The 2008 financial collapse revealed that not only had Wall Street failed, it had been exposed. The entire system was a mountain of false assumptions, misleading numbers, and hidden risks. Also, longstanding financial weaknesses in corporations and local governments were divulged. Wall Street’s newly invented derivatives at the center of the mess had little if any asset values to support them; they were mostly air when the financial balloon burst. Wall Street admitted to Congress that they had foolishly outsourced risk decisions, placing investors’ money with others where they had no control. Is not that precisely what small investors are doing when they buy stocks and bonds at brokerages—ceding risk decisions to others? The 2008 collapse exposed the chicanery; Wall Street is unworthy of investor trust. The touted idea that there is a need to take risks to keep up with inflation, that risk can be measured and controlled, and that gains from risk exceed possible losses are all untrue. The infrequent times of gains are separated by decades of gaps that are too long to have money unavailable for life’s unpredictable needs. Investors must keep risk decisions in their own hands, where they themselves decide daily to choose yea or nay, not someone unknown and far away. -- amazon.com
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