So I read that rich people are renting apartments going for upwards of $10,000 a month in NYC. But the comments were what got my interest, verging on unsurpressed rage and almost all from teabaggers by the code words they left in their tracks. Perspective is everything and I've developed a new one that is beginning to make things a little clearer.
First of all, let me say, I have a deep seated belief that we are all in this together. And just as I would want them to hear my take on events I want to understand the causes of their concerns. And I'm not just talking the teabaggers, I mean the rich renters too.
And now the different perspective. Move away from the dollars in your wallet and digits in your bank account and imagine money itself as a force that has moved beyond our control and has in a sense taken on a life of its own. Of course people are still in charge and responsible for their own actions, you think. But we do a lot for those dollars and digits. Everybody does. All the way up the chain.
If you've got a good job in the FIRE industry (Finance, Insurance, Real Estate)and you make the choices that make more money you may get the chance to make more of those choices. Refuse, and somebody else will make them. Of course it's always been that way and no doubt gave money its bad rep as the root of all evil.
If you are still with me on this perspective of money as a force of its own, look back to the late 1990's when there existed only about a trillion dollars worth of the financial instruments of ma$$ destruction known as derivatives. Money had acquired enough ma$$ and that the people it controlled could persuade our politicians to set it free. No regulations for derivatives or their really destructive form the credit default swap. Unleashed, the value of these WMD'$ doubled every year until by 2008 they had reached a quadrillion dollars.
The great drunken bash of the Bush years came to an end and the Beast turned nasty. Like a pusher who gives you all you can take and then comes by the next day and says "Now you owe me".
The force of that Money is beyond our control. You can take one side or another. You might be rich and riding the tiger (in which case you are better off renting because you won't be stuck with the underwater mortgage when the ride stops). Far more likely you are struggling poor or middle class and looking for any straw you can grasp.
And now Money with an irresistabe force of it's own is moving from private debt to public debt. Those who serve it will get thier due. Any that refuse are swept away.
It's full force is now focused on Ireland. Would we blame the Irish if they drove this serpent from their shores. The serpent promises they won't be able to borrow money again if they default. Is that fear in its voice? Then the Beast threatens to plunge the world into depression if it is not obeyed. Remember, we are all in this together, but it is the Celts that are holding the spear aimed at its heart.