9/11 and Michael Corleone

A Glance at Financial Terrorism

A quick glance at the list of the top wealthy, successful and influential political and economic figures in the world reveals that a disproportionate number of people on the list attended one of the top universities in the United States. These academic institutions are training students on the US’s economic and business systems to provide them with knowledge to become the “captains of industry” and the “titans of Wall Street” in the future. The knowledge of our economy is readily available to those who attend these universities. On the flip side, this information is also available to those who wish to take this same knowledge and use it for much more devious ends.

What is stopping those who wish to destroy the proverbial “western societies” from gaining this same knowledge? What if this knowledge, coupled with the access to resources, was being used to damage the economy in a form of “economic terrorism?” What if the overriding desire to see western nations fail is stronger than a personal desire to acquire wealth? This is bone chilling knowledge particularly if those who might desire to see an end to western dominance have large amounts of capital and resources that are not tied into the performance of financial markets.

It is possible to take the information that we disseminate freely –available at all top universities-and use that knowledge to work against our economic structure. It is the belief of our nation that with hard work and a good education (at a top school) anyone can achieve greatness in our society. This dream is in theory open to anyone who is willing to put in the time and has the resources to accomplish it. This actualization is immortalized by the media and entertainment world. Perhaps no piece of art personifies this more so than Francis Ford Copula’s film, “The Godfather.” “The Godfather” tells the story of an American family (The Corleone’s) and their dream of success for their son, Michael. Peel away the crime, drama, and extravagance of the film and the story boils down to Vito, striving to provide a better life for his son Michael. It is Vito’s dream for Michael to attend one of our elite universities (Dartmouth) and become an influencer in the corporate world. If you cannot take down a power through sheer might and force, what better way to ensure your ends than to facilitate the crumbling of a society from within by turning its own knowledge against it?

The keys to the economy are in essence up for grabs by the most ambitious among us. However, the same people who are attaining the knowledge may also negatively influence the economic systems of the United States. Not to mention the foreign markets who do not have to follow the same rules as the US. Those are self-regulated markets, unlike the US market, which has been “babysat”by the SEC who dictates its every move. Are there enough bandwidth and resources in the US, with agencies such as the SEC regulating and legislation systems such as the Patriot Act and Anti Money Laundering (AML), to track all of the foreign activities? Are we dependent on our banks to report this activity and if so, then to whom ?
This situation is a parallel to 9/11. Instead of bringing down buildings, economic terrorists may be bringing down the financial system.