Get-rich-quick- financial lessons from history!!
(For anyone who may not have the patience, or the time to read the following gabble of words forming long sentences and equally long paragraphs- PLEASE INSTANTLY SCROLL DOWN + WATCH THE 2 ANIMATIONS... for others you may read on!)
Last week we were speaking with an individual (he shall remain anonymous!) who in the last 6 months has enjoyed a VIP trip to South Africa during the World Cup, countless amounts of (again!) VIP trips to South America, trips across Europe, US, and the Caribbean. Most recently he was granted an all expenses paid trip aboard luxury yacht with champagne on tap and food fit for kings.
Yes, you've guessed it- his line of work is of course as a banker (and we did say banker!).
These mark typical incentives for banking executives and corporate managers and Directors, and high-end finance Sales bods alike. Fair you may assume as a result of gruelingly long hours of working, and strategically managed investments and deals which require expertise, in-depth knowledge, and some may even say a ruthless gamblers disposition. But how fair would you assume this to be under current climates- in particularly following the whole debacle of the banks that recently received large sums of bailout money from the government, money which in effect comes from the pockets of the (also!) hardworking masses.
Now here is where we wish we had paid more attention during history lessons at school- days where if we had more of an interest in matters of the world rather than our own self inflated egos and raging hormones- we would have been able to foresee financial crises of the now being typically reminiscent of the simultaneous collapses of the past- and as depicted brilliantly in the animation embedded below- the great example of both the French trading arm and royal bank in the early 1700s. That collapse has been described as “John Law and the Mississippi Bubble.” One of many MAJOR lessons from history!
For those who have reached a state of curiosity about finance and global economics- maybe as a result of watching recent news headlines or maybe because you too, like us and many we know, are personally affected by financial instabilities of our current times. We find it of great interest that popular TV formats such as Dragon's Den, Apprentice, and Secret Millionaire to some extent may instill positive ambitions and inspire audiences to achieve greatness through business and enterprise- but on the other hand they also breed the kind of ruthless greed and ugliness, and often desperation for individuals to grasp money and power at any cost. We see it daily through our travels and communications- and then we see the effects of what happens when money isn't grasped, or the effect this wider culture instills on those who lag slightly behind in the chain towards the metaphoric pot of gold! The so-called criminals, beggars, homeless, destitute, low paid, unemployed, etc, etc.
As you know, the current government has recently announced it's plans towards 'The Big Society' and is in real-time reshuffling how public sectors are financed. We have personally seen first-hand the effect this is having on real professionals working within the public sectors- and the impending redundancies as well as the 25% budget cuts across whole London borough councils that are in immediate effect. What affect will this have on not only the work force itself, but also those for which key public services are in place to provide a service for?? We dread to think.
Many are predicting this all being the beginning phases of privatization of public services... well, maybe it is. It has also been said that large scale consortiums will emerge, linking within it a range of private and possibly government owned or backed companies who will all be part of a large scale contract bidding system. In response, the government is currently painting the picture that this consortium will enable grass roots community led organizations and even individuals to have their say in local services by giving them equal bidding for local public service contracts and owning decisions on how local communities are served. This is yet to be seen. And if you havn't seen the developing consortium details online- have a peruse here and watch this space for results- 3sc.org. In theory Tescos could be running your local probation service, KFC or Pizza Hut could also be running the local housing unit!! (ignore us- we are now just being cynical + immature!!)
No more than the words from this random blog posting can convey, Richard Condie’s 1978 animated short film provides a visual example very clearly resonating similarities to the situations of now. “John Law and the Mississippi Bubble,” offers up a history lesson about a sensational get-rich-quick scheme, which it must be said was to give some long line of historical inspiration to the developed long-standing schemes governments and corporate companies still operate to this day.
We would love to get an experts insight into the manner in which welfare systems operate, tax systems, corporate laws, budget accounting, etc in order to understand things in far greater details. (because we are far from economics experts ourselves!!!) And to make another point- seeing as economics and finance rule our lives so much, we wonder why it is not a key part of the educational curriculum in schools from an early age?? Answers on a postcard please!
Richard Condie's excellent and rightfully award winning animation takes us to the particular lesson which took place in France over 200 years ago. We hope it makes you think and maybe urge you to make a random blog post too... or just RT ours via twitter + FB!!
For some further brief insights and lessons from history see also the corporate Enron scandal, Ponzi scheme, any other get-rich-quick schemes, and another more lengthy animation- Money as debt. If you can think of loads more- feel free to share with us too!!!
And whilst you are procrastinating... here is another quirky and well produced animation we liked, this time covering the REAL history of money:
