Americans are obsessed with the case launched by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Goldman Sachs. At last, many hope, wrong-doers will be punished. But this misses the point. The problem is more what is allowed than preventing what is not. This is not to deny that there was much fraudulent behaviour behind the financial crisis. As John Kenneth Galbraith wrote, the “bezzle – the stock of embezzlement” – always rises in good times. But the real catastrophe, as I argued last week, is the risk taken on by the gamblers working legally inside the machine.
美國人對證交會(SEC)起訴高盛(Goldman Sachs)的案子興趣盎然。許多人預計，行爲不端者最終將受到懲罰。但這不是重點。問題更多地在於什麼纔是允許做的事情，而不在於防止不允許做的事情。這並非是在否認經濟危機背後存在大量的欺詐行爲。正如約翰•肯尼思•加爾佈雷斯(John Kenneth Galbraith)所寫的，「貪汙行爲」總是在市場繁榮時期增多。但就像我上週辯稱的那樣，真正的災難在於體系內部那些合法經營的賭徒所冒的風險。