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If you read between the lines of my previous two posts, you will easily detect a person who believes that the only way to prevent abuse is the rule of law.

In finance, we need to re-enact old laws (Glass Steagal, etc) and outlaw again behavior that was illegal up to 2000. We need to pass new laws to deal with the modern reality of world financial markets.

All of our laws should be aimed at protecting the common good. The common good is not being served by a financial industry that is, right now, totally out of control and being run by what are really sociopaths.

Our financial systems work. They are, however, delicate and full of nuance. We lack restraints with teeth to keep the systems upon which we all depend from being abused by a few.

When I say a few, let's be very clear about this. We now know that the catastrophe in CDS was caused by less than 20 people. If you gather all top executives of all major financial institutions in the U.S., you would have less than 10,000 people. There are a little over 300 million people in the U.S.

Whose interests should be served?

We need tough laws and even tougher enforcement.

Lastly, it is widely known that the favorite expression at Bear Sterns was "F...k you!" yelled as loudly as possible even to customers.

People playing with big amounts of OPM cannot be trusted.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/20/wall-street-bonuses-vs-no_n_324281.html