Asia Times Online, 18 Nov 2008, Hossein Askari and Noureddine Krichene
"Bankers are greedy. They made lots of money but when bad times came they were not willing to be realists and acknowledge that the value of their portfolio had declined and take a hit. They did not want to realize any losses but instead wanted either to be bailed out or for the countries to pay up and if need be starve their people.
In such crises, supervisors must force banks to face reality. But supervisors invariably do not stop a problem from becoming a crisis. They want to wish the problem away. They don't want to confront their banker friends and they are too slow to react. And when the crisis develops, they don't develop a rational and comprehensive plan but instead react to put out fires in fits and starts if they can; they just don't seem to be able to do all that is needed in one move."
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