Cassidy rehashes the events and psychology that led to the bubble that caused the Great Recession. The first half is a somewhat dry summary of well known economists and a plain language summary of their philosophies. Although much is well known, I did learn a few things. For instance, it was ironic that as I was reading I learned the cleanup cost of the Gulf oil spill would be termed a "Pigovian cost".

The second half I found more interesting especially for the reliance on facts and searchable references. It seems that the amount of subprime mortgages issued is well over $1 Trillion, significantly more than the $200B figure that I have seen in so many other books, publications and live interviews.

I am still amazed that after more than 3 years into the subprime crisis there is no general agreement on what happened, the magnitude of the problem, and, most importantly, what caused it. Cassidy gives his opinion gently, but he is not entirely convincing either.

Nevertheless, an interesting read.