Boomerang: Travels In The New Third World - Michael Lewis

If the end does come, it won't be zombies - it will be bankers. They brought us to the edge of ruin in 2008 and no doubt will lead us there again. Lewis starts in Iceland, where the fishermen came off the boats and into banking, and in 30 years bankrupted the country. In Greece he spends time in a monastery run by an order of monks that turned a land deal into a series of business deals that brought down the economy. It didn't help that no one in Greece pays taxes, and public sector employees make boat loads of money.  In Germany he tries to find out why the Germans kept pumping money into failing EU economies but instead comes away with insight about the German relationship to excrement. Last stop is California, where a state out of money still manages to be one the largest economies in the world.  Lewis is an excellent writer with a talent for getting out of the way and letting his characters tell the story.

The Big Short - Michael Lewis

On the surface, it`s hard to find the good guys, the heroes, in this story. Three years we are living in the aftermath   - S&P, who just downgraded the U.S.`s credit rating and sparked a massive dip in the stock market, plays a role in this book as one of the agencies that continued to give triple A ratings to mortgage backed securities, even though they were junk.  It reminded me of the moral universe in a James Ellroy novel - everyone is selfish and corrupt, so the hero is the person who is the least corrupt, or at least corrupt for a reason.

The story follows a few individuals saw the impending economic doom of the sub-prime mortgage, and shorted the market (and made a fortune in doing so)  They are colorful characters - a medical doctor with Aspger`s, a socially stunted trader, three California dudes who have little idea what they are actually doing - and the author spends considerable time with them, providing some solid reporting and character background.  The usual suspects are here - Goldman Sachs, Bear Sterns, AIG - and what struck me is how they managed to not only screw people and businesses over and make millions, but it was all technically legal - it was so far out in front that no one had any idea if it should be against the law or not.