In God We Trust

no. i've not turned Christian.

but i have been thinking much about the recent financial turmoil. and about the financial system as a whole.

our modern financial system works, to a large extent, on trust. i give you something of value to you, trusting that you will give me back something of value in return, if not now, at least some time in the hopefully not so distant future. that is what paper money and credit essentially is. and because we trust that sometime, somewhere, somehow, someone is going to give us something of value, we continue to purchase, to buy, to acquire all that our hearts desire. all with the magic of a few pieces of paper (which have now been replaced by a few electronic pulses).

now that the financial crisis is deepening further, nations scramble to ease the flow of credit, to keep the system going. i believe that this only means that the system is going to be artificially propped up, perhaps setting up for a harder fall. who, in the end, benefits? the rich. so that they can continue spending, continue consuming. but what is the basis of their consumption? who gave them the ability to go on consuming? have they really created that much value in our world, in our lives such as to warrant such astronomical ability to consume?

trust. we trust that they have. but where has that trust led us? we borrow from banks, banks borrow from us, nations borrow from its people, banks borrow from nations. in the end, who is it that pays?

Earth.