Reckless Endangerment

Reckless Endangerment
Author: Gretchen Morgenson
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012-06-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781250008794

A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book for 2011 One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year In Reckless Endangerment, Gretchen Morgenson exposes how the watchdogs who were supposed to protect the country from financial harm were actually complicit in the actions that finally blew up the American economy. Drawing on previously untapped sources and building on original research from coauthor Joshua Rosner—who himself raised early warnings with the public and investors, and kept detailed records—Morgenson connects the dots that led to this fiasco. Morgenson and Rosner draw back the curtain on Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance giant that grew, with the support of the Clinton administration, through the 1990s, becoming a major opponent of government oversight even as it was benefiting from public subsidies. They expose the role played not only by Fannie Mae executives but also by enablers at Countrywide Financial, Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve, HUD, Congress, and the biggest players on Wall Street, to show how greed, aggression, and fear led countless officials to ignore warning signs of an imminent disaster. Character-rich and definitive in its analysis, and with a new afterword that brings the story up to date, this is the one account of the financial crisis you must read.

Losing America

Losing America
Author: Robert C. Byrd
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2004
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780393059427

The Senator argues that now is the time to regain the Constitution, to return to the values and processes that made America great, and to speak the truth to an increasingly aggressive and imperial White House.

The Reckless Decade

The Reckless Decade
Author: H.W. Brands
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 383
Release: 2002-03-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0226071162

A famous historian demonstrates that one can learn a lot about the contradictions that lie at the heart of America today by looking at them through the lens of the 1890s.

The Cost of Bad Behavior

The Cost of Bad Behavior
Author: Christine Pearson
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2009-07-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1101082240

Why incivility at work is a bigger problem than you suspect In an accessible and informative style, Pearson and Porath examine the toll that bad behavior can have on otherwise well-functioning companies. And they reveal strategies that successful organizations are using to stop incivility before it takes hold. Whether it's a standoffish coworker or an arrogant boss, incivility at the office doesn't just affect the moods of a few employees; it hurts an entire company. Consider these statistics: 12 percent of all employees say they've left jobs because they were treated badly. Fortune 1000 executives spend roughly seven weeks per year resolving employee conflicts. And an astonishing 95 percent of Americans say they've experienced rudeness at work. Christine Pearson and Christine Porath examine the devastating toll that bad behavior can have on otherwise well-functioning companies. Combining their own scientific research with stories from fields as diverse as criminology, education, and psychology, they show how to spot the roots of incivility, rip them out, and create a culture of respect. They urge managers to stop making excuses, set a zero-tolerance policy, and lead by example. Bestsellers like The No Asshole Rule and The Power of Nice have shown the hunger for more civility at work; now The Cost of Bad Behavior shows exactly what to do about it.

Heads in Beds

Heads in Beds
Author: Jacob Tomsky
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2012-11-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0385535643

In the tradition of Kitchen Confidential and Waiter Rant, a rollicking, eye-opening, fantastically indiscreet memoir of a life spent (and misspent) in the hotel industry. “Highly amusing."—New York Times Jacob Tomsky never intended to go into the hotel business. As a new college graduate, armed only with a philosophy degree and a singular lack of career direction, he became a valet parker for a large luxury hotel in New Orleans. Yet, rising fast through the ranks, he ended up working in “hospitality” for more than a decade, doing everything from supervising the housekeeping department to manning the front desk at an upscale Manhattan hotel. He’s checked you in, checked you out, separated your white panties from the white bed sheets, parked your car, tasted your room-service meals, cleaned your toilet, denied you a late checkout, given you a wake-up call, eaten M&Ms out of your minibar, laughed at your jokes, and taken your money. In Heads in Beds he pulls back the curtain to expose the crazy and compelling reality of a multi-billion-dollar industry we think we know. Heads in Beds is a funny, authentic, and irreverent chronicle of the highs and lows of hotel life, told by a keenly observant insider who’s seen it all. Prepare to be amused, shocked, and amazed as he spills the unwritten code of the bellhops, the antics that go on in the valet parking garage, the housekeeping department’s dirty little secrets—not to mention the shameless activities of the guests, who are rarely on their best behavior. Prepare to be moved, too, by his candor about what it’s like to toil in a highly demanding service industry at the luxury level, where people expect to get what they pay for (and often a whole lot more). Employees are poorly paid and frequently abused by coworkers and guests alike, and maintaining a semblance of sanity is a daily challenge. Along his journey Tomsky also reveals the secrets of the industry, offering easy ways to get what you need from your hotel without any hassle. This book (and a timely proffered twenty-dollar bill) will help you score late checkouts and upgrades, get free stuff galore, and make that pay-per-view charge magically disappear. Thanks to him you’ll know how to get the very best service from any business that makes its money from putting heads in beds. Or, at the very least, you will keep the bellmen from taking your luggage into the camera-free back office and bashing it against the wall repeatedly.

Reckless

Reckless
Author: Robert K. Brigham
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2018-09-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1610397037

Henry Kissinger's role in the Vietnam War prolonged the American tragedy and doomed the government of South Vietnam The American war in Vietnam was concluded in 1973 after eight years of fighting, bloodshed, and loss. Yet the terms of the truce that ended the war were effectively identical to what had been offered to the Nixon administration four years earlier. Those four years cost America and Vietnam thousands of lives and billions of dollars, and they were the direct result of the supposed master plan of the most important voice in American foreign policy: Henry Kissinger. Using newly available archival material from the Nixon Presidential Library, Kissinger's personal papers, and material from the archives in Vietnam, Robert K. Brigham punctures the myth of Kissinger as an infallible mastermind. Instead, he constructs a portrait of a rash, opportunistic, and suggestible politician. It was personal political rivalries, the domestic political climate, and strategic confusion that drove Kissinger's actions. There was no great master plan or Bismarckian theory that supported how the US continued the war or conducted peace negotiations. Its length was doubled for nothing but the ego and poor judgment of a single figure. This distant tragedy, perpetuated by Kissinger's actions, forever changed both countries. Now, perhaps for the first time, we can see the full scale of that tragedy and the machinations that fed it.

Investment Management Law and Regulation

Investment Management Law and Regulation
Author: Harvey E. Bines
Publisher: Wolters Kluwer
Total Pages: 968
Release: 2004-01-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0735530483

In its First Edition, this classic treatise called attention to the duty of reasonable care, the duty of loyalty and the public duty of fiduciaries to the marketplace. Grounded in the idea that prudent investing is to be defined by professional practices accepted as appropriate at the time of investment by the management, thereby permitting such practices to adapt to changing conditions and insights, the field of investment management law and regulation has at its center the goal of a common standard of care for investment.Now in its Second Edition, this definitive guide to investment management law and regulation helps you to profitably adapt to today's new and changing conditions and anticipate tomorrow's regulatory response.Here are just a few of the reasons why Investment Management Law and Regulation will be so valuable to you:Explains and analyzes all the ins and outs of the law, clarifies the complexities, answers your questions, points out pitfalls and helps you avoid themCovers the entire field in one volume, saves you valuable time and effort in finding information and searching through stacks of referencesEnsures compliance with all relevant regulations, makes sure nothing is overlooked, protects you against costly mistakesUpdates you on the latest important changes, tells you what is happening now and what is likely to happen in the future Investment Management Law and Regulation is the only up-to-date volume to offer a comprehensive examination of the field of investment management law, covering everything from financial theory and legal theory to the various aspects of hands-on fund management. It's the only resource of its kind that:Identifies and explains the financial theories that control the development of investment management law across management activitiesGives critical judicial, legislative, and regulatory history that makes recent law and regulation more comprehensibleCovers all areas of regulation governing the activities of investment managers, including marketing, suitability, advisory contacts, fees, exculpation and indemnification, performance, fiduciary obligations, conflicts of interest, best executionProvides the practical tools that help predict more effectively how regulators will respond to new marketplace developments and productsIntegrates investment management law and regulation for all institutional investment managersAnd more Whether you are a manager, broker, banker, or legal counsel, a seasoned professional or just starting out, this treatise will quickly become your most trusted guide through the intricacies of this complex, critical, and closely scrutinized area