There is a tiny town in Oklahoma called Cushing. Fewer than 10,000 people. It has a Walmart. A few fast food places. And somehow, this place is the center of the global oil market. Chapter 32 of Torsten Dennin’s “From Tulips to Bitcoins” tells the story of what happened when oil prices collapsed and the biggest banks in the world started renting supertankers just to have somewhere to put the stuff.
There is a tiny town in Oklahoma called Cushing. Fewer than 10,000 people. It has a Walmart. A few fast food places. And somehow, this place is the center of the global oil market. Chapter 32 of Torsten Dennin’s “From Tulips to Bitcoins” tells the story of what happened when oil prices collapsed and the biggest banks in the world started renting supertankers just to have somewhere to put the stuff.
This is the final post in my series retelling Diary of a Very Bad Year. Here’s the epilogue and my closing thoughts.
This is part of my series retelling Diary of a Very Bad Year. Today we’re covering Chapter IX, Part 2 - the final interview.
This is part of my series retelling Diary of a Very Bad Year. Today we’re covering Chapter IX, Part 1. The chapter was too long for one post so I split it in two.
This is part of my series retelling Diary of a Very Bad Year. Today we’re covering Chapter VIII.
It’s July 2, 2009. The Dow sits at 8,280. Unemployment is at 9.5%. And HFM is doing something he hasn’t done in a decade. He’s going on vacation. A real one.
This is part of my series retelling Diary of a Very Bad Year. Today we’re covering Chapter VII.
It’s May 2009. The Dow is at 8,504. Unemployment is 9.4 percent. Over 342,000 homes got foreclosed that month. But the worst of the panic? That part seems to be over.
This is part of my series retelling Diary of a Very Bad Year. Today we’re covering Chapter VI - the start of Part 3: Aftermath.
This is part of my series retelling Diary of a Very Bad Year. Today we’re covering Chapter V.
It’s January 16, 2009. The Dow is at 8,281. Unemployment is 7.6 percent. Over 300,000 foreclosures this month. And HFM just spent his New Year’s Eve chasing bank traders on ski slopes to get year-end prices for his portfolio. Welcome to year-end closing on Wall Street.
This is part of my series retelling Diary of a Very Bad Year. Today we’re covering Chapter IV - the start of Part 2: The Collapse.
This is part of my series retelling Diary of a Very Bad Year. Today we’re covering Chapter III.
It’s September 4, 2008. The Dow is at 11,188. Unemployment just hit 6.2 percent. Over 300,000 foreclosures this month. And HFM is back in his midtown office, looking out the window at the same city. But things are worse now.
This is part of my series retelling Diary of a Very Bad Year. Today we’re covering Chapter II.
Six months have passed since the first interview. It’s March 26, 2008. The Dow is at 12,422. Unemployment is 5.1%. And Bear Stearns just got bought for pocket change.
This is part of my series retelling Diary of a Very Bad Year. Today we’re covering Chapter I.
Before the interview starts, the book gives you context on how we got here. And it’s a story about cheap money and bad decisions stacking on top of each other.
This is part of my series retelling Diary of a Very Bad Year. Today we’re covering Keith Gessen’s introduction.
Keith Gessen got introduced to the anonymous hedge fund manager (HFM) in late 2006. Someone called HFM a “financial genius” who ran the emerging markets desk at a midtown hedge fund. Gessen was skeptical. He knew plenty of people from college who went into finance, but mostly for the lifestyle. Working hard, drinking beer, watching football.
I just finished reading one of the most interesting books about the 2008 financial crisis. And I want to walk you through it.