I guess Washington relies on the factoid that Americans have a very short attention span.
Based on the comment from Lila Rajiva, the other day, who is the co-author of one of my favorite books, "Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets", and a must read (to which you can order from my book library spindle at the top) she mentioned that perhaps more writing needs to be done regarding the financiers who have swindled the world from its money. I do agree, do to the fact that most people have already forgotten what has really transpired in the past only four short months...You can find her blog on the right in the column titled "Other Blogs of Interest" to which I frequent and hers is called, Mind-Body Politic.
To recap;
Back in September, Bernanke and Paulson came to Washington and asked for a blank check with no strings attached so they could get the banks the $700B in order for the banks to begin to buy up the toxic assets...When Bush came forward and asked for the blank check-the public said,"not again with the blank check policy..." But basically the politicos gave in anyway after a few bullshit sessions to make things look good to their constituents since Nov. 4 was right around the corner...politics, right?!
Then the banks took the money and hoarded it. No one in Washington told them they actually had to DO something with OUR money we were giving to them-those who fucked it all up in the first place. Oh, some paid for some great parties and a few CEO's and such got some great golden parachutes albeit with different semantic wording in order to comply...but they still got their-I mean, OUR money...
Then the banks kept hoarding the money. They continue to blame it on the consumer confidence. Is this CON or CONfidence... Businesses failed, people went broke, people lost their homes, people lost their jobs, more people lost their homes...
Obama got elected and people began to see a new light to the world. People forgot about the shit...The banks kept hoarding the money...
But more businesses failed, more people went broke, more people lost their homes, more people lost their jobs, then more people lost their homes...
Well, Bernanke stated today, in a speech in London, that he thought that the banks should be given the rest of the $350B that Obama is asking for so that the banks could buy up the toxic assets.
I'm sorry, did I hear that again? I mean, did you stutter? I mean, do you mean it this time?
And I guess our Democratic Congress and Senate decided to get a set of balls when there is an incoming Democratic President. Where were the concerns and checks and balances for the Bush $350B(actually substantially more...)
I asked for the Democrats to get a set of balls, but perhaps they needed to have a damn backbone when we had the Bush criminals running the show...
Once again, you can't make this shit up!
Bernanke originally came in stating that our old friend Greenspan had failed at his job. By no oversight or foresight he seemed oblivious to the lending rates and bubble that was being created. Bernanke stated that Greenspan should have never brought down the rates as low as he did. Now, Bernanke has brought the rates to the lowest they have been since...I'm an American-I can't remember, oh that's a good thing for Bernanke...but I'll find out online...
Don't these people know that everything is recorded and secured for the rest of time through the internet, cell phones, Twitter, Facebook, blogs and more...?
Perhaps they don't care because they know that America has a very short attention span.
What was I saying again?...
Oh, yeah, I was talking about this guy who "made off" with all of our money...his name was Madoff! Anyway...
And we wonder where the CON is in consumer confidence...
This, the 237th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2009 Doug Boggs
Showing posts with label Lila Rajiva. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lila Rajiva. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Mobs, Messiahs and Markets, oh my...
Do you have the ability to hold opposing ideas and discuss them rationally in order to come to a more educated debated result? Or, are you one that will debate only with opposing viewpoints in order to maintain your position to learn, or try to convince? F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise.”
I have read the book "Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets" a couple of times, and recommend it highly. But you must be able to transcend your singular mindset. The authors run both sides of the fence on nearly every issue they bring up. This can be trying for some as they will be reading some chapters that run the liberal viewpoints to which, if you agreed with, would make one feel good. Then they bring in the contrarian viewpoint using the same examples as the liberal points in order to make their case. What this does is show that anything and everything will always have both views at the same time due to human nature. It is human nature that is the premise of the book in relation to crowd or mob mentality, religion and economics.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I originally read the 400 odd pages in just a few days. Basically the premise is that we don't seem to see just how difficult and complex things really are. We want to be able to understand and have context to things that we may not be able to fully comprehend. Yet, despite this we get involved in speculation on so many levels in an attempt to gain some ground. Does this all revert to the simplistic relations to the opposite sex? Can we be that simple in such a complex world? It seems to be written in our DNA. Now, add this type of behavior to the mass public and you begin to understand why we get some of societies stupid behavior.
We like to think that we have free will. We like to think that we think for ourselves and are able to act freely. Studies show that people are more likely to accept the opinion of a confident con man than the cautious view of someone who actually knows what he is talking about. This is much of why we have found ourselves in the delicate economic situation we have today. Match this action with such an interconnected world and we have exponential problems. Match this with the uneducated masses dealing with some of these delicate economic situations and the exponential problems get even worse. Many people think our elected officials actually know what they are talking about with this economic crisis. These Senators and Congresspersons are just like anyone else, as lawyers, doctors, chiropractors, union leaders, real estate developers, and soldiers. Yet, the masses seem to think because they are in these elected positions they know the ins and outs of hedge funds, derivatives, options, and the many other intricate financial tools that were created by the true .05% elitist select few while no one was watching.
Voltaire, a historically noted skeptic of the revealed truth of the Church, of the divine right of kings, of the wealth and position of the sovereign, and of the "wisdom" of the common man is noted as saying, "Doubt is an uncomfortable position, but certainty is an absurd one."
One would do well today to heed this gem and to be highly skeptical of the economic forecasters, market timers and other investment gurus. After all, these are the same people that put us all into this economic mess. It should be noted that the global markets greatest investors like Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Peter Lynch, and John Templeton all have confessed that they could never tell just what the market was going to be doing next. They understand the mindset of the mob mentality. They understand that the market is a living entity and is not subject to control. We like to think we can control it, but this, as Voltaire stated, is an absurd notion. So, these investors bought companies that were selling at a low P/E (Price to Earnings) and held them until it was time to sell when the market recognized their true value.
The Emergence Theory that I have discussed recently goes hand in hand with some of the ideas outlined in this book. In the mob mentality there is not leader. There is an energy to which all follow in their own little worlds much like the example of the flock of birds or shoal of fish. They act in unison without a leader. When the markets, or real estate, or election results come in we see how the mob or lemming mentality can be detrimental to our society. If people do not begin to stop and think prior to making such delicate decisions for themselves and rationally think using both sides of an argument to come to an educated result we will find our typical patterns, the imprinted DNA to which we have "free will", continue to emerge.
Authors Bill Bonner and Lila Rajiva tear this theory at the root. Sure, everyone is self-interested… but rational? Their book, "Mobs, Messias, and Markets", has just received the prestigious "GetAbstract Book Award" for 2008.
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
I have read the book "Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets" a couple of times, and recommend it highly. But you must be able to transcend your singular mindset. The authors run both sides of the fence on nearly every issue they bring up. This can be trying for some as they will be reading some chapters that run the liberal viewpoints to which, if you agreed with, would make one feel good. Then they bring in the contrarian viewpoint using the same examples as the liberal points in order to make their case. What this does is show that anything and everything will always have both views at the same time due to human nature. It is human nature that is the premise of the book in relation to crowd or mob mentality, religion and economics.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I originally read the 400 odd pages in just a few days. Basically the premise is that we don't seem to see just how difficult and complex things really are. We want to be able to understand and have context to things that we may not be able to fully comprehend. Yet, despite this we get involved in speculation on so many levels in an attempt to gain some ground. Does this all revert to the simplistic relations to the opposite sex? Can we be that simple in such a complex world? It seems to be written in our DNA. Now, add this type of behavior to the mass public and you begin to understand why we get some of societies stupid behavior.
We like to think that we have free will. We like to think that we think for ourselves and are able to act freely. Studies show that people are more likely to accept the opinion of a confident con man than the cautious view of someone who actually knows what he is talking about. This is much of why we have found ourselves in the delicate economic situation we have today. Match this action with such an interconnected world and we have exponential problems. Match this with the uneducated masses dealing with some of these delicate economic situations and the exponential problems get even worse. Many people think our elected officials actually know what they are talking about with this economic crisis. These Senators and Congresspersons are just like anyone else, as lawyers, doctors, chiropractors, union leaders, real estate developers, and soldiers. Yet, the masses seem to think because they are in these elected positions they know the ins and outs of hedge funds, derivatives, options, and the many other intricate financial tools that were created by the true .05% elitist select few while no one was watching.
Voltaire, a historically noted skeptic of the revealed truth of the Church, of the divine right of kings, of the wealth and position of the sovereign, and of the "wisdom" of the common man is noted as saying, "Doubt is an uncomfortable position, but certainty is an absurd one."
One would do well today to heed this gem and to be highly skeptical of the economic forecasters, market timers and other investment gurus. After all, these are the same people that put us all into this economic mess. It should be noted that the global markets greatest investors like Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Peter Lynch, and John Templeton all have confessed that they could never tell just what the market was going to be doing next. They understand the mindset of the mob mentality. They understand that the market is a living entity and is not subject to control. We like to think we can control it, but this, as Voltaire stated, is an absurd notion. So, these investors bought companies that were selling at a low P/E (Price to Earnings) and held them until it was time to sell when the market recognized their true value.
The Emergence Theory that I have discussed recently goes hand in hand with some of the ideas outlined in this book. In the mob mentality there is not leader. There is an energy to which all follow in their own little worlds much like the example of the flock of birds or shoal of fish. They act in unison without a leader. When the markets, or real estate, or election results come in we see how the mob or lemming mentality can be detrimental to our society. If people do not begin to stop and think prior to making such delicate decisions for themselves and rationally think using both sides of an argument to come to an educated result we will find our typical patterns, the imprinted DNA to which we have "free will", continue to emerge.
Authors Bill Bonner and Lila Rajiva tear this theory at the root. Sure, everyone is self-interested… but rational? Their book, "Mobs, Messias, and Markets", has just received the prestigious "GetAbstract Book Award" for 2008.
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
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