The derivative bet backfired on the Greek state – or they were conned by Goldman Sachs, depending on interpretation. I would favour the latter. At this level the game is the very smart people persuading the not quite as smart people to sign up to stupid deals.Emphasis added. If you delete the words "at this level," you will be left with a perfect summary of all modern politics, and perhaps all pre-modern politics as well. Political history is the chronicle of very smart people persuading the not quite as smart people to sign up to stupid deals.
C'est tout.
On an unrelated note: At reader request, I turned off the "Captcha" device which verifies the human-ness of those offering comments. If you are annoyed by Captcha, you have my sympathies. But now, predictably, this blog is being inundated with robotized comment spam, invisible to you (because I moderate comments) but very visible to your humble host, who has to skim through all of those fake messages -- some of which are cleverly disguised to look like actual messages. Sometimes, a too-rapid de-spamming will result in the accidental sacrifice of a real contribution from a real person.
So the question is: Do I make things easier for the readers or for myself?
8 comments:
For quite a while now the financial industries have simply been a branch of organized crime. They intend to steal everything. And sadly, since the downturn of the 2008 crash, state pension systems have been turning to hedge fund managers to keep their retirement systems afloat. America faces the same future the Greeks do, or maybe did. Hopefully the Greeks have truly wised up. Americans would rather watch football.
Perhaps some better quality Captcha images would help. Another blog just has a checkbox to show not a robot.
Alas, stickler, I have no control over that. It's up to Blogger (Google). All I am able to do is turn word verification off and on.
I suggest that you turn it back on. You already have enough to do and life is too short to waste it doing useless work.
Mr. C., you already do an amazing amount of work. Although the Captcha thing can be annoying when I'm at a library and an announcement is made indicating the place is soon to close - so I had better hurry up, it's not fatal to whether or not I will post a comment then or later. So, I vote for you to turn it back on and use your valuable time as you see fit, rather than as you must. There is nothing wrong with enjoying one's work.
;) j
Aren't there Captcha options that are intelligence-based rather than eye-sight based? Like "What rhyhmes with 'hope'?" (If you said "dope," you're ahead of the curve.)
I hate it but turn it back on. I would rather have you spending time writing;)
good post joseph. thanks. i like how you summed it up "the game is the very smart people persuading the not quite as smart people to sign up to stupid deals." indeed.. speaking of gs - they typically go on to head central banks, or the imf and etc. etc. the same gangsters in organized crime could only dream of a system like this, but it is the actual financial system we have! here in canada the previous governer of the bank of canada( central bank) was a former member of gs.. and on it goes.. as for the captcha thing.. do what you have to do to make it easier for yourself.. i guess blogger is another way for google to monitor our actions, as if it wasn't already apparent how they are one and the same as nsa/cia.. thanks - james
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