[five4suited]

Yeah, it's a messy post, but I'll take the embarrassment, please. The first mistake I made was quoting any particular post from the "opposing" side, for sure.

However, apparently I misunderstand the relationship between "white-collar crime" and "legal fuzziness," because afaik said fuzziness arises from companies and lobbyists buying off and instructing politicians, whether through campaign donations or more direct means. Obviously, that's part of life -- but trying to defend the process on its merits is just ridiculous.

I brought up cheating at poker because I've heard/read many times that if you're not pushing the boundaries of the law on Wall Street, you're not playing the game properly, which isn't true wrt poker/poker players.

I don't see how you fail to appreciate the undertone of "everybody does it"/"it's no big deal" throughout this thread (except from the OP, who only said it once iirc, for which I respect him deeply). I clearly should have structured my post differently because that is the idea I'm directing my diatribe towards, ultimately.