Confidence Men
Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $36.89
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
James Lurie
-
By:
-
Ron Suskind
About this listen
The hidden history of Wall Street and the White House comes down to a single, powerful, quintessentially American concept: confidence. Both centers of power, tapping brazen innovations over the past three decades, learned how to manufacture it.
Until August 2007, when that confidence finally began to crumble.
In this gripping and brilliantly reported book, Ron Suskind tells the story of what happened next, as Wall Street struggled to save itself while a man with little experience and soaring rhetoric emerged from obscurity to usher in "a new era of responsibility". It is a story that follows the journey of Barack Obama, who rose as the country fell, and offers the first full portrait of his tumultuous presidency.
Wall Street found that straying from long-standing principles of transparency, accountability, and fair dealing opened a path to stunning profits. Obama’s determination to reverse that trend was essential to his ascendance, especially when Wall Street collapsed during the fall of an election year and the two candidates could audition for the presidency by responding to a national crisis. But as he stood on the stage in Grant Park, a shudder went through Barack Obama. He would now have to command Washington, tame New York, and rescue the economy in the first real management job of his life.
The new president surrounded himself with a team of seasoned players - like Rahm Emanuel, Larry Summers, and Tim Geithner - who had served a different president in a different time. As the nation’s crises deepened, Obama’s deputies often ignored the president’s decisions - “to protect him from himself” - while they fought to seize control of a rudderless White House. Bitter disputes - between men and women, policy and politics - ruled the day. The result was an administration that found itself overtaken by events as, year to year, Obama struggled to grow into the world’s toughest job and, in desperation, take control of his own administration.
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Ron Suskind introduces readers to an ensemble cast, from the titans of high finance to a new generation of reformers, from petulant congressmen and acerbic lobbyists to a tight circle of White House advisers - and, ultimately, to the president himself, as you’ve never before seen him. Based on hundreds of interviews and filled with piercing insights and startling disclosures, Confidence Men brings into focus the collusion and conflict between the nation’s two capitals - New York and Washington, one of private gain, the other of public purpose - in defining confidence and, thereby, charting America’s future.
©2011 Ron Suskind (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
Confidence Man
- The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America
- By: Maggie Haberman
- Narrated by: Maggie Haberman
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few journalists working today have covered Donald Trump more extensively than Maggie Haberman. And few understand him and his motivations better. Now, demonstrating her majestic command of this story, Haberman reveals in full the depth of her understanding of the 45th president himself, and of what the Trump phenomenon means.
-
-
This is the only one you have to read
- By Amazon Customer on 10-06-22
By: Maggie Haberman
-
Social Justice Fallacies
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Brad Sanders
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The quest for social justice is a powerful crusade of our time, with an appeal to many different people, for many different reasons. But those who use the same words do not always present the same meanings. Clarifying those meanings is the first step toward finding out what we agree on and disagree on. From there, it is largely a question of what the facts are. Social Justice Fallacies reveals how many things that are thought to be true simply cannot stand up to documented facts, which are often the opposite of what is widely believed.
-
-
Timely book by 93 year old Thomas Sowell
- By Wayne on 09-27-23
By: Thomas Sowell
-
The Divider
- Trump in the White House, 2017-2021
- By: Peter Baker, Susan Glasser
- Narrated by: Michael Quinlan
- Length: 28 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The inside story of the four years when Donald Trump went to war with Washington, from the chaotic beginning to the violent finale, told by revered journalists Peter Baker of The New York Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker—an ambitious and lasting history of the full Trump presidency that also contains dozens of exclusive scoops and stories from behind the scenes in the White House, from the absurd to the deadly serious.
-
-
An expertly guided tour through history.
- By Cocoabelle on 09-24-22
By: Peter Baker, and others
-
The Trump Tapes
- Bob Woodward's Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Donald J. Trump, Bob Woodward
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Trump Tapes explodes with the exclusive, inside story of Trump’s performance as president—in his own words as he is questioned, even interrogated by Woodward, on the president’s key responsibilities from managing foreign relations to crisis management of the coronavirus pandemic. This is the job Trump seeks again. How did he do the first time? This is the authentic answer, laying bare his repeated failures, obsessions, and grievances.
-
-
The Trump Tapes
- By Melvin on 10-27-22
By: Bob Woodward
-
A Hope in The Unseen
- An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League
- By: Ron Suskind
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling investigative journalist Ron Suskind based this book on his Pulitzer Prize winning articles about Cedric Jennings, a Black youth struggling to survive one of D.C.'s toughest school districts. A moving portrait of inner city life, A Hope in the Unseen offers a view of life through the eyes of someone trying desperately to make his way up from the bottom.
-
-
Great Story
- By Adam Evans on 12-25-10
By: Ron Suskind
-
After the Music Stopped
- The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead
- By: Alan S. Blinder
- Narrated by: Graham Vick
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan S. Blinder - esteemed Princeton professor, Wall Street Journal columnist, and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board under Alan Greenspan - is one of our wisest and most clear-eyed economic thinkers. In After the Music Stopped, he delivers a masterful narrative of how the worst economic crisis in postwar American history happened, what the government did to fight it, and what we must do to recover from it.
-
-
Irresponsible, corrupt, and confused book
- By Thomas on 12-22-14
By: Alan S. Blinder
-
Confidence Man
- The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America
- By: Maggie Haberman
- Narrated by: Maggie Haberman
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few journalists working today have covered Donald Trump more extensively than Maggie Haberman. And few understand him and his motivations better. Now, demonstrating her majestic command of this story, Haberman reveals in full the depth of her understanding of the 45th president himself, and of what the Trump phenomenon means.
-
-
This is the only one you have to read
- By Amazon Customer on 10-06-22
By: Maggie Haberman
-
Social Justice Fallacies
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Brad Sanders
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The quest for social justice is a powerful crusade of our time, with an appeal to many different people, for many different reasons. But those who use the same words do not always present the same meanings. Clarifying those meanings is the first step toward finding out what we agree on and disagree on. From there, it is largely a question of what the facts are. Social Justice Fallacies reveals how many things that are thought to be true simply cannot stand up to documented facts, which are often the opposite of what is widely believed.
-
-
Timely book by 93 year old Thomas Sowell
- By Wayne on 09-27-23
By: Thomas Sowell
-
The Divider
- Trump in the White House, 2017-2021
- By: Peter Baker, Susan Glasser
- Narrated by: Michael Quinlan
- Length: 28 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The inside story of the four years when Donald Trump went to war with Washington, from the chaotic beginning to the violent finale, told by revered journalists Peter Baker of The New York Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker—an ambitious and lasting history of the full Trump presidency that also contains dozens of exclusive scoops and stories from behind the scenes in the White House, from the absurd to the deadly serious.
-
-
An expertly guided tour through history.
- By Cocoabelle on 09-24-22
By: Peter Baker, and others
-
The Trump Tapes
- Bob Woodward's Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Donald J. Trump, Bob Woodward
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Trump Tapes explodes with the exclusive, inside story of Trump’s performance as president—in his own words as he is questioned, even interrogated by Woodward, on the president’s key responsibilities from managing foreign relations to crisis management of the coronavirus pandemic. This is the job Trump seeks again. How did he do the first time? This is the authentic answer, laying bare his repeated failures, obsessions, and grievances.
-
-
The Trump Tapes
- By Melvin on 10-27-22
By: Bob Woodward
-
A Hope in The Unseen
- An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League
- By: Ron Suskind
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling investigative journalist Ron Suskind based this book on his Pulitzer Prize winning articles about Cedric Jennings, a Black youth struggling to survive one of D.C.'s toughest school districts. A moving portrait of inner city life, A Hope in the Unseen offers a view of life through the eyes of someone trying desperately to make his way up from the bottom.
-
-
Great Story
- By Adam Evans on 12-25-10
By: Ron Suskind
-
After the Music Stopped
- The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead
- By: Alan S. Blinder
- Narrated by: Graham Vick
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan S. Blinder - esteemed Princeton professor, Wall Street Journal columnist, and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board under Alan Greenspan - is one of our wisest and most clear-eyed economic thinkers. In After the Music Stopped, he delivers a masterful narrative of how the worst economic crisis in postwar American history happened, what the government did to fight it, and what we must do to recover from it.
-
-
Irresponsible, corrupt, and confused book
- By Thomas on 12-22-14
By: Alan S. Blinder
-
Elegy
- The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas
- By: Charles Beaumont
- Narrated by: Stacy Keach, Blair Underwood
- Length: 47 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Three astronauts land on a remote asteroid where everyone is frozen in place in the midst of their activities. The only one that moves reveals himself as the caretaker who explains that they are in an exclusive cemetery where the deads' greatest wishes can come true.
-
-
Don't read the Publisher's Summary!
- By Mike T. on 08-14-15
By: Charles Beaumont
-
The Fall
- The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty
- By: Michael Wolff
- Narrated by: Michael Wolff - introduction, Holter Graham
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For almost three decades, Fox News has not only made political careers (see: President Donald J. Trump) but also fundamentally altered the political landscape of the United States. It is a truism: as Fox goes, so goes the nation—into further divisiveness and awash in fake news, a gleefully polarizing company. But just as Fox has pushed America apart, now it too is coming apart. As is the family dynasty behind it.
-
-
Terrific rundown of Fox
- By Iread on 10-05-23
By: Michael Wolff
-
Liberalism and Its Discontents
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's no secret that liberalism didn't always live up to its own ideals. In America, many people were denied equality before the law. Who counted as full human beings worthy of universal rights was contested for centuries, and only recently has this circle expanded to include women, African Americans, LGBTQ+ people, and others. Conservatives complain that liberalism empties the common life of meaning. As Francis Fukuyama shows in Liberalism and Its Discontents, the principles of liberalism have also, in recent decades, been pushed to new extremes by both the right and the left.
-
-
For those who haven’t given up yet.
- By DMax on 09-29-22
By: Francis Fukuyama
-
The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One
- How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S&L Industry
- By: William K. Black
- Narrated by: Scotty Drake
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this expert insider's account of the savings and loan debacle of the 1980s, William Black lays bare the strategies that corrupt CEOs and CFOs - in collusion with those who have regulatory oversight of their industries - use to defraud companies for their personal gain.
-
-
Bank frauds and their pet regulators, 1980s-2000s
- By Philo on 03-29-15
By: William K. Black
-
Rage
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Woodward, the number-one international bestselling author of Fear: Trump in the White House, has uncovered the precise moment the president was warned that the Covid-19 epidemic would be the biggest national security threat to his presidency. In dramatic detail, Woodward takes readers into the Oval Office as Trump’s head pops up when he is told in January 2020 that the pandemic could reach the scale of the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed 675,000 Americans.
-
-
Knock-down, drag-out
- By LEE on 09-15-20
By: Bob Woodward
-
On the Brink
- Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System
- By: Henry M. Paulson Jr.
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the man who was in the very middle of this perfect economic storm, On the Brink is Paulson's fast-paced retelling of the key decisions that had to be made with lightning speed. Paulson puts the listener in the room for all the intense moments as he addressed urgent market conditions, weighed critical decisions, and debated policy and economic considerations with of all the notable players.
-
-
More Depth than "Too Big to Fail"
- By Michael Moore on 02-22-10
-
Stress Test
- Reflections on Financial Crises
- By: Timothy F. Geithner
- Narrated by: Timothy F. Geithner
- Length: 18 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stress Test is the story of Tim Geithner’s education in financial crises. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then as President Barack Obama’s secretary of the Treasury, Timothy F. Geithner helped the United States navigate the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, from boom to bust to rescue to recovery.
-
-
Gripping
- By Jean on 06-03-14
-
Too Big to Fail
- The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System--and Themselves
- By: Andrew Ross Sorkin
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 21 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A real-life thriller about the most tumultuous period in America's financial history by an acclaimed New York Times reporter. Andrew Ross Sorkin delivers the first true, behind-the-scenes, moment-by-moment account of how the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression developed into a global tsunami.
-
-
Best Book About Meltdown
- By Chuck on 12-08-09
-
Drift
- The Unmooring of American Military Power
- By: Rachel Maddow
- Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow's Drift argues that we've drifted away from America's original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war, with all the financial and human costs that entails. To understand how we've arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today's war in Afghanistan.
-
-
Half the National Debt?
- By Dolf Beil on 04-07-12
By: Rachel Maddow
-
The Fifth Risk
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What happens when the President of the United States governs one Tweet at a time? When the elected leader of the free world may not have a firm grasp on the names of government agencies, much less an understanding of their intricate inner-workings? In the days following the 2016 inauguration, government personnel searched for answers that didn’t exist, while White House staff scoured halls for employees who would never be appointed.
-
-
Awkward and Disappointing
- By Amit M on 10-04-18
By: Michael Lewis
-
Fed Up
- An Insider's Take on Why the Federal Reserve Is Bad for America
- By: Danielle DiMartino Booth
- Narrated by: Danielle DiMartino Booth
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early 2000s, as a Wall Street escapee writing a financial column for the Dallas Morning News, Booth attracted attention for her bold criticism of the Fed's low interest rate policies and her cautionary warnings about the bubbly housing market. Nobody was more surprised than she when the folks at the Dallas Federal Reserve invited her aboard. Figuring she could have more of an impact on Fed policies from the inside, she accepted the call to duty and rose to be one of Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher's closest advisors.
-
-
straight forward brilliant
- By casey on 02-20-17
-
The No Asshole Rule
- Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
- By: Robert I. Sutton Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Robert Sutton
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"What an asshole!" How many times have you said that about someone at work? You're not alone! In this groundbreaking book, Stanford University professor Robert I. Sutton builds on his acclaimed Harvard Business Review article to show you the best ways to deal with assholes...and why they can be so destructive to your company.
-
-
okay, I get it
- By David on 02-16-08
Related to this topic
-
Overhaul
- An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry
- By: Steven Rattner
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This first real look inside Team Obama mixes political warfare and big-business shakeups in equal proportions, and comes from a uniquely informed source. Steve Rattner is not just the man brought in by the president to save the auto industry, he is a former New York Times financial reporter who also earned a place among the top tier of Wall Street's most informed investment bankers and corporate experts.
-
-
Overhaul - A Memoir
- By Roy on 12-05-10
By: Steven Rattner
-
The Alchemists
- Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire
- By: Neil Irwin
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neil Irwin’s The Alchemists is a gripping account of the most intense exercise in economic crisis management we’ve ever seen, a poker game in which the stakes have run into the trillions of dollars. The book begins in, of all places, Stockholm, Sweden, in the 17th century, where central banking had its rocky birth, and then progresses through a brisk but dazzling tutorial on how the central banker came to exert such vast influence over our world, from its troubled beginnings to the age of Greenspan, bringing the listener into the present with a marvelous handle on how these figures and institutions became what they are.
-
-
Couldn't Listen to this narrator
- By Donald on 07-23-13
By: Neil Irwin
-
Bought and Paid For
- The Unholy Alliance Between Barack Obama and Wall Street
- By: Charles Gasparino
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to business reporter Charles Gasparino, President Obama is faking his outrage at Wall Street, and his calls for new policies to rein in banks that are "too big to fail" are just pabulum. In reality, Obama has climbed into bed with Wall Street CEOs, giving them what they want so they will support his liberal, big-government agenda.
-
-
Revealing and Convincing
- By Walter on 10-24-11
-
The Bank That Lived a Little
- Barclays in the Age of the Very Free Market
- By: Philip Augar
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on unparalleled access to those involved, and told with compelling pace and drama, The Bank That Lived a Little is the story of one of the most familiar names on the British high street since Big Bang in 1986. Philip Augar describes in detail three decades of boardroom intrigue driven by ruthless ambition, grandiose dreams and a desire for wealth. It is a tale of a struggle for long-term supremacy between rival strategies and their adherents.
-
-
Global superstar bankers under light-touch gov
- By Philo on 12-21-18
By: Philip Augar
-
A First-Class Catastrophe
- The Road to Black Monday, the Worst Day in Wall Street History
- By: Diana B. Henriques
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Monday, October 19, 1987, was by far the worst day in Wall Street history. The market fell 22.6% - almost twice as bad as the worst day of 1929 - equal to a one-day loss of nearly 5,000 points today. Black Monday was more than seven years in the making and threatened nearly every US financial institution. Drawing on superlative archival research and dozens of original interviews, Diana B. Henriques weaves a tale of missed opportunities, market delusions, and destructive actions.
-
-
Financial History Rhymes
- By David Larson on 10-07-17
-
Good for the Money
- My Fight to Pay Back America
- By: Bob Benmosche
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2009, at the peak of the financial crisis, AIG - the American insurance behemoth - was sinking fast. It was the peg upon which the nation hung its ire and resentment during the financial crisis: the pinnacle of Wall Street arrogance and greed. When Bob Benmosche climbed aboard as CEO, it was widely assumed that he would go down with his ship. In mere months, he turned things around, pulling AIG from the brink of financial collapse and restoring its profitability.
-
-
Worthwhile, informative, and just short of inspiring
- By Preston on 11-17-21
By: Bob Benmosche
-
Overhaul
- An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry
- By: Steven Rattner
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This first real look inside Team Obama mixes political warfare and big-business shakeups in equal proportions, and comes from a uniquely informed source. Steve Rattner is not just the man brought in by the president to save the auto industry, he is a former New York Times financial reporter who also earned a place among the top tier of Wall Street's most informed investment bankers and corporate experts.
-
-
Overhaul - A Memoir
- By Roy on 12-05-10
By: Steven Rattner
-
The Alchemists
- Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire
- By: Neil Irwin
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neil Irwin’s The Alchemists is a gripping account of the most intense exercise in economic crisis management we’ve ever seen, a poker game in which the stakes have run into the trillions of dollars. The book begins in, of all places, Stockholm, Sweden, in the 17th century, where central banking had its rocky birth, and then progresses through a brisk but dazzling tutorial on how the central banker came to exert such vast influence over our world, from its troubled beginnings to the age of Greenspan, bringing the listener into the present with a marvelous handle on how these figures and institutions became what they are.
-
-
Couldn't Listen to this narrator
- By Donald on 07-23-13
By: Neil Irwin
-
Bought and Paid For
- The Unholy Alliance Between Barack Obama and Wall Street
- By: Charles Gasparino
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to business reporter Charles Gasparino, President Obama is faking his outrage at Wall Street, and his calls for new policies to rein in banks that are "too big to fail" are just pabulum. In reality, Obama has climbed into bed with Wall Street CEOs, giving them what they want so they will support his liberal, big-government agenda.
-
-
Revealing and Convincing
- By Walter on 10-24-11
-
The Bank That Lived a Little
- Barclays in the Age of the Very Free Market
- By: Philip Augar
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on unparalleled access to those involved, and told with compelling pace and drama, The Bank That Lived a Little is the story of one of the most familiar names on the British high street since Big Bang in 1986. Philip Augar describes in detail three decades of boardroom intrigue driven by ruthless ambition, grandiose dreams and a desire for wealth. It is a tale of a struggle for long-term supremacy between rival strategies and their adherents.
-
-
Global superstar bankers under light-touch gov
- By Philo on 12-21-18
By: Philip Augar
-
A First-Class Catastrophe
- The Road to Black Monday, the Worst Day in Wall Street History
- By: Diana B. Henriques
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Monday, October 19, 1987, was by far the worst day in Wall Street history. The market fell 22.6% - almost twice as bad as the worst day of 1929 - equal to a one-day loss of nearly 5,000 points today. Black Monday was more than seven years in the making and threatened nearly every US financial institution. Drawing on superlative archival research and dozens of original interviews, Diana B. Henriques weaves a tale of missed opportunities, market delusions, and destructive actions.
-
-
Financial History Rhymes
- By David Larson on 10-07-17
-
Good for the Money
- My Fight to Pay Back America
- By: Bob Benmosche
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2009, at the peak of the financial crisis, AIG - the American insurance behemoth - was sinking fast. It was the peg upon which the nation hung its ire and resentment during the financial crisis: the pinnacle of Wall Street arrogance and greed. When Bob Benmosche climbed aboard as CEO, it was widely assumed that he would go down with his ship. In mere months, he turned things around, pulling AIG from the brink of financial collapse and restoring its profitability.
-
-
Worthwhile, informative, and just short of inspiring
- By Preston on 11-17-21
By: Bob Benmosche
-
Volcker
- The Triumph of Persistence
- By: William L. Silber
- Narrated by: Ross Douglas
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the course of nearly half a century, five American presidents - three Democrats and two Republicans - have relied on the financial acumen, and the integrity, of Paul A. Volcker. During his tenure as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, when he battled the Great Inflation of the 1970s, Volcker did nothing less than restore the reputation of an American financial system on the verge of collapse.
-
-
Required Reading for 2022 Economy
- By Marc Uknis on 11-19-22
-
Act of Congress
- How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't
- By: Robert G. Kaiser
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An eye-opening account of how Congress today really works - and doesn’t - that follows the dramatic journey of the sweeping financial reform bill enacted in response to the Great Crash of 2008. The founding fathers expected Congress to be the most important branch of government and gave it the most power. When Congress is broken - as its justifiably dismal approval ratings suggest - so is our democracy.
-
-
insightful, and eye opening.
- By A&K Schneider on 10-21-17
By: Robert G. Kaiser
-
The Promise
- President Obama, Year One
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 20 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barack Obama’s inauguration as president on January 20, 2009, inspired the world. But the great promise of “Change We Can Believe In” was immediately tested by the threat of another Great Depression, a worsening war in Afghanistan, and an entrenched and deeply partisan system of business as usual in Washington. Despite all the coverage, the backstory of Obama’s historic first year in office has until now remained a mystery.
-
-
Tiresome
- By Matthew on 05-21-10
By: Jonathan Alter
-
The Great American Stick Up
- Greedy Bankers and the Politicians Who Love Them
- By: Robert Scheer
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Instead of going where other journalists have gone in search of this story - the board rooms and trading floors of the big Wall Street firms - Scheer goes back to Washington, D.C., a veritable crime scene, beginning in the 1980s, where the captains of the finance industry, their lobbyists and allies among leading politicians destroyed an American regulatory system that had been functioning effectively since the era of the New Deal.
-
-
A great telling of an unfortunate part of history
- By Trace on 10-27-20
By: Robert Scheer
-
The House of Dimon
- How JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon Rose to the Top of the Financial World
- By: Patricia Crisafulli
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jamie Dimon is Wall Street's biggest player. Following the 11h-hour rescue of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan, his profile has reached stratospheric levels. And while the deals and decisions he's made have usually turned out to be the right ones, his journey to the top of the financial world has been anything but easy. Now, in The House of Dimon, business writer Patricia Crisafulli goes behind the scenes to recount the amazing events that have shaped Dimon's career.
-
-
Intriguing
- By Jean on 08-28-16
-
American Icon
- Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company
- By: Bryce G. Hoffman
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of 2008, Ford Motor Company was just months away from running out of cash. With the auto industry careening toward ruin, Congress offered all three Detroit automakers a bailout. General Motors and Chrysler grabbed the taxpayer lifeline, but Ford decided to save itself. Under the leadership of charismatic CEO Alan Mulally, Ford had already put together a bold plan to unify its divided global operations, transform its lackluster product lineup, and overcome a dysfunctional culture of infighting, backstabbing, and excuses.
-
-
The best business book I ever read
- By Michael on 10-07-12
By: Bryce G. Hoffman
-
The Lost Bank
- The Story of Washington Mutual - The Biggest Bank Failure in American History
- By: Kirsten Grind
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the most dizzying days of the financial crisis, Washington Mutual, a bank with hundreds of billions of dollars in its coffers, suffered a crippling bank run. The story of its final, brutal collapse in the autumn of 2008, and its controversial sale to JPMorgan Chase, is an astonishing account of how one bank lost itself to greed and mismanagement, and how the entire financial industry - and even the entire country - lost its way as well. Kirsten Grind’s The Lost Bank is a magisterial and gripping account of these events.
-
-
Sad and Angry by Turn
- By Johnnie Walker on 07-24-12
By: Kirsten Grind
-
After the Music Stopped
- The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead
- By: Alan S. Blinder
- Narrated by: Graham Vick
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan S. Blinder - esteemed Princeton professor, Wall Street Journal columnist, and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board under Alan Greenspan - is one of our wisest and most clear-eyed economic thinkers. In After the Music Stopped, he delivers a masterful narrative of how the worst economic crisis in postwar American history happened, what the government did to fight it, and what we must do to recover from it.
-
-
Irresponsible, corrupt, and confused book
- By Thomas on 12-22-14
By: Alan S. Blinder
-
Dealing with China
- An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower
- By: Henry M. Paulson
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Hu Jintao, China's then vice president, came to visit the New York Stock Exchange and Ground Zero in 2002, he asked Hank Paulson to be his guide. It was a testament to the pivotal role that Goldman Sachs played in helping China experiment with private enterprise. In Dealing with China, the best-selling author of On the Brink draws on his unprecedented access to both the political and business leaders of modern China to answer several key questions.
-
-
A Valuable Book on China
- By Michael Moore on 09-04-15
By: Henry M. Paulson
-
The Price of Politics
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on 18 months of reporting, Woodward's 17th book The Price of Politics is an intimate, documented examination of how President Obama and the highest profile Republican and Democratic leaders in the United States Congress attempted to restore the American economy and improve the federal government's fiscal condition over three and one half years. The Price of Politics addresses the key issue of the presidential and congressional campaigns: the condition of the American economy.
-
-
Making the Sausage
- By Graham on 10-18-12
By: Bob Woodward
-
Shaky Ground
- The Strange Saga of the US Mortgage Giants
- By: Bethany McLean
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2008 the US Treasury put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a life-support state known as "conservatorship" to prevent their failure - and worldwide economic chaos. The two companies, which were always controversial, have become a battleground. Today, Fannie and Freddie are profitable again but still in conservatorship. Their profits are being redirected toward reducing the federal deficit, which leaves them with no buffer should they suffer losses again.
-
-
Details on the Culture and History of the GSEs
- By Jose on 10-15-15
By: Bethany McLean
-
Borrowed Time
- Two Centuries of Booms, Busts, and Bailouts at Citi
- By: James Freeman, Vern McKinley
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To save the economy and keep Citi afloat in 2008, the government provided huge infusions of cash through multiple bailouts that frustrated and angered the American public. But, as Wall Street Journal writer James Freeman and financial expert Vern McKinley reveal, the 2008 crisis was just one of many disasters Citi has experienced since its founding more than 200 years ago. In Borrowed Time they reveal Citi’s disturbing history of instability and government support. It’s a story that neither Citi nor Washington wants told.
-
-
Biased
- By CF on 08-09-19
By: James Freeman, and others
What listeners say about Confidence Men
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Laura
- 02-29-12
Fabulous book
This is the best book I have read on the subject of what went on behind the scenes during the first two years of Obama's presidency, what happened with healthcare, the economy and why his popularity flagged. The narration by James Lurie is just superb, I have listened to it four times and always hear something new. It is very informative and entertaining.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Salt Lake Joan
- 12-13-11
It's Tough Being President
This book gives plenty of insight into the Obama White House. I pray that he can develop the leadership wisdom to take better advantage of his advisors over the next two years.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Roger
- 05-07-12
Why we should hate Bankers, and Govement failed
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Inside story on how the Greedy Bankers took us down the road of a great depression. We also find out that neither Dem’s nor Repub's didn’t help. Makes you want to hold the financial leaders for Treason. Terrorist are a threat, but these guys can do a lot more damage.. and faster!
Who was your favorite character and why?
None...
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No--Got too mad
Any additional comments?
Great book! I learned I didn't want to know what I now know
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rancher
- 02-27-12
EXCEPTIONAL VIEWS INTO THE INSIDE
This is a no apologies approach to descriptions of how the administration dealt with the economy when it became clear it would dominate the first few years of the Obama presidency. Obama and his staff members are described, criticized, and praised. If you wonder why certain policy decisions went down the way they did, this will help you to understand.
Obama's economic IQ is low and he's a prideful person who would prefer not to show weakness...especially in front of his staff members. After all he is the President. Unfortunately, his staff didn't have the option of being able to defer the economic decision making until the POTUS had time to get up to speed. As Larry Summers put it to another senior staff member "you realize we're home alone here."
The economic team was poorly organized and suffered from personality conflicts. The roles were not well described, and that delayed policy decisions and made the whole process difficult. Obama sorely needed the skills and experience this team had to offer, but he lacked any real experience of how to lead and or manage these highly qualified specialists. Summers in particular seemed to cause the most friction. He was overbearing, unable to accept responsibility for error and seemed to project an aura of "too bright to fail." Basically, he didn't play well with others.
The banking negotiations were poorly handled. The government was long on leverage, and the bankers knew it. But the government surprised them by not asking for the obvious in return for the money. Same way with the Wall Street crowd. With all the complaining about compensation packages, you would think the Street would have to show some restraint. To the delight of the Street execs, the threat was leveled, but it was all for show. It just didn't have the teeth to stick.
Net net, the book describes how a team of very well intentioned, bright, hard working people try to solve very large, complex and important economic puzzles for the benefit of their country.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kendra
- 01-02-12
An Interesting Read
Would you listen to Confidence Men again? Why?
This is a book well worth your time. You'll see just how connected at the hip our banks, government and Wall Street really are. Ron Suskind is a Democrat and he writes with his Democrat perspective, but he is for the most part even handed. I think he may be a little kinder, more forgiving and definitely more understanding of these people than I am, but he is fair.
He seems to conclude that the man who ran for president (Barack Obama) just has not delivered. Because he had higher expectations and hopes for Obama in the begining--and more than I ever had--he probably had trouble bringing this book to light.
So, while I don't agree with all of Mr. Suskind's beliefs and premises regarding the size and role of government and philosophy of economics, I appreciate how much he has put before the American people in a good read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Charles Cyr
- 06-21-12
Corruption and Greed
What made the experience of listening to Confidence Men the most enjoyable?
Very fascinating to have illuminated the intermingled workings of Washington and those greedy bastards on Wall Street. I thoroughly enjoyed this, even though it made my blood boil at times.It shows how Obama was subtly corralled by some in his cabinet, so they could save their banking friends from full blown popular disgrace....
Have you listened to any of James Lurie’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No. He did a fine job with this...
If you could give Confidence Men a new subtitle, what would it be?
I think "Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President" is very apropos.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mike
- 04-15-13
Obama is not Liberal enough...
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
I'm glad I listened, because it helped me understand a point of view that I didn't understand before. I read this book because it was recommended to me by a professional college with a very dark view of our country's economic future. I didn't realize the level of liberal bias from the author's view point prior to listening to the book. I figured it out pretty quick when Elizabeth Warren (Miss min. Wage should be $24 per hour) was characterized by the author as one of the most brilliant people on the face of the planet. I have a healthy skepticism about books like this that are written as a fly on the wall perspective on some of the most powerful people in the world. If you would like to understand why the far-left has been dissatisfied with Obama's first term this book is for you.
If you’ve listened to books by Ron Suskind before, how does this one compare?
I have not, but I googled him halfway through listening and read some scathing opinions of the author that lead me to further distrust the validity of some of the quotes in the book. My problem with the author is he tries to give the impression that this is a hard hitting unbiased review of Obama's economic policy's but never really gets there. All the blame goes to Larry Somers and the harshest criticism of Obama is that he is too collegial and not Liberal enough.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Glenn
- 12-01-11
Have only listened to the first 15 minutes...
and I can't stand the narrator’s voice! It distracts from the story!! All I can think about is his low, scratchy delivery.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lynn
- 05-16-12
Scary Book - Just When You Thought It Was Safe
Ron Suskind (A Hope in the Unseen, The Way of the World, The Price of Loyalty, The One Percent Doctrine) has produced a wonderful new book titled Confidence Men. Suskin in this book relates how the Obama White House dealt with the economic crisis that overshadowed the administration when coming to office. This is one page turner of a story. Suskind is fair to Bush and critical of Bush when it is appropriate. He is critical of Obama and fair to the President when that is the right thing to do. Most of all, I appreciate his sympathetic tone toward the President. The narrative is unsettling and disconcerting, but Obama comes across as a well meaning if someone inept leader. Wait! This book isn’t a bash job on Obama nor is it an apology for him. Suskind just reports what he found. Every tax payer would do well to read this volume to understand how the decision making process came down during that era. It is – well – scary. Based upon hundreds of hours of interviews with over 200 people, this book is well worth the reader’s time. Read it and make your own decision. The reading of James Lurie is very good.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nina Donnard
- 12-22-11
This is the best book for the election time.
What made the experience of listening to Confidence Men the most enjoyable?
You learn a lot about American Economy and financial matters.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Barack Obama
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
It is imposible to get this information at one sitting. It took me 2 weeks of intensive listenig. Run Suskind is an outstanding political writer. I learned a lot about economy and about the complexity of running this country. I lesten to most of Ron Suskind books ob Audible.com.
Any additional comments?
It was a long and extensive venture into politics and economy of our country
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful