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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 practice eventually cripples Salomon Brothers?

2. The author characterizes the people initially involved in home mortgages as ______.

3. For a great player of Liar's Poker, ______ is the easy part of the game.

4. What floor at Salomon brothers is said to have low ceilings, no windows, and the charm of an engine room?

5. One of the major incentives that legislators create to encourage the borrowing of money is the _____ of mortgage payments.

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when the author has breakfast with Leo Corbett?

2. What is meant by "no tears"?

3. Describe the home-buying imbalance of the Rust Belt and the Sun Belt.

4. Why does Gutfreund challenge Meriwether to Liar's Poker?

5. Why are corporate financiers considered wimps by traders?

6. How is trading supposedly like the jungle?

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

8. What does Lewis see as being the first inalienable right of the Salomon Brothers trainee?

9. Why does one of the female trainees become the first person to finally talk to the author in the training program at Salomon Brothers?

10. Why is the treasury trader king at Salomon Brothers?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the game of Liar's Poker have the feel of trading? Describe how Liar's Poker works, the list of questions a bond trader asks himself, and list some of the other firms besides Salomon Brothers which have similar games.

Essay Topic 2

How is Lewie Ranieri fired? Why is he fired? Who does he blame for his being fired? Why? What reasons are given by Gutfreund for his dismissal? Why is he not let into the building after he is fired?

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)

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