This is a must, must read for all those who want to understand the heart of our economic meltdown.

It's not the minority mortgage holders who were suckered into ARM mortgages by fast-talking swindlers who are responsible for our nuked economy: it's -- as BuzzFlash has been editorializing and headlining since the infamous Paulson announcement that the U.S. economy was about to implode last Fall -- the river boat gambling greed of Wall Street "Masters of the Universe" who made their fortunes on, in essence, gambling AGAINST our economy, against their investors, and against even the long-term interests of their financial firms.

It was, as articulated so succinctly in the Reagan era Oliver Stone film, "Wall Street," about greed. (Although the major predatory activity going on under Reagan was forced mergers and acquisitions, in which the executives would make a fortune regardless of whether the forced consolidations were in the interests of the shareholders, the companies or -- naturally -- the empoyees.)

What makes "FIASCO: Blood in the Water on Wall Street" so prescient is that it was released a decade ago, but is so much on the mark in predicting what has occured due to derivative (and default swap) finance execs basing their bonuses on how many dollars in these exotic financial instruments they sold, not on the risks they took in selling them. Right now, as we write this, the ten-year old paperback edition of "FIASCO" is number 99 on Amazon.com, an extraordinary occurence for a book that old.

The new, updated paperback edition that BuzzFlash is offering (originally scheduled for an April, 2009, release, but available now) is #177 in books on Amazon.

Frank Partnoy, the author sold derivatives in the '90s, until he couldn't stand the destructive economic activity anymore and became a law professor in California.

Warren Buffet once labeled derivatives “financial weapons of mass destruction." And unlike the WMDs that were never found in Iraq, the derivative WMDs that were completely unleashed by Phil Gramm and his Congressional coleagues at the end of the Clinton administration, and completely unregulated under Bush, have finally been "discovered" -- and they have exploded in our face.

A book such as Partnoy's -- a short-lifer on Wall Street -- belies the notion that our national government, the Bush Admininistration, the financial media, and to a certain degree the Clinton Administration did not know what was happening on Wall Street to lead to a 2 trillion dollar check presented to the taxpayers: Wall Street on the dole to preserve the limousine lifestyles of the privileged elite who sucked us financially dry.

Even Library Journal took note of "FIASCO," which was roundly ignored by the elite money class and the men and women that they give big political contributions to in D.C., when it first came out and in subsequent years:

Before his recent return to practicing law, Partnoy was a derivatives salesman for the prestigious Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley. In simple terms, a derivative is a tricky financial instrument whose value depends on another security, such as a stock or bond. Partnoy takes us inside the complex world of high finance, deriving his title from Morgan Stanley's competitive skeet-shooting event, the Fixed Asset Annual Sporting Clays, which "set the mood for the firm's barbarous approach to its clients' increasing derivatives losses." This is a story about deceit and manipulation by fund managers wanting big bonus checks and a wake-up call to the average investor. Partnoy explains in easy language the investment alternatives used by the very wealthy to avoid paying capital gains taxes.

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The loudest political voice raised against the national economy wrecking crew on Wall Street, who were selling junk derivatives that couldn't be covered (and default swaps) in order to increase bonuses without regard to risk (in essence, swindling the American taxpayer) was Eliot Spitzer. Shortly after an op-ed denouncing Wall Street and testifying on Capitol Hill about the danger to our economy of what Partnoy writes about, Spitzer was brought down by the Bush Administration on an extremely rare federal investigation into a "John." It was entirely too coincidental not to be payback by the crooks on Wall Street who were locked at the hips with the Bush White House. They wanted Spitzer shamed and defanged. They had a target on his back since has days as U.S. Attorney in New York when he went after Wall Street financial swindling.

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An online reviewer back in 2001 wrote of "FIASCO":

F.I.A.S.C.O. offers a look at the ruthless game of derivatives trading on Wall Street, and the devastation of losses upwards of billions suffered by the fools off Wall Street. In this fast paced book, Frank Partnoy chronicles his journey as a derivatives salesman at Morgan Stanley. You will learn how institutions ranging from banks to governments got "blown up" or had their "faces ripped off" by Wall Street's army of fierce derivative salemen. You will cringe at how many organizations that touch your life may be involved in trading these complex, highly leveraged, instruments when they may not even know it or be legally allowed to invest in them.

Partnoy tells his story in a fluid style, leaving the reader wanting more, page after page. This book exposes the greed and ignorance of the market's fools, or customers, and the eagerness of the Wall Street investment firms to offer ever more enticingly packaged derivative instruments to help them achieve their ruin. Everyone who has money in the markets should read a few books like this to get a more realistic idea of what these venerable Wall Street institutions really think of their customers.

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That the Bush Administration continued to let the cancer of exotic Wall Street Financial instruments grow and metastasize for 8 years, even after Partnoy and others pulled the alarm, is a testament to the willful destruction of our economy so a select group could enjoy mansions, hookers, cocaine, and limousines -- and don't forget the big campaign contributions.

If Osama bin Laden did to our economy what the Wall Street financial houses did through avaricious traders concerned only about jacking up their salaries and bonuses by selling financial paper that they knew would implode, he'd be called a terrorist.

It's ironic, ain't it -- and patheric.

Remember, this book was written 10 years ago, and only now getting the recognition it's due. Meanwhile many of the crooks are still running the banks, and getting millions of dollars in bonuses for the pleasure of pissing on our prosperity as a nation.