July - Summer Edition - CI Investments

Book reviews
NON-FICTION: The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
by Michael Lewis
Norton, 266 pages
I enjoyed The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, but
to be honest, it actually sickened me as to how many Wall
Street firms had betrayed their clients.
The global financial crisis of 2008,
which economists estimate could
result in several trillion dollars of
losses and which has already cost
American taxpayers billions of dollars
in government bailouts, was triggered
not by war or recession but by a crazy,
man-made money machine, built on flawed mathematical
models that most financial executives did not really
understand themselves. Greedy and heedless, Wall Street
firms had been turning subprime mortgages – loans made
to people with low creditworthiness or little documentation
– into exotic, toxic financial products that they made a
fortune laundering and reselling, and they were enabled in
doing so by the very ratings agencies that were supposed
to police risk. The insanity of this growing and highly
leveraged trade in mortgage derivatives continued even
as the quality of the underlying loans grew increasingly
dubious, even as it became increasingly likely that the
American housing bubble was going to pop.
– The New York Times
Matthew Strauss
Global Strategist &
Portfolio Manager
Signature Global Advisors
What I plan to read this summer
Lula of Brazil: The Story So Far by Richard Bourne
University of California Press, 304 pages
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (two-time Brazilian president) is
often described as a charismatic, rags-to-riches, working-class
president who commanded global respect. Also, his path to the
Presidency and style differed significantly from his predecessor,
Fernando Cardoso. I’m hoping that this book will provide as
much insight into Brazilian politics and economics as Cardoso’s
memoirs, but with an obvious difference – instead of following
the political and intellectual elite, this should provide a vivid
and compelling view from the workers’ perspective.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s dramatic life
story has captured the imagination of
millions, and his progressive politics have
brought hope and excitement to Brazil –
and the world. This compelling work is the
first major English-language biography of
the metalworker who became president
of Latin America’s largest and most powerful country. In a
clearly written, vividly detailed narrative, Richard Bourne
describes Lula’s childhood hardships in an impoverished
family, his days as a revered trade unionist, and the strike
movement that brought down Brazil’s military dictatorship.
The book chronicles Lula’s campaigns for the presidency,
his first term in office beginning in 2002, a major corruption
scandal, and his re-election in 2006. Throughout, Lula
of Brazil connects this charismatic leader’s life to larger
issues, such as the difficulty of maintaining a progressive
policy in an era of globalization.
– University of California Press
SUMMER 2011 PERSPECTIVE AS AT JUNE 30, 2011 9