“Left alone in a dark room with a pile of money, the Irish decided what they really wanted to do with it was buy Ireland. From each other.”
What’s with this “Greek Bailout” thing? I was in Athens not too long ago, and they were rioting about something — well, it seems like Greeks are always rioting about something. Then I was there just three weeks ago, and they were on the verge of receiving another several billion dollars, or else I couldn’t use euros in their country anymore. What?
Germany keeps saying it will keep sending Greece more money. Why? What is it up to?
I also saw a documentary a while back saying Iceland really messed up with their banks. Like literally, the entire country went bankrupt, and every bank failed.
I only really cared to understand this stuff after being involved with foreign exchange trading back in 2010–2011. Trading currencies, you NEED to understand the fundamentals of global economies. But I really didn’t understand anything. I still don’t — not fully.
But after reading Boomerang, I have a much clearer picture of what happened. And more importantly, WHY it happened. Because Michael Lewis doesn’t just explain the economics — he explains the CULTURE behind the collapse. And that’s what makes this book brilliant.
Greece — Systemic Corruption as a Way of Life
Greece is totally, systematically corrupt. No one pays taxes. Every politician goes into office poor and comes out with three vacation homes, multiple cars, and a load of cash. The majority of government workers are overpaid beyond belief, and no one is accountable for anything.
Even if you were caught for not paying your taxes, no one really cared to follow through with it. Even if you took money under the table — well, that’s just a thing you do in Greece. Borrowing money was something one simply wasn’t expected to pay back. Borrow, borrow, borrow, but don’t worry about the consequences, since no one really does.
Lewis describes it as a third-world nation integrated into a first-world economy. Greece joined the euro and suddenly had access to cheap credit meant for countries like Germany. What did they do with it? They partied. And when the bill came, they looked around and said, “Who, me?”
Iceland — Vikings with Credit Cards
Then you have Iceland. A bunch of 24–30-year-olds who were allowed to borrow BILLIONS of dollars from foreign banks and make investments into other foreign companies. The problem? These foreign companies were all second-rate garbage, invested into by risk-taking 20-year-olds who had zero experience in finance.
Iceland’s entire banking sector grew to be something like ten times the country’s GDP. Think about that. A tiny island of 330,000 people — basically the population of a mid-sized American city — running a banking system worth ten times their entire economy. When it collapsed, EVERYONE in the country was affected. There was nowhere to hide.
Lewis paints it as a nation of fishermen who suddenly decided they were Wall Street bankers. The arrogance was staggering, and the crash was inevitable.
Germany — Order on the Inside, Chaos on the Outside
This was the funniest chapter. Apparently, Germans love to be in the “scheisse.” They like to be clean on the inside but covered in it on the outside. Lewis digs deep into the German psyche here, and it’s both hilarious and disturbing.
The people are of absolute timeliness and order — the trains always run on time, and it’s a sin to be late. Yet when a couple of salesmen from American banks came and introduced “American Finance” to the Germans, they bought the absolute WORST toxic assets Wall Street had to offer. The supposedly disciplined, analytical Germans fell for the same garbage that blew up everyone else.
The whole idea behind the euro was for large, powerful nations like Germany to not economically overtake the others in the European Union. But with Germany still being the top dog, that’s exactly what happened. Now Germany is required to pay off most of the debt from the nations that messed up — Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy — because those cultures and governments can’t control their spending habits. In exchange, Germany gets to call the shots.
America and Ireland — Pensions and Property Bubbles
The America chapter focuses on California. The issue is that most American states and cities are spending the majority of their budgets on pensions for retirees. This was good in theory, but it’s crushing investments into schools, city services, infrastructure, and everything else that actually matters for the future. You get to read about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s time in office and the absolute slaughter he endured trying to fix it.
And Ireland? Ireland had the biggest real estate bubble in the world. Lewis’s description of the Irish buying property from each other at increasingly insane prices is both absurd and deeply familiar to anyone who watched the housing bubble in the U.S.
The Bigger Picture
What makes Boomerang so good is that Lewis doesn’t just tell you WHAT happened. He shows you that each country’s financial disaster was a direct expression of its CULTURE. The Greeks cheated because cheating is woven into the system. The Icelanders gambled because they’re descended from Vikings who valued risk. The Germans bought toxic assets because they trusted the structure without questioning the content.
If you’ve read The Big Short — which I also reviewed and gave a 5/5 — this is the international sequel. The Big Short covers the American meltdown from the inside. Boomerang covers the global shrapnel.
Final Thoughts
The only gripe I have is that the book sometimes gets tangential and fluffy with stuff unrelated to the economic upheaval. But that’s a minor complaint for what is otherwise a fast, entertaining, and genuinely educational read about global economics.
Michael Lewis is a sweet writer. I’ve read The Big Short, Flash Boys, and Liar’s Poker — this dude knows his stuff and writes exquisitely. He takes complex financial systems and makes them feel like stories you’d hear at a bar.
Highly recommended — 4/5
Thanks for reading.
— Leonidas
