Not Risky Enough

James Surowiecki rejects moral hazard arguments:

…this is a very odd time to be worrying about people taking too much risk. In fact, as he writes, the problem we’re facing right now is “too little risktaking, not too much.” People are so understandably worried about their jobs, their savings, and so on, that they’ve become far more risk averse than they normally would be. Bailouts may make people a little more likely to take a gamble. But at the moment, that’s precisely what the economy needs.