I am not big on conspiracy theories, and the reason is that I have seen how government works and there too many parts moving around to really pull it all together to pull off a conspiracy of any sort. That is not to say there are not small conspiracies that do get pulled off with a great deal of expertise and effectiveness, but the massive big conspiracy, in my opinion, is not in the cards.
A few days ago, I quoted Henry Paulson from an article in VANITY FAIR in which he made the remark that there was a lack of financial literacy even among college educated people. This lack of financial literacy is only part of the problem, in my opinion. Yes, there are several factors for the economic situation we find ourselves in today. As a student of history, I am not one to limit the outcome of events to a single cause. But, with that said, I do think we, here in America, have too many toys and diversions, whether you believe they are planned or not is not important, that causes us to take our eye off the ball. (The MLB Playoffs are going on right now so baseball analogies are in season.) See, this is what I am talking about. We don't have lions eating Christians as the Romans did, but we have even more diversions than any Caesar could have ever imagined. We almost have football games on the tube every night during football season. And, if we are not watching football, we are watching some comedy show on TV, or listening to music, or, if we are creative, writing music, a book or painting a picture. Who has time to be concerned with the details of money and banking or investment securities and their markets when there are so many other interesting and fun things to do?
Behind all this nonsense, the members of Congress are free to do as they please, or, more accurately, listen to the lobbyists that are well paid by the banking industry to do their bidding. Where is the safety net to protect us? There is none, or, the safety net is when the markets say the game is over and has a meltdown. How many times will the taxpayer bailout the financial service industry? Answer: As many times as necessary. By the way, who's playing Thursday night?
Stay tuned.
Posts
1 comment:
Conspiracy theories ... oh my! They are absolutely delicious. Here's some of what they do for us:
A successful conspiracy theory empowers us, the believers, against what are perceived as external forces that we blame for some unpleasant or undesirable facet of our lives (or a tragedy like 9/11 or the assassination of Kennedy, etc.). Conspiracy theories also absolve us of some degree of accountability in whatever it is that happened. They can also help us rationalize the belief that any efforts to oppose the "thing" will be futile, so why even try. Since someone more powerful is pulling all the strings, we're just hapless victims - right?
They're a lot like paranoia -- and you know what they say about that don't you? "Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not after me."
So, Moneythoughts, who the hell is playing Thursday night?
Summer
Post a Comment