Mr. Mayer discussed his best-selling book The Greatest-Ever Bank Robbery: The Collapse of the Savings and Loan Industry. He explained that the cause of the “scandal” was hard for any observers, much less the general public, to grasp because it was inherently technical. He believes that most news reports also missed the point and focused on individual stories rather than the enormous scope of the problem. Mr. Mayer has written many books on the financial community and testified before the House Banking Committee last year on the savings and loan situation.