Financial Crisis: The Blaming of the Nerds

Back during the stock crash of 1987, I was in the thick of coverage for USA Today. And once the smoke cleared, we all found something to blame that let the greed and poor judgment of the broader population off the hook: program trading. 

Program trading referred to computer systems that watched the markets and automatically triggered trades when certain things happened. As the markets fell off a cliff in October 1987 (and why is it ALWAYS October? has anyone studied that?), the computers kept selling, making it worse. In 1987, most people didn't own a computer, so this seemed particularly alien and scary -- as if humans had no control over what was happening. So in the end, fingers pointed to those blasted machines and the pocket-protector-wearing nerds who programmed them. 

 

This time around, it looks like we're also ready to blame the nerds -- only this time around, it's more the mathematical nerds who create these quantitative risk analysis algorithms that run on computers. Mark Cuban in his blog goes after the "financial engineers." Dan Vergano in USA Today wonders if we should "blame all the scientists." (If you want to really hate one, take a look at this self-important British dandy profiled a year ago by the BBC.)

 

Like in 1987, it's easy to blame something so esoteric and seemingly out of the average person's control. And just like in high school, it's always easier to hate the math nerds. No doubt they should get some of the blame for making the weapons, but they usually weren't the ones who pulled the trigger.

Comments

[raising4dau...:]

The mathematical nerds are the drug manufacturers, not the pushers, using the illegal drug metaphor.

Here in Cleveland where ACORN has been operating for many years, it's becoming very easy to place blame for the economic mess. Do-gooders in Congress created the Community Reinvestment Act to provide low-income people with cheap mortgages. Those same do-gooders then pour millions into the coffers of anti-American groups like ACORN to get these same low-income people to register to vote multiple (as many as 73X) times. This massive voter fraud disenfranchises anyone that was responsible in the last few years and allows the recipients of cheap mortgages to vote (mostly for Obama) multiple times.

Pretty easy to see who's to blame here. Dem's for corruption; Rep's for sleeping through it.

2008 Oct 13 07:42 PM

[Research123:]

Where do these people (the ones who state with absolute authority that ACORN is an ant iAmerican organization) come from?

I'm actually quite worried that there will be a neo-con reactionary backlash after Obama wins that could push the US into a very unpleasant state.

2008 Oct 13 08:11 PM

[msoori:]

The crooks can always find an easy target to blame...

2008 Oct 14 08:32 AM

[sieraromero:]

raising 4 daughters. You sir are full of ----! Your constant anti american and anti democratic party dogma is not based on any sort of facts and are truly faciest and radical right wing! Hopefully your daughters will wake up to the fact that you are an idiot, and marry a democrat and raise liberal children with an obsession for learning and inquiring about our world and trying to improve it.

2008 Oct 14 08:34 AM

[User 232593:]

voter fraud has been there forever.there is no human group that is 100% honest or ethical.there are scoundrels in govt. & religion. even "law & order"a lot of time is who's law & who's order.if leadership is unethical & lying the herd of sheeples will not be far behind.no matter how they justify it most people know when they are doing something wrong.

2008 Oct 14 09:32 AM