(By Brady Willett and Dr. Todd Alway) The Wall Street Journal recently suggested that a 'culture of greed' may be to blame for today's crisis.  Billionaire investor Stephen Jarislowsky has said that he thinks 'extreme' greed was to blame. And nestled within the mob of protestors ahead of last week's G20 meeting was a little girl, no more than 5 or 6-years of age, holding a sign saying 'You Greedy BosTards'. Let us simply say, while acknowledging the views of the Wall Street Journal and Mr. Jarislowsky, that the protesting little girl may have been misled.

Greed: Excessive desire to acquire or possess more (esp material wealth) than one needs or deserves.

To begin with, what people seem to be confused about is the difference between greed, fraud, foolish investment decisions, and regulatory neglect. The financial crisis resulted because of a serious escalation of fraud, foolish investment decisions, and widespread regulatory neglect.  Greed on the other hand is simply the compulsion that helps anthropomorphize the capitalistic spirit. There is nothing necessarily right or wrong with greed, and there is no magical measuring stick to measure when an escalation of greed goes from being a good thing to bad. Rather, there is only greed – something that in and of itself does not cause financial crises (many factors unite to spark the 'booms') and something that does not drive people to commit illegal acts (immorality does).

Frustrated by the 'bust'?  Riot!

The theme threatening to turn greed into a profane word is loss of control.  Frustrated from watching their investment dollars disappear, losing their jobs, and/or having their retirement plans shredded, many have lost the financial control they once thought they had. And they are mad.  So they attack overpaid bankers and traders, politicians, and anyone else they think is to blame for their current state. They attack what they believe is the enemy in greed.
 
Don't get us wrong, the increasingly visible indignation from all walks of life is potentially productive in that it may help coerce regulators and politicians to start doing their jobs.  After all, if the dissent grows large enough and/or can acquire some semblance of organization, it is feasible that politicians will have to start exacting fundamentally sustainable policies and – dare we say it – that the Federal Reserve System will be unceremoniously dismantled. Imagine a world where markets are free yet competently policed, risk and reward actually mean something, and credit is no longer the building block for financial disasters but something that is produced thriftily and thoughtfully. Just imagine!...we wonder if you can.

But alas, the controlled demolition of a financial system grounded upon debt, fraud, and a lack of transparency, would require the actions of people who are not themselves deeply embedded in this process.