Different perspectives

After watching numerous youtubes about the 2008 financial meltdown, in a bit to understand why i am paying MYR45 for cooking oil today, when just about a year back, it was a high of MYR32 and when on a sale, I can get it for a low of MYR21.

So, we now understand that it is an issue of politicians and the ability to create credit or the ability to create a "product" from thin air. Industries that are able to generate transactions from thin air. Mainly financial industries. And all would be due to greed. The ability to generate credit is how banks steal from the hardworking, poor and middle class and transfer the wealth to the very rich and to themselves.

And banks have done this over and over again - creating financial disasters to feed their own greed. Knowing that because they are "too big to fail", that governments would jump in and save them with taxpayer's money. And they get away with all the money that they have stolen. Then when the people have gotten accustomed to the fact that they have to deal with the injustice, the bankers come out again and push the politicians for further deregulation of the financial markets. Rinse and repeat. 

Documentaries on the 2008 disaster did give a different perspective. It tells of how the in the middle of the disasters, there are regulators who truly believe in market forces or open markets. The regulators who believe in deregulation and moral hazard. Regulators who did not want to bail the banks out because they believe the market rewards and punishes. Who in the end, have no choice but to bail the banks out for the economy and good of the country. Regulators who believe that if they allow the financial system to fail, that other countries would lose confidence in the country and that would result in complete collapse of the country's economy. So, the public should understand. 

Yes, as the disaster was unfolding, you had to do what you had to do. You had to give the public's money to the banks to stabilize the situation. But why were there no conditions to the bail out? How the bail out money should be used? New rules in place to prevent this from happening again? Perhaps it was too much to handle. Banks were going bankrupt over the weekends. 

But now that the situation has been managed, and why aren't the culprits punished? Or at least controlled? You can imagine why occupy wall street happened. You worked hard to maintain a normal life, the money in your bank loses it's value because the banks created more money. The retirement money in the hedge funds got stolen because the banks were selling derivatives to enrich themselves. Taking a percentage of that savings every quarter. And finally, when the bubble the banks created explodes, the government have to take taxpayers' money to save the bank. 

It is difficult to not be angry when you are trading time for money, not getting to spend that time with your loved ones, and yet money it losing value and you are being robbed every single day. From the money you have in the bank, and the money the government insist you save and then the money you passed to the government to create a thriving living environment. Instead the money in the bank loses value, a percentage of the money in the hedge funds get stolen (especially if the hedge funds don't understand the investments they are making) and the taxpayer's money goes into the banker's pockets to save them and indirectly save the people from the disaster the banker's created. 

I must say kudos to the people who created the documentaries - documenting this disaster in a simple way so the public may understand, the regulators would remember. Perhaps prevent the next disaster? No, history always repeats itself. After all that happened, it is clear that the ignorant is punished. So, whoever the perpetrators are, however useless the regulators are, in the end, if you are ignorant, you are punished. 

With the advancement in technology, there will be innovation. With these changes, there will be new ways of doing things, new products - created to fulfill a need. Understand those changes, those innovations and how it works. Because one arsehole is going to figure out how to make money from it. This arsehole is going to convince another person who don't necessary understand it to do the same. Thanks to social media, alot of people are going to be very quickly convinced that it is the best new way to make money. Jumping into it even if they don't understand it, as they would not want to miss the boat. This creates a bubble. Especially if whatever they are doing or selling does not really create any value. 

Knowing all this is frustrating. There is no real resolution. Unless there is a medium that is durable, portable or transferable, divisible, uniform, acceptable and limited in supply (which money is not). Crypto currency perhaps? It is likely that the concept came about due to this need. But the banks and politicians are jumping on board. Will the people understand what is going on? Or will they allow themselves to be robbed once more? Will the effort to take away the very elements that have gotten the people into this mess be successful? Or will money prevail? The banks have the money and politics to take this idea and bring it back into their fold. What will their claims be? That banks are credible...? Really?