I think an economic crisis looms.
Not the one that hove into view in 2008, not the 2010 Greek crisis, but the problem of stratification of the production of information.
Stratification of industries amounts to division of labor between industrial segments.
<a href=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303812104576437192859192256.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection>We speak</a> of regulation of broad swaths of financial institutions.
The libertarian perspective is that one should examine the health of the institutions with which you deal, but that is getting rapidly more difficult.
The quality of the examination may itself need to be examined.
I think that over the last few centuries we have produced most of our wealth on trust.
I like to seek alternatives to trust but I see nothing on the horizon.
<p>If information about the health of institutions, such as produced by the rating agencies, or Dun &amp; Bradstreet, were in large part at fault in the 2008 episode.
<p>“The institutions with which you deal” mostly have an incentive for you to think well of them.
This helps a bit because while bare declarations of health do not suffice, proof of health might.
There remains the problem of undisclosed obligations but <a href=RegCon.html>Registered obligations</a> might help here.