Senseless Panic (PDF)

The 1980s opened with the prime interest rate at an astonishing
21.5 percent, leading to a severe recession with unemployment
reaching nearly 11 percent. Depression-like conditions befell the
agricultural sector, a bubble burst in the energy sector, a rolling
real estate recession swept the country, the entire thrift industry
was badly insolvent and the major money center banks were loaded
with third world debt. Some 3,000 bank and thrifts failed,
including nine of Texas' 10 largest, and Continental
Illinois, which, at the time, was the 7thlargest bank in
the nation. These severe conditions were not only handled without
creating a panic, the economy actually embarked on the longest
peacetime expansion in history.

In Senseless Panic: How Washington Failed America,
William M. Isaac, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) during the banking and S&L crises of the
1980s, details what was different about 2008's meltdown that
allowed the failure of a comparative handful of institutions to
nearly shut down the world's financial system. The book also
tells the rousing story of Isaac's time at the FDIC. With
accessible and engaging prose, Isaac:

* Details the mistakes that led to the panic of 2008 and
2009

* Demystifies the conditions America faced in 2008,
and

* Provides a roadmap for avoiding similar shutdowns and
panics in the future

Senseless Panicis a provocative, quick-paced, and
thoughtful analysis of what went wrong with the nation's banking
system and a blunt indictment of United States policy.