Finance: The Great Crash Of August 2007

Haha, yes, the markets are crashing. It is the harbinger of what might be a great depression, a hole in the ground that will suck people in if they haven't the leverage to get out. I'm OK, though. Still got enough in hard assets, cash, gold, stamps, offshore stuff etc to survive and prosper. Yes, this isn't my usual serving of philosophy and/or poetry, but it is certainly educational. For you armchair economists out there, expert opinion can be found here. It's been a very interesting couple of weeks. My profits have halved. Haha!

I think there are a very simple few rules that should govern our financial behaviour:

• do not borrow what you cannot pay back without having to guess about when you can pay it back
• do not put money into anything, or lend money, that you cannot afford to throw away
• if you must be generous, be genuinely so
• do nothing out of greed or just for the sake of having more money

There's very little spiritual material here, but a close look at the material facts of the case is very educational: a lot of silly people and greedy people got burnt. If you were not being silly or greedy, you made a profit. And quite often, it was the people looking straight into God's face who forgot to be silly or greedy.