The Financial OS Phase
The world has hit the financial OS Phase. No one saw it coming, and even those in charge are stumped as to how to fix it. Worldwide, leaders have been forced to take a reactionary stance, putting out fires where they spring up without ever addressing the root process problems which caused this crisis in the first place. Buy Bob’s newest book, Avoiding the OS Phase now while we still have time!
Tags: Finance, OS Phase, The Financial OS Phase
March 17th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Hi Bob - Yes, we were told by so many in the media and the government that “no one saw this coming”, but many did. When I listened to stories from ordinary people imparting their amazement at how unrealistic the real-estate prices are, it was clearly obvious to us that this was a bubble. When a friend bought a house in 2001, in South Florida, for $84K and sold it in 2003 for a whopping (as he at the time thought) $215K, he felt perplexed and somewhat embarrassed; knowing unambiguously that the buyer overpaid. Yet I still remember the look on his face when he learned that his old house, which he honestly valued at around 150K, was sold in 2005 for over $300K.
Many knew that this was not a genuine growth in economy but cheered nonetheless, blinded by the insatiable greed without limits – a value that has been a driving force behind so many broken regulatory policies. And no we cry and pay the price. I only hope that we can learn from this.
March 20th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I find it a sad commentary on daily events when some of the best analysis comes from shows such as John Stewart’s The Daily Show and the Colbert Report. In speaking about CNBC’s coverage of the buildup to the financial collapse, Stewart says “To pretend that this was some sort of crazy, once in a lifetime tsunami that nobody could have seen coming is disingenuous at best and criminal at worst.” This pointed criticism could be pointed at most financial networks, as well as planners, analysts, government regulatory agencies, etc. The point is, this downturn is the result of massive amounts of greed, in many cases amounting to fraud, and could have been avoided if the right processes and regulations had been put into place. I’m no advocate of big government, and do not necessarily agree with the Fed and the politicians trying to spend our way out of this, but a free market can and should be a regulated market.