Actually, in countries with strong legal systems where the risk of losing money is real, this sort of behavior is held somewhat in check. But when no one is loo

Actually, in countries with strong legal systems where the risk of losing money is real, this sort of behavior is held somewhat in check. But when no one is looking, or the risk of being caught is low, it happens. One can make the argument that the entire mortgage crisis was one where the insiders (rich people on Wall Street) knew the edifice was crumbling, and went ahead and made bets against its survival, while selling instruments out the back door that were the opposite bets. These were promptly sold off to the hinterlands of the country. And of course the poor saps that bought overpriced houses paid the price. Those on Wall Street not only made obscene amounts of money on those bets, but never were prosecuted for it. It's good to be rich.