Time to get on with life
I’m very disenchanted with the constant breathless “end of the world is nigh” reporting in most media, the hijacking of bad news by agenda-pushers, and the one-sided blame game. Yes, I know some bankers deserve our opprobrium, but not most of them; and don’t forget that the governments we elected around the world contributed to the problem, with soft interest rate regimes, distortionary tax incentives, schemes to push poor people into mortgages, etc. Let’s also not forget our own responsibility. Many people bought into the speculation game, paying too much for their own housing, borrowing on those homes to buy goodies today, over-leveraging themselves to build up property investments, investing in high return schemes without regard to risk, and buying assets where the only way to make money is for a bigger fool to come along.
Enough! All this doom-saying and blaming does no-one any good. Karl du Fresne, Wellington’s usually grumpy old man, hits the right note for me:
Trackback uriI keep hearing economic commentators scolding us for not realising the severity of the economic crisis and acting accordingly. But what do they expect us to do? Dress in sackcloth and flagellate ourselves with barbed wire? Stop laughing, going to movies, listening to music or doing any of the other things that give us pleasure?
Would they prefer that we all draw the curtains, eat dry bread and gruel and sit around in darkened rooms feeling miserable?
Bugger that. Getting on with life is surely the best possible response to the financial meltdown. There are enough people around the world talking themselves into a depression without New Zealanders joining in.
Wellington at the weekend was buzzing. I can’t think of a better antidote to all the prophecies of doom from the economic Cassandras.
February 18th, 2009 at 7:27 am
outstanding post
February 18th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Too right. It’s a tough one though: as a journo, you can’t ignore the meltdown either, as it’s surely on the minds of the people reading your words and some of them will be suffering. It’s a fine line.
But there’s too much hyperbole and gloom. The economy is dire, sure, but there’s life in it yet. And we’re not at war, we’re not suffering a famine, we’ll get through this … so let’s get on with it.
February 28th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Investment means risk. You want high returns on your money for no effort, just the use of your cash? High returns come with high risk, and high risk investment means exactly what it says. OK, maybe you’ve learnt something; so how about low-risk investment? Guess what? Low risk does not mean risk-free. It does not mean perfect markets nor perfect management. It does not mean you get your money back come what may. Even low risk investments can go wrong. If you don’t want any risk, bury your surplus cash in the cellar. Of course, as Zimbabwe shows, even that isn’t risk-free.
I say to all the whiners: if you are so much smarter than all those people you’re blaming, then put your money where your mouth is and start a business. Of course, that’s the riskiest investment of all, but at least you’d be in a more authoritative position to cast aspersions on others.