Tag: Ireland

Boomerang – Michael Lewis Looks at the New Third World

Michael Lewis packages his stories on the effects of the global financial crisis in Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Germany, and California into one book: Boomerang. If you had ready the stories when they were published in Vanity Fair, then you’ve ready the book. If you missed some (or all) of those stories then this book is great viewpoint on how five countries got themselves into trouble with excessive debt.

I had already read the first four articles when they appeared in Vanity Fair, but I had not yet gotten to the article on California. In fairness, Boomerang was a given to me as a gift so I did not come out of pocket to put it on my bookshelf. I enjoyed revisiting the four stories and the new California story.

They each seemed to work better in the collection than standing on their own. Since each story is relatively short, they lack the depth and understanding I’m used to getting in one of Michael Lewis’ books. Collectively, there is bit more depth as you can see how the five different countries got into trouble in different ways by becoming over-leveraged.

It’s a Michael Lewis book, so that means it’s easy to read and smart. He has a gift for taking complicated subjects and using individuals to highlight how his theories work in the real world.

My gripe is not with the book, but with Vanity Fair who sponsored Lewis in writing the five stories, each of which has appeared in the magazine. I purchased a subscription to Vanity Fair just because of these Lewis articles. I thought I was choosing to upgrade the freemium model.  I was willing to pay more for the superior experience of reading the article in the magazine instead of online. However, the publisher would put them on the website (for free) before the magazine ended up in my mailbox. One premium of getting access to the content first, was actually the opposite. I was getting the content later than if I had chosen not to pay for it. It’s not like the magazine is ad-free.

So why I would I renew my subscription?

Popping the Irish Bubble

In compliance, you need to learn from your mistakes so you can prevent future problems. There were many mistakes that lead to the 2008 financial crisis, not just in the United States, but also abroad. Michael Lewis wrote The Big Short, taking a look at the Unites States financial crisis and has written great stories on the financial crises in Iceland and Greece.

His latest story in Vanity Fair focuses on the troubles in Ireland: When Irish Eyes Are Crying.

He makes this one look easy. Ireland’s banks made too many bad real estate loans and the Irish government foolishly guaranteed the obligations of the Irish banks.

Lewis quotes Theo Panos, a London hedge fund manager: “Anglo Irish was probably the world’s worst bank. Even worse than the Icelandic banks.” The bank faced losses of up to 34 billion euros. A big number, but the sum total of loans made by Anglo Irish was only 72 billion euros. This one Irish bank had lost nearly half of every dollar it invested.

The signs of an immense real estate bubble sound obvious. A fifth of the Irish workforce was employed building houses and the construction industry had become a quarter of the country’s GDP. As for prices, since 1994 house prices in Dublin had risen more than 500 percent. As a measure of affordability, rents had fallen to less than 1 percent of the purchase price. Your $833 in rent would be for a home with a sales price of a $1 million.

There was a tight link between the Irish banks and Irish real estate. Lending to construction and real estate has risen from 8% to to 28% since 2000.

The Irish government stepped in to help save the banks from their poor underwriting and poor investments. Instead of merely standing behind the deposits at the Irish banks, the government guaranteed all of their obligations. Investors who were looking to dump bonds issued by the banks for pennies on the dollar, were rewarded for holding on to them.

There are plenty critics of TARP and the bailout of the US banks. But it was a significantly smaller intervention than what happened in Ireland.

It’s worth your time to take a few minutes and read When Irish Eyes Are Crying.

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