Wall Street

During the economic downturn of **, Wall Street - the street where ** - has taken on an increasingly derogatory sense to many in the American population. For these, the word has come to symbolize corporate greed, irresponsibility and lack of regulation for many of different political backgrounds.  For others, Wall Street remains a positive symbol of capitalism and free enterprise business - concepts to defend from liberal assault.  

A more sober analysis would acknowledge that large scale capital markets are essential to a prosperous society while also acknowledging that there are serious problems with existing US capital markets.  Left-leaning economists sometimes believe that additional taxes and regulations could compensate for the defects of existing capital markets.  Other economists see the deep-set involvement of Wall Street in crafting those regulations as preventing adequate reforms of traditional Wall Street capital markets.  From this more libertarian perspective, technological disruption in finance is the best way to reduce the injustices of Wall Street cronyism.