Money Monsters

Too many players in the financial industry are interested in enriching themselves and their firms at the expense of the general public. The prime driver in their lives is excessive greed, which they indulge in freely knowing that their losses, when they stumble, will be subsidized by their cronies in government. The federal government has encouraged their outrageous behavior by passing legislation designed to further its own misguided policies, which led to the Great Recession of 2008, and by overturning the Glass-Steagall Act, which limited the operations of our mammoth financial institutions for sixty-six years. The greatest victims of all in this dangerous charade are the American taxpayers who end up footing the bill for wealthy financial executives who take excessive risks that threaten the global economy. Such was the case in the years leading up to the 2008 meltdown, and these conditions persist today despite the efforts of a few policymakers to rein in the destructive risks taken by our largest financial institutions, which undermine the wellbeing of middle class investors.