EconomicReason

Alecto, Tisiphone and Magaera, the three Furies, are the goddesses of vengeance and guardians of law in Roman mythology. They are called Erinyes in Greek mythology. The Furies intervene not only when a crime is committed against the positive law of a given society, but also when it is against the natural law. For example, they would protect beggars, strangers, dogs and young birds. In the Iliad, they are characterized as “those who beneath the earth punish whoever has sworn a false oath”. They are horrible to look at, with snakes as their hair, blood dripping from their eyes, carrying whips made of scorpions, with which they scourge the living and the dead. They are unrelenting in their pursuit of criminals, pitiless, but fair. Often, they are striking the offenders with madness.

It appears that Nemesis, executrix of justice, finally made up her mind that enough is enough. By calling the Furies to appear on Earth and sending them after the perpetrators of the current financial mess, justice should be restored. As an economist, I have no idea how the financial and economic crises are going to play out. However, taking guidance from mythology, the crisis might be far from over. Despite the severity of the crisis, there is still obvious and widespread fraud, corruption, arrogance and ignorance going unpunished, mainly in the financial sector. For divine justice to be be served, the crisis will have to worsen significantly.