Let’s keep whining about people whining. Do you not see the collapse around you? Will you still be so amused 5 years into a worldwide depression?
In the US the Universities and Charitable institutions run on money, often from an endowment, most endowments are down 40-50%, most of their benificiaries will have to cut spending by at least that much. Cities, Governments, Universities use debt to raise money for buildings, as their funding drops, their credit ratings drop, causing their rates to go up, etc.
This is rippling across the world, across industries, charities, etc. The world ran on credit and credit is suddenly gone, the victims of this are sometimes those who are responsible for it, but mainly it’s the average person who loses their job, their home, etc. I’m sure there were a lot of folks in 1929 who thought those who were broke deserved and were idiots. By the time unemployment exceeded 25% and thousands of banks had failed, i’m sure those who were employed and still had a house became a bit less smug.
The blame for the stupidity crosses national borders, professional disciplines, social classes and even economic strength of the countries involved.
To me the most interesting/shocking/amusing thing is how many “stupid” things so many different people, businesses and nations did at the same time. I don’t know any Americans or Canadians who took out mortgages in a foreign currency from a foreign bank, but it was appearently the rage in Iceland, Hungary and other parts of Europe. Was that stupid? Was it worse than Americans taking interest only loans on properties they could barely afford.
I think we all bought into how the internet changed everything and now the world was a global marketplace, etc. It sure seemed like it the economy was moving so fast because information moved so much easier.
Well info does move fast… turns out the emperor had no clothes