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I don’t trust the financial system; a system, the Wall Street system, that going back to at least 1893, has been subject to massive busts; cycles of boom and bust. I don’t trust it because I have no reason to trust it — because stock prices are accelerating at a rate reminiscent of 2007, 2000, 1929, and no one involved seems particularly worried. I don’t trust it because American-style capitalism is a rapacious system that has evolved to strip the many and enrich the few. And above all, because like in 2007, Americans continue to spend more than they have; addicted to consumption and debt. I read something disturbing note from the New York Times this morning.
Outstanding credit card debt — the total balances that customers roll from month to month — hit a record $1 trillion this year, according to the Federal Reserve. The number of Americans with at least one credit card has reached 171 million, the highest level in more than a decade, according to TransUnion, a credit-reporting company.
That is occurring at an opportune moment for the banking industry, which is suddenly struggling to earn as much money from traditional profit engines.
Money is like sea-water: The more we drink the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.
Money is human happiness in the abstract; he, then, who is no longer capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete devotes himself utterly to money.
“Warning Sign” might not be a strong enough title for this little article. I might as well have…
