What if

What if the entire financial industry collapse could be attributed to a sizable number of people graduating college, having no idea what to do with themselves, and picking investment banking and finance as a suitable career choice. These future ne'er do wells are ambitious, bright, high achievers. They do well at whatever they focus on. But they focus on finance only because it will pay well and because it's an established pillar of our society.

So they get there, to Wall Street or close, and they make a ton of money. But there's not much behind the drive anymore. They reach the pinnacle, look around, and sigh. If you are the best at what you do but the job doesn't interest you all that much, how much of yourself is really invested in the role? What other serious motives exist beyond wealth and status at that point? If you get to the top of the hill without really caring about the hill will you care about its future once you've arrived? Or will you pillage, stockpile, amass all you can to help make up for the fact that you really didn't give a shit about the venture to begin with?

A little dark? Maybe. But what's to keep people invested in a career, an endeavor, a relationship, if they don't really care about the content, only the outcome. To get to a place. I have these things. I earned this piece of the pie. But then what? You have the biggest house, the best title. But if it's not tied to something you genuinely respect and love, how can that pursuit possibly sustain you emotionally and intellectually over time?

I think some people somewhere, whether in the financial world or elsewhere, can relate to what I'm saying. If you have no passion or purpose to drive you beyond amassing material gain, then at some point you may as well sell out to the highest bidder and see if Johnny Law can figure it all out.