October 2008 Archives

Bailout Reveals Epitaph for the Next Crisis

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BBC interviewed experts about the financial meltdown; their words have been echoed elsewhere:

“We knew what was wrong, We just didn’t know how to fix it”

I can give props to monetary industry experts for honesty, although it was a very late conversion.   On the very day that Wachovia bank went down, was seized, then sold - Wachovia continued to show its TV commercial showing

wachovia.jpg

people with cash raining down upon them from above. The unmistakable message:  “Easy Money!” This is a visual statement that even at the very end the monetary irresponsibility was still in play.  Or at least through the transition to new owners.

But there really can be no new owners for the carbon fuel industry.  Knowing what is wrong is something energy companies are working hard to fight.  Because they know exactly how to fix it - namely halting all CO2 output. Coal is the worst.   One could imagine a TV commercial with lumps of coal falling from the sky, like free cash, which in a sense, is exactly what is happening with soot particulates - but the cash falls on the stockholders.


When TV commercials stop spewing forth, then I will know something is really changing.   Since all TV commercial messages are expensive to produce and to present, they are financial investments that work to sell something we really don’t want to buy.   Like any investment buyers - viewers - should exercise great caution interpreting their message.


The first step in fixing anything, is to clearly state that you know what is wrong.