Bankers love to recount the fabled story of the invisible hand. In their version, the superhero Invisible Hand effectively controls the market, thoroughly trust-busting and fraud-forestalling. Everyone lives happily ever after.
Truth be told, however, the tale of the invisible hand is a horror story. The invisible hand fails miserably to constrain bankster racketeering. more »
A new survey showing the extent of bankers' criminal inclinations, together with the "LIBOR" scandal, gives us more insight into how deeply corrupt the banking industry has become. more »
In the ongoing scandal about Barclays' employees tampering with the "LIBOR," or London interbank lending rate - which is to say, bank fraud - The Economist offers this brilliant cover. It's not just the word "banksters," or the fact that it shows bank executives dressed like the guys in Reservoir Dogs. It's the little things, like the two guys whispering to each other, the two others on their cell phones, and - best of all - the fact that they're wearing typical bankers' power ties.
I frequently disagree with Megan McArdle, but her WikiLeaks post yesterday on struck me as simply delusional. The basic argument: megabank financiers haven’t committed any crimes, because if they had, we’d already know about it. There’s a kind of efficient-market-hypothesis ring to this, and like the efficient-market-hypothesis, it has no basis in reality. more »
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