The indispensable Epicurean Dealmaker—whom I would surely hire if (a) I were in need of an investment banker and (2) I could figure out who he is—makes a rare defense of his kind:
I stick by my assertion that we did not create the huge global demand for riskless returns that is at the root of our current predicament. Investment bankers did not force anyone to buy toxic securities or execute stupid M&A deals. They did not have fiduciary duties to the shareholders and stakeholders of the pension funds, hedge funds, and corporations who did do those deals: the management of those entities did. And, as fiduciaries, these are the people with whom the buck stops. These are the people who have to say, “Wait a minute, gravity hasn’t been repealed; return cannot be earned without risk. No thank you, Mr. Investment Banker. Piss off.” Many–way too many–did not. Piggy, piggy, piggy.