Wall Street On Trial (Gene Lyons)

[mooseandsquirrel]

LITTLE ROCK — In “Gulliver’s Travels,” first published in 1726, Jonathan Swift’s protagonist discusses the advantages of high-priced legal talent.

With Wall Street investment giant Goldman Sachs Group Inc. being sued by the U.S. government, Gulliver’s words seem timely today:

“There was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth in the art of proving by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black, and black is white, according as they are paid. . . . For example, if my neighbour hath a mind to my cow, he hires a lawyer to prove that he ought to have my cow from me. I must then hire another to defend my right. . . . They never desire to know what claim or title my adversary hath to my cow; but whether the said cow were red or black, her horns long or short, whether the field I graze her in be round or square, whether she was milked at home or abroad, what diseases she is subject to, and the like; after which they consult precedents, adjourn the cause from time to time, and in ten, twenty, or thirty years,come to an issue.”

snip

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