“The Monster”: A guide to the subprime crisis

Introduction

Congratulations to my Center for Public Integrity colleague, Michael Hudson, whose new book debuted today as the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon.com’s Real Estate and Banking lists.

The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America — and Spawned a Global Crisis is the story of the rise and fall of the subprime mortgage market and of regulators’ failures to stop the fraud that overtook the nation’s home-loan market and helped spark a financial meltdown.

The book draws on interviews with industry insiders who talk about how they lied to borrowers, forged signatures, created fake documents, and generally did whatever it took to satisfy Wall Street’s hunger for product. As one former industry insider told Mike: “Anything that benefited production— that benefited me and benefited my wallet— I’d do it.”

Read an excerpt of The Monster here and then tweet your views to @MichaelWHudson .