The Bear Stearns Meltdown

I'm also reading House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street, about the Bear Stearns meltdown.

"when involved in a trade, look around the room and determine who the chump is and if the chump is not clear to you, assume it is YOU."

"So as an example, if a salesman and trader are talking about how they did a trade with a customer and they think there's a significant business opportunity that came of that trade, at Bear Stearns they might say, 'I just ripped that fucker's head off. I'm going to make a lot of money on this trade. That's fucking crazy.' But at Goldman Sachs a salesman and a trader would talk about, 'That's a great opportunity. That was a very attractive and commercial price you purchased those securities at and I think we'll have a very interesting economic opportunity in the near future.'