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October 15, 2008
Strong Medicine
The first federal Food and Drugs Act was passed in the summer of 1905 after Collier's published a scathing series of articles by Hopkins Adams regarding the fake clinics and nostrums some doctors were peddling. The quacks who developed these so-called "cures" prayed on the fears and aspirations of their patients, and offered them unrealistic quick-fix solutions to very difficult problems.
This situation is not very different than we currently see today. I think it's clear that the victims are the same, although the class now includes not just US citizens, but everyone in the industrialized world, if not the entire world. I think the perpetrators are those in the banking and finance industries. However, I believe that only a fraction of the modern-day perpetrators understood the true impact of what they were doing and were really trying to take advantage of anyone. I think the vast majority of people in the financial industry are honest, decent people just doing what they were taught was a "good thing".
And just like in 1905, we're in desperate need of regulation to protect people. However, I think the challenges for today are two-fold:
- Establishing a set of laws and rules to prevent the kind of business and investment problems we've seen over the last few years.
- Setting such rules and laws across national boundaries.
We've got our hands full - it's going to be an interesting time to live through.
Posted by pgutwin at October 15, 2008 8:01 AM