Over the last few days, every corner one turns to, the talk is about the financial crisis. The people I meet are more concerned about the “few pennies” they have put away, their mortgage repayments, and job security, among the many thoughts on their minds. People are very worried. This is no longer a crisis. It is a disaster and the scale of things as they are being made public is mind-boggling. One is usually of the habit of associating such scandals (thanks to Western media) with corrupt governments in the majority world. What and how we now name this mind-boggling gambling of billions of pounds and dollars of people’s money would be interesting. And, who can blame people for a loss of confidence or faith!!!
Not even the joined up thinking and efforts of the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the central banks of Canada, Sweden and Switzerland of coordinating a half-point percent cut in interest rates offers stability. And try as much as the governments of China, Australia, India, Iceland, Mexico, Japan, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and others to cut interest rates, the downward spiral continues.
Lack of confidence means that “selling out is unstoppable” as “investors are gripped with fear”. Besides sounding like a horror film, I wonder who are the people doing the buying! Money, of course, is not what gives character and nerve to commitment. Morality is at the heart of commitment and this does not grow in banks. The reality is that we finally get to hear some honest sound-bites as market-gods are saying that their “monster baby” is out of control! Yet, habit is a terrible chain as now and again the layperson is given the impression as if there is this “monster” out there operating on its own!
Of course, we are not fools – the market is what we humans have created and nurtured over the years and where most of us have tied (or have had) our heartbeats to. And the fact is, our present financial predicament is a reflection of its human designers –mainly men- who are now unable to stop or control that wayward bull or bear on the rampage. Hence, one pundit is quite correct to note: “there is no domestic solution to a crisis like this one.”
And I am sure that our PM may be right to say that this disaster needs a "global solution" with bold and coordinated actions at “a restructuring of financial markets”. But this certainly has to be alongside putting human faces and hearts to our economic lives: and most importantly that this will not be a talk shop of the usual men's club. I submit that one of the reasons why we are here today is that our financial institutions are controlled and run predominantly by men - some operating like boys with new toys. If the market is out of control it is a reflection of men who are out of control.
© copyright Jagessar October 10, 2008
