The FBI is said to be investigating many of these people now. But for the moment, it seems our favorite villains were playing with the cards that were available, according to the rules.
Who among us can say that we never worked a system if it was in our favor? Our accountant turned us on to a quirk in the law that lowered our taxes. Someone we knew got us backstage into a concert, even though we had no real reason to be there. Our uncle was the chief of police, so we didn't get a ticket when we should have. There are probably many variations of this. How many of us refused to work the system when the cards were in our favor? It's OK, you don't have to answer that.
The solution, of course, is repairing the system to that people can't work it any more, or at least not as easily.
Following the Wall Street collapse of 1929, some regulations were put into effect that are still bnefiting us today. If they weren't in place, we'd really be in a pickle. But not every loophole was plugged. And when it comes to money, new loopholes open up as the financial wunderkinds put their creativity to use.
So, we learn by experience -- in most cases, the hard way -- but we do learn. After the earthquake comes and the buildings collapse, the buildings that go up in their place are usually able to withstand greater shocks. That's what will happen when this current crisis passes.
Let's make sure we are grateful for the lessons learned -- and make sure that our leaders turn them into policies that protect us going forward.
There, now I've said it.
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