Financial Media Cheering Banksters Will Speed the Next Crisis

By Lynn Stuart Parramore

September 30, 2013  |  If you take a tour through the pre-crisis world of the financial media, you will be greeted with eye-popping examples of journalism gone wrong. Over and over, the American public was told that the doomsayers were wrong about the economy, that the titans of Wall Street were national heroes, and that everything would be fine if we just let Mr. Market do his magical thing. (There were notable exceptions [3], and those bold journalists deserve our thanks). In that upside-down world, exotic financial products were the best thing since sliced bread and subprime mortgages were no biggie.

 

In the years leading up to 2008, the financial media was so far up the butt of Wall Street that not only was it unable to warn the public about the impending crisis, it arguably helped bring on the disaster.

Wall Street, we know, has learned almost nothing from the crisis, and continues its crime spree, from money laundering and market manipulation to reckless speculation and bogus fees.