Economics 101

Forget all the psychobabble you hear on TV—here it is, plain and simple minus the economics.

All of us back in second grade, learnt never to lend money to someone who wouldn't pay it back.

Wall Street didn't learn that or if it did, never read the writing on the wall.

They lend laissez faire, hundreds of billions of dollars worth of loans to people who didn't have a prayer of ever paying them back.

I believe the big boys who once walked the corridors of power knew this was a very bad idea, but everyone thought, 'What the hell, I can make a fortune in the short run'.

But business pursued aggressively is politics and politics pursued aggressively is war. And so by stonewalling the bailout plan, the Senate has let slip the dogs of war. Their bone of contention: if it’s a venial sin to lend money to the poor, it is a mortal sin to take it back from the populace to balance your pocketbooks.

The big lesson here is not to go too far into debt. If it is too good to true, chances are it is. So if you can’t tell your cheese apart, don’t be greedy. You pay some poor guy to cut grass for you. That is business. You pay in advance and expect a higher return. That is finance. And financing is like playing in the casino. But in the casino, the house always wins and you're just left, holding your hat in hand.

They say history repeats itself. I like to think yesterday's heresy is tomorrow's orthodoxy. And we know, mankind is more ostrich than sage owl. But then, I hope the leaders of today's oligarchy prove to be right and I prove to be wrong.