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Thursday, July 25, 2013

Bankers Own The World

In every era, there are certain people and institutions that are held in the highest public regard as they embody the prevailing values of society. Not that long ago, Albert Einstein was a major public figure and was widely revered. Can you name a scientist that commands a similar presence today?

Today, some of the most celebrated individuals and institutions are ensconced within the financial industry; in banks, hedge funds, and private equity firms. Which is odd because none of these firms or individuals actually makeanything, which society might point to as additive to our living standards. Instead, these financial magicians harvest value from the rest of society that has to work hard to produce real things of real value.

While the work they do is quite sophisticated and takes a lot of skill, very few of these firms direct capital to new efforts, new products, and new innovations. Instead they either trade in the secondary markets for equities, bonds, derivatives, and the like, which perform the 'service' of moving paper from one location to another while generating 'profits.' Or, in the case of banks, they create money out of thin air and lend it out – at interest of course.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

True,bankers do indeed own the world,but Einstein evolved into a commodity.He was so popular that,like Edison,much was attributed to him that he had absolutely nothing to do with.The residual effects are still as commonplace today as they have ever been.Whenever an aspiring scientist who is still in college wants his paper to make an impression, he makes reference to Einstein.Bankers run the world,but the legend of Einstein is far greater than the man himself was.