Thursday 5 January 2012

Somebody mugged us ...

... and then disappeared into the crowd.

Why are we sitting back and allowing the gamblers and speculators to get away with this financial hit'n'run? Where's the forensic analysis of who ended up sitting on a pile of gains at our expense? - and for which we'll keep paying?

My belief is that the investment houses knew for many years that the continuous splitting of financial instruments was unsustainable - rumours had been circulating well before the meltdown that it was inevitable the whole flimsy pack of cards would have to come tumbling down (if only because it was becoming too administratively burdensome) - but the dealers knew that for every desperate new position they took, they were still raking a nice little commission regardless of the outcome.  They might not get as big a performance bonus, but it would be enough to pay their exorbitant salaries in the meantime.  If the writing was on the wall, why not go totally mental, keep playing "pass the toxic parcel" and hope you got out of there with enough feathers to cushion your cosy little nest egg before it all went tits up.

The truth we have to face up to is we're in a self-perpetuating tailspin and, regardless of politicians and financiers trying to talk us up (no doubt in the hope of dusting off their balaclavas and doing it all over again at some point in the future), no known strategies are going to work - not austerity, not even honesty.  It's way too late for that - society is in exponential decay as our population explodes.  I read yesterday that we'll have to produce as much food in the next 50 years as humankind has consumed in history to date.

An optimist by nature, I don't like to entertain or promote doom and gloom - someone either tell me I'm wrong or show me a platform I can rally behind.

4 comments:

  1. Sorry, I can't say you're wrong but I can send you this Youtube clip from last September, which someone just sent me: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC19fEqR5bA&feature=share.
    At least there's one man in the financial world who was honest about things!

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  2. Call me naive , but I truly believe that the use of highly Food productive agricultural areas for either mining or Fuel production (eg Grain or Other crops to Ethenol) is a start to the food shortage dillemna.. As far as immoral financial practices go ... not qualified to offer an opinion , as you stated even honesty has become a casualty.
    Giving up the mindless need to be consumers must become part of our psyches as well

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  3. Thanks for your comments, guys. Who needs me preaching doom with traders like Alessio Rastani talking the market down? - of course, it helps to fulfil his own 'dream scenario' of a deep recession so he can capitalise on the way down. No concern at all for his fellow man - only the "opportunities" the market presents.

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  4. I agree that the future ahead for mankind in general, is not a good one, although the wealthy will probably cope just fine. That’s the greedy people you’re writing about and they will be survivors in the future. We now have the technology to modify our environment to the point where people can survive space travel, so those who have control of our resources will be able to survive, regardless of how filthy or polluted or over populated this planet becomes. The secret to survival in the future is “be rich” or “be needed”. To position oneself for the future, if one is not inclined towards greed, dodgey dealing or theft, then higher education is the answer. Education is the only thing that sets us apart from animals and regardless of all the efforts of all the do-gooders on this planet, the world is becoming a far less charitable place by the day. Anyone with children should take this matter very seriously and encourage and nurture any ability they may have, towards higher education. Personally, I worry far less about mankind than I do for the other poor creatures on this planet.

    Has anyone noticed that the apocalyptic movies of the past, are now out of fashion? The science is done and we now know that, given the nature of mankind, this vision is coming true. Most of the Republican candidates for the upcoming US Presidential election, do NOT believe in climate change, as though it’s an article of faith! Politicians can’t cope with this problem. It would require something like a world wide benevolent dictator to sort this out and that’s not going to happen any time soon. The US has discovered a very large oil deposit in North Dakota. At the moment it is difficult to tap, but they are rapidly developing suitable technology to do so and production is increasing accordingly. Canada too, has a similar reserve in oil sands and that explains why they pulled out of Kyoto. Sure, the cost of production is a lot higher than in the past, but they’re not going to stop until they’ve sucked every last drop out of the ground and pumped it into the atmosphere. China and India are both planning to triple their strategic oil reserves, so there’s no plan to cut back there either. It took this planet something like 2 billion years to sequester all that carbon and we’re digging it up and pouring it back into the atmosphere. More CO2 plus more Methane from mining = more climate change and more serious weather events. More climate change will lead to more extinctions, starting most likely with very small creatures in our oceans and then filtering up the food chain. Will this force a change in the attitude of humanity and will it be too late if it does? I think US politicians have almost unlimited capacity for ignorance and as they charge forward to foreseeable disasters, the rest of the world is charging along behind ….. and China will overtake them within the next decade.

    I see no hope for reduction of carbon emissions in the future. Unfortunately, we have learned just enough in the last 200 years to allow ourselves to proliferate, but not in a sustainable manner. Your comment on food was interesting. The “elites” will always have plenty, but it’s the rest that are going to suffer.

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