by Laura Conaway

description
Bill Moyers Journal

A still photo from the William K. Black interview

This one is more recommended viewing that reading, but in any case several of you forwarded the recent Bill Moyers interview with William K. Black, author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One. Black argues that the current economic crisis is driven by fraud. He tells Moyers:

Fraud is deceit, and the essence of fraud is 'I create trust in you, and then I betray that trust and get you to give me something of value.' And as a result, there is no more effective acid against trust than fraud, especially fraud by top elites. And that's what we have."

Bill Moyers' site also includes a full transcript. It sounds like Black's not much for retention bonuses.

 

Black tells Moyers:

Now, going forward, get rid of the people that have caused the problems. That's a pretty straightforward thing, as well. Why would we keep CEOs and CFOs and other senior officers, that caused the problems?