The Greatest Deception in the History of Finance
by ilene - December 2nd, 2009 4:17 pm
Here’s an excellent article by Kent, The Financial Philosopher. - Ilene
The Greatest Deception in the History of Finance
Courtesy of The Financial Philosopher
As published in The Big Picture
What is the greatest deception in the history of finance? Depending upon your perspective, some entities and events of deception that come to mind might include corporate accounting scandals, rogue traders, Ponzi schemes, and various entities and events related to the financial crises (market bubbles) throughout history.
“The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur
very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can
occur so quietly; any other loss — an arm, a leg, five dollars, a
wife, etc. — is sure to be noticed.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard
In terms of damages caused by these entities and events of deception, the financial losses, some of which are in the hundreds of billions of dollars, are the most tangible and easiest to measure. Using the most recent and obvious reference point, the current financial crisis slashed retirement assets in 2008 by nearly $4 trillion, as reported by Reuters. This decline in assets is epic in proportion; but what is the non-monetary cost and what led most of these people to place their life savings in the stock market to begin with?
Returning to the question of what is the greatest deception in the history of finance, consider this scenario: Hundreds of millions of people are led to believe that one particular financial pursuit, which, to accomplish, requires the largest financial effort of a lifetime; but more importantly, and for most people, it is also the most physically and emotionally taxing effort of a lifetime; working in various unsatisfying and stressful jobs and sacrificing meaningful pursuits for this one financial pursuit; and the effort requires 30, 40 or even 50 years of time, assuming the end destination of this pursuit is ever reached — or if it even exists… and this doesn’t include the $4 trillion decline (see above)…
This financial pursuit, this deception, is called financial freedom.
“Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of