Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Brooksley Born of Yalandur

Prologue: Yalandur is a small taluka town in Chamarajanagar district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Kannada conversations have been translated.

Sometime in the late 90s in Yalandur...
"Don't give that son-of-a-bitch any money! Give it to me. This is not the first time we are having this conversation. Either illicit liquor or that son-of-a-prostitute!", hollered Muniyamma to her fractious husband, Halappa. By now he had learned the art of ignoring her shrill abuses to an extent that he was already thinking of who to borrow money from for tomorrow's "quarter".

Sometime in the late 90s in Washinton D.C ...
After having been among the elite few female law graduates out of Stanford University in the 70s, Brooksley Born who was later made the head of a financial regulatory agency during the Clinton years, stood up against the brutal defiance of the Titans of Wall Street. Sadly,like Muniyamma, her cries fell on deaf ears as unscrupulous investment bankers in America continued to package debt and sell it.

Epilogue: In America, making money from derivatives is still legal. In Yalandur, Halappa is jobless while Muniyamma is earning a living under NREGA.

Inspired by 'The Warning', a documentary by Frontline (aired on PBS).