Does ANYONE Understand Economics?
It would seem that no matter which country you look at these days, you really have to wonder if anyone, anywhere really understands our economic system.
The meltdown in 2008 was triggered by huge banking institutions amassing massive amounts of 'make believe wealth' which on paper looked wonderful. Then for some reason they discovered that there wealth seemed to be backed by nothing but smoke and mirrors and then the stuff hit the fan and is still flying around.
People and investors at all levels think they 'lost' a whole lot of wealth when the market took a tumble, but was there any real wealth there in the first place? Has Wall Street and other world exchanges simply become sophisticated gaming houses where the players are playing rather than trying to fulfill the purpose they originally were started to fill? Do stock traders even really understand the reason the stock market came into being in the first place? Do they think it only exists so they can earn exorbitant commissions driven by a trading frenzy that has no basis in reality?
I remember hearing one trader explaining why those in his profession deserved to make millions of dollars and his reply was "we are able to make wealth out of nothing!". That is exactly what he said, and you know, I believe he thought he could create wealth out of nothing. In spite of his thousand dollar suits, flashy car and ivy league education, this guy is simply as dumb as a bag of hammers. To think anyone can make real wealth out of nothing is pure folly. Remember way back before the days of enlightenment, when people were ever trying to figure out how to turn lead into gold? Same principle today, with creating wealth out of nothing.
Right now the CBC (I think) is airing a series titled 'Meltdown' where they go into in depth study of what was going on in the marketplaces of the world in the period leading up to the massive correction in 2008. If nothing else is revealed watching this documentary the matter of pure, unadulterated, self serving human greed is at the heart of this great folly. From the person who thought they could own a home with nothing down, to the con artists who foisted trick mortgages on the unsuspecting, to the brokers and bankers who bundled up all this worthless paper and peddled it on the world market; where it was purchased by huge financial institutions looking to make money for really doing NOTHING.
The amazing thing about all of this, is that it took years and the involvement of all levels of society right up to and including the governments of nations .... and either no one saw it coming, which means they are totally ignorant, or they saw it coming and simply figured out how to best profit from it personally.
In the time following this financial crisis, it is plain to see that all the captains of industry and finance with their degrees from ivy league schools don't really have a clue how the market was intended to work in the first place. In spite of what they have been taught, the whole system does not exist to supply them with bags of cash and standards of living previously reserved for royalty.
If anyone wonders if our 'Leaders' really know what they are doing there are a few 'blue chip' names to remember: Enron ---- Nortel ----- General Motors -----Bear Sterns ---Goldman Sachs ---Lehman Brothers-----Iceland---Greece---Spain to name just a few.
I think someone needs to put some training wheels on this whole economy before the engineers that are driving this thing, run it completely off the rails.
I remember hearing one trader explaining why those in his profession deserved to make millions of dollars and his reply was "we are able to make wealth out of nothing!". That is exactly what he said, and you know, I believe he thought he could create wealth out of nothing. In spite of his thousand dollar suits, flashy car and ivy league education, this guy is simply as dumb as a bag of hammers. To think anyone can make real wealth out of nothing is pure folly. Remember way back before the days of enlightenment, when people were ever trying to figure out how to turn lead into gold? Same principle today, with creating wealth out of nothing.
Right now the CBC (I think) is airing a series titled 'Meltdown' where they go into in depth study of what was going on in the marketplaces of the world in the period leading up to the massive correction in 2008. If nothing else is revealed watching this documentary the matter of pure, unadulterated, self serving human greed is at the heart of this great folly. From the person who thought they could own a home with nothing down, to the con artists who foisted trick mortgages on the unsuspecting, to the brokers and bankers who bundled up all this worthless paper and peddled it on the world market; where it was purchased by huge financial institutions looking to make money for really doing NOTHING.
The amazing thing about all of this, is that it took years and the involvement of all levels of society right up to and including the governments of nations .... and either no one saw it coming, which means they are totally ignorant, or they saw it coming and simply figured out how to best profit from it personally.
In the time following this financial crisis, it is plain to see that all the captains of industry and finance with their degrees from ivy league schools don't really have a clue how the market was intended to work in the first place. In spite of what they have been taught, the whole system does not exist to supply them with bags of cash and standards of living previously reserved for royalty.
If anyone wonders if our 'Leaders' really know what they are doing there are a few 'blue chip' names to remember: Enron ---- Nortel ----- General Motors -----Bear Sterns ---Goldman Sachs ---Lehman Brothers-----Iceland---Greece---Spain to name just a few.
I think someone needs to put some training wheels on this whole economy before the engineers that are driving this thing, run it completely off the rails.
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