Wall Street has turned the economy into a giant asset-stripping scheme, one whose purpose is to suck the last bits of meat from the carcass of the middle class.
Matt TaibbiRead
You win the modern financial-regulation game by filing the most motions, attending the most hearings, giving the most money to the most politicians and, above all, by keeping at it, day after day, year after fiscal year, until stealing is legal again.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the unethical practices within financial regulation, emphasizing persistence in a corrupt system.
Matt Taibbi's quote criticizes the modern financial system by illustrating how success in this environment often relies on manipulation, influence over politicians, and relentless effort. It suggests that those who seek to bend the rules often prevail, portraying a cynical view of the legal and regulatory landscape where continuous lobbying and financial influence can overshadow ethical practices.
Themes
FinanceRegulationCorruptionPoliticsEthicsPersistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about financial ethics, one might say, 'As Matt Taibbi put it, you win by navigating through the corruption.'
More from Matt Taibbi
All quotes βIt's not a stretch to say the whole financial industry revolves around the compass point of the absolutely safe AAA rating. But the financial crisis happened because AAA ratings stopped being something that had to be earned and turned into something that could be paid for.
Matt TaibbiRead
'Nobody goes to jail.' This is the mantra of the financial-crisis era, one that saw virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall Street embroiled in obscene criminal scandals that impoverished millions and collectively destroyed hundreds of billions, in fact, trillions of dollars of the world's wealth - and nobody went to jail.
Matt TaibbiRead
By creating an urgent crisis that can only be solved by those fluent in a language too complex for ordinary people to understand, the Wall Street crowd has turned the vast majority of Americans into non-participants in their own political future.
Matt TaibbiRead
Similar quotes
Never pay the slightest attention to what a company president ever says about his stock.
Bernard BaruchRead
When you sell options, you get paid for assuming risk. That can be a profitable business, but it does not mix well with the risks inherent in a leveraged portfolio.
George SorosRead
It's a familiar truism that at any one moment, financial markets are dominated by either fear or greed. But the healthiest markets are those that are animated by both fear and greed at the same time.
James SurowieckiRead
There is always something to worry about. Avoid weekend thinking and ignoring the latest dire predictions of the newscasters. Sell a stock because the company's fundamentals deteriorate, not because the sky is falling.
Peter LynchRead
It is vital for officials and regulators to have input from people within our businesses who understand the intricacies of how financial markets operate and the consequences of certain policy decisions.
Jamie DimonRead
The grim irony of investing is that we investors as a group not only don't get what we pay for, we get precisely what we don't pay for.
John C. BogleRead