– One of the ‘legs’ of the Perfect Storm Hypothesis asserts that our first-world hi-tech societies are like houses of cards; being built higher and high each year and growing more unstable as we go.
– The increasing snarl of inter linkages and interdependencies are making the entire system more unstable. Many folks feel, however, that the additional redundancies should make it more robust but that is an irrelevancy because the deepest truth is that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
– The following two stories are both from the financial world and they both illustrate how something (insurance) that one would assume would make a system more robust against failure has, in these cases, actually made it more fragile.
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story #1:
Bonds Unbound by James Surowiecki on the Financial Page of The New Yorker Magazine, Feb 11, 2008
story # 2:
Arcane Market Is Next to Face Big Credit Test by Gretchen Morgenson, New Yorks Times, Feb 17, 2008
– research thanks to L.A.
– – The second article is from the NY Times and they insist that folks have an ID and a PW in order to read their stuff. You can get these for free just by signing up. However, a friend of mine suggests the website bugmenot.com 
as an alternative to having to do these annoying sign ups. Check it out. Thx Bruce S. for the tip.