I didn't think one day something would happen that would bring me back to Wall Street to write what is essentially a sequel.

All of a sudden the market is all about algos and routers.

Yet another hedge fund manager explained Icelandic banking to me this way: you have a dog, and I have a cat. We agree that each is worth a billion dollars. You sell me the dog for a billion, and I sell you the cat for a billion. Now we are no longer pet owners but Icelandic banks, with a billion dollars in new assets.

Wall Street is not being made a scapegoat for this crisis: they really did this.

Commitment, by its nature, frees us from ourselves and, while it stands us in opposition to some, it joins us with others similarly committed. Commitment moves us from the mirror trap of the self absorbed with the self to the freedom of a community of shared values.

The Red Sox are the local scapegoats. It's hard enough to play baseball without being the local scapegoat too.

A banking system is an act of faith: it survives only for as long as people believe it will.