the last book I ever read (Confidence Men, a book that presages Occupy Wall Street, sampled in five parts): sample four

from Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President by Ron Suskind:

As Obama’s team, including Geithner, collected themselves in a waiting room, the leaders of Wall Street milled about, convivially, in the main hall, with its marble floors beneath the tall dome. A year after their existential crisis, “too big to fail” had settled into what seemed like a day-to-day repose of “too big to worry.” The well-groomed gathering of men, and a spicing of women, chatted about summer vacations to exotic locales, purchases, recent and upcoming, the latest news on shareholder suits (their liability policies would cover them). One prominent banker, who asked not to be named, said, “For Washington to not demand anything when it saved us, even stuff that we know is for our long-term good, was one of the stupidest moves in modern times. I figured Obama understood that—it wasn’t a nuanced point—and that he’d act as we started to pull out of the abyss six months ago. But he didn’t, and I don’t know who to thank. I feel like I should go over and hug Tim. It’s a shame we can’t pay him, ‘cause that’s a guy who really earned a big-time bonus.”