At WAIN Street, our passion is “Bridging Wall Street and Main Street” – channeling the capabilities of Wall Street to solve the most pressing problems of Main Street businesses. Over the past few months, this passion has spilled over to our blog in the form of some pointed opinions about Occupy Wall Street, financial innovation, and the need to Challenge Wall Street to make evolutionary, not revolutionary, improvements to the financial system. While there are certainly others with similarly measured and moderate perspectives, the public discourse always seems to live at the sensational extremes. Attention goes to those who demonize and condemn while refusing to acknowledge the merits of an opposing perspective. That’s why it was so encouraging to hear someone with the reputation and stature of Robert Shiller weighing in on these topics:
“Yale economist Robert Shiller offered two cheers for capitalist finance, saying that while the U.S. free market system has contributed to higher living standards, the vehemence of the recent public outcry points to a need for greater democratization.… But rather than throw the financial system out, Shiller called for tinkering. Financial institutions and structures such as insurance or mortgage securitization have a role in improving social and human welfare, Shiller argued. U.S. economic success is due to a financial system that has evolved over centuries and helped improve the quality of life, he added. A shortcoming of the Occupy Wall Street movement is that it doesn’t accept those contributions, he said.”
Being a startup with a grand vision to “transform mid-market and small business credit markets,” we always find it highly inspiring to hear prominent and respected figures like Mr. Pandit, Mr. Shirakawa, and now Dr. Shiller express such reassuring sentiments. Thank you, Dr. Shiller.