Otherwise know as random thoughts.
I was watching HBO's Too Big to Fail the other night and the narrative hit me because the financial system almost came apart and we assume that people know what they are doing. At least I assume that people at Treasury and Fed have to be competent at their jobs.
Back when I worked for Wells Fargo in Commercial Lending, I used to keep a copy of the Economist with the cover proclaiming "The End of Risk" or something like that.
They were praising the creation of collateralized debt obligations as the means of spreading risk around to the point there was none. Once upon a time weren't the conservatives supposed to the 'realists' and the liberals the 'idealists'? We learned that risk is inherent to any investment vehicle, but that reminder came too late or fell on deaf ears. Regulation was a dirty word and collateral reserves mocked as unnecessary.
Once a semester I teach Banking 101 at a high school and I always start with the history of banking. I am a huge fan of Alexander Hamilton. (I used to want to be Treasury Secretary when I was in high school.) So I'd go over the Bank of the United States, to the creation of the Fed, FDIC and to the fall of Washington Mutual and Lehman Brothers. I'd make them enact a bank run so they could understand what a panic feels like. It got their attention and I hope they learned something.
I am often confronted by people who have no understanding or knowledge of history. You can't know where you are going unless you know where you came from. Government regulation is reflexibly dismissed yet few know why things like the USDA, OSHA, EPA, SEC etc... were put in place to start with. Yet when an e.coli outbreak happens or a refinery explodes people want to know what happened. They want to know why something wasn't prevented.
I was at my niece's birthday party not long ago and I overheard a conversation between two teachers and one said in a low voice, "I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist or anything, but it seems like there is a coordinated attack on public education." I almost jumped in and pointed out that an uneducated populace is easy to control.
I am coming to the conclusion that there are no 'adults' in charge. When facts are challenged because they don't fit a specific worldview then we've reached a point in society where the ability to even converse about politics reaches a breaking point. I feel more and more like the 'stupid' is contagious and it is spreading. The financial system was brought to its knees by greed and those problems still exist.
The economy needs direct and sustained stimulus - look at history. Oh that's right, history has been forgotten; lessons long learned now unlearned. Wisdom is lacking where it is needed most. Too bad this isn't a good game of Civilization - I'd go back to a previous save and avoid this mess.
On a different note: it hit 105 degrees on Sunday in Houston. Texas is in the middle of a devastating drought, but if you mention climate change people look at you like you are insane. By that's another story.