Publications

- March 1, 2008: Vol. 2, Number 3

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The Money Talks

by Richard Fleming

“My God,” exclaims Sir George Parr, a leading investment banker in London and known to have his finger right on the pulse of the financial markets. He is explaining to his informed interviewer how the “sharp and sophisticated” market participants employed by leading investment banks, representing the finest minds in the worldwide business of money management, react to events; they come into work one day, look at their screens and say “My God. Something awful’s going to happen. What are we going to do? What arewe going to do?” And put their head in their hands.

The “Last Laugh” interview sketch by the British comedians John Bird and John Fortune, performed late last year for ITV’s The South Bank Show,is extremely funny but makes a number of serious points, and is as good an explanation of the subprime mortgage meltdown in the United States, the subsequent global credit crunch and the impact on investors — and, ominously, Sir Geo

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