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Betting on the Blind Side | Vanity Fair

vanityfair.com · 11,566 words · saved by 1 readers

Back in 2004, when Wall Street was in full subprime-craze mode, a reclusive stock picker named Michael Burry read the fine print—and made a fortune. In an excerpt from his new book, Michael Lewis explains why Burry saw what no one else did.

Save this story Save this story In early 2004 a 32-year-old stock-market investor and hedge-fund manager, Michael Burry, immersed himself for the first time in the bond market. He learned all he could about how money got borrowed and lent in America. He didn’t talk to anyone about what became his new obsession; he just sat alone in his office, in San Jose, California, and read books and articles and financial filings. He wanted to know, especially, how subprime-mortgage bonds worked. A giant number of individual loans got piled up into a tower. The top floors got their money back first and so

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