The Geek Whodunit Tells All-How I helped build the bomb that blew up Wall Street.

[kpete]

My Manhattan Project
How I helped build the bomb that blew up Wall Street.
The geek whodunit tells all
March 31, 2009, 9:21PM


By Michael Osinski for the April 6, 2009 New York Magazine:

I have been called the devil by strangers and "the Facilitator" by friends. It's not uncommon for people, when I tell them what I used to do, to ask if I feel guilty. I do, somewhat, and it nags at me. When I put it out of mind, it inevitably resurfaces, like a shipwreck at low tide. It's been eight years since I compiled a program, but the last one lived on, becoming the industry standard that seeded itself into every investment bank in the world.

I wrote the software that turned mortgages into bonds....

Captions from the cartoon illustrations that accompany the article:



I arrived on Wall Street in 1985 to work at Salomon Brothers as a computer programmer, one foot out of the typing pool....I learned how to bundle home mortgages into bonds. As my mentor described it, "you put chicken into the grinder and out comes sirloin."...Traders loved the software, as it did more of the thinking, they were able to do less....



more at:
http://nymag.com/news/business/55687/

[xchrom]

1. so i wonder what his bank account{s} look like? nt

[KoKo]

4. He's now an Oyster Farmer on Long Island. There's a video about him...n/t

[livefreest]

2. i think more people we'll come out talking (i hope)

[KoKo]

3. I was just about to post this...It's a Good Read..! K&R