We are joined by Bethany McLean on CSI Chat to talk about the learnings from Enron, the 2008 financial crisis and her most recent book, "The Big Fail: What the Pandemic Revealed about Who America Protects and Who it Leaves Behind". Bethany is a well-known journalist who published in 2001 the now famous article in Fortune, "Is Enron Overpriced". Bethany is the author of several books, cohost of the podcast "Capitalisn't" and a special correspondent at Insider and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.
During our "Chat" with Bethany, we talk about a number of topics including:
- We go back in a time machine to March 2001 when she first wrote "Is Enron Overpriced"? What was Bethany thinking at the time? What conversations did she have with the Enron executive team?
- After 20+ years since her article and the Enron collapse, have we learned anything? Is history due to repeat itself?
- Why did she decide to write a book on the financial crisis of 2008 entitled "All the Devils are Here"? Was the 2008 financial crisis preventable?
- Her most recent book, "The Big Fail", goes through the learnings of the COVID 19 pandemic. What did we do well during the pandemic? What were the areas that we could have done better? Are we prepared for the next global pandemic.
It is a fascinating conversation with Bethany and I hope everyone enjoys it.