You must pay a heavy price. Yet, gambling in stocks, or being an insider in a stock deal can bring a quick fortune. When speculating in stocks yields greater profits than producing goods and providing services, something is terribly amiss. A market crash can dramatically slow the economy. Look at Japan.
Bank loans have gone into default, bankruptcies soar, stocks plummet, and losses mount.
Business slows and layoffs escalate. Scandals erupt as the imprudent and dishonest see their schemes unravel in the glare of a merciless market. The lenders who have had their day in the sun take hit after hit. Wealth shrinks and prices of all assets erode. In the face of a great rush for liquidity, liquidity wanes.