Archiv der Kategorie: Culture

Here you find posts about life styles and mindsets of different countries, indtustrial sectors and business functions.

Actually, the house always wins

Compulsive players are not discouraged from playing by the sentence “The house always wins”. They are addicted to the anticipation of a gain and accept the risk of losing. In the beginning the bet is only occasional and generates good feelings. Then, the obsession starts and more and more often one loses larger sums. The whole thing culminates in complete despair and hopelessness.
The same happens with stock exchange transactions and other investment opportunities. The game with larger amounts of money triggers the limbic intoxication of a gambler. However, safety nets are currently under construction to cushion these players by allowing them to claim their losses – either through the legal code or through the new court of arbitration that operate outside the national jurisdiction. This allows the players to recover their losses through legal action. By the way – of course, the house wins here too.

In the end, this is a systemic mistake. The risk of the transactions is transferred to the society and the profits remain with the players. What are the interests that heat up the financial transactions and give the participants their fruitful source of income?

  • Companies need capital
    Companies need in advance capital to finance their business, for example to pay
    the personnel and material costs required to develop and prepare products and services.
    In the event of failure, companies go bankrupt or rebrand and leave collateral damage to the society – like environmental damage, unemployment and asset losses.
  • Investors are looking for profits
    The wealthy have more money than they can spend. In order to counteract a loss of value such as above or inflation, they sedulously look for ways to let the money work.
    Investors privatize their profits regardless of collateral damage and socialize their losses to the society.
  • The state is looking for investors
    In principle, it is up to the state to ensure that the population lacks nothing. For this reason, politicians make attractive offers to investors, when they invest in their country – tax advantages and business-friendly laws. And if a business fails, politicians secure the capital invested, borrow money from one bank to relieve another – and vice versa.
    The costs for wrong decisions of the political “economic leaders”, who are interested in nothing else than their mandate, are borne by their voters – which actually is strange.
  • Products need consumers
    Due to the advanced automation of established companies and the globalization, more and more cheap products are developed, which urgently need a customer.
    In the end, these short-lived products pollute the environment. All people bear the consequences.
  • The society needs work
    In contrast to the wealthy; the majority of the population is depending on full-time employment in order to pay for their monthly expenses. Job competition is taking place globally. At the same time, simple tasks are competing with machines, which now perform routine tasks more reliably.
    Overall, traditional employment opportunities are disappearing. Society is impoverishing.
  • The economy has a need for turnover
    In order to prosper, the society must consume the products and services of the companies. The loss of traditional work as well as precarious jobs create a consumer class that needs affordable alternatives to mainstream consumption – like repair cafés, barter sites, sharing, pay-per-use.
    Contrary to the previous standpoints, when it was assumed that the tides would move everyone up and down, the gap is widening regardless of the economic situation – the poor are becoming poorer and the rich richer.

Bottom line: Since many optimize themselves and indemnify based on the society, distortions occur, which go above all at the expense of the powerless. Companies rely on external financing and thus shift the risk to the lenders. Investors maximize their profits by investing their capital in risky transactions and by socializing losses. The state (or its decision-makers) foregoes revenue in order to attract investors. The flood of bad products damages the environment at the end of the ever shorter life cycle. The population can no longer make a living from their work and saves itself in social networks. The economy is overheating in the hope of being able to restart in a coming crash. And all financial transactions, no matter in which direction, are processed by the house – that always win.

Talked its way out of the advantages

It is a long way before different interests are harmonized and eventually benefit from a partnership. It is important to understand what you are prepared to give up and, above all, what you hope to get out of it. Some memberships are the result of negotiations. Others can be bought by paying a certain fee. After successfully joining, you make the best of it. The EU is such a club, which has grown over the years. However, some members do not seem to want to follow the rules of such a membership. They take advantage without fulfilling their duties. And then there are the English, who believe they can leave and still continue to benefit from the merits of the common market. They talked their way out of the advantages.

Actually, the principles of membership are common property.

  • Admission criteria
    Clubs don’t accept everybody. You have to meet certain conditions to become a member. The definition of these accession criteria is always well defined. The Copenhagen criteria apply to the EU, e.g. institutional stability, the rule of law, a functioning market economy and the adoption of Community law. In other accessions the payment of membership fees is sufficient. As long as the criteria are met, you are entitled to the benefits offered.
  • Membership start
    The membership happens at ones own desire by means of an application and the successful fulfilment of the accession criteria. For the EU it is a complex procedure, the assessment based on a comprehensive questionnaire, the so-called screening. Then negotiations begin, which ultimately end in the accession treaty. Similar steps are also carried out in other associations. The size of these assessments is determined by each individual fellowship – from the receipt of the membership fee to an elaborate procedure, albeit not as extensive as in the case of the EU.
  • Membership benefits
    The main advantages of a membership are the opportunities offered within the association. In the EU these are all the advantages of the internal market, freedom of movement for workers, the abolition of border controls and, of course, the Euro. No matter how one perceives the individual aspects of the EU, the Community seems to be so tempting that countries want to join. The same applies to all memberships. There are interesting offers that have to be balanced against the expenses for the affiliation. If the rating is positive, you become a member and enjoy the advantages as long as you are part of the community.
  • Membership termination
    Each membership may be terminated by either party. So far no one has been forced to leave the EU. On the contrary. The Community has always endeavored to help countries, which have experienced difficulties. With the BREXIT, British policymakers have won the vote of the population to withdraw by presenting the obligations as disadvantages. The procedure promised negotiations about an orderly resignation. Unfortunately, the English have ignored the most important principle of membership: If you leave a club, you are also losing the advantages. This applies to every membership, no matter how difficult the access was.

Bottom line: There is a lot of talk about an orderly or a disorderly exit of England. The calls to order in Parliament no longer help. Probably the only purpose is to bridge the time until 29 March 2019. However, the damage caused by the withdrawal of European businesses will continue to affect the British for many years to come. The hoped-for relief is far exceeded by the follow-up costs. It should be noted that not all of Great Britain will be affected. The Scots will strive for independence and in the end Ireland will likely converge. The English will beam themselves out of the EU into meaninglessness, if they don’t change tack NOW. Following the usual practices, it happens exactly the same as with each cancellation. There are no more fees and one waives the merits. That way they would have talked themselves way out of the advantages.