Busted Audiobook By Edmund L. Andrews cover art

Busted

Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown

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Busted

By: Edmund L. Andrews
Narrated by: Dick Hill
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Veteran New York Times economics reporter Edmund L. Andrews was intimately aware of the dangers posed by easy mortgages from fast-buck lenders. But, eager to buy a home and start a new life, he gave in to temptation and began a surreal adventure into the mortgage mayhem that nearly wrecked our economy.

Busted weaves together the author's own ride to the edge of bankruptcy with the tragicomic stories of his lenders, the Wall Street pros behind them, and the policymakers in Washington who were oblivious until it was too late. The story takes Andrews to the offices of Alan Greenspan, the mansions of subprime-mortgage millionaires in Southern California, a despondent deal makers' convention in Las Vegas, and Wall Street.

Rich with on-the-ground reporting, Busted is a darkly humorous exploration of the cynicism and self-destructive judgment that led to America's biggest economic calamity in generations.

©2009 Edmund L.Andrews (P)2009 Tantor Economics Real Estate Banking Mortgage Global Financial Crisis Wall Street Witty Great Recession Taxation

Editorial reviews

New York Times economics reporter Edmund L. Andrews knew better than to buy a house during the housing boom in the first decade of the 21st century. And yet his home lust brought him to the edge of foreclosure.

Given a wry, lively reading by Dick Hill, Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown tries to explain how the housing bubble expanded and collapsed within his own tragic-comic experience. Andrews’ story mixes memoir with interviews with mortgage specialists and his own analyses of the regulatory misjudgments that bolstered the subprime mortgage market.

Hill nicely plays the role of an exasperated journalist who is searching for the root causes of his own poor judgment.

Critic reviews

"This deeply personal expose is timely and sobering in its candor." (Publishers Weekly)
"Andrews's autopsy on his mortgage and the conditions that helped produce it is sharp and at times mordantly funny." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Read Busted for the insight....The president and every member of Congress should read this book." (The Washington Post)
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This was an engaging and insightful look at the mortgage crisis. Mr. Andrews's has a unique perspective, both from Wall Street as a financial reporter and from Main Street as a foreclosed homeowner. He tells an interesting story, without being over-the-top. And, importantly, he brings some hard-earned wisdom and perspective to the situation.
I am a professional investor and am very familiar with the banking and financial side of the crisis. Unlike many books, this one was very accurate (if necessarily simplistic) about the financial industry.

The book is well narrated; the reader is interesting without being overly dramatic.

The best book on the mortgage crisis I've read.

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I kept waiting for the meat of the book and then it was over. Although I appreciate his personal drama I really wanted to learn more about the meltdown itself.

Information available pretty much anywhere plus personal drama

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