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As much fun as armchair psychiatry is, I think it's much simpler: They bet a lot of (in large part borrowed) money. They lost their bets. They are in a position to get the state to cover their bad bets, so they use it.

What's not to like about it from their perspective?

After all, stealing from the taxpayers is a lot easier than proving in a court of law that the guy who sold you a gamy promotion did something that is considered legally blameworthy.

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Fri Nov 20th, 2009 at 09:39:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Both and.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sat Nov 21st, 2009 at 02:11:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Exactly. It's not always cold black and white commercial calculation.

Just ask the Chinese and Japanese how important 'face' is.

"Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Sat Nov 21st, 2009 at 06:02:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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