How The Financial System Became A Force Of Nature.

In a major speech today the outgoing governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, explained to us all why completely missing the financial crisis wasn't his fault or anyone else's for that matter - it was all "a failure of the system." Oh, that's all right then. Of course that phrase "a failure of the system" seems to suggest that the world financial system is some sort of force of nature, like a volcano or an earthquake, beyond the ability or wit of man to predict - soemthing that has been evolving on the planet since time began. No it isn't - it's a human construct and a very recent construct at that. It was built up by people seeking profit and, because profit seekers have little in the way of scruple, conscience or even basic intelligence, it demands regulation by governments to protect the rest of us from them. Nor should the idea that the recent financial crisis be reagrded as a one-off event, an aberration, be allowed to take root. It is simply another eaxample in a long line of such crises that have hit the world economy over the last two hundred years or so. It happens over and over again and has led to widespread poverty, unemployment and even wars in a depressing litany of human folly. Sometimes governments see where the utter stupidity of greedy individuals has led us and do something about it - its called regulation. Then we have an extended period during which the greedy and stupid chip away at the regulation until they remove it completely and they are allowed, once again, to go collectively insane to the cost of all of us. Mervyn King says that the crisis couldn't have been predicted. Yes it could. Perhaps he should have opened a history book or, if reading serious stuff is beyond him, he could have asked me. I might not be a genius but I am an historian and, as I told anyone who would listen at the time, I know a financial bubble when I see one. Don't let these disingenuous people fool you. They should have known what was in store - the warnings were writ large. To now claim that they didn't means they are either lying or so stupendously ignorant and incompetent they should never have been in positions of authority in the first place. These are not the Lords of Creation as they would like you to believe, they are small people with limited intellects and little grasp of reality.