<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/91756ae8-5dd9-4729-bb7c-f35c54a68e72/A4DFE8C2-5029-4B63-8BB6-43465595EAB3/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2009/07/07/michael_lewis_on_aig/index.html" href="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2009/07/07/michael_lewis_on_aig/index.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.salon.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2009/07/07/michael_lewis_on_aig/index.html"><P>Two of the more popular posts HTWW has featured this year were <A href="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2009/03/25/wall_street_feels_bad/">"Poor, Poor Plutocrats,"</A> -- my reflections on AIG trader Jake DeSantis' whining in the New York Times over how unfairly the public was treating him -- and <A href="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2009/05/18/cassano_the_alpha_male/index.html">"The Man Who (Maybe) Blew Up the Global Economy"</A> -- a post referencing a profile of Joseph Cassano, the boss of AIG's notorious Financial Products division.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2009/07/07/michael_lewis_on_aig/index.html">Therefore, I'm reasonably confident that readers will waste no time in hurrying over the Vanity Fair, to read <A href="http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/08/aig200908" target="_blank">Michael Lewis's extended take</A> on all things AIG FP</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2009/07/07/michael_lewis_on_aig/index.html"><P>As usual, Lewis is excellent, and his story fills in some previously murky holes. But once you wave away the personality issues -- Cassano: Grade A Jerk -- and the complexity of credit derivatives, we are left with a confoundingly basic point. The entire edifice of Wall Street's financial maneuverings was based on the assumption that housing prices would not collapse all over the country at the same time.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2009/07/07/michael_lewis_on_aig/index.html">that seems like a pretty simple, stupid mistake.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/A4DFE8C2-5029-4B63-8BB6-43465595EAB3/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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