yada yada

Eliminating the Conflict of Interest Principle is Crucial

i always find value in your posts, bill.

i don't know what the answer is to eliminating the conflicts of interest that you are writing about. but i do know from experience that "removing access to the booze" has no lasting useful effect with alcoholics.

i think that after the crash in the 30's, there was a lot of legislation passed that was intended to remove similar types of conflict of interest that were in force at that time. in the endless cyclicality of time and culture (read "the fourth turning" by strauss and howe), we culturally "forgot" the lessons of that period and repeated a similar scenario. likely we will again pass legislation, and then 80 - 100 years hence -- if the culture survives the current period -- we will revisit something like this scenario again.