Boomerang Report
BOOMERANG
TRAVELS IN THE NEW THIRD WORLD
BY MICHAEL LEWIS
REPORT BY:
RYAN CARR
“Boomerang is about what he has come to see as the larger phenomenon behind the credit crunch: the increase in total worldwide debt from $84 trillion in 2002 to $195 trillion now (Lanchester 1).” There was no one direct link to the financial crisis all over the world. Each culture seemed to do something different that led to the downfall of their respected counties. From 2002 through 2008, many countries were becoming extremely wealthy until the collapse. Icelanders gave up fishing to take up investments, Greeks let its citizens get away with tax fraud, Ireland was giving money away for real estate and Germany was funding these soon to be broke countries. People were becoming too greedy and trying to make as much money as they can; but in the end they lost it all. In 2008, Iceland went bankrupt because they essentially had no financial experience. Iceland’s assets increased so dramatically it almost made no sense (2). Their three banks collapsed, so did their citizens. Citizens were considering emigration; all do to inexperience in their financial markets. The problem with the global financial crisis is that, “people who saw it coming had more to gain from it by taking their positions than they did trying to publicize the problem (20).” Iceland was mostly fishers and farmers, who were also the bankers who speculated the financial markets. This was a problem. The problem was that the bankers who worked in Iceland couldn’t be trusted. Iceland’s banks were privatized and run by fisherman, which lead the country into debt 850% of gross domestic product (3). Greece had $400 billion outstanding government debt and another $800 million in pension debt (44). George Papaconstantinou was in charge of figuring out this gigantic financial crisis. His job started off frantically and it only got harder from there. He
TRAVELS IN THE NEW THIRD WORLD
BY MICHAEL LEWIS
REPORT BY:
RYAN CARR
“Boomerang is about what he has come to see as the larger phenomenon behind the credit crunch: the increase in total worldwide debt from $84 trillion in 2002 to $195 trillion now (Lanchester 1).” There was no one direct link to the financial crisis all over the world. Each culture seemed to do something different that led to the downfall of their respected counties. From 2002 through 2008, many countries were becoming extremely wealthy until the collapse. Icelanders gave up fishing to take up investments, Greeks let its citizens get away with tax fraud, Ireland was giving money away for real estate and Germany was funding these soon to be broke countries. People were becoming too greedy and trying to make as much money as they can; but in the end they lost it all. In 2008, Iceland went bankrupt because they essentially had no financial experience. Iceland’s assets increased so dramatically it almost made no sense (2). Their three banks collapsed, so did their citizens. Citizens were considering emigration; all do to inexperience in their financial markets. The problem with the global financial crisis is that, “people who saw it coming had more to gain from it by taking their positions than they did trying to publicize the problem (20).” Iceland was mostly fishers and farmers, who were also the bankers who speculated the financial markets. This was a problem. The problem was that the bankers who worked in Iceland couldn’t be trusted. Iceland’s banks were privatized and run by fisherman, which lead the country into debt 850% of gross domestic product (3). Greece had $400 billion outstanding government debt and another $800 million in pension debt (44). George Papaconstantinou was in charge of figuring out this gigantic financial crisis. His job started off frantically and it only got harder from there. He