Well said aps23 Aug 2017 00:43
Following on from my rant this morning I have a further thought to share which has been on my mind all day. We now seem to be largely run by the markets and their offshoots - using our money of course - because they don't have any, if they did they certainly wouldn't risk it in a business.
When you consider how the markets work, it becomes easier to understand how we got into all the trouble in the first place, since the basic principles have always been the same. Shareholders invest their money when they buy shares which effectively amounts to a loan at no interest, or in return for a management fee in anticipation of dividends and capital appreciation.
So far so normal - deregulation under Aunty Margaret gradually at first changed all this. The boys in the red braces joined in and were incentivised by the banks to grab market share - "with our money" - nothing wrong with financing deals as long as they bear fruit.
However someone invented "securitisation" which was intended to eliminate risk by insuring it - large commissions were earned on the arrangements and everybody joined in the frenzy.
Money was borrowed in order to "INVEST" - didn't matter what it was, the money was always there, if you didn't join in you were a wimp and lacked ambition. I didn't, because it was something that had happened before under Margaret,
which when it unwound almost destroyed us. Instead I concentrated on making profit and running down my stocks in order to do so, this resulted in my being in a much stronger position when the tide turned.
The banks meanwhile seemed intent on bursting the economy with their debt explosion - anyone without at least twelve credit cards with a balance on all of them, simply did not know how to live in this exciting new world. I paid mine off and haven't used it since.
My question is if the boys in the RED braces were as good as they thought that were and the people running the banks had only acted in "good faith" by not lending to people who would not be able to repay what they borrowed when the interest rates rose and the economy slowed, which it had to do because of the pressure on victims by the usurers who had created the illusion for a while, that you could spend the same money twice.
The destruction of personal wealth is now something that we will have to learn to live with, because nobody knows where all the money went. It must not be allowed to happen for a second time in Ireland because it will take decades to recover.
now that is a proper rant - good luck E & O E
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