Bailout Nation Review

I just finished reading Barry Ritholtz's new book, Bailout Nation. I couldn't put the book down.

Ritholtz is a very different thinker than I. He has his roots in Wall Street. He is not an investor in the sense that I regard myself, nor is he an academic. He is a trader. He is a trader's trader, much in the same vain of Nassim Taleb of Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan fame (more on him on a later date). Ritholtz's perspective is well-positioned to tell this story.

I found Ritholtz's words to be entertaining and thought-inspiring. Going into it, I knew that I would disagree with some of his points, which was part of my motivation for reading it. Ritholtz does a commendable job of weaving together key historical facts, implications of those facts, speculations, and known voids of information. It really is a perfect brew for inciting vigorous thought.

One thing I realized when reading this book was there is a lot about the current situation that I did not know as the past 10 years were panning out, particularly 2007-2009. Ritholtz selects and collates information that gives the reader an excellent basis of information and arguments regarding the economic crisis its buildup.

This book is not a rigorous, logical deconstruction-and-reconstruction of the housing bubble. It is full of less-than-complete arguments and conclusions/proposals (e.g. "dot-com stock option penis envy"), as well as omittances (like why did so many government officials ignore the whistle-blowers?) or down-play of facts (as was the case regarding the fact that nearly all Americans believed that housing prices could go nowhere but up and certainly wouldn't go down).

There isn't a real, satisfying where-do-we-go-from-here-and-what-do-I-do-with-my-money section. It is also evident that the writing was hurried, though I wouldn't blame Ritholtz for this as he is attempting to cover near-real-time events (apparently he wrote this book three times to include unfolding phenomena). Hurried though it may be, the writing definitely made me snicker -- this guy's got some attitude!

I recommend that anyone with the desire to not be ignorant about one of the most extreme events of our lifetimes, or at least with the desire to be entertained, go out and read this book.

Oh, one last thing, the book way-overemphasizes the term "Bailout Nation".