The Big Short

by

Michael Lewis

Sy Jacobs Character Analysis

Sy Jacobs is one of the first people to identify the riskiness of the mortgage bond market in the 1990s, along with Steve Eisman. He also went through the same training at Salomon Brothers that author Michael Lewis went through. Jacobs and Eisman optimistically believed in the 90s that subprime bonds might help alleviate income inequality, but they soon learned that the opposite is true.
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Sy Jacobs Character Timeline in The Big Short

The timeline below shows where the character Sy Jacobs appears in The Big Short. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Outsiders vs. Conformists  Theme Icon
Wall Street’s Culture of Overconfidence Theme Icon
The Problems with Capitalism  Theme Icon
Pessimism vs. Optimism Theme Icon
Needless Complexity Theme Icon
...people looking into the consequences of these risky loans; one of the others is Sy Jacobs, who went through the same training program at Salomon Brothers as Lewis and who went... (full context)
Outsiders vs. Conformists  Theme Icon
Wall Street’s Culture of Overconfidence Theme Icon
The Problems with Capitalism  Theme Icon
Pessimism vs. Optimism Theme Icon
Needless Complexity Theme Icon
By the mid-1990s, Jacobs and Eisman both believe in the potential of subprime mortgage bonds to help alleviate income... (full context)