“I was genuinely terrified.”, “We came so close to a global meltdown.” , “That was scary, mate. I mean, not film scary. Really scary.”
The date was September 15th, 2008. These were the reactions of some financial workers and bankers to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, as interviewed in the City of London by Joris Luyendijk. “The City” is the financial center in London. In his article for The Guardian Weekly, Luyendijk points out how our current financial system is “dangerously flawed”. He believes that the collapse of Lehman “could very well have been a genuine breakdown of society.” Even more terrifying is the fact that seven years after this event occurred, the reforms that banks had to endure in order for governments to bail them out were largely superficial. A new system is needed.