Is it possible to institute ethical behavior into Wall Street?
When the Federal Government bailed out Chrysler, one of the strings was that government representatives were in Chrysler’s headquarters, day in and day out. Their job was to safeguard the taxpayer’s interests, by preventing the company from acting on whims and the more obviously bone-headed ideas. Those people acting as brakes, and Lee Iacocca’s realization that the minivan would be the industry’s Next Big Thing, led to Chrysler becoming solvent again, and remaining a viable company for another quarter century. In principle, I see no reason why we shouldn’t do the same sort of thing today. (I presume, of course, that the Federal Government has, or more likely can locate, hire, and train, a sufficient supply of financially knowledgable regulators.) I’m not sure if we can attach strings to the money that’s already been passed out. Certainly, we can make accepting a few regulators with veto power inside one’s corporate headquarters a condition of future bailout funds. This probably wouldn
