History of Greed

The greater fool theory of economics states that its possible to make money by buying paper (securities), whether overvalued or not, and later, selling it at a profit because there will always be an even greater fool willing to pay the higher price. Many described in this book profited by peddling such worthless junk to foolish investors. But for some peopleBernie Madoff, Norman Hsu, Sholam Weiss, and Crazie Eddie Antar, aka the Darth Vader of Capitalismovervalued securities were not enough. Outright fraud was their way of life. History of Greed is the compelling inside story of the names you knowCharles Ponzi, Baron Rothschild, Lou Pearlmanand the names you dontIsaac Le Maire, the worlds first naked short-seller. Its also our storywhy we ignore the lessons of the past and fall prey, most every time, to the promise of easy money. For thousands of years, alchemists unsuccessfully tried to turn worthless base metals into gold. Where science failed at turning nothing into something, business succeeded. Sometimes we praise the creators of derivatives, collateral debt obligations, subprime mortgages, credit default swaps, or auction rate securities as Wall Streets new financial wizards, the creators of magic paper. Other times, we vilify and prosecute them as scam artists. Sometimes, its hard to tell who is who. History of Greed reveals the inside secrets of how the markets really work, and how scam artists abuse them to gain an unfair edge or to outright steal. It describes how luftgescheft (air business), wizardry, dishonesty, and fraud are used to swindle people. Along with a comprehensive bibliography, History of Greed also details: 400 years of financial fraudfrom everyday fraud to the odd and unusual Accounting fraud (phantom sales), stock option fraud (backdating), auction rate securities, hedge fund fraud, Ponzi schemes, promotion fraud (pump-and-dump scams), and money laundering How to detect fraudulent schemes How government regulation only fixes yesterdays problems If its too good to be true, it probably is. If they say you cant lose, you probably will. History of Greed shows that there really is no such thing as a free lunch, while also detailing how not to become the greater fool.