"Corruption scandals are always tremendously complicated. Yet they are also tremendously simple. They are simple because they always involve the violation of elementary principles of accounting regarding how much money can be legitimately taken. They are complicated precisely because participants seek to shroud in complexity the violation of these simple principles."

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Can economic theory no longer explain itself? Did it take this long to figure out that consumers more often than not do not act rationally when it comes to economic transactions?

edit: This ALSO applies to the government. Make policies so screwed up and convoluted that a) no one bothers to even go through with fixing it, b) shit is so screwed up it creates long-term implications that affect us all, and c)  those with the money and power to keep things the way they are, are kept safely in status quo….

Quote is from a really good book so far: Animal Spirits, How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why it Matters for Global Capitalism (Akerlof, Shiller)