I know the “current economy” gets written about a lot, but I really liked this quote from Dan diBartolomeo from the new Wired. When asked whether or not the current crisis could have been prevented, he said:

People are investing in complex securities they don’t understand. The big failures aren’t data failures; they aren’t issues of “We don’t know.” They’re issues of “We don’t want to make the effort to be rigorous.”

With our current economic meltdown, people have asked how this could have happened. I think this quote sums it up…

When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find far more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have been committed in the name of rebellion.

C.P. Snow, “Either-Or” (1961)