Former Treasury Secretary says banks may be riskier now than in the 2008 crisis
“Sir. SIR! This your bag,” the TSA agent barked at me last week, more as a statement than a question.
“It is.”
“Are you carrying any liquids?”
I knew immediately; I had forgotten about the bottle of water that I had shoved in my briefcase before checking out of my hotel.
They opened my bag and confiscated the water bottle immediately with an extra harrumph to make sure I knew that I had wasted their time.
Yeah, I get it. I broke the rule. But it’s such a ridiculous rule to begin with.
Are we really supposed to pretend that Miami International Airport is any safer because there’s a brand new, unopened Dasani bottle in the TSA wastebin?
You may recall how Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport was attacked on June 28th by men armed with automatic weapons and explosives.
Ataturk was already one of the most security-conscious airports in the world– you actually have to go through a security checkpoint just to enter the building, followed by a second security checkpoint on your way to the gate.
And yet, despite all of this extra security, 41 people were killed and hundreds more wounded in an attack that shows just how ineffective airport security really is.
Airport security isn’t real security. It’s merely the illusion of security– a bunch of busybodies in uniforms enforcing pointless rules to make people believe that they’re safer.
Candidly, our financial system has borrowed the same principle. There’s no real safety in our financial system– merely the illusion of safety.
Leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, most people thought the banks were safe.
After all, we’ve been told our entire lives that the banks are rock solid. What could go wrong?
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