To be in denial is to live in delusion. Only if we wake up and accept the reality of our condition can we hope find a remedy to our maladies with the international economy.
Sparing the technical jargon and political correctness so as all may easily understand reality and the state of the world economy, here goes:-
A hundred years ago, a conman named Ponzi hit on a get rich quick scheme. He made A,B and C give him money, promising them capital + high interest within months instead of years. Within days, many heard of his offer and rush to 'invest' in this financial guru, more so when he paid out what was promised.
What he did was simply to use X, Y, Z's money to pay A, B and C. As long as there were 'investors', he could pay.
But when no one else was forthcomming, as suspicion grew, he could not pay off X, Y, Z, and fled. Thousands of late entrants X,Y and Zs lost their money to this conmen using what is more commonly known as the Pyramid scheme or Ponzi Scheme.
And what is now known as Capitalism is nothing more than a variation of this scheme. Regulators may claim that now, a product is made and changed hands for money or revenue, a value in the transaction process, makes business enterprise NOT a pyramid scheme where people pay for nothing.
But the fact is that each and every factory product made has a MARKED UP. Eg, a product costing $1 to create is sold at $5. While a product changes hand, a value created, the value is inflated to pay everyone in the biz 'pyramid' - CEOs getting fat cheques to the tea lady getting money for a cup of coffee - eat no fill, hungry but wont die (hokkien saying).
Consumers - the new entrants to the pyramid game, once again the suckers.
Even with competition, there still is a MARKED UP - $4 or $3 on a similar product. The only time when there is no mark up is when the competitor realizes it aint worth to create such products to play the Ponzi game.
Economists, Financial wizards, Hedge Fund operators, nobel economics peace prize laureates, etc may differ and claim all kinds of terms, variations, models, etc to confuse, confound and CON the masses, but the awful truth is that our world economy is thus nothing more than a giant approved Ponzi Scheme!
Many know the awful truth, even the media, but dare not mention it for it is taboo, and will only reflect badly on themselves, participants of it, by the more clueless masses, as the Ponzi scheme was reviled and casted down as a fraud by simple minded generations.
But there is a good side to the Ponzi scheme when regulated. It creates jobs and wealth for individuals, so long as there are
1.new entrants into the scheme - population growth
2. Raw resources to create needed products, and backed by money printed for its market value - Earth has not shown it is devoid of resources yet.
3. Clueless consumers continue to work, to pay for such goods.
Despite hiccups ( recessions), this scheme had not stop for decades as consumers recovered and SPEND .From the doctor to the road sweeper, everyone had been a part of the Ponzi scheme, and still is, whether you like it or not.
The alternative is to adopt communism, and let a central authority, made up of equally flawed human beings, dictate the economy and economic order, where historical facts only showed that it caused long bread queues, offensive wars and famines rather than individual wealth.
It is only by accepting the fact that we are flawed humans, sparing each other the dogma of good vs bad conflicts, and accepting we are all players in this reviled 'fraudalent' Ponzi game, rely heavily more on risk management and a prayer - then and only then can we find the solution for this current economic mess created by a group of pyramid leaders who had more money than the know-how to use it, and choose to stupidly give it away instead, causing that particular pyramid to collapse and afftected the confidence of every pyramid player on the planet.
Solution:-
1. Population is still growing
2. Earth still has resources
3. Consumers still have money but hoarded up.
= SPEND, espacially by the rich and game on till 1 or 2 or both stops. Probably another million years?
Stop spending now, and the entire structure built up over decades will collapse over your heads. A pyramid scheme, or some call it MLM, collapses when they are no new entrants or new products to the game, and the ones who suffer the most and lose the most money are those new entrants - YOU.
Some may go back to living on vegetables, rice and eggs, but many will have no acess to agricultural land. Barbarism wil ensue. Who will be the strongest man to survive and be the last man on Earth?
May our next generation be left with a better, fairer and free democratic system, and not another variation of the Ponzi scheme, if it can be found....
The last emperor of Vietnam Bao Di in the 60s taught a valuable lesson on hypocrisy to the world.
American officers in the Vietnam war was disgusted that an emperor was seen in public with 2 cheap street prostitutes by his side and showed their displeasure. Emperor Bao Di saw through their hypocrisy and told them " Between these 2 prostitutes, I am the biggest whore. They only sold out their bodies, but i sold out the entire nation to you"
May you be able to differentiate between hypocrisy and so called 'moral indignation' by members of the public in your daily life.
PS: This little tidbit on hypocrisy is meant for the anti-MIW brigage. Look at yourselves in the mirror before you thrash others.
Well, you've certainly said more interesting things now.
But i'd like to introduce to you this interesting term called EROEI, otherwise translated as Energy Returned Over Energy Invested.
Yes, i do not deny that Earth still has resources. However, the EROEI on these resources is the key point here.
Originally posted by xtreyier:
To be in denial is to live in delusion. Only if we wake up and accept the reality of our condition can we hope find a remedy to our maladies with the international economy.
Sparing the technical jargon and political correctness so as all may easily understand reality and the state of the world economy, here goes:-
A hundred years ago, a conman named Ponzi hit on a get rich quick scheme. He made A,B and C give him money, promising them capital + high interest within months instead of years. Within days, many heard of his offer and rush to 'invest' in this financial guru, more so when he paid out what was promised.
What he did was simply to use X, Y, Z's money to pay A, B and C. As long as there were 'investors', he could pay.
But when no one else was forthcomming, as suspicion grew, he could not pay off X, Y, Z, and fled. Thousands of late entrants X,Y and Zs lost their money to this conmen using what is more commonly known as the Pyramid scheme or Ponzi Scheme.
And what is now known as Capitalism is nothing more than a variation of this scheme. Regulators may claim that now, a product is made and changed hands for money or revenue, a value in the transaction process, makes business enterprise NOT a pyramid scheme where people pay for nothing.
But the fact is that each and every factory product made has a MARKED UP. Eg, a product costing $1 to create is sold at $5. While a product changes hand, a value created, the value is inflated to pay everyone in the biz 'pyramid' - CEOs getting fat cheques to the tea lady getting money for a cup of coffee - eat no fill, hungry but wont die (hokkien saying).
Consumers - the new entrants to the pyramid game, once again the suckers.
Even with competition, there still is a MARKED UP - $4 or $3 on a similar product. The only time when there is no mark up is when the competitor realizes it aint worth to create such products to play the Ponzi game.
Economists, Financial wizards, Hedge Fund operators, nobel economics peace prize laureates, etc may differ and claim all kinds of terms, variations, models, etc to confuse, confound and CON the masses, but the awful truth is that our world economy is thus nothing more than a giant approved Ponzi Scheme!
Many know the awful truth, even the media, but dare not mention it for it is taboo, and will only reflect badly on themselves, participants of it, by the more clueless masses, as the Ponzi scheme was reviled and casted down as a fraud by simple minded generations.
But there is a good side to the Ponzi scheme when regulated. It creates jobs and wealth for individuals, so long as there are
1.new entrants into the scheme - population growth
2. Raw resources to create needed products, and backed by money printed for its market value - Earth has not shown it is devoid of resources yet.
3. Clueless consumers continue to work, to pay for such goods.
Despite hiccups ( recessions), this scheme had not stop for decades as consumers recovered and SPEND .From the doctor to the road sweeper, everyone had been a part of the Ponzi scheme, and still is, whether you like it or not.
The alternative is to adopt communism, and let a central authority, made up of equally flawed human beings, dictate the economy and economic order, where historical facts only showed that it caused long bread queues, offensive wars and famines rather than individual wealth.
It is only by accepting the fact that we are flawed humans, sparing each other the dogma of good vs bad conflicts, and accepting we are all players in this reviled 'fraudalent' Ponzi game, rely heavily more on risk management and a prayer - then and only then can we find the solution for this current economic mess created by a group of pyramid leaders who had more money than the know-how to use it, and choose to stupidly give it away instead, causing that particular pyramid to collapse and afftected the confidence of every pyramid player on the planet.
Solution:-
1. Population is still growing
2. Earth still has resources
3. Consumers still have money but hoarded up.
= SPEND, espacially by the rich and game on till 1 or 2 or both stops. Probably another million years?
Stop spending now, and the entire structure built up over decades will collapse over your heads. A pyramid scheme, or some call it MLM, collapses when they are no new entrants or new products to the game, and the ones who suffer the most and lose the most money are those new entrants - YOU.
Some may go back to living on vegetables, rice and eggs, but many will have no acess to agricultural land. Barbarism wil ensue. Who will be the strongest man to survive and be the last man on Earth?
May our next generation be left with a better, fairer and free democratic system, and not another variation of the Ponzi scheme, if it can be found....
This was written well before the Madoff scandal broke. For those who support Germany's Frau Nien's stand of not spending, be prepared for failed states in the EU.
Spending is what keeps the economy going.
In ancient times where there was no common money/currency, people do barter trading. There were no currency to hoard or save.
ok. noted.
there is a mega Ponzi scheme sweeping across all western countries : pension scheme where x, y, z puts in money which is used to pay a, b, c.
people who migrated thinking they are getting a good deal from the pension schemes in the west are in for a rude shock.
U guys think the death penalty should be imposed on these kind of economic crimes more then 1 billion dollars ? heh heh
Originally posted by Daddy!!:there is a mega Ponzi scheme sweeping across all western countries : pension scheme where x, y, z puts in money which is used to pay a, b, c.
people who migrated thinking they are getting a good deal from the pension schemes in the west are in for a rude shock.
You are making it sound like our CPF scheme
I won't be surprised if there's lots of pension funds that are run in a Ponzi scheme to an extent. That's probably part of the reason why there's yelping that the US Social Security could go bust if too many drew out at once.
All I am doing is crossing my fingers that there's still money around when I draw my CPF out, but .... yes... the lack of transparency rankles.
U.S. really tok kong.
there received complaints many years ago about the scheme but nobody bothered to look into it.