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
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.
In practice
In a discussion about financial ethics, one might say, 'As Matt Taibbi put it, you win by navigating through the corruption.'
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.
It'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.
'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.
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.
Bitcoin is the beginning of something great: a currency without a government, something necessary and imperative.
Credit is a system whereby a person who can not pay gets another person who can not pay to guarantee that he can pay.
When I hear complaints about less liquidity, remember there is such a thing as too much liquidity.
Well, I think the biggest mistake is not learning the habits of saving properly early. Because saving is a habit. And then, trying to get rich quick. It's pretty easy to get well-to-do slowly. But it's not easy to get rich quick.
The foundation of a financial fresh start actually has nothing to do with money or specific financial dos and don'ts.
The thing I have discovered about working with personal finance is that the good news is that it is not rocket science. Personal finance is about 80 percent behavior. It is only about 20 percent head knowledge.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.