Investment banking has become this uncontrollable monster who is… like an immature child. And the mother of this child — the government — is doing nothing to discipline it. You’re absolutely right; banks are supposed to give people a sense of security. However, the way investment banks and recent financial maneuverings have taken the whole context out of banks. Banks should focus on lending and if they can’t even do that right, what are they to say about packaged fancy securities? There are no fundamentals behind a lot of these “new” and enticing products and of all people, you expect the financiers of the world — the analysts and managing directors that get paid far too much for their own good — to know the truth behind them. But sadly, they’re too blinded by the profit and prospect of lucrative return. How unpleasant.

As affected as investors all around the world were by the rejection of the bailout plan, it is just like you said: do NOT encourage the bad seeds. If the bailout plan actually went through, well, it’s still no more than a temporary measure to pull US out of its current misery — it might as well trigger a bigger “crisis” within the next few years if not sooner. It doesn’t solve the core of the problem that banks were too optimistic, analysts were too careless providing optimistic information, shareholders were ignorant of the real situation behind the statements they get… or maybe they hardly understood it in the first place. After all, everyone was too occupied with their own gains that the bigger picture was ignored as one selfish attempt grew to ten, ten grew to hunderds then thousands… it was bound to explode some day.

The whole bailout plan does something that any financial market should ignore by all means: it distorts the natural business cycle. And do people realize what the long-term consequences might be when the cycle is distorted? The financial base of a country, or even the whole world since global effect is enormous nowadays, becomes ultimately loose and shaken. This is similar to the whole Bubble Era back in 1980s/90s Japan: once burst, so many hidden problems surface and requires decades of trouble fixing them. Right now China should be careful of a similar situation: I really don’t think most houses out there in the market are actually worth their current price, nor would common citizens be able to afford them. As much as foreign investors keep pouring their time and effort into China’s growing market, a country can’t simply rely on its external resources to grow — it should be used as a tool/aid, not a main focus.

Our CEO just announced today that we will resume the bank’s original focus on our commercial lines for the next while in order to make up for the losses incurred by the world markets. Now, that is sensible because what’s the point of wanting more when you haven’t even swallowed and digested what you still have? It’s okay to be ambitious, but not to the extent that you lose the ground under your feet. It’s just ironic that while people assume bankers to be the most conservative/practical in the industry, recent happenings prove otherwise. Maybe the whole I-banking business shouldn’t be called Investment “Banking” in the first place… that ruins the image planted in people’s mind that banks = safe, and things like that is easy to lose but hard to build and maintain. (Which means good work for us in the brand management area, though — not complaining about that xD)

Sadly, the older we get, the less we actually think about those stuff and take everything for granted. I don’t think a lot of adults “don’t have creativity” - they just hid their creativity somewhere deep within because they’re too caught up in day-to-day activities.

I’ll stop here since I already started making no sense. Muaha.

Well I like chicken.. it’s just not my favorite meat XD But yeah.. LET’S GO EAT *___*

And I vote for food blog all the way. I love reading about food. XD