Wall Street has suffered another major blow to its image, and this time it’s not even based on greed. The reason for Thursday’s 1,000 point slide in the Dow Jones index remains unknown, calling into question the industry’ technical proficiency as well.
These sort of things are not supposed to happen on Wall Street in the modern world. All sort of safeguards were believed to be in place to ensure, in a fail-safe manner, against the sort of events more common during the Great Depression.
With the original explanation of an entry error -- someone typing a billion dollars instead of a million -- fading into obscurity, industry leaders and financial regulators are considering to struggle in their attempt to figure things out.
Not knowing the reason for a 1,000 point slide -- even knowing the explanation isn’t so reassuring -- means the center of the world’s financial system has some sort of glitch that could occur again at any moment.
Not the greatest PR point to attract individual investors.
That’s the problem with these so-called “masters of the universe.” They are so certain they have all the answers, that they’ve figured the system out, that they lack the humility need to spot and fix the fragilities present in any human endeavor.
Perhaps, it’s a good comeuppance for Wall Street. The sad part is that it’s the American public whose paying the price.
