HYDRA-HEADED WILFULNESS *

My Greek mythology is rusty to say the least, but I recollect the Hydra was a dreadful, scary monster. When its head was cut off, in an attempt to kill the beast, two more heads immediately grew back, to replace the head that had been decapitated. And so on. Or was that the Gorgon?

Anyway, the financial institutions remind me of the Hydra.

I've caught several snippets on the radio in the last few days. First, apparently there is now a market trading technique called 'nano-dealing' or something. It involves buying stocks or commodities and then selling them in a split second, presumably by computer, making a large profit. Then there's a report that the financial whiz-kids have started slicing, dicing, repackaging and selling-on carbon trading deals, just like the sub-prime mortgages, so nobody can ever trace where they originated or what they actually contain. Another example involving the banks escapes me.

You might have thought these guys would have been chastened by the global financial crisis. Not a bit of it. I wonder how Hercules (or whoever) eventually subdued the Hydra?

* (Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 1)