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Sign up todayThe Housing Boom and Bust
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreThis is a plain-English explanation of how we got into the current economic disaster that developed out of the economics and politics of the housing boom and bust. The “creative” financing of home mortgages, and the even more “creative” marketing of financial securities based on these mortgages to countries around the world, are part of the story of how a financial house of cards was built up and then suddenly collapsed.
The politics behind all this is another story full of strange twists. No punches are pulled when discussing politicians of either party, the financial dangers they created, or the distractions they created later to escape their own responsibility for what happened.
Sowell unravels the tangled threads of the situation and explores the implications to reveal some surprising and sobering lessons.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and the author of A Personal Odyssey, The Vision of the Anointed, Ethnic America, and several other books. His essays have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, Forbes, and Fortune and are syndicated in 150 newspapers. He lives in Stanford, California.
Robertson Dean has played leading roles on and off Broadway and at dozens of regional theaters throughout the country. He has a BA from Tufts University and an MFA from Yale. His audiobook narration has garnered ten AudioFile Earphones Awards. He now lives in Los Angeles, where he works in film and television in addition to narrating.
Reviews
“For anyone looking for a straightforward and honest discussion of the origins of our current crisis, informed by a deep understanding of both economics and politics, The Housing Boom and Bust is required reading.”
“For Washington politicians to get away with spinning the financial crisis the way they have suggests that the American people are either stupid or ignorant. I hope it’s ignorance because The Housing Boom and Bust is the cure.”
“Sowell’s account qualifies the standard story that greedy investment bankers and mortgage brokers caused the whole crisis.”
“With decades of economic analysis behind him, Sowell achieves a clear and concise assessment of the housing debacle, which is enhanced by Robertson Dean’s methodical narration. Sowell provides a cogent narrative of causal events and points out connections beyond the standard simplistic discussions of predatory lenders and corrupt politicians... Overall, Dean’s role as narrator is pivotal to the production as he emphasizes key points for the listener. His delivery keeps the potentially dry topic of economics compelling and comprehensible.”
“Sowell’s latest book, The Housing Boom and Bust, is an economic primer on the housing bubble, but more importantly, it is an examination of the ruling class’ inability to leave well enough alone.”
“America’s best writer on economics, particularly when that discipline intersects with politics.”
“[In praise of the] coherence and detail of Sowell’s telling.”
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