John C. Bogle, aka “Jack” is the founder of the first index mutual fund and a long term advocate “on behalf of individual shareholders,” according to an interview in May 2009 at the Morningstar Investment Conference. Bogle stated that this crisis is “much more catastrophic” than those of 1973-74 and the Dot Com bust due to the devastating economic consequences for ordinary people. Bogle calls the current financial collapse, an “analytic failure…analysts and managers failed in their responsibility.”

Bogle asserted that this crisis is considerably worse than previous downturns due to the “financial misdeeds flowing over in to the general economy.” Bogle cited the tragedy of the current debacle as  ”the pain caused by the disgraceful behavior of so many of those in financial system that has spread over to very innocent people …Wall Street taking advantage of Main Street.”

In his most recent book, Enough (Wiley 2008), Bogle explains our economic structure: “Central to the effective functioning of capitalism was the fundamental principle of trusting and being trusted—and that is disappearing. The problem now: No one is satisfied with having ‘enough’ money or enough success.”

In Enough, Bogle reveals “Our nation has been suffering from decades of unchecked financial excess, for which we are now paying the piper: excess in investment company fees; excess in financial speculation masquerading as diversification and innovation; excess in the salaries of top executives; excess in salesmanship; and most importantly, excess in the role played by the financial industry in our national economy and national life.” (William Bernstein, PhD, Amazon)

In The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism, published by Yale University Press in 2006, Bogle calls for the “restoration of integrity” in financial industry practices.