Jul 1, 2014
(To listen, click on 'Pod' icon above left)
"Fool me once, shame on you Fool me twice, shame on you."
Orig: "He that deceives me once; shame fall him; if he deceives me twice, shame fall me". James Kelly, Scottish Proverbs (1720).
In May 2009, Claudia Cragg interviewed the FT's Gillian Tett for then KGNU News co-Director, Joel Edelstein, on the 'It's The Economy' show. This was shortly after publication of Tett's then brand new book, "Fool's Gold, the Inside Story of J P Morgan and How Wall St. Greed Corrupted Its Bold Dream and Created a Financial Catastrophe."
The so-called 'never again' safeguards may or may not be in place to prevent a new worldwide even more serious catastrophe. By the time their efficacy is tested, it may be too late. And given the surfeit of new financial instruments and derivative games created since 2008, there is no sensible reason to presume it cannot or won't happen again and the fallout, while unimaginable, could be even worse than the prolonged 'Great Recession' that so many ordinary working lives have been subjected to.
Recently Gillian Tett has been calling attention to a relatively new problem, the 'Dark Pools' and their potential for causing global financial instability.
Relying on caveat emptor to keep the trading system from becoming too murky is naive
Few are taking heed.
Having ignored this proven financial Cassandra once before, are the Powers That Be so obdurate and greedy that they will wilfully ignore her once again?
When you listen to her analysis here of 2008, you will concur that as of July 1st 2014, very little indeed has changed.