The Bond King

When Mary and I were down at Circle City Books in Pittsboro back in January I picked up this book about Bill Gross and PIMCO. It's a typical rise and fall story. I hadn't realized how integral Gross was to the early stages of active bond investing when he got PIMCO going back in the 70s. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, because everything I read over time indicates how much the science and practice of finance has progressed over the course of my lifetime, which also indicates how humorous the idea of efficient markets back in the early days of its advancement, back in the 50s and 60s. Back then there was still money lying in the streets for those who worked hard. The problem was that with a growing population, protected sinecures for white men and endless improvement to be had in all facets of commerce, there just wasn't much need to work that hard, for the most part.

Anyway, The Bond King by Mary Childs of NPR's Planet Money is pretty good but no better than that. It could have been trimmed by 100 pages with no great loss. The story of Gross being a continuous dickhead to everyone around him just isn't that interesting.

At the end of the book it was interesting to see that Gross trots out the belated recognition that he's on the autism spectrum as a justification of why was so rude to everyone. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. I know lots of people on the autism spectrum and though sometimes they commit social gaffes (who doesn't? I remember the time the Bordens from Durham were over at our house for Christmas and I got out the nail clippers because somehow I had never registered that it was typically done in private), being autistic is not a social get out of jail free card. Decent autistic people have consciences and moral compasses.