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Article: Merchants of Debt.
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- June 13, 1992
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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LONG ago, when muck meant brass and the muck came from making things, industrialists in the north of England had no time for fancy ideas on finance. Remember die tale of the urbane Londoner, recruited as the finance director of a Yorkshire firm, who spoke out on strategy at his first board meeting? The chairman cut him off, with a brief clarification of his role: "Tha's here, lad, to do nowt but keep t'score."
In America in the 1980s it often seemed as though such fuddy-duddy ways had been turned on their head. Ordinary businessmen were there just to keep the quarterly income figures rolling steadily upwards. The real excitement lay with those in charge of die ...