The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

so why the fuck do you get pain the big bucks and i get nothing but headaches, pain and fuckwit “friends”?

You’re not being devils advocate at all Lauren – it’s a fair point – and I’m not actually suggesting they should know more about the economy or politics than things such as art, language or science … however given the way economy and politics impacts the conversations of so many people, it might be good if they had a little more appreciation of how they contributed to their situation rather than just act like passive observers.

Everyone has played a part and whilst some are more ‘guilty’ than others, this ability to relinquish responsibility does alarm me, even though I shouldn’t be that surprised.

‘Do you think America is any worse than any other nation in terms of it’s people truly understanding it’s economic position?’

I think this bit is bang on Rob, and that such a lack of understanding of where your country really stands economically is shameful. Worrisome even.

I’ve seen it first hand with Algeria that’s your typical wealthy yet piss poor country. A big fan-fare was made when they cleared the national debt a couple of years back, and recently when they announced a $150B liquidity surplus or whatever. It lures everybody into a false sense of security – despite the fact the country genuinely wouldn’t sustain a year if oil dropped below $60 a barrel.

That’s a rather extreme example, but the average Canadian couldn’t tell you much either, other than “our dollar is on par with the americans’, so like, um, we must be doing great, right?”.

Anyway, I think it’d be interesting if banks decided to fill the educational gap and took it upon themselves to educate the population about these things. Maybe I’m being naive since it would compete with their “we’re busy counting our money” time but if one of them decided to play nice, they may end up reaping the rewards.

Sorry about the tedious tangent btw, and I’d like to know what happened with the client after the swear words if possible. Or is it an ‘à suivre…’ type of thing? 🙂

I wasn’t suggesting they should know more about economy than any other subjects Lauren. Please don’t get me wrong.

People should be free to explore and specialise in whatever they like, without making any one subject or field more valid than the other. Which I think was your point.

However I still think it’s dangerous to be making misinformed decisions, as Rob’s friend seems to be. And as many people who thought their jobs were safe and decided to take on an additional mortgage did. Realising how fucked up things really were may’ve helped them avoid a nasty situation. Then again, maybe not.

Can I point out the person in question was not my friend. God no. I suppose the difference with politics/economy compared to some of the other issues is that in theory, we’re more involved in how they develop than – for instance – scientific research and or art, hence we should be more aware of our situation rather than simply talk without any substance.

God, I sound like a miserable old fuck.

People who say what they really feel in our “service” business are all too rare. So I always like to hear of those that do.

Of course I work in Canada where merely having an opinion is considered arrogant and where needless to say, I’m seen as a bit of a didactic bastard.