Dave: If you want to really underscore your point, set it in contrast to what the function of Wall Street is supposed to be: A means or mechanism to efficiently allocate capital where that capital will be most productive.
So how do we explain when all of that capital is egregiously misallocated and over a protracted period of time? I say, look to the compensation packages attached, especially the bonus structures, and it becomes patently obvious.
As odious as certain government regulations are and can be, a nearly complete lack of oversight only emboldened the various players further and deepened the effects of the crisis.
If you want an explanation of what is behind the agent/principal disconnect, look no further than pure, unfettered greed. Greed unhampered by oversight, regulation, ethics or simple common sense. It is completely impossible to have so much collective talent and business acumen so totally miss the obvious signs, unless they were incompetent, willfully ignorant and avariciously greedy.
There was no conscious sense of responsibility that these agents felt for their principals, anymore than the partners at Arthur Andersen Houston felt for the employees at Enron or the citizenry at large (CPA means Certified PUBLIC Accountant and you have an ethical and legal responsibility to act on behalf of not just your clients, but the general public as well).
House in the Hamptons, new Maserati, $2,000/hr escorts, cocaine, Cristal champagne and that custom made French yacht. Why be responsible to your clients when all those toys beckon?
