A story of opportunity and riches turned into one of corrupt mortgage lenders, overleveraged financial institutions, dimwitted experts, and captured regulators. The economy was careening like a rudderless ship, and the sharp operators who had duped us into getting on board – call them the 1% – were slipping away in the only lifeboats.
接着，金融危机爆发，让全世界震怖不已。机会和致富的故事变成了腐败的按揭贷款人、过度负债的金融机构、愚蠢的专家和充当爪牙的监管者的故事。经济像一艘无舵的船那样倾斜，而当初诱骗我们上船的精明操盘手——不妨称之为1%——乘坐唯一的救生艇逃之夭夭。