The Sam Sanders Show Can Michael Lewis Make Wall Street Entertaining Again?
Nov 12, 2025
Michael Lewis, renowned author of *Moneyball* and *The Big Short*, reflects on enduring lessons from the 2008 financial crisis. He discusses how complex mortgage bundling masked risk and shares surprising stories of Wall Street’s lost wisdom. Lewis evaluates the potential triggers for future crises, including crypto and AI, while emphasizing the societal impact of inequality and the importance of actionable optimism. He also candidly addresses the legal challenges in holding financial wrongdoers accountable and argues for reducing money's influence in politics.
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Housing Market Was A Systemic Bet
- Michael Lewis saw the 2007 housing market as a giant coordinated bet on U.S. housing stability.
- Wall Street had built complexity to disguise the true risk of subprime mortgages.
Complexity Masks Risk
- Complexity in finance often exists to hide and transfer risk, not to eliminate it.
- That disguised risk was central to why mortgages to people like 'Lisa' became toxic investments.
Traders Confessed Over Beers
- Traders told Michael Lewis they didn't feel they had done anything unusual because everyone acted the same way.
- Many said reading Lewis's earlier Liars Poker had made them want to be 'traitors' and talk candidly to him.