Well, lets start with a short intro what systemic evil is:
Systematic evil is a complex system in which minor and unimportant activities seem meritorious, even virtuous. But, the output of the whole system or the product of connecting the individual actions together, is evil.
The moral haze it creates is that each participant feels that his or her portion of the process is good. Each worker and professional in the system does a good and responsible job. Filing is done well; lawyers fight hard to win, etc. Participants can even feel morally righteous.
But in reality, however, each link in the chain is part of the process that produces the evil. If the participants never look at what they are producing, if they each limit their vision to only their little piece, they never feel responsible for the evil outcome. The evil is blamed on the system—as though the system has a soul and a free will independent of the people who animate it.
Perhaps this is the greatest horror of systemic evil. The group feels no corporate responsibility.
(Reference: http://iwasinprison.org/news/jan25.html)
Is the financial crisis an output of systematic evil? You could argue that it is, but unfortuantely, I get the feeling that the financial crisis was done with people actually knowing what they were doing – really wrong and they used tom play the system.
You get the picture when you read this:
One-Percent Jokes and Plutocrats in Drag: What I Saw When I Crashed a Wall Street Secret Society
” Warren Stephens, an investment banking CEO, took the stage in a Confederate flag hat and sang a song about the financial crisis, set to the tune of “Dixie.” (“In Wall Street land we’ll take our stand, said Morgan and Goldman. But first we better get some loans, so quick, get to the Fed, man.”)