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Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Also, be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor even implied. Any irrelevancies you can mention will also be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.

14 Responses to “Reading: Barnes & Noble NYC Midtown”

1. Pat G. Says:
   June 21st, 2009 at 7:39 pm

   Pardon my ignorance but what does a mid-town book reading entail? (BR: Its a reading, in a vbook store, that is literally located in midtown)

   If it involves you interacting with the audience, fielding questions or discussing your points of view in the book, then great. (BR: EXACTLY) If you are ever going to be in the Albuquerque area please let me know and I’ll drive in.

2. investorinpa Says:
   June 21st, 2009 at 9:22 pm

   Barry,
   The Borders bookstore in King of Prussia, PA did not have a copy of your book (they weren’t carrying it)..just making you aware if you happen to do one of these signings/readings at the “other” bookstore (Borders) instead of B&N, which did carry your book in my neck of the woods.

3. Onlooker from Troy Says:
   June 21st, 2009 at 9:47 pm

   Tell me you’re not going to be reading to a bunch of people sitting on the floor in a circle! :) Very Mr. Rogers, if so.

4. vachon Says:
   June 21st, 2009 at 11:52 pm

   The good news: finally bought your book at Waldenbooks in Crystal River, Florida. Yeay!

   The bad news: I got the last copy. Told the clerk at the counter to stock more :)

5. The Curmudgeon Says:
   June 22nd, 2009 at 9:44 am

   My Father’s Day present was a copy of “Bailout Nation”….If I could get my two kids (15 & 12) to sit still (teenagers/pre-teens have the attention span of gnats, not unlike when they were two), maybe I’d have a book-reading with them sitting around the living room floor:)

6. Barry Ritholtz Says:
   June 22nd, 2009 at 8:10 pm

   For those of you who don’t want to see anything book related anymore, log into the site, go tot he category section, and deselect “Bailout Nation”

   Easy!

7. Mark E Hoffer Says:
   June 22nd, 2009 at 9:15 pm

   BR,

   those peep are something else~

   was making me recall a familiar lament from earlier days: “O Envy! Will you Always be with Us?”

   “Can you Turn, to take leave, before the Leaves turn?”

8. Tao Jonesing Says:
   June 22nd, 2009 at 9:43 pm

   Barry,

   I wish I could be there, but I am on the wrong coast. Let us know when you will be in the SF Bay Area for a book reading.

   I am making my way through your book (in parallel with a number of other books that I’m reading). It is an easy, good read.

   One thing that I am having a hard time fully grasping, though, is the Federal Reserve’s role as regulator. You list the Fed’s failure in that role as one of the top 3 reasons for the current crisis, but you don’t explain the scope or limits of the Fed’s regulatory powers or exactly which of the regulations it failed to enforce. I’ve been on the Fed’s website and have found a number of regulations that the Fed is supposed to enforce, including truth in lending, but that can’t be it. On the other hand, you note that it was the FDIC who loosened leverage requirements, so THAT does not appear to be within the Fed’s purview.

   Clearly, you have something very firmly in mind. Is there any way you can provide a primer, or a pointer to something you’ve already posted, that explains precisely where the Fed fell down in its regulatory role?

   Thanks.

9. Barry Ritholtz Says:
   June 22nd, 2009 at 9:49 pm

   It was the SEC loosened leverage rules

   As to the Fed, consider these

   http://www.federalreserve.gov/bankinforeg/
   http://www.federalreserve.gov/bankinforeg/reglisting.htm

10. Mannwich Says:
    June 22nd, 2009 at 9:53 pm

    Congrats Barry. I got the book for my b-day last Wednesday. I haven’t started it yet but plan to in the coming days. If I haven’t finished it by the, I’ll probably take it to the beach with me in early August on the shores of Lake Michigan (the little finger up in Leelanau County, a gorgeous summertime getaway).

11. Tao Jonesing Says:
    June 22nd, 2009 at 10:39 pm

    Barry,

    Sorry about the confusion. I had just looked at page 132 and could have sworn it referred to the FDIC and not the SEC. I should have looked.

    And I had looked at those sections of the Fed’s website, which prompted my question. Many of the listed regulations deal with internal management issues and consumer protection. The only thing that stood out to me on the list was 12 CFR 204, Reserve Requirements of Depository Institutions (but isn’t this related to leverage, which the SEC governs?), and maybe 12 CFR 206, Limitations on Interbank Liabilities.

    As a recovering lawyer, I can dig into the regulations, but part of the difficulty here is the complexity of the regulatory landscape. So much agency overlap. Maybe that’s intentional: if you can’t figure out who is responsible, you can’t hold them accountable . . .

    Regardless, the Fed’s list of regulations that it enforces does not tell me where you believe the Fed failed in its enforcement, which is an important conclusion of your book. There is no doubt that the Fed fell down in its monetary policy. That’s pretty easy to see. Without guidance, though, it is harder to understand the conclusion that it fell down in its regulatory role. What was the Fed required to do that it didn’t do? I’m not defending the Fed– the institution scares me for many reasons– I am just trying to understand what it could have done or should have done to avoid complicity in creating this crisis.

    Thanks.

12. CNBC Sucks Says:
    June 23rd, 2009 at 10:10 pm

    Barry W. Ritholtz -

    Jeff Mannwich’s point above raises an interesting question about you. Which would you rather have:

    (a) People buy your book but never actually read it

    (b) People read your book but never actually buy it

    If (a), you are a Republican, and if (b), you are a Democrat.

13. VennData Says:
    June 24th, 2009 at 10:27 am

    I’d love to attend but I’ll be a’ huntin’ an’ a’ fishin’ along an Appalachian trail…

    …I mean jetting off to Buenos Aires to dine at eleven whilst hobnobbing with effete South American political elites.

14. asiankida Says:
    June 24th, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    can’t make the reading today, but hope do it again sometime in the future!