A lot of things went wrong in the nineties, and the footprints of the banks can be found at the scene of one suspicious deed after another. Investment banks are supposed to provide information that leads to a better allocation of resources. Instead, all too often, they trafficked in distorted or inaccurate information, and participated in schemes that helped others distort the information they provided and enriched others at shareholders' expense. The offenses of Enron and WorldCom-and of Citigroup and Merrill Lynch-put most acts of political crookedness to shame. The typical corrupt government official pockets a measly few thousand dollars-at most, a few million. The scale of theft achieved by the ransacking of Enron, WorldCom, and other corporations in the nineties was in the billions of dollars-greater than the GDP of some nations.
( Joseph E. Stiglitz )
[ The Roaring Nineties: A New ]
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