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Money (paper & metal) is an abstract representation of value, only a tool to ease trade. It was never intended to be manipulated at ever higher levels of abstraction. The original idea of stocks was that if you believed in a company and what they produced, you could help them financially in buying stock in the company. You share in both the profits and losses for your investment.
Today the level of abstract manipulation of this abstract tool has gotten way out of hand. Many who invest in retirement plans have absolutely no idea as to where their money is invested. For all they know it could be invested in something that is going to kill them.
Through the high level of abstract mathematical formulas, such as the Black-Scholes formula, whole regions of the world have been financially drained, nickle and dime’d to death. This happened in the 90’s a decade having a very interesting and relevant time line. South East Asia was drained. Read the transcript and consider some of the losers may well have been Enron, Worldcom, a Califorina Electric company, and maybe even the Pentagon, among others. Embezzlement would be fitting of those who invested without the approval of those who owned the money. Probably figuring it was a sure thing, they would “borrow” make money on it and put it back with a little extra and no one would notice. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2704stockmarket.html
The effect of this gamble were that of a wave the passed around the world, except for China, who was not playing the stock game but got Hong Kong back, (end of briish lease) for a front seat view of it and what happened.
What the effect this game had on individual people? In the simplest terms it was a making worth less the real value of what the individual people produced in their daily lives, not to forget the many who lost their retirement funds. And all this by an abstract game on and abstract tool called money, which produced no new value in its transfer of wealth from those who produced it to those who simply just took it, stole it.
The tool of Money was never intended to be manipulated at such high levels of abstraction. And I suppose this is why the Wallstreet BULL, this godless idol of the game players, the abstract manipulating thieves, is so well protected.
Will someone please put a porta potty behind the bull? For the people are tired of the bull manure of Wallstreet being dumped on them. And its obvious the game players know… to have their bull protected.
The how has been documented. They even gave themselves a Nobel prize in economics, imagine that!
Tim: Thank you so much for your comment. It really helped me to understand a lot in plain English without all the rhetoric!
Diane
Why not have leadership?
that is a good question:why not have leadership?because leadership usually sucks. its something about people who think they should lead others, or everybody else, even. think of the “leaders” in our everyday lives: boss, sgt, general, president….people need to be able to lead themselves and make their own choices. systems that place certain people (like “leaders” above other people seem to usually violate people in all sorts of ways.
There is a difference between systems of leadership. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership
Today we do not need the massive military industrial complex spending budget. Anyone can do that math. US and Allies having over 60% of the budget and the rest spread among teh remaining poor and small countries… Who are we going to war with that we need such abusive spending?
Leadership does not mean this sort of self destructive abuse but rather is indicative of wrong leadership, perhaps psychopathic leadership.
7 billion people on this planet and some fraction of 1% mucking things up for the rest of us. That simply does not qualify as leadership.
There is value in organized structure designed to optimize the team work benefits the team shares in. But such structure, to avoid abuse must have limits and check systems built in. No one person should ever be in a position to command the initiation of war. Given the system we have and the knowledge, even recognized over 200 years ago in the writing of the Declaration of Independence, knowing that government biases evolves towards corruption, inherently, if it is so designed to be able to.
According to the Declaration of Independence we the people of the United States have the right and the DUTY to either keep our government in check (hard to do when they do things in secret hidden from the public) or to put such government off and replace it with such organized structure to provide the team work benefits expected.
So where is our (US citizens) option to do this when its clear the whole current structure is a fail. From the voting system to those who are not elected but have positions of command. Where is our option that we can apply without threat of force or Coercion?
Many US citizens have this question “what can we do?” And no one has yet to come up with an answer that doesn’t involve conflict or require the use of a broken system that leads to limbo.
The world population has grown to the point the mass majority know there are no ghost in the closet or under the bed threats. Many of us have friends around the world and know, they are just like us, living their daily lives with no interest in going to another country to kill people we don’t know.
Some will argue population problems and suggest massive population reduction, but really its just those who have psychological problems with their delusions of power and control when really what is needed is team work focus to solve real world problems rather than creating problems that otherwise do not exist, but with teh excuse of population reduction to make themselves feel better about their handicap.
Leadership… knowledge begets knowledge and specific knowledge begets its own, be it destructive warfare or productive problems solving.
Which way do you want to go? A question for every human being.