James Derek Tate

When Decades Became Days: Notes from a Princeton Dorm Room during the Financial Meltdown of 2008 James Derek Tate

Never before have financial panics been documented like this. Not 1907. Not 1929. Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the rushed sale of Merrill Lynch, Princeton University junior James Tate began taking weekly notes of financial markets, daily news, classroom discussions, college life and much more. He even gained fifteen minutes of fame after being interviewed in the New York Times about the crisis.

While some fringe groups predicted a potential recession by mid-2008, the mainstream media continued to trumpet the economic expansion of the mid-aughts. In the summer of 2008, the tiny market correction gave most investors little reason to worry. After all, any potential mortgage issue from Bear Stearns had been declared "contained" by the Bulge Bracket banks. In an instant, the world turned upside down. The most damaging recession since the Great Depression ensued. Venerable firms entered bankruptcy, unemployment surged, and trillions in wealth disappeared.

What happened over the course of nine months felt like an eternity to market participants and the general public. Investment luminaries debated heavily at Princeton panels about the future of the economy and the financial system. Not every day was filled with doom and gloom, however. Some of the largest stock market rallies on record occurred in late 2008.

The book begins in September 2008 and chronicles the crisis until May 2009, just as "green shoots" appear and the worst of the storm recedes. Experience the sentiment of the hour during this historic calamity as James walks readers through weekly commentary with personal anecdotes.

Future generations will now be able to understand much better the psyche of the general public during these periods of enormous monetary stress. What were people saying? How did the government react? Did irrational panic selling occur? Why did the media get it so wrong?

Get ready to be taken through an exhilarating experience from the market crash of late 2008 to early 2009!