Americans are obsessed with the case launched by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Goldman Sachs. At last, many hope, wrong-doers will be punished. But this misses the point. The problem is more what is allowed than preventing what is not. This is not to deny that there was much fraudulent behaviour behind the financial crisis. As John Kenneth Galbraith wrote, the “bezzle – the stock of embezzlement” – always rises in good times. But the real catastrophe, as I argued last week, is the risk taken on by the gamblers working legally inside the machine.
美国人对证交会(SEC)起诉高盛(Goldman Sachs)的案子兴趣盎然。许多人预计，行为不端者最终将受到惩罚。但这不是重点。问题更多地在于什么才是允许做的事情，而不在于防止不允许做的事情。这并非是在否认manbetx20客户端下载 危机背后存在大量的欺诈行为。正如约翰•肯尼思•加尔布雷斯(John Kenneth Galbraith)所写的，“贪污行为”总是在市场繁荣时期增多。但就像我上周辩称的那样，真正的灾难在于体系内部那些合法经营的赌徒所冒的风险。