The Invisible Collapse

Do you remember that pivotal scene in The Big Short, when Gregg Lippmann, Steve Carell’s onscreen foil, warns of the impending subprime meltdown? It’s an electric moment, not because of the numbers, but because of the disbelief. No one was paying attention. Now picture this: I had almost exactly the same encounter with the real Gregg Lippmann, an American based, Deutsche bank debt trader, shortly before that meeting depicted in the film. The memory has never left me. Gregg was a one-off, a remarkable financial prophet.