Ms. Cosmopolite: What in the WORLD!!!

Monday, October 6, 2008

What in the WORLD!!!

Everyone is talking about it so, why shouldn’t I have a turn!? I actually lost a well-paying job in the 1998 Asia/Russian/LTCB credit market crisis (working for a hedge fund is overrated unless $$$ pumps your heart), which opened the door to the riches of the art world for me (well, that’s the short story ;-).

In any case, what a dramatic and revealing week we have all just witnessed; fortunes lost, corruption exposed, and long-held ideas proved false. While Ms. Cosmopolite has no interest in rehashing the details of the biggest U.S. financial and banking crisis in decades, she does want to put in her 2 ¢ (pun intended).

WHAT IN THE WORLD were our corporate and government leaders thinking?? Seriously, what is their worldview and how did it affect their decision-making? The level of self-interest displayed during this crisis can easily be compared to tribalism, understood as “the exaltation of the tribe above other groups”. From a wealthy former investment banker creating a tax-payer funded plan to bail out his fellow bankers to an elected representative whose vote was purchased with promised funds for his pet project (bike trails), loyalty to the tribe superseded the common good and COMMON SENSE. Yes, yes, I know anthropologists often argue that humans are hard-wired to stick with their own as a survival mechanism but, let’s not forget that we are all sharing the same planet and its resources! I am happy to acknowledge the positive potential of capitalism but, I don’t see how any economic system rigged towards one group at the expense of another can survive in the long-term. To that end, I have never before been compelled to quote Milton Friedman, the father of “free market” theory but, here it goes:

The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.

I wish his disciples on Wall Street and in the Treasury Department had remembered that line as they plotted their exit strategy…

Perhaps the Greek philosopher Plato (428-348 BC) had a point when he argued that conventional political systems (including democracy) were inherently corrupt and that countries should be governed by an elite class of educated philosopher-rulers, who would be selected based on one simple idea: "those who have the greatest skill in watching over the community".

Three cheers for Plato and at least one cheer for the success of the bailout plan.

Looking forward to a new week,

Ms. Cosmopolite

This entry posted by CAFAM Web Master @ 5:38 PM

Comments : Post a Comment

<< Home