When the market went “bear”, I didn’t much care, I’d seen
spring and seen fall – I’m in for the haul. But when the market went
“meltdown”, I took a walk downtown to see if my bank had dropped in the tank. The
sign still said “WaMu” and the lights were on too, my
ATM plastic still worked --- fantastic! Checks in the checkbook and gas in the
tank, all seems so rosy… but let me be frank. You’ve all heard the warning ‘bout
building on sand, fate’s like the tide, Smith’s invisible hand is invisible ‘cause
it’s been grabbing your wallet, Greenspan had lied or he’s foolish and all it
takes now for these cards to completely collapse is a roll of the dice… and it’s
gone for good -- craps!
I can’t stop thinking about this thing we call “the economy”…
like, what, actually, *is* a “derivative”, and why do typical “hedge fund”
managers make more than all the teachers in my local elementary school,
combined? Is it possible that “the economy” is not merely out of balance, that
it needs more than a kick start and some regulatory reform?
You can learn a lot from studying the response of our
leaders to the economic crisis. Lesson one: *the safety net always catches the
big guys.* It’s like a law of physics manifest in politics -- unless you are a
poster child for copious corporate malfeasance, chances are you won’t go bust, much
less get busted. Heck, even after their firm got an $85 billion bailout, the
AIG execs took off for a half million dollar week-long luxury spa retreat.
Lesson two: *borrow from the future like there’s no
tomorrow.* This is crazy! When
Meanwhile, the biggest derivate fraud in the history of
humanity is all but ignored. What fraud
is this, you ask? Let me explain. Wikipedia defines derivative
as “a financial instrument whose value is derived from value of an underlying
asset.” So, even money is a derivative; you can’t eat it, wear it, or live in
it. And then there are those stock investments! I remember when our AFC stock
options made me and my colleagues paper-rich. “But why sell today at $85; I
heard it’ll go to $120.” Instead, the bubble burst, and it dropped to the teens.
What is the real, “underlying asset” value of something that can decline in
price by 50% or 500% in less than a year?
Is “investor and consumer confidence” real, like the 137 pounds of
potatoes I just harvested from my garden? Who put the “con” in economy, anyway?
How can we continue to build so much of what we do, of our hopes and dreams, on
such an ephemeral foundation?
The fraud is that our economy fails to account for the most
fundamental underlying assets: the living systems of our Earth, and the
time-tested institutions people developed in community with each other and the
land. It’s the value of local self-reliance enabled by honest work. It’s the
reliability of the natural systems that sustain life: the rainy season that brings
us the water we drink, the topsoil that feeds the food we eat, and the bees and
bugs that pollinate that food. It’s caring for and sharing with neighbors, and
leaving the Earth better than when you found it. Why is it
that booming prison construction and
With the election behind us, I’m looking forward to the
beginning of a *real* economic recovery. And to eating my potatoes!