A lament for Libor

By MARC MEWSHAW  |  August 8, 2012

Way to go, traders!

Retirees aside, the primary casualty of this scandal is what remained of the credibility of the banking system itself. Libor was thought to be like pi — inviolable, sacred, pure. Set, in theory at least, by market forces alone, it was the bedrock on which the whole elaborate complex of financial services rested. But that bedrock turns out to have a whole lot more give than anyone imagined. Once again, the supposedly cut-and-dried world of investment banking has shown itself for what it is: a swamp kept nice and mushy by the slime secreted by its greediest inhabitants.

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