Mar
2nd
Mon
2nd
The End of Dumb Money has been like a death—of dozens of institutions, thousands of careers, millions of dreams, and billions in value. As we grapple with the aftermath, we seem to be proceeding through the five stages of grief. First came denial, which was rampant throughout the system. Next came anger at the size and manner of the bailouts. Third, bargaining: Last fall, it was common to hear arguments that taxpayers might actually make money on the bailout. And around December, the fourth stage, depression, set in. It still lingers. I hope that is where it stops. For it would be a shame if we moved on quickly to the final stage, acceptance. There is nothing acceptable about what happened. This crisis was not a random, once-in-a-lifetime thing that fell out of the sky. It was a manmade product that turned out to be immensely toxic and damaging. And we’ll be paying for the cleanup for a long time. We can and should get angry. We should also get smarter.
