Title
The asylum : the renegades who hijacked the world's oil market / Leah McGrath Goodman.
Edition
1st ed.
ISBN
9780061766275 (alk. paper)
0061766275 (alk. paper)
Publication Details
New York, NY : William Morrow, c2011.
Language
English
Description
xvii, 398 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.
Call Number
HG6049 .G66 2011
Dewey Decimal Classification
332.6092/27471
Summary
They were a band of outsiders unable to get jobs with New York's gilded financial establishment. They would go on to corner the world's oil market, reaping unimaginable riches while bringing the economy to its knees. Meet the New York Mercantile Exchange--a secretive, members-only club of men and women who live lavish lifestyles; cavort with politicians, strippers, and celebrities; and blissfully jacked up oil prices to nearly $150 a barrel while profiting off the misery of the working class. Many come from working-class families themselves--the progeny of immigrants who escaped war-torn Europe, they take pride in spurning Wall Street. Under an all-powerful oil cartel, the energy market had long eluded the grasp of America's hungry capitalists, but the rough-and-tumble traders of Nymex went after this Goliath and won, creating the world's first free oil market. Their stunning journey from poverty to prosperity belies the brutal and violent history that is their legacy.--From publisher description.
Note
Includes index.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Welcome to the asylum
The boy who would be king
From wastrels to wildcatters
Deus ex machina
The great equalizer
The rise of Zoltan
The god complex and other minor foibles
The futility of the polygraph
The anatomy of a take down
Dark days
The beauty of the "self-regulatory organization"
Raids, maids, and civil war
Age of excess
Blood for victory
The man who traded $100 oil
Meltdown
Epilogue: the edict of Noah sweat.