Post: #1

Matt Taibbi has a new book coming out, which he discussed with The Awl. Griftopia was a good read, so I'll be checking for The Divide eventually. Here's the interview:

http://www.theawl.com/2014/04/a-conversa...-crabapple Just ignore the woman. She's the same delusional hag who wrote "Age Is a Weapon Society Uses Against Women."

About the constant police presence in certain neighborhoods:

Quote:Taibbi: Definitely. Everything becomes all about the police. You have to make a million calculations. Whereas I went to a prep school where kids had money and did every drug known to man, and I never saw a cop. There are guys who work here in downtown Manhattan, guys who work on Wall Street, they’re doing blow, they’re doing pills, they’re doing everything. They don’t have to worry about getting picked up and strip-searched by the police on their way home. It just doesn’t happen.

It’s two different ways of looking at the world. And, sure, that’s a cliché. The problem is that after we allow the situation to go on, it starts to feel natural. "Oh, of course, that’s where crimes are committed, so that’s where we put cops." That’s not true. If you sent cops into the community where I grew up, you would have just as many drug arrests as you do in Bed-Stuy.

About Wall Street's interest in art:

Quote:Taibbi: A lot of these Wall Street guys, they go straight from nothing, and being young and stupid and inexperienced, to having eight-hundred million dollars or even more in the blink of an eye. They pursue that relentlessly for a number of years, and then they wake up when they’re in their mid-thirties or older and realize that they’ve forgotten to live. So they’re trying to buy culture, perspective. A personality. There’s just a huge gap in these people, and they’re trying to fill it by buying art. With these instant-million guys in the hedge funds, they’re the biggest patrons. It’s not the slow, make-money-over-time guys.

Post: #2

'Griftopia' was THE best book on the financial crisis.

Can't wait for his new book.

Post: #3

Even better than the Big Short?

Post: #4

For me it was. Although the book isn't really about the financial crisis. But instead is about the corruption of politics by the banks and a lot of the issues resulting from the fall out of the crisis.

So - both books are worth reading...

Post: #5

I've met Matt Taibbi before; very down to earth guy who cares about getting at the truth but remains upbeat and level-headed throughout. Antifragility, Black Swan and Taleb's stuff in general are also great readings on the topic.

It's amazing how much has been written on the crisis and aftermath and how little political action has been taken. How much farther back can the slingshot be pulled?

Post: #6

(04-04-2014 02:32 PM)cardguy Wrote:  'Griftopia' was THE best book on the financial crisis.

Can't wait for his new book.

Griftopia is excellent. Matt Taibbi seems like a really interesting guy - a jock who ventured to play basketball in the steppes of Mongolia. An intellectual acting as a clown.