle...</a><p><a href="http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21583276-what-does-it-take-run-americas-central-bank-summers-v-yellen" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.economist.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;finance-and-economics&#x2F;21583276...</a><p><i>New York Times Goes HARD After Larry Summers In Aggressive Editorial Supporting Janet Yellen For Fed Chair</i><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-times-endorses-janet-yellen-2013-7" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&#x2F;new-york-times-endorses-janet...</a>

&gt;Second, the banks wanted the right to play a new high-risk game: “derivatives trading”. JP Morgan alone would soon carry $88 trillion of these pseudo-securities on its books as “assets”.<p>1. Derivatives trading wasn&#x27;t new; they&#x27;ve been traded for a long time. And derivatives aren&#x27;t inherently risky or evil. There&#x27;s nothing mystical about them.<p>2. $88 trillion in <i>notional value</i>. Derivatives deals should net to zero.<p>&gt;payments have raised Summers’ net worth by $31 million since the “end-game” memo.<p>How much did &quot;payments&quot; increase Mark Pincus&#x27; net worth as he sold stock at inflated prices while his employees couldn&#x27;t, and billions in wealth was destroyed by Zynga (as a familiar analogy)?<p>More alarmist tripe.

Why is it that after uncovering regulatory capture, people think the answer is to hire someone else? Larry Summers isn&#x27;t the problem... his position is.

This is quality journalism on the level of the NY Post.