If you look back in history, as the barbarians were invading the gates of Rome, people were consulting fortunetellers and worrying about the end of the world and all sorts of other apocalyptic notions. When the tsars were finally overthrown, they were all reading tarot cards even as the revolutionaries were banging at the gates.

Ratings agencies are the glue that ostensibly holds the entire financial industry together.

Obviously the commercial news media tries to get you worked up and terrified so you'll buy products that they're advertising.

The only reason investors haven't run screaming from an obviously corrupt financial marketplace is because the government has gone to such extraordinary lengths to sell the narrative that the problems of 2008 have been fixed.

An unregulated derivatives market essentially gives Wall Street a way to place hidden taxes on everything in the world.

Critics say the OWS protesters hate the rich. Come on! Success is the national religion, and almost everyone is a believer. Americans love winners. But that's just the problem. These guys on Wall Street are not winning - they're cheating. And as much as we love the self-made success story, we hate the cheater that much more.

'Prop trading' is just a fancy term for banks gambling in the market for their own profit.