Loan

I do not think I have ever taken this much time to read such a short book. At least it seamed to me that it took a long time. It was like walking up a never-ending hill. The only reason I kept plodding along is that I was interested in the overall outcome. What I am trying to say is that the book is dull. It is also that the subject is a bit on the non-sexy side so coupled with the authors "mathematics textbook" style of writing, it made a little book into something close to the Battan death march. Ok, I may be overstating it a bit, after all I did work my way through the book. The one good thing I can say is that the first half of the book was far better then the second half. How the author turned his already dull prose into something that was almost life threatening I will never know.

With all this said there were some parts of the book that gave me some insight on how legislation works its way along the process. The part I thought was most interesting is all the groups that stick their hands into the bill. People with what appeared to me to have almost no or little effects from the bill got involved and tried to get their two cents in. Plus all the back handed and obstructionist activities made me wonder how anything gets done in Washington. Overall the book was dull, but did offer a tour of what it takes to get a bill passed. There has to be better books out there on the topic, I just do not know what they are.

The story itself isn't a very interesting or informative one. The author tries to end chapters with a catchy phrase that is cynical/humorous/meaningful, but they rarely come off well. Journalistic style, if you like reading a 250 page news article, then you'll love it, but if you have a hard enough time getting through the lead of a front page article in the "New York Time," then don't bother.

Steven Waldman does an excellent job of explaining the substantive issues surrounding the national service bill and its corollary, student aid reform, and showing how conflicting ideals were reconciled or submerged. The detail gets a bit tedious in the last chapter, but the book does live up to its subtitle. Johnson & Broder's "The System," about the 1994 health care reform campaign, is a longer but more exciting book along the same lines.

This in an interesting book and not one that only focuses on the nightly news sound bite about the S&L in Texas with three speed boats. This author examines why the S&L situation happened. The answers he uncovers do not paint the picture that the politicians want us all to think too much about. Basically the Federal government changes the rules in relation to capital requirements for S&L based on pressure from contributors and a Reagan policy of deregulate everything. Once that happened the mess started. The biggest mistake the government made was deregulating a business that they were on the hook for if they went under. The vast majority of S&L's were actually doing fine until even more regulation came out regarding capital requirements - all in all the politicians had as much to do with the issue as the bankers. The book is much better at explaining this then me, if you are interested in the topic or would like to broaden your understanding of the issues I would start here.

A rigourously detailed, cited, and sad indictment on one of the most significant domestic issues in recent U.S.A. history. Read how the bankers and politicians saw it coming, but instead of prevention, deliberatly increased the magnitude of the crisis to a level of such massive debt, that the American public would be forced to flip the bill instead of the criminals who are at fault.