September 25, 2011

Everyone has a price

What a better name for a financial blog, the price of betrayal, one of the most famous in history, in fact. 30 Denarii was actually the price paid for the betrayal of Jesus.


I picked it up as a declaration of intent. I won’t be loyal to anyone in this blog, perhaps not even to myself. Nowadays there are other values that seem more fascinating; one of those could be greed. Therefore, I’ll be plenty greedy whether you like it or not. That’s my style, and being politically correct is not an option.

I mentioned greed here above for a precise reason, and the reason is linked to one of our favourite movie characters: Gordon Gekko. Well, some may argue that Gekko is an easy pick. However, somehow, he influenced us all, he incarnated all what we wish to be. He told us greed is good.

O. Grubel
Oswald GrĂ¼bel must appreciate this motto, thanks to that philosophy he just abandoned his beloved place as the CEO of the Swiss bank empire, also known as UBS. Unfortunately he has to share the prize with the real facilitator of his career progress, Mr. Adoboli. A young trader, he was probably also considered successful until 10 days ago, when suddenly he became our new financial star. 2,3 billion dollars burned, a few people that wish to have his head served on a silver platter, and some punishment that will come for the sake of God.



K. Adoboli
Now what’s the price paid for his action? What’s the price the system will pay for his action?

New questioning about the control measures, rumour about the facility with which all those shares were traded, fine, jail etc.…will this scandal help the system to improve and become better? I doubt it, and thanks God. At least we’ll have something to talk about in the next few weeks. I'll will give you a little spoiler of the next topic.


Are they too big to fail…or too big to be saved?

Vale,

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