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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 type of communication do the author and Dash launch into at the beginning of the work day?

2. Ranieri tells Gutfreund that he is selling the [mortgage bond] technology for a _____.

3. Mark Smith enters the mortgage department in 1985 and is considered a _____ by the author.

4. What fund goes from zero investment in the mortgage market in 1983 to thirty billion dollars worth of CMOs in 1986?

5. What is it called when a trader offloads bonds down a customer's throat for the company's benefit?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is drifting away from Salomon Brothers and toward Drexel Burnham in 1987? Why?

2. The author is convinced that the worst thing a man can do with a telephone without breaking the law is what?

3. How does Bear Stearns take the $250 million loss that Howie Rubin incurs at Merrill Lynch?

4. Despite the upheaval in the mortgage market, what is the initial objection that remains valid as the mortgage market evolves?

5. Why do thrifts come back for more, even though they don't understand what is happening to their loans in the mortgage bond market?

6. What is the relationship of IOs and POs to the market?

7. What is happening in colleges in Britain by the end of 1986?

8. Do bosses at Salomon Brothers think badly of employees who are not at their telephones all the time? Why or why not?

9. How is Howie Rubin thought of at Salomon Brothers? Why?

10. How does Lewie Ranieri feel about Michael Milken? How does this differ from John Gutfreund's opinion of him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the author's first day at work at Salomon Brothers. What is his perception of the physical street called Wall Street? What is he there to do? What is the difference between his arrival and the other people in his position?

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?

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