It is what it is

Gottfried Leibniz (1646 - 1716) is credited with having developed the binary number system which is used for counting by creatures with only two fingers and by digital computers, which if they were real beings would have only two fingers. He was, obviously, a mathematician and a German, but was also a philosopher. Since his given name is made up of the German word for God (Gott) and the first part of the word for cemetery (Friedhof), you might think he was the philosopher who announced to the world that "God is dead!" But you'd be wrong. That was Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900), whose given name might mean "Death to the Rich!" Not a bad idea given the mess Wall Street's multimillionaires have gotten us into.

In addition to creating "two-bit" numbers, Leibniz also determined that we are living in "the best of all possible worlds." Starting with the premise that "God is great, God is good," he asked, "Why is there evil in the world?" When she cooked up the world, wouldn't a benevolent God have left evil out of the recipe? In the final analysis, Leibniz reasoned that evil must have a place in God's scheme for the world. With no evil to struggle with, mankind would have missed the opportunity to develop characteristics like courage, justice, and moral fortitude. And hey, we wouldn't have Halloween and all those fun movies and TV shows about vampires,  serial killers, and chainsaw massacres. Ergo, God has provided us with the "best of all possible worlds" from which she had to choose. It is what it is.

Which brings us back to Wall Street. Perhaps we, our country and our economy needed those evil subprime mortgages, credit default swaps, and synthetic collateralized debt obligations to make us better citizens, empower the country, and strengthen our economy. Certainly for those who gave us these evils, theirs must be "the best of all possible worlds." What could be better than swimming in money?

As you may or probably not have guessed, I just finished All the Devils are Here by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera. The book is an expose of "the hidden history of the financial crisis," and all the devils are there between the pages, together with their photos. A kind of a guide book for prospective financial terrorists and assassins. We can only hope, since the Justice Department and the Congress don't seem to have the resolve to deal with these greedy white collar criminals. But then, I suppose they are loath to bite the hand that feeds them. Good dog, good dog!