PoochyB’s Wordstock

Sandy Weill, whose pride and legacy ride on the fortunes of this merger, immediately riposted on all counts, contending that Citi’s “poor” results during the past couple of years are just a matter of bad execution.

ri·poste  noun, verb, -post·ed, -post·ing.

That meltdown could hardly have surprised Reed, who in the early days of the merger averred that over time the corporate bank of Citicorp had probably never made money.

a·ver
tr.v.   a·verred, a·ver·ring, a·vers

1. To affirm positively; declare.
2. Law
   1. To assert formally as a fact.
   2. To justify or prove.

Let us now consider a famous business convulsion.

con·vul·sion
n.  

1. An intense, paroxysmal, involuntary muscular contraction.
2. An uncontrolled fit, as of laughter; a paroxysm.
3. Violent turmoil: “The market convulsions of the last few weeks have shaken the world” (Felix Rohatyn).

Joseph Schumpeter was the great economist who wrote about the “perennial gale of creative destruction” wherein technological change and visionary entrepreneurs give birth to new things that obliterate old things, only to see those new things become obliterated by the next generation.

gale ¹
n.  

1. A very strong wind.
2. 1. Any of four winds with speeds of from 32 to 63 miles (51 to 102 kilometers) per hour, according to the Beaufort scale.
   2. A fresh gale.
3. A forceful outburst: gales of laughter.
4. Archaic A breeze.

It’s the third weakness, Wall Street’s profligacy with pay, that encourages outrageous risk taking.

prof·li·gate
adj.  

1. Given over to dissipation; dissolute.
2. Recklessly wasteful; wildly extravagant.

In today’s harsh light, their blithe attitude seems astonishing.

blithe
adj.   blith·er, blith·est

1. Carefree and lighthearted.
2. Lacking or showing a lack of due concern; casual: spoke with blithe ignorance of the true situation.

The goal should be better regulation, not necessarily more; there’s already a morass of rules.

mo·rass
n.  

1. An area of low-lying, soggy ground.
2. Something that hinders, engulfs, or overwhelms: a morass of details.