divineguitar

the first week in my new apartment here reveals a fresh new communal type of living — since last friday my windows have been open exposing my ears to a spatter of cars going by, people down below having conversations, tv’s and radio’s of neighbors, and laughter, etc.  it makes me feel at times alone yet not alone, yet much better than if i was on a couch somewhere in the ac, windows closed, etc–

been reading cognitive surplus, one thing the author says, activities like tv are losing social utility, and more collaborative and sharing functions are now taking the center stage, casting new light on what we do with our free time.

another interesting little point, he says a revolution isn’t a revolution if it can be explained using old methodologies.

i think about the current state of the world turning itself upside down, especially in the financial markets, and what a bonafide hoax it has become.

as a buddy once said, granny smith used to be able to throw her buck o five at at&t, ford, wal-mart or whatever and 20 years later expect to have a nice pension out of the waiting and investing.

fast forward, since the 80′s we’ve had several asset bubbles boom and bust, we’ve seen stock performance ride relatively flat over the decades, we’ve seen a violent mistrust of the banking system.

who gains?  i’d say its the leverage roaches of hedge funds, who essentially take the bargaining power out of the hands out of the people who leverage this for personal gain.  granny can’t put her money on sound judgement, reason and homework anymore, she’ll get eatin’ alive by the sharks.

all the while people still try to explain this calamity by framing it with tired idealistic and fundamental thinking by throwing around words like capitalism and socialism, clamoring that we’re doomed and this and that.  i beg to differ, however we can’t change the rules in mid stride, so the rules we employ now go to the benefit of the biggest market.

a capitalist isn’t a nationalist, rather an opportunist, and run to the place that pays the most.  it doesn’t seem like the place i want to put a lot of financial or emotional equity.  you can throw a politico out of office much easier than you can convince an oligarch to have a conscious.

the system puts derivatives and ‘financial innovation’ in place to minimize risk while minimizing choice, all the while doing a piss poor job and identifying systemic risk.  take your pick as to who’s ‘fault’ it is, is it congress for putting together legislation that causes financial meltdown, or is it free enterprise for accepting it.  mine says free enterprise, the conflict of interest is apparent when you can either A) be diligent about determining risk and turn down a gift horse or B) make a boat load of money.

meanwhile you have the short seller, an individual of this variety used to have minimal influence, now running funds, you can do things like lean on the british pound until it collapses (soros), create holdings company (morgan and buffet), bet that china will fall (chanos), or expect global doom and gloom (schiff) and take all your little minions along for the ride.

I’m not a hater, for the most part I’m succeeding at the game by knowing the rules and playing human nature, but the money is fake, so what’s the difference in the stock market numbers going up bringing investment dividends or the government keeping the printing press rolling day and night?  Both are going to the same place, the people who have bargaining power, and that’s probably not anyone you or I know.