The Path of Progress

"They bundled and sold sub-prime mortgages, took their profits, and then left others holding portfolios full of worthless, even toxic, paper. This was exactly the kind of behavior that Brandeis despised. He believed that it was one thing for an individual to put up capital in risky ventures, playing to win but prepared for failure. But he saw the bankers of his time dodging failure by manipulating the marketplace at the expense of smaller entrepreneurs and consumers."

In the midst of the current economic difficulties, Melvin I. Urofsky in The New York Times looks back to Louis D. Brandeis's 1914 book, Other People's Money, and How the Bankers Use It.