Suppose we change the (meta)rules of the game?

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When faced with serious difficulties, or a full-blown crisis, we tend to assume that the solution should be commensurate with the problems. The more difficult the situation, the more radical – even revolutionary – the solutions we look for. We prefer general, abstract approaches to concrete, down-to-earth ones. I would like to propose a different approach, and seek reasons for the erosion of public trust in financial institutions, as well as ways to rebuild it, by making some specific observations. In this paper I will make use of ‘hot’ knowledge (Kozielecki, 2000), i.e. knowledge based on my own experience. This will not be an abstract or cold analysis. There will be no graphs or rows of figures. No well-known businesspeople or young, promising financial experts will be quoted. In a sense this paper is a manifesto – an attempt to speak on behalf of the nameless, faceless, voiceless many. What I have to say may sink without trace in the waters of silence; and yet I hope it will be heard in broader circles. As I write these words I cannot know if it will – but I very much hope so, and it is this hope that encourages me to write.

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