OPINION> Zhu Yuan
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OPINION> Zhu Yuan
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Read with right attitude, enough intelligence
By Zhu Yuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-21 07:46 No one would ever challenge the consensus that lessons learned from the past should be a guide for the future. But can we humans as a whole really learn lessons from what has happened? Even if we sometimes can, it is not that easy. The discussion about the cause or causes for the current financial crisis will definitely continue even years after the world economy completely recovers. In spite of many books or essays that have already been published offering explanations or understanding of the crisis, the views vary about the very root cause. The government bailout plans can hardly be believed to be the right remedy to eradicate the cause of the disease if it can be described thus. In the circumstances, some tend to believe that there is a conspiracy behind the crisis, with a view to getting control of the world's wealth. The book The War of Currency written by a Chinese, who has studied abroad and worked in financial institutions in the United States, unfolds a picture of how such a conspiracy has been working in the past more than three centuries. The book was published in June 2007, more than a year before the financial crisis broke out. The fact that the writer Song Hongbing precisely predicted the sub-prime crisis has made the book even more popular. With sales of more than 1.6 million copies, not to mention the millions of pirated ones, the book has been a best-seller in the past two years. By taking control of the distribution of US dollars, the international bankers with the Rothschild family behind them are actually attempting to bring the entire world under control by the rotating of inflation and deflation, according to the writer. The current financial crisis is part of the conspiracy. Some may choose to believe what this book says. But I consider it as a legendary tale, a good one, which has established connections between the conspiracy of the Rothschild family and almost all world events such as the two world wars and the collapse of the Soviet Union and the current financial crisis. Can this be true? I cannot tell. We Chinese have a saying that it is better not to read any book if one tends to trust all what one has read while some ancient Chinese sages also believe that one can benefit from any book if with the right attitude and enough intelligence. That is to know what to learn from, what to laugh away and what to just skim over without wasting one's attention. Then it should be no problem to read this book. At least, as laymen to finance or the operation of financial capital, readers may learn some basic knowledge about this particular field and its history as well. They may also get to know something about how capitalists make profits by speculation in the capital markets. Even if I can hardly be convinced what the book says is true, there is one thing I feel for sure - there should be a limit to the way and scope capitalists create financial products such as derivatives to make profits. The reason is simple: The money they make will come from other people or there will be inflation, and it is the majority in the public who suffer. There can never be such a situation where financial derivatives are able to bring a fortune to most people. zhuyuan@chinadaily.com.cn |
