Banking Quotes
There is some debate as to whether this statement was made at this time or different parts of it on two different occasions. The sentiment and position appears to be genuine but the issue of the timing is in doubt.
Stamp was a banker and the 2nd richest man in England at the time. Yet he warned about aspects of banking that needed reform and regulation.
Greenspan went on to become the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board for 20 years, one of the most successful in history.
The last sentence echoes a quotation of Napoleon. See {630664} .
There were little controls over usury in his time in India. Villagers often paid 500% or more to borrow money in a necessity like needing critical health care.
Arguably, for most of American History, most of the “smartest” people contributed to manufacturing, construction, research and development—activities that produce things that are wanted and/or needed. However, Wall Street began attracting and paying for some of the smartest people in the society, who when they engaged in finance—not only contributed less to manufacturing, but began to create highly complex financial instruments and procedures that few people could understand and with which regulators have difficulty understanding. These and the other schemes of financing have been major factors in the economic problems that have beset the economy including the meltdown of 2008 and the subsequent Great Rescission.
