It Does Not Amuse…
By This is kind of cool:
Eminent economists have told Queen Elizabeth II that the global financial downturn was brought about by a “psychology of denial” among the financial and political elite, a report said Sunday. In a three-page letter, the experts said “financial wizards” completely failed to “foresee the timing, extent and severity” of the credit crunch, according to The Observer newspaper, which said it had obtained a copy of the letter.
The letter was signed by political historian Peter Hennessy, and Tim Besley, a London School of Economics (LSE) professor and an external member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee. It spoke of the “psychology of denial” that gripped the political and financial world in the build-up to the crisis.
The economists said financial experts convinced themselves and the world’s politicians that they had found clever ways to spread risks across the markets.
During a visit to the LSE in November, Queen Elizabeth asked Professor Luis Garicano about the credit crunch, saying: “Why did nobody notice it?”
Question, though; did the Queen ever publicly ask why nobody noticed that the Iraq War was going to be a colossal fuck up, and ruin British military power for a generation? I don’t mean that as criticism of the Queen, and if she did ask some set of experts at some point, then nevermind. If she didn’t, however, I wonder why not; why can the Queen reasonably, publicly inquire why financial and economic experts failed, but not why strategic analysts, military commanders, and the political elite failed?