There’s so little criticism as our economy falls.
“The question is, What’s going to come of this, if there are going to be no villains?”
Who blew it up? Economists and pundits seldom name names, but Herbert Lash posted a story at Reuters:
A failure to prosecute the “villains” responsible for the financial crisis that brought the United States to its knees will leave the country without the moral compass needed to avert future crises, a Wall Street luminary said.
Pioneer hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt is angry that the bailout of America is eroding the nation’s capitalist ethos while those whose deeds crippled the U.S. economy suffer scant opprobrium, their names still untarnished.
“Something really went wrong here. We’re about to enter a period where our budget deficit will dwarf anything we’ve seen before,” Steinhardt told the Reuters Investment Outlook Summit in New York.
“What we really needed a long time ago was a recognition that there were villains apace. The evils of the financial system should have been recognized long before this,” said Steinhardt, who no longer manages billions of dollars but whose counsel is sought on Wall Street and among select politicians.
While scornful of the financial executives who should have known better, he also belittled Washington for its lack of leadership and for not spelling out what the future beholds.
What are the consequences of not being responsible and “holding the culprits up for contempt“?