Do you understand what's going on in the economy right now? Do you realize how people at every rung of the ladder are affected? If not, take some time to look for the Crisis of Credit animation and watch it. Come back when you're done.Originally Posted by The_Amaster
The lenders, bankers, and investors played roulette with their money. This is the savings and investments of the little people they were playing with; the big players had almost no real money but lots of loans that promised to return. Anyway, back to the gambling. The fat cats played roulette because they had a safety net: employees. Once they got burned, they ran to the government. The government lent them money. The fat cats laid off the little people who gave them the money to gamble with in the first place.
Let's say I give you $100 and I tell you that tomorrow I'll give you enough money to make your total money $100. Are you going to invest the $100 I give you in a long-term, safe, low-yield investment and thus get $0 and $103 5 years from now? Or would you rather bet your $100 at gambling? If you gamble, you might make $1000 or you might lose $100, followed by a repayment of $100. You are a fool if you don't gamble; you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
So, we fostered an environment where bankers can gamble with our money, and if they lose they'll get their money back. The trouble is, it's their money they get back; the poor saps who gave them the money get to hope and pray that they get some money back from the banker. This is not a good thing. It's going to prevent an economic disaster now in return for causing a bigger economic disaster in the future. I do not believe in reward without risk at the expense of others. If things were set up such that those who own a corporation were liable for damages out of their personal assets, I believe we wouldn't have had this problem in the first place. It's easy to gamble with someone else's money but it stings when you lose your own.
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