Wall Street

Gerade (vor einer halben Stunde) habe ich mit der Lektüre des Buches "The Great Crash 1929" begonnen, das John Kenneth Galbraith im Jahre 1955 publiziert hat. Ich habe es in eine kanadischen Antiquariat in diesem Sommer gefunden - aber leider (trotz aller Vorahnungen) nicht gleich gelesen.

Nachdem ich nun das Vorwort aus dem Jahre 1961 gelesen habe, hier das erste Zitat, das mir bemerkenswert erscheint - manche Dinge ändern sich nicht:

"Above all, it is evident that the capacity of the financial community for ignoring evidence of accumulating trouble, even of wishing devoutly that it might go unmentioned, is as great as ever. Theis deserves a special word.

Even in such a time of madness as the late twenties, a great many men in Wall Street remained quite sane. But they also remained very quiet. The sense of responsibility in the financial community for the community as a whole is not small. It is nearly nil. Perhaps this is inherent. In a community where the primary concern is making maoney, one of the necessary rules is to live and let live. To speak out against madness may be to ruin those who have succumbed to it. So the wise in Wall Street are nearly always silent. The foolish thus habe the field to themselves. None rebukes them. There is always the fear, moreover, that even needful selfcriticism may be an excuse for government intervention. That ist the ultimate horror."

Klingt doch irgendwie aktuell, oder?

Wobei heute allerdings die paradoxe Wirkung solcher Strategien, die Einmischung der Regierung zu vermeiden, deutlich und nicht mehr zu leugnen ist.