Gretchen Morgenson

Gretchen Morgenson is assistant business and financial editor at the New York Times where she writes a weekly column called Fair Game. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her “trenchant and incisive” coverage of Wall Street.  Her 2011 book, Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon, was co-authored with Joshua Rosner. In the book, Morgenson and Rosner argue that close connections between government officials and the financial industry led to the financial crisis. Morgenson is also the author of Forbes Great Minds of Business and co-author of The Woman’s Guide to the Stock Market.

Previously, Morgenson worked at Forbes magazine, where she started as an investigative business writer and editor in 1986. In 1993, she left Forbes to become the executive editor at Worth magazine, where she oversaw all financial coverage and wrote a monthly column. She served as press secretary for the ‘Forbes for President’ campaign from 1995-1996 and then returned to Forbes magazine as assistant managing editor before joining the New York Times in 1998.

Morgenson started her career as an editorial assistant at Vogue magazine in 1976, where she became a writer and financial columnist. She left Vogue to become a stockbroker for Dean Witter Reynolds and then a staff writer for Money magazine from 1984-1986.

Morgenson appeared on Bill Moyers Journal three times in 2007, 2008 and 2010 to discuss home foreclosures, “too-big-to-fail,” and the financial crash in the fall of 2008. During her first interview on the Journal in 2007, Morgenson reflects on the mortgage crisis and the Bear Stearns meltdown and offers a warning about who will suffer most from the financial crisis:

Morgenson: Let’s not make it a bail out where the taxpayer bails out Wall Street, please.

Moyers: Then Wall Street would be the winner and –

Morgenson: Then Wall Street would say, “Fine. I’ll go do that again. I’ll go throw money at a problem and let it blow up, and I don’t mind.”

Moyers: Does this contribute to what you and I both know is growing inequality in the country? The gap between the rich and the poor? The greatest gap since 1929? Is this contributing to that gap?

Morgenson: To the degree that Wall Street made an awful, awful lot of money on these securities, yes, it contributes to that gap…

…The little guy doesn’t have the benefit of all the powerful friends in Washington and the powerful friends on Wall Street. The little guy is just trying to be able to retire comfortably and not have to scrimp and worry about money. And he and she have a right to that. And if we’re in an ownership society that’s ballyhooed around, that should be a benefit. That should be who wins. But unfortunately, the little guy is the guy that’s usually the bag holder.”