Re: "Don't Show Me The Money"

To the editors:

It may be that our interest in money is, as James Atlas suggests, a form of pornographic pleasure (Don't Show Me The Money, 9/16/12) with a perverse interest in the very rich.  But I would emphasize, as he notes only in passing, the potential value and necessity of being informed about the practices of a world most of us know very little about and have tended to trust, however naively, with money put aside for retirement, our children's education or a rainy day. This is not pornographic indulgence, but essential reading. The current inundation of financial news may serve as a corrective for those blindsided by the financial meltdown.  Most important, if it keeps pressure on our elected officials for true financial reform perhaps it will be less likely that millions of innocent people, through no fault of their own, will have their lives destroyed by the actions of those who were trusted to take care of them.  But, of course, that may be naiveté kicking in.

Respectfully,

Larry S. Sandberg