There’s been a lot of talk from the media and the government about all of the anonymous little people whose mortgages were wrapped up in Abacus, the collateralized-debt obligation that Goldman Sachs and John Paulson were — let’s all say it together — gambling with like chips in a casino. How do they feel about the man who made billions betting they would fail to make their monthly payments on their homes?
Actually, they’re kind of impressed.
In 2006, Mr. Booket got hit by a car while riding a motorcycle from a late-night party, was unable to find much work and couldn’t pay the bank. In October 2008, he lost the house to foreclosure and plans to move out by next week. He says he bears no grudge against Mr. Paulson and Goldman. “The man came up with a scheme to get rich, and he did it,” says Mr. Booket, who had refinanced his mortgage just months before the accident. “So more power to him.”
America!
