Senseless Panic

The 1980s opened with the prime interest rate at an astonishing 21.5 percent, leading to a severe recession with unemployment reaching nearly 11 percent. Depression-like conditions befell the agricultural sector, a bubble burst in the energy sector, a rolling real estate recession swept the country, the entire thrift industry was badly insolvent and the major money center banks were loaded with third world debt. Some 3,000 bank and thrifts failed, including nine of Texas' 10 largest, and Continental Illinois, which, at the time, was the 7^thlargest bank in the nation. These severe conditions were not only handled without creating a panic, the economy actually embarked on the longest peacetime expansion in history.

In Senseless Panic: How Washington Failed America, William M. Isaac, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) during the banking and S&L crises of the 1980s, details what was different about 2008's meltdown that allowed the failure of a comparative handful of institutions to nearly shut down the world's financial system. The book also tells the rousing story of Isaac's time at the FDIC. With accessible and engaging prose, Isaac:

• Details the mistakes that led to the panic of 2008 and 2009
• Demystifies the conditions America faced in 2008, and
• Provides a roadmap for avoiding similar shutdowns and panics in the future

Senseless Panicis a provocative, quick-paced, and thoughtful analysis of what went wrong with the nation's banking system and a blunt indictment of United States policy.

William M. Isaac is Chairman of LECG Global Financial Services and one of the world's foremost authorities on bank regulation. He served as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corpor-ation (FDIC) during the banking and S&L crises of the 1980s, when some 3,000 banks and thrifts failed, including nine of the ten largest Texas banks as well as Continental Illinois, the nation's seventh largest bank. Isaac writes frequently for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes, the Washington Post, American Banker, and other leading publications; testifies before Congress; makes regular appearances on leading television and radio programs; and is a contributor to CNBC.