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Can Wall Street Reform? - William D. Cohan

2,262 views · Published 13 April 2009 · 2:20 · Indexed 10 October 2026

Channel: FORA.tv · 2009 · News & Politics

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/04/06/William_Cohan_House_of_Cards

"Wall Street is the ultimate Darwinian Petri dish," says House of Cards author William D. Cohan. "It's capitalism at its most ruthless, most fundamental." Cohan is not optimistic that Wall Street will ever truly reform, even if executive compensations are reduced and corporate accountability is increased.

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FORA.tv Studios and Whole Earth Films present William D. Cohan, author and former Wall Street veteran, speaking to Blaise Zerega, President and CEO of FORA.tv, about his book House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street.

Cohan demonstrates why the seemingly invincible Wall Street money machine came crashing down. He chronicles the swashbuckling corporate culture of Bear Stearns, the strangely crucial role competitive bridge played in the company's fortunes, the brutal internecine battles for power, and the deadly combination of greed and inattention that helps to explain why the company's leaders ignored the danger lurking in Bear's huge positions in mortgage-backed securities.

William D. Cohan, a former award winning investigative newspaper reporter in Raleigh, North Carolina, worked on Wall Street for seventeen years. He spent six years at Lazard Freres in New York and later became a managing director at JP Morgan Chase. He lives in New York City and Columbia County, New York.

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