Why Wall Street Collapsed - Calvin Trillin's More Than One Sentence Answer

“IF you really want to know why the financial system nearly collapsed in the fall of 2008, I can tell you in one simple sentence.”

So begins Trillin's short piece in the NY Times which gives us one fairly plausible part of the whole puzzle. But the one sentence really needs a couple of follow up sentences.

“The financial system nearly collapsed,” he said, “because smart guys had started working on Wall Street.”

See, I said he needed more than one sentence.

“But weren’t there smart guys on Wall Street in the first place?” I asked.

He looked at me the way a mathematics teacher might look at a child who, despite heroic efforts by the teacher, seemed incapable of learning the most rudimentary principles of long division.

You can get the rest at the link. It's pretty short.

Of course, if the restrictions hadn't been lifted it would have been harder. And if these really are the smartest guys, then a lot of them will be doing interesting, creative, and socially responsible things with their money before long.