Economics is a vast field that today is very often reduced to numbers, but there is another side to economics that is more than just numbers. There are the people. I have been writing this blog, MONEYTHOUGHTS, since February 13, 2008, and while I have enjoyed having this small piece of routine every morning, I am also hoping that more people might take an interest in the events surrounding world of finance as it pertains to and influences each of our lives. There is a lot to learn. Information and terms to understand is just a part of it, but the people making the bets and taking the risks are at the heart of what is happening.
I received my copy of VANITY FAIR yesterday in the mail and sure enough there is another story about Goldman Sachs. What will VANITY FAIR do if Goldman Sachs would disappear? In the January 2010 issue of VANITY FAIR, starting on page 82, is THE JOB by Bethany McLean. Those interested in getting a little better feel and understanding of what went on at Goldman Sachs during this period will, I think, find this article interesting. This is an article that talks about people, not just numbers or dollars. It is not the last word on the subject, but just another piece of the puzzle.
We, those of us living in a post industrialized society like the United States, live in a very different world than the world for us only 50 years ago. We do not walk or drive around with a lot of cash in our pockets. Most of us have a credit card or two and we use these to execute the transaction for the goods and services we need. Pay checks, pensions and Social Security checks are now directly deposited into our bank accounts. We have faith and confidence that the dollars that show up on our computer screens will be there when we need them. But, in this fast changing world of finance, we need to understand some, and perhaps most, of the machinations that go along with our way of life. This stuff, in my opinion, for us today is more important than knowing the earth is round or that the earth travels around the sun. Those items are nice to know, but understanding finance in the post modern world may keep you alive. Spread the word, people need to understand money and banking.
Stay tuned.
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2 comments:
That's the thing that gets lost in all of the machinations that go on - the people.
Example. Company A, feeling it needs to drive more money to the bottom line, in order to benefit the shareholders, finds a way to export 500 jobs overseas. 500 people are out of work. Unemployment benefits are drawn. Money is not spent that otherwise would have been. Shareholders of Company A who own, operate or work in businesses affected by the cutback in local workforce, are themselves adversely affected by the 500 missing jobs.
Multiply that by the hundreds of US companies that have done just that.
You're so right, "another article" about GS. Back when the markets started their tumble in 2008 I started to try to find answers as to what was going on. I, in turn, found your blog. I found it interesting and informative. Ask me about saving money and I could pretty much give you a hand but ask me how the system works and I would be in the dark.
Upon your suggestion I read a Rolling Stones article by Matt Taibbi, Inside The Great American Bubble Machine and from there some of his other writings. It seemed like I became obsessed with find the dirt about Goldman Sachs.
The problem today is that while GS, along with the then AIG and a few other banks, woops, institutions, set us all up and tons of paper and ink has been laid to the waste or writing about them, nothing....absolutely nothing has been done about it. In fact, just the opposite, seems to me they have been rewarded.
I still read but more on other subjects now.
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