But at the time, the opaqueness created uncertainty and the uncertainty was enough to cause the meltdown.

FORBES: Five Steps That Banks Must Take To Achieve The Good Society

There's a general opaqueness in online leaking, which isn't surprising, given all the stresses involved in the practice.

CNN: See yourself as the next Assange? Good luck

What happens next is hard to predict, not least because of Enron's opaqueness.

ECONOMIST: Enron's fall

If banks and regulators were delivering good results, nobody would mind their opaqueness.

CNN: World's leaders aren't doing their jobs

Because of the opaqueness of municipal accounting, it is hard to say just how dependent town halls now are on building.

ECONOMIST: The bad side-effects of a housing boom

"The sheer complexity, opaqueness and systemic risks embedded in the new markets have enormously complicated both official and private responses, " Volcker pointed out.

FORBES: The Blame Game

But now, in a Washington that has elevated the concept of self-unawareness to an art form, the SEC has ruled in favor of a regulation that ensures opaqueness when it comes to the true value of stock prices.

FORBES

"I think Joyce Banda has (an) amazing opportunity now to open it up, to allow this to be done in a more accountable way so that there isn't the opaqueness, there's more transparency and we can avoid the spiraling inequalities which occur through oil wealth, " he said.

CNN: Troubled water: Oil search fuels tension over Lake Malawi