The Greatest Deception in the History of Finance | The Big Picture
In terms of damages caused by these entities and events of deception, the financial losses, some of which are in the hundreds of billions of dollars, are the most tangible and easiest to measure. Using the most recent and obvious reference point, the current financial crisis slashed retirement assets in 2008 by nearly $4 trillion, as reported by Reuters . This decline in assets is epic in proportion; but what is the non-monetary cost and what led most of these people to place their life savings in the stock market to begin with?
Returning to the question of , consider this scenario: Hundreds of millions of people are led to believe that one particular financial pursuit, which, to accomplish, requires the largest financial effort of a lifetime; but more importantly, and for most people, it is also the most physically and emotionally taxing effort of a lifetime; working in various unsatisfying and stressful jobs and sacrificing meaningful pursuits for this one financial pursuit; and the effort requires 30, 40 or even 50 years of time, assuming the end destination of this pursuit is ever reached — or if it even exists… and this doesn’t include the $4 trillion decline (see above)…
This financial pursuit, this deception, is called even exist?
Common words, phrases and abstract ideas can be practical for use in language and mass communication; but for an individual to spend the predominant amount of financial and non-financial resources of a lifetime for something that has not been clearly defined for the individuals particular life, how can this not be described as anything but aimless, illusory or even
The true deception of financial freedom need not be blamed on anyone but oneself; however, this is not necessarily an intentional deception — it is a result of the human condition. As humans, we are constantly searching for patterns that will reveal the shortest distance from point A to point B; and we are searching for meaning and fulfillment; but we trick ourselves into believing that we are searching for — and money buys pleasure, at least according to the thousands of implicit and explicit messages we receive on a daily basis.
