Who's to Blame for the Brave New Economy?  Prosperity Squandered
For three decades, the economy has increasingly become more
unequal and more precarious for ordinary people. During the same
period, risks that used to be absorbed by large, stable
employers or social programs have been transferred back to
individuals and families.  Meanwhile, the financial economy has
become steadily more speculative and corrupt, as insiders, often
with severe conflicts of interest, extract wealth from the real
economy. The dot-com bust of 2000-2001 was the result of those
conflicts -- accountants who were supposedly guardians of honest
books colluded with management to pump up stock values and
deceive investors; stock "analysts" compensated on the basis of
their success in duping the dumb money.  But no sooner did
Congress pass a mild corrective measure in the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act of 2002 than the scams mutated into new forms. Unregulated
hedge funds and private equity companies took excessive risks
with borrowed money. Mortgag