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Wall Street Hunger Games

To understand why have investors become so gullible and undiscerning, first look to the Fed.

Michael Klein, then Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup's Citi Markets and Banking, in 2007
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images
William D. Cohan
July 21, 2021

Pardon me if you’ve heard this before, but I confess I’m still fixated by the saga of Churchill Capital IV, the blank-check holding company from Michael Klein, a former top investment banker at Citigroup, which has become a perfect metaphor for the present irrationality of our financial markets. SPACs, of course, recently became popular among retail traders seeking higher risk and a little excitement by investing alongside celebrities and proven entrepreneurs, especially in buzzy pandemic-era sectors like cryptocurrency and online gambling. Klein, seizing on another Reddit-friendly trend, rolled his dice on electric cars.