Value of Dreams

One of the themes throughout the book is that most of the big players came from modest origins. Some were born to money, others married money, but most came from middle class backgrounds, went to school and worked their way up. They fulfilled their dreams, but dreams can't be fulfilled unless an individual has dreams. This is a theme that is recurrent throughout the book.

Milken had dreams involved with trading junk bonds. There was no market for junk bonds before Milken. He made the market and the instruments because he had the foresight to see where a market niche was and he had the employer, Drexel, that was willing to back him and allow him to try his plan. They stood behind him when he needed them. Milken had the dream of creating junk instruments that would fill a need in the market. Fred Joseph...