Banks kaput, banks becoming gahmen owned... & bank run.

Lehman, WAMU, AIG... i dun even wanna count how many have gone kaput over the recent months.

most have gone down the toilet. others are now gahmen owned. 

in most cases, i suppose we can point the fingers at greed. greed made us value things more than what they are really worth; greed made us assume that risks can be managed so long as we can split them into small enough units and spread over enough people. and greed made us believe, that there's such a thing as principal-protected investment products. 

i dun mean to be rude (well, actually i am) but high interest with principal protection products are nothing but figment of ones' imagination!

come on lah people, stoopid means stoopid.  you truly believe that there are such risk-free products? just think about it. it makes no common sense. 

which brings me to the second matter - myopic tunnel vision. 

couple of days ago, one of the asian banks got hit when a rumour (that it is going to collapse) was spread via sms. hundreds of clients queued to get out their funds. 

oh yes, it was on the papers and news. and i was there and i saw the customers.

i saw them nicely seated in aircon lobby. had drinks. had food.

i saw order. 

but at the same time, there was something ridiculous about the sight. 

and it was that in mist of this chaos, while these people were trying to break their FDs and get out their principal, they actually argued about the interest calculation. about how much interest shd they collect. oh, and if the "promo rates" which they have locked-in can be calculated when they break the contracts. 

hello?

come on lah! if a bank is collapsing, you think the few dollars matter? you sorry arse should be happy simply becoz you get to have your principal back. 

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make no mistake, we are surrounded by petty arse who have no sense of logic nor priority. they can't see the big picture. even when one faces a derelict situation where millions could be lost, greed still kicks in. 

these people will never learn. 

and when the next crisis comes, they will make the same mistakes. again.

this, i can guarantee you.