http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...4/Bankers-caused-credit-crisis-for-kicks.html I'm interested in reading this paper "Blood on the Trading Floor" Where can I download it? Has anyone got a link to it?
"He [Dr Crosthwaite] maintains that the crisis was the modern equivalent to the traditional Native American practice of "potlatch", a ritual ceremony in which the chiefs of rival tribes competed to destroy ever greater quantities of their own possessions as an expression of power and importance." - crock of shite - couldn't be further from the truth: "Potlatch: The word comes from the Chinook Jargon, meaning "to give away" or "a gift". At potlatch gatherings, a family or hereditary leader hosts guests in their family's house and holds a feast for their guests. The main purpose of the potlatch is the re-distribution and reciprocity of wealth." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potlatch
Actually its not that at all. The only anthropological framework that works for describing the events and process of the credit crisis is that of Rene Girard's Scapegoat theory. The banking system knew it was failing and then served to act it out... end of story You only need to have a cursory knowledge of Girard's work and read the first chapter of The Creature from Jekyll Island to deduce this yourselves.