We really are at the mercy of the people who report the stories. Not all of the misinformation is by design; some stories are simply too complex for a non-insider to grasp, and the creation and propagation of various derivatives is complicated even for most people who work in the financial field.
But Yves Smith does a great job taking down this Times reporter’s one-sided defense of the SEC’s attempt to let Citigroup off with a mere slap on the wrist. The bottom line is, when a reporter relies on the same old names in his or her Rolodex, their stories will reflect that.
