Introduction
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is perched in a gray, sandstone slab in the
heart of Wall Street. Though a city landmark building constructed in 1924, the
bank is a muted, almost unseen presence among its lively, entrepreneurial
neighbors. The area is dotted with discount stores and luncheonettes-and, almost
everywhere, brokerage firms and banks. The Fed's immediate neighbors include a
shoe repair stand and a teriyaki house, and also Chase Manhattan Bank; J. P.
Morgan is a few blocks away. A bit further, to the west, Merrill Lynch, the
people's brokerage, gazes at the Hudson River, across which lie the rest of
America and most of Merrill's customers. The bank skyscrapers project an open,
accommodative air, but the Fed building, a Florentine Renaissance showpiece, is
distinctly forbidding. Its arched windows are encased in metal grille, and its
main entrance, on Liberty Street, is guarded by a row of black cast-iron
sentries.
The New York Fed is only a spoke, though the most important spoke, in the U.S.
Federal Reserve System, America's central bank. Because of the New York Fed's
proximity to Wall Street, it acts as the eyes and ... read full excerpt from When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management ebook
