In 1995 Barings Bank Collapsed. It was the Oldest Merchant Bank in England founded in 1762. It was nick named the Queens bank. The collapse was caused by one man trading electronically.
This collapse was the Canary in the coal mine. It highlighted a component of the age we live in. 1's and 0's travel really quickly around the electronic world. In a matter of minutes billions of dollars can be traded. But we did not learn from this collapse. Instead in 2000 we passed the commodities act that re-legalized practices that were made illegal in the early 20Th century because they caused the stock market to crash. So what have we learned?
We have learned that we have created a wonderful information super highway that moves faster than we can sometimes keep up with. I called a prospect back 5 minutes after getting a call and they had already moved on to another agent! We have learned the hard way that regulation, both on a corporate level coupled with government oversight is not something that would be nice. It is something that is necessary. The unit that crashed AIG had only 350 people working in it. This is out of thousands of employees world wide.
We live in a great age we are tuned in now more than ever. But with instant gratification comes the potential for instant failure.
Trading CDO's and CDS's has triggered a world wide crisis. The crisis has spilled into our life's as it's reach extends past Wall Street. It is a Brave New World we live in . We must be more vigilant when the next Canary sickens in the coal mine. We no longer have the luxury of time. This is the sad trade off for modern instant gratification.
So the answer is STOP and think before you do. One of my favorite commercials says it best. You have a 12 percent chance of hitting reply all on your email in error. If you ever did how many emails got out before your stopped the process. We must now more than ever stay engaged.
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Charlie Ragonesi All Mountain Realty Big Canoe and Mountain Blog
On line at www.allmountainrealty.com Call at 706 579 1098
I think you definitely hit Enter at the right time on this one, Charlie.