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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is another word for savings and loan?

2. People who do imitations of Michael Mortara often sound like _____.

3. The author notices that young traders become _____ after they get onto Meriwether's trading desk.

4. Where was the author born and raised?

5. The author characterizes the bond trader as a _____.

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Bob Dall react when he is replaced by Ranieri?

2. Why is a single home mortgage considered a messy investment for Wall Street?

3. How does the code of Liar's Poker affect a trader?

4. What is one of the main concerns of the old hands at Salomon Brothers concerning the state of affairs in the economics of America in the 1980s?

5. What happens as a result of the surge in the number of students who get economics degrees?

6. What is the difference between managing and trading?

7. What entices many people to apply to Salomon Brothers and binds them to the firm?

8. What is the hard part of Liar's Poker?

9. Why is Lewie Ranieri so loyal to Salomon Brothers?

10. How does a chaired professor at the London School of Economics react when the author tells him the amount he has been offered to work at Salomon Brothers?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare the personality traits of Lewie Ranieri and Michael Milken. What is the difference between their careers in regards to their respective companies? Compare the amount of money each person made. Why did one make more money than the other?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the bonus structure for first- and second-year Salomon Brothers employees. How are their achievements considered? How does the author feel about this? What are the three emotions that all Salomon Brothers employees feel at bonus time?

Essay Topic 3

What contributes to the rapid and complete deterioration of Ranieri and Co. at Salomon Brothers? What was the achievement that Ranieri had hoped for in creating the mortgage department? How did the market affect the imbalance between Ranieri and Co. and the rest of the bond trading world?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 844 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample