De bakomliggande orsakerna till finanskrisen anser jag i princip vara klarlagda. Men de som investerat sin ideologi och vars världsbild rämnar när den gått på grund, kan man möjligen skratta åt, med det vore grymt att klandra de som de fortsätter dra sitt ärtrör mot väderkvarnarna.
Simon Johnson har en läsvärd artikel på Project Syndicate om relationen mellan lobbyister, politiker och Wall Street.
“The revolving door between Congress and lobbying firms appears to have been central to how the financial sector became deregulated, which effectively allowed excessive risk-taking in the run-up to the crisis. In another paper, Igan and Mishra, working with Thierry Tressel, found that firms taking more risks before 2008 were also engaged in more lobbying.
Essentially, financial firms have been buying the right to take on more risk. When things go well, executives in these firms get the upside – mostly in terms of immediate compensation, because few executives are compensated on the basis of risk-adjusted returns. That means that when the risks materialize and the firms suffer losses, the costs fall on taxpayers.”