Emotions, Personal Ethics and Professional Life: the Lost Link

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A description of the current financial crisis does not need to be repeated here. The reverberations of a failed global financial system will be felt for years, if not decades. The reasons for the felling of our global economic system are innumerable. There were many perpetrators, and many more victims still. While retrospective analysis is essential, of far greater import at this juncture in time is understanding how to avoid future transgressions of this scale and impact. Will greater Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) oversight, mortgage bank policies, or more thorough investigative journalism help us avoid future similar calamities?

These and all similar efforts would not have prevented the current crisis, nor will they, or other prescriptive solutions, prevent future upheavals. Rather, in discussing the bank leverage, collateralized mortgage obligations, or foreign exchange rate, we need to remember that the core of these institutions and concepts are not laws, corporate charters or global treaties. At the core, the financial system was developed by, is stewarded by, and is fully dependant on human decision-making.

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