February 23, 2002

Tom Jacobs points out that

Tom Jacobs points out that financial utopia won't come about even after months of Congressional hearings and legislative debate.

There's no way that criminal law, government regulation, or auditor independence will ever ensure a just and fair society or a squeaky-clean stock market. Any tax expert, investment banker, ambitious exec or teenager will, given enough time, find loopholes in any rules big enough to drive an SUV through. Things work pretty well, though. We plug the biggest holes in the ship, and watch and wait while the rats gnaw other ones.

There will always be rats. Given enough motivation, any one of us can become a rat. I learned this as a teen, when my second stock investment turned sour and my then best friend's father went to jail.