Death of Wall Street

If the banking and finance sector had put the matter of "financial strength" ahead of "quick profits" in their corporate lives, this post would not have existed. It is beyond anyone's doubt that it is that myopia and greed that have brought the financial services industry to its knees and killed the Wall Street for good. It is a "human nature" as they say that is a culprit here.

As long as greed and naivete are there, there will be swindlers on this earth. The recent episode of 2007-2008 upheaval of financial services industry demonstrates the fact that in absence of a solid foundation, the industry is doomed to repeat its mistakes again, be it within one, two or three generation's time frame. As long as people (investors, financial institutions and enablers such as governments) are myopic and do not take a long term view of fixing its root problems, the bubbles, manias and subsequent busts are just going to keep re-occurring just in a different shape, form or size.

As long as the government has no political will to ditch the myopia and take the strong medicine in terms of regulatory reforms to create sound and sensible regulations and its unforgiving implementation, financial services history littered with these blemishes will continue to repeat itself again. Government may not have an ability to eliminate such catastrophes, however, it does have a power to lay a strong foundation and a framework that ensures that such calamities are lot less frequent and lot less smaller in size.

Is it just ironic or is it by design that rich and famous who plan conservatively never get in trouble, yet rich and famous who do not execute well end up loosing much of their wealth? If it can happen to rich, why not to a general populace? It is not the "profit" that matters ultimately, it is the "strength" that matters in a long run. My heart aches a lot to see my beloved (and so near and dear to my heart) industry getting killed by a handful of myopic folks.