If you've been following my tweets, one of the central concerns I had in November was the lack of concern around deflation, amidst worries of inflation. The financial media has turned around as has the http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081121/bs_nm/us_usa_fed_bullard" target="_blank">mainstream. What's still troubling is the complete radio silence around how the $7.8 Trillion in total bail-outs are being appropriated at these institutions. An amazing statistic to back-up just how self-serving these taxpayer funded relief programs are is taken from a recent article about "good" news in the sector:

In 2007, bankers made a total of $38 billion in bonuses alone -- even though their shareholders lost $74 billion in stock market value. That's because their reported profits were fake. In the last few years the top nine banks have reported $305 billion in profits -- but since then they've taken $323 billion in write-offs.

Sad. It's obvious that the federal government didn't heed the warnings, and to top it off, the relief programs have yet to do address the investor. Sad, how unequipped the average hardworking American is to truly understand or have decisive factor in how these measures are created, used or approved. I'm sure if the average Joe knew that AIG executives were playing golf on taxpayer money there would be less support for such measures. Sad, to ponder just how much the average citizen will endure before actually changing, speaking out against the system. What will it take for reform? What message are citizens sending politicians, our leaders, if they accept intentionally complex economic justifications to rationalise the fleecing of citizens at benefit of greed? Sad, that the well-educated and infinietly more crafty sharks on the Street will undoubtedly outwit public servants responsible for protecting the public's investments. History repeats itself, once again. I simply hope that these events will server as lessons to citizens that personal dreams of realising Horatio Alger story of rags to riches is no reason to allow financial perpetraitors to exist. Plenty of developed nations have proven they generate wealth for the spectrum of their society's classes, without engendering a culture of hell-bent greed. Hopefully, the new guard can begin to change this culture on the hill. For more reading on this topic, I recommend an interesting read: John Perkins book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman. Surrounded by controversy, you're left to interpret this how you see fit. Conspiracy theories abound, but it brings to bear the motivations of a modern empire. As well, it's perhaps an enlightening reading for a citizen who has not personally come face to face directly with flesh and blood foreigners, outside the protective cocoon of American mass media, and misinformation. I , as well as Perkins, was amazed by how well educated and politically knowledgeable indigenous tribes are about current affairs relative to "civilization." I was shocked when I visited a tribe in the Fijian highlands in the Christmas of 2001 and was engaged in deep conversations surrounding the attacks that September. In closing, I draw from an telling quote from Perkins in his prologue, in which he is confident that:

Once enough of us become aware of how we are being exploited ... we will no longer tolerate it.

I too belive that awareness is the key. I have no doubt the majority of man is goodwilled, we simply need to take ownership of our actions and assume personal responsibility for being an informed and well educated society. From a technological perspective, we are seeing how the erosion of information advantages and democratization of media has delivered serious blows to the current corporate regime. As a tecnologist, I have no doubt that the various spiritual and societal references to the "collective conscience" is indeed currently being supported by the knowledge sharing and awareness brought about by the internet. My, just look at our President Elect.