Gillian Tett of The Financial Times writes that the global financial meltdown, which economists estimate could result in total losses from $2 trillion to $4 trillion, was “self-inflicted.”

the “entire financial system went wrong as a result of flawed incentives within banks and investment funds, as well as the rating agencies; warped regulatory structures; and a lack of oversight.”

the current global financial crisis is a story about people who thought they were the smartest guys in the room and who turned out to be remarkably naïve, reckless or, in some cases, downright stupid.

about hubris and greed and heedlessness, about people

by focusing on an elite group of bankers at J. P. Morgan, who in the 1990s were pioneers in the world of derivatives, and who later came to regard what other firms and hedge funds did with their creation with dismay.

Ms. Tett explains how bankers “delight in swathing the concept” of derivatives in complex jargon