Michael Lewis on the End of Wall Street as We Know It
Michael Lewis, the author of my favorite non-fiction account of 80's Wall Street excesses*, Liar's Poker, has written a scathing piece about the collapse of the Wall Street investment banks.
I agree with Bill Early that it would be a shame if the current economic crisis led to a retreat from free markets, but I also believe that honest accounts of the greed and excess that led to the current collapse are required to restore faith in the markets. As Lewis highlights, investors are right to not trust the recommendations of ratings agencies and investment bankers: they were too busy focusing on earning massive commissions for themselves to think about the treacherous route they were leading us down.
The sooner the scams can be exposed and the hucksters run out of town (or, when appropriate, put behind bars), the sooner faith in the system can begin to be restored.
* Tom Wolfe's fictional account of Wall Street in the 80's, Bonfire of the Vanities, remains my favorite account of that era. Wolfe recently gave a funny interview with NPR about the whereabouts of the "Masters Of The Universe" he described in that book.
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