Dear Mr. Buffett: What An Investor Learns 1,269 Miles From Wall Street

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Dear Mr. Buffett: What An Investor Learns 1,269 Miles From Wall Street (eBook) Pub. Date: 1/6/2009 Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
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Dear Mr. Buffett: What An Investor Learns 1,269 Miles From Wall Street Pub. Date: 8/30/2010 Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
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Dear Mr. Buffett: What An Investor Learns 1,269 Miles From Wall Street Pub. Date: 1/9/2009 Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated

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Overview

Janet Tavakoli takes you into the world of Warren Buffett by way of the recent mortgage meltdown. In correspondence and discussion with him over 2 years, they both saw the writing on the wall, made clear by the implosion of Bear Stearns. Tavakoli, in clear and engaging prose, explains how the credit mess happened beginning with the mortgage lending Ponzi schemes funded by investment banks, the Fed bailout and its impact on the dollar. Through her narrative, we hear from Warren Buffett and learn how his enduring principles caused him to see the mess that was coming well in advance and kept him and his investors well out of the way.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780470632420
Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
Publication date: 8/30/2010
Edition number: 1
Pages: 282
Sales rank: 837,392
Product dimensions: 5.60 (w) x 8.60 (h) x 1.00 (d)

Meet the Author

Janet M. Tavakoli is the President of Tavakoli Structured Finance, a consulting firm to financial institutions, institutional investors, and hedge funds. She is frequently quoted in the business press, including the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the New York Times, and was noted as "The Cassandra of Credit Derivatives" by BusinessWeek, identifying the impending crisis years before others. She has appeared on CNN, CNBC, CBS Evening News, Bloomberg TV, First Business Morning News, Fox News, Fox Business News, ABC, BBC, and 60 Minutes. Ms. Tavakoli is the author of several professional finance volumes, and was an adjunct associate professor at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, where she taught derivatives.

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

Chapter 1: An Unanswered Invitation.

Chapter 2: Lunch with Warren.

Chapter 3: The Prairie Princes versus the Princes of Darkness.

Chapter 4: The Insatiable Curiosity to Know Nothing Worth Knowing (Oscar Wilde Was Right).

Chapter 5: MAD Mortgages—The "Great" Against the Powerless.

Chapter 6: Shell Games (Beware of Geeks Bearing Grifts).

Chapter 7: Financial Astrology—AAA Falling Stars.

Chapter 8: Bear Market (I’d Like a Review of the Bidding).

Chapter 9: Dead Man’s Curve.

Chapter 10: Bazooka Hank and Dread Reckoning

(AIG, Fannie, Freddie, Lehman, Merrill, and Other F luid Situations).

Chapter 11: Bond Insurance Burns Main Street.

Chapter 12: Money, Money, Money (Warren and Washington).

Chapter 13: The Fogs of War, Religion, and Politics.

Chapter 14: Finding Value.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.

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FinanceLegend

Posted January 16, 2009

Informed, spicy critique of Wall Street, Main Street and Washington!

¿Dear Mr. Buffett¿ is an acid-tongued critique and summary of the players and financial instruments that have precipitated the current turmoil in the financial markets. The author writes with an attitude, high level of self-righteousness, and moral outrage which makes for a spicy read for those of us in the business and know some of the lead characters. I enjoyed the book even though I bought it with other expectations. I selected the book while traveling (I hate flight delays) with the hook being Warren Buffett, investment insight from the Oracle of Omaha. To be fair the first chapter or two was a cute story of Ms. Tavakoli getting an invitation to lunch with Mr. Buffett and her firsthand, personal description of the encounter with the great man; he does sound like a gem of a guy! Beyond this introduction Warren Buffett and Buffett references are used as a clever vehicle to tell the tale of the Wall Street, Main Street (mortgage brokers-- the bastards) and Washington miscreants that are responsible for today¿s turmoil. At times in the book the ¿Warren¿ name dropping and pandering is a distraction. This is more of a Liars Poker book than a Warren Buffett book; quasi insider views, personalization of key players, etc. The author clearly demonstrates her grasp of the complicated (perhaps intentionally so) financial instruments (Weapons of Mass Destruction, aka credit derivatives) in sufficient technical detail to help the reader but not lose them. As such, I recommend this book to any reader with an interest in truly understanding the causality of the current financial market conditions and the principal players involved. I liked the book for reasons other than why I bought it! Go figure?

Two other book thoughts: 1. I can only surmise that the author must now be fabulously wealthy assuming she acted her own well documented prescient assessment of the world financial market over the past several years. 2. What is the significance of the erroneous mileage measurement of ¿1,269 miles from Wall Street¿ to Omaha? The mileage is actually about 1,150 miles, about 10 percent less.

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KitsapReader

Posted January 10, 2009

I Also Recommend:

Many books have been written about Mr Buffett, yet "1269 miles from Wall Street" was intriguing. Expecting "a how to invest" to my surprise I also got a full account of the events that have led us into this financial crisis.

At last! A clear explanation of how our Economy and Financial system have reached this bitter place. Best of all, it's written in plain English.
Yes it is disturbing because it gives an account of the biggest swindle in our history.
To me it seemed like a recipe for financial disaster, and Tavakoli excelled at identifying each ingredient and its role in the disaster. Her comments gave it enough spice to keep me turning pages and I found myself chuckling.
By the time you finish reading the book, you¿ll be asking ¿where is the loot¿ and Tavakoli has provided many clues throughout the book and its notes.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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