Crash of the Titans 在线下载 pdf mobi 2025 epub 电子版

The intimate, fly-on-the wall tale of the decline and fall of an America icon

With one notable exception, the firms that make up what we know as Wall Street have always been part of an inbred, insular culture that most people only vaguely understand. The exception was Merrill Lynch, a firm that revolutionized the stock market by bringing Wall Street to Main Street, setting up offices in far-flung cities and towns long ignored by the giants of finance. With its “thundering herd” of financial advisers, perhaps no other business, whether in financial services or elsewhere, so epitomized the American spirit. Merrill Lynch was not only “bullish on America,” it was a big reason why so many average Americans were able to grow wealthy by investing in the stock market.

Merrill Lynch was an icon. Its sudden decline, collapse, and sale to Bank of America was a shock. How did it happen? Why did it happen? And what does this story of greed, hubris, and incompetence tell us about the culture of Wall Street that continues to this day even though it came close to destroying the American economy? A culture in which the CEO of a firm losing $28 billion pushes hard to be paid a $25 million bonus. A culture in which two Merrill Lynch executives are guaranteed bonuses of $30 million and $40 million for four months’ work, even while the firm is struggling to reduce its losses by firing thousands of employees.

Based on unparalleled sources at both Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, Greg Farrell’s Crash of the Titans is a Shakespearean saga of three flawed masters of the universe. E. Stanley O’Neal, whose inspiring rise from the segregated South to the corner office of Merrill Lynch—where he engineered a successful turnaround—was undone by his belief that a smooth-talking salesman could handle one of the most difficult jobs on Wall Street. Because he enjoyed O’Neal’s support, this executive was allowed to build up an astonishing $30 billion position in CDOs on the firm’s balance sheet, at a time when all other Wall Street firms were desperately trying to exit the business. After O’Neal comes John Thain, the cerebral, MIT-educated technocrat whose rescue of the New York Stock Exchange earned him the nickname “Super Thain.” He was hired to save Merrill Lynch in late 2007, but his belief that the markets would rebound led him to underestimate the depth of Merrill’s problems. Finally, we meet Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, a street fighter raised barely above the poverty line in rural Georgia, whose “my way or the highway” management style suffers fools more easily than potential rivals, and who made a $50 billion commitment over a September weekend to buy a business he really didn’t understand, thus jeopardizing his own institution.

The merger itself turns out to be a bizarre combination of cultures that blend like oil and water, where slick Wall Street bankers suddenly find themselves reporting to a cast of characters straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies . BofA’s inbred culture, which perceived New York banks its enemies, was based on loyalty and a good-ol’-boy network in which competence played second fiddle to blind obedience.

Crash of the Titans is a financial thriller that puts you in the theater as the historic events of the financial crisis unfold and people responsible for billion of dollars of other people’s money gamble recklessly to enhance their power and their paychecks or to save their own skins. Its wealth of never-before-revealed information and focus on two icons of corporate America make it the book that puts together all the pieces of the Wall Street disaster.

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Dan Tully, who served as Merrill's chief executive in the 1990s, told one newspaper, "Charlie Merrill would turn over in his grave if he knew we hired someone from Goldman Sachs."

Since the day Thain joined Merrill Lynch the previous December, Fleming, Heaton, Kronthal, and Tosi had encouraged him to sell the CDOs as soon as possible, no matter what the losses were. In recent months, even Nelson Chain joined the effort. But Thain paid no mind. It wasn't until April, when Thain was finalizing the agreements to bring Montag and Kraus on board, that the CEO's view changed. That was because Montag and Kraus insisted, as a final condition of their agreements to join Merrill Lynch, that Thain clean up the balance sheet and sell the CDOs before they showed up for work. Such was the power of Goldman Sachs.

On top of the news about Merrill's fourth-quarter losses, the $3 billion in bonus payments that had been reported in the paper that morning, and the controversy surrounding the additional $20 billion in taxpayer funds that had been loaned to BofA in order to help it close the Merrill Lynch deal, the story about Thain's $1.2 million office seemed like one outrage too many.

And then Gasparino reported that Lewis was on his way to New York at that moment to discuss Thain's future with the bank. By 11:00 a.m., the story of Thain's office and the bonuses had become the buzz in the Financial District, and the real-time report that Lewis was en route to New York, possibly to fire Thain, had turned the spectacle into the Wall Street version of O.J. Simpson in the Ford Bronco, with thousands of ban...

Success, as the saying goes, has a thousand fathers, while failure is a orphan.

书籍介绍

The intimate, fly-on-the wall tale of the decline and fall of an America icon

With one notable exception, the firms that make up what we know as Wall Street have always been part of an inbred, insular culture that most people only vaguely understand. The exception was Merrill Lynch, a firm that revolutionized the stock market by bringing Wall Street to Main Street, setting up offices in far-flung cities and towns long ignored by the giants of finance. With its “thundering herd” of financial advisers, perhaps no other business, whether in financial services or elsewhere, so epitomized the American spirit. Merrill Lynch was not only “bullish on America,” it was a big reason why so many average Americans were able to grow wealthy by investing in the stock market.

Merrill Lynch was an icon. Its sudden decline, collapse, and sale to Bank of America was a shock. How did it happen? Why did it happen? And what does this story of greed, hubris, and incompetence tell us about the culture of Wall Street that continues to this day even though it came close to destroying the American economy? A culture in which the CEO of a firm losing $28 billion pushes hard to be paid a $25 million bonus. A culture in which two Merrill Lynch executives are guaranteed bonuses of $30 million and $40 million for four months’ work, even while the firm is struggling to reduce its losses by firing thousands of employees.

Based on unparalleled sources at both Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, Greg Farrell’s Crash of the Titans is a Shakespearean saga of three flawed masters of the universe. E. Stanley O’Neal, whose inspiring rise from the segregated South to the corner office of Merrill Lynch—where he engineered a successful turnaround—was undone by his belief that a smooth-talking salesman could handle one of the most difficult jobs on Wall Street. Because he enjoyed O’Neal’s support, this executive was allowed to build up an astonishing $30 billion position in CDOs on the firm’s balance sheet, at a time when all other Wall Street firms were desperately trying to exit the business. After O’Neal comes John Thain, the cerebral, MIT-educated technocrat whose rescue of the New York Stock Exchange earned him the nickname “Super Thain.” He was hired to save Merrill Lynch in late 2007, but his belief that the markets would rebound led him to underestimate the depth of Merrill’s problems. Finally, we meet Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, a street fighter raised barely above the poverty line in rural Georgia, whose “my way or the highway” management style suffers fools more easily than potential rivals, and who made a $50 billion commitment over a September weekend to buy a business he really didn’t understand, thus jeopardizing his own institution.

The merger itself turns out to be a bizarre combination of cultures that blend like oil and water, where slick Wall Street bankers suddenly find themselves reporting to a cast of characters straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies . BofA’s inbred culture, which perceived New York banks its enemies, was based on loyalty and a good-ol’-boy network in which competence played second fiddle to blind obedience.

Crash of the Titans is a financial thriller that puts you in the theater as the historic events of the financial crisis unfold and people responsible for billion of dollars of other people’s money gamble recklessly to enhance their power and their paychecks or to save their own skins. Its wealth of never-before-revealed information and focus on two icons of corporate America make it the book that puts together all the pieces of the Wall Street disaster.

• 作者：庄常飞 发布时间：2012-10-11 13:34:04

  四星半，文笔流畅，料很足，但如果编辑的再好点、没那么多重复、结构更完整、报道更公正些就更好了

• 作者：莲子清如许 发布时间：2016-07-08 20:24:12

  弘一法师真是不世出的大师，样样都做到极致顶尖，天赋异禀，厉根修行。读了他说佛，一下子恍然大悟很多困惑，感恩大师思想永续人间点醒迷雾中的我。

• 作者：Simon W 发布时间：2016-06-13 16:09:26

  每天读几篇，慢慢也看完了

• 作者：此间的Jovi 发布时间：2018-05-13 23:36:11

  好看的毕竟还是千年不变的政治斗争。金融危机只是作为催化剂，加速了各个族群间的吞噬和衍生。

• 作者：冰镇绿豆汤 发布时间：2016-06-29 19:34:57

  关于知识，我们可以提两个问题：我们知道什么和我们如何知道。第一个问题科学可以解答。第二个问题需要心理学，个人经验积累及推理，模糊的，概然的，或者说形而上的。于是知识的获取也变得不那么靠谱，甚至包括科学知识！可是不靠谱的知识就是废物吗？不，利用它我们创造了物质世界和精神世界。我将知识视作幻象，幻象很美，很有用。

• 作者：F 发布时间：2022-08-15 09:10:04

  美林的两位罪魁祸首全身而退，留下烂摊子给后来人收拾。所以国内金融发展出接近终身追责的体制，也有其合理性，可以规避道德风险。像这样的故事，提示从业人员谨慎从业，公司亏损，还疯狂发奖金，真的太讽刺了。美林的收购2009年把美银从亏损的泥潭中拉出来，其实是值的。

• 巨人的崩溃：贪婪、傲慢、美林的垮台和美银的濒临倒闭

  作者：银色子弹 发布时间：2020-02-28 06:07:19

  除了一个明显的例外，构成我们所知的华尔街的那些公司，一直以来都是一种自成一体、与世隔绝的文化的一部分，大多数人对这种文化只有模糊的理解。唯一的例外是美林证券公司，这家公司通过将华尔街引入大众市场，在金融巨头长期忽视的偏远城镇设立办事处，彻底改变了股票市场。其“雷鸣般的”金融顾问团队，也许没有其他行业，无论是金融服务还是其他领域，能如此代表美国精神。美林证券不仅“看好美国”，这也是许多普通美国人能够通过投资股市致富的一个重要原因。

  美林是一个象征。它的突然衰落，崩溃，并出售给美国银行是一个冲击。这是怎么发生的?为什么会这样?这个关于贪婪、傲慢和无能的故事告诉了我们关于华尔街文化的什么?这种文化延续至今，尽管它几乎摧毁了美国经济。在企业文化中，一家损失280亿美元的公司的首席执行官极力要求获得2500万美元的奖金。在美林的文化中，两名高管在四个月的工作时间里，保证分别获得3,000万美元和4,000万美元的奖金，尽管该公司正努力通过解雇数千名员工来减少损失。

  《巨人的崩溃》，讲述了三个有缺陷的人故事。斯坦利•奥尼尔(E. Stanley O’neal)从种族隔离的南方一跃成为美林(Merrill lynch)的高管，并在那里成功扭转了局面。他的成功之路充满了鼓舞人心的力量。由于得到了奥尼尔的支持，这位高管得以在公司资产负债表上累积了价值300亿美元的债务抵押债券头寸，而当时其他所有华尔街公司都在拼命地试图退出这一业务。奥尼尔之后是约翰·塞恩(John Thain)，这位麻省理工学院受过教育的理性技术官僚拯救了纽约证券交易所，为他赢得了“超级塞恩”(Super Thain)的绰号。2007年底，他受命拯救美林，但他认为市场会反弹，这导致他低估了美林问题的严重程度。最后，我们见到了美国银行的首席执行官肯·刘易斯，他是一个街头斗士，在乔治亚州的农村地区勉强生活在贫困线之上，他的“我行我格”的管理风格比潜在的竞争对手更容易被傻瓜们所接受，他在9月的一个周末承诺出资500亿美元收购一家他确实不了解的公司，从而危及他自己的机构。

  合并本身就是一种奇怪的文化融合，就像油和水一样，狡猾的华尔街银行家突然发现自己要向一群《贝弗利山人》(Beverly Hillbillies)里的人物汇报工作。美国银行将纽约的银行视为自己的敌人，其固有的文化是建立在忠诚和良好的人际关系基础上的，在这种人际关系中，能力仅次于盲目的服从。

• 【共振书评周】临终关怀的意义：重拾幸福的感受

  作者：Lazy念念 发布时间：2021-05-02 16:07:42

  假如“此刻”是幸福的，那么我已没有遗憾。

  文/舒念

  在读小川糸的《狮子之家的点心日》之前，其实已经读过了《山茶文具店》和《闪闪发光的人生》，一度以为小川糸的文章都是这样温柔且带着希望的，他的故事总是从一个并不是很美好的场景开始，但逐渐像是阳光照亮了房间一样，读者像是刚刚睡醒，就迎着阳光找到了一天的希望的力量，这就是小川糸的文字带来的感动，也是属于他的写作特色。

  不过翻开这本《狮子之家的点心日》，还是惊讶了一下，原来狮子之家是临终关怀中心，虽然确实有很多关于美食的温馨描述，但依旧改变不了主角从出场开始就罹患绝症，来到这个舒适惬意的小岛唯一的目的就是走向人生的终点，这总部可能是一场愉快的旅途，即使是小川糸也无法通过文字就扭转人们对于死亡的恐惧感吧，生与死的话题是所有作家都会探讨的话题，但无论经历多少次阅读，我们依旧会不自觉地回避死亡的话题，仿佛只要不说出口，有些事情就不会成真。

  

  带着这样的感受开始阅读，也跟着主角的视角去感受这个小岛的生活，即使这里阳光正好，每个人都温柔体贴，甚至饮食日常都十分舒适，还是会想起过去确诊时自己的绝望与厌世。当我们遭遇不幸的时候，一定会立刻指责别人吧，总是希望有人能为自己负责任，这样满腔的愤怒也就有机会发泄一番。作为这本书的主角，海野雫年仅27岁的时候就确诊了癌症，经过五年的治疗，在33岁的时候选择来到狮子之家，而在这段时间，她甚至没有将自己的病情告诉亲人，只是在临出发前交代了自己的身后事，继而独自一人走向生命最后的旅程。

  所谓乖巧懂事也好，温柔体贴也好，这样的人生势必时孤独的，只是可能在某种程度上，这样生活的人已经和孤独达成了和解，对他们而言，没有负担的离开才是最为重要的，在故事的后半段，也逐渐读出了海野雫爱操心的一面，狮子之家每一位离世的人都没有被她忽视掉，反而在自己状况每况愈下的时候，也希望给这些人留下最后的慰藉。

  也许真的是看多了他人的离开，也逐渐感受到生命力的消散，海野雫身体里的愤怒与不平也逐渐消散，最终变成对现在的怀恋，对活着的怀恋。《狮子之家的点心日》并不是一个大团圆的故事，癌症也没有理由奇迹般地痊愈，反而在一些细节中，我们能感受到病人真正的痛苦，从最早还会去葡萄园看海吃便当，到最后看着自己选的回忆中的奶油可丽饼也不能品尝，生命的消逝真的很快，但竟然还有一种源于当下的幸福感。

  

  我闭上眼睛，深深呼吸，隐约闻见柔和的梅花香气，于是再次深吸一口，感觉梅花一朵一朵在体内绽放，混合着我深爱的柑橘香。过了好一会儿，我长长吐出一口气。

  倘若将意识集中在“此刻”这个瞬间，人就不再患得患失、此失彼。而我的人生，确实也只剩下“此刻”。

  来到这里，我终于领悟这个简单的道理。假如“此刻”是幸福的，那么我已没有遗憾。

  我想，这种关于生命的遗憾每个人都会有体会，我们养的宠物，或是亲密的亲人，生命没有因为谁停下脚步，如果你也经历过这样的事，大概也会想过这些对于自己如此重要的人究竟去了哪里吧，在这本书中，小川糸给出了仿佛梦境般的解答，那些离开的人会守候着自己在乎的人，一直等到有一天会重逢，然后又以另一种方式分开，但一切都令人重新对生命充满了期待。