- PETER MOUNTFORD Probably not Occupy Wall Street’s favorite novelist.
Once upon a time, everything was right in the world. It was the distant year of 2005, and Vincenzo D'Orsi, vice president of the World Bank, attended a conference to discuss the global economy. Everything was wonderful, truly:
Even with the chaos of September in the air, the meetings were fine. Everyone was fine. What was there to say, after all? In Latin America, things were going well, more or less. The Bank's programs, in particular—Vincenzo deserved zero credit for it, truly—were going swimmingly. No one really deserved credit. Politics had matured, capitalism was working. Stability had taken hold and the emerging markets were now actually emerging.
"It's almost on autopilot," he said to halfhearted chuckles from the crowd.
D'Orsi is the main character of local author Peter Mountford's second novel, The Dismal Science (Tin House Books, $15.95), and he's partly right and partly wrong in that last sentence. The world in 2005, when George W. Bush was at the height of his power, did seem to be operating on autopilot. Money was flowing upward, and the middle class was resting comfortably on a gigantic balloon inflated with steaming hot credit. D'Orsi is a perfect symbol for the time: Those in charge must've been pleased with themselves, but, if they were smart, also slightly uneasy about the fact that everything was running relatively smoothly.
Of course, it now seems obvious that the whole world was hurtling toward the global financial collapse of 2008 and all the unrest that followed. And D'Orsi, on some level, understands that he's about to come crashing to the ground in a fabulous scandal, too. But when the end does come for him, even he's surprised by the shape that it takes...
