Rats eating rats

In a previous (somewhat rhetorical) post I was expressing my concern about the Cyprus depositor levy and how once out of the bag the concept, would probably fester in the minds of those who think everything is theirs because they will it to be so and that's all there is to it.

Fortunately there are better writers on hand to write more informatively than me, namely Autonomous Mind and The Slog  who have been having a look at how the idea has infected the minds of others and what was once not a template, now looks like it could become a template.

The problem for me is that many of its proponents and enablers are operating under an illusion.  As well as trying to prop up a political project, what we are in reality witnessing are people trying to keep their vast amounts of wealth however gained.  To some that means shafting others in this zero sum game. They are all trying to protect their bit in what is a collapsing system.

Our money system is illusory, in that the wealth of these investments and financial instruments is only "real" whilst they are numbers on computer screens.  It's not real money.  They couldn't all call on their wealth if they tried to cash it out. The problem we have right now is that leaves them with two options - the first being to maintain the illusion.

Unfortunately  we starting to see (although no thanks to mainstream media) that the illusion is starting to crumble.  It just will not play ball for them and it has become unstable.  What we're staring to see is option two come into play.  Option two basically involves making sure in a scramble for the really small pot of wealth that actually exists, you're not the one who loses out.  This is the Cyprus template. A lot of people have facilitated this and I presume in doing so they think it will protect their place at the trough.

If that is they're thinking, I think they've made a mistake.  I think many of them will in time to come learn a very harsh lesson.  The "elite" as we think we see them, looks like a single homogeneous entity.  I think it is a mistake that many on the inside of it, facilitating games like we have seen in Cyprus, think it is also a homogeneous group.  The truth is, it is nothing of the sort.  Even within this "elite" club there will be a pecking order.

I also think the illusion still has a long way to fall.  I am no financial expert but it is no secret that I am increasingly of the opinion that the whole thing could well smash itself on the rocks where it gets really desperate as we experience a financial collapse or as the understated language likes to classify it "a significant correction".  What they're talking about is serious, serious hardship and poverty.

It is said that rats will turn to eat each other in a starvation situation.  I suspect we may well start to see that in a financial sense, amongst those who have lived in a world very different from ours.  Why it concerns me, is the illusion needs confidence, even it is crumbling.  All it will take is a few of those who think they are in the elite club to be ejected and start to share their scorn, to hasten the lack of confidence in the system, thereby accelerating its downward spiral.