A rant about economy

General Motors, the embodiment of the American dream, is on the verge of bankruptcy. The fuel prices and economy downfall, helped with crooked American home loans which turned stinky earlier this year, make Americans dream small. Small cars, for example. And the GM brass, who for some reason failed to notice that they are not dictating the rules of car industry and American economy any longer, didn't adjust. They kept the "dream big or die" motto, and kept rolling out monster trucks, SUVs, and other fuel suckers. In the meantime American consumer started buying smaller cars. So today--surprise, surprise--GM announced they'll start making a small car in North America, which is supposed to turn their fortunes around. While it's nice to see the conceited Americans humbled into submission, it makes you wonder how come it took them so long to see what the rest of the world knew for years?

Apparently, the main culprit behind the GM's misfortune, and all the price hikes and inflation worldwide is the high price of oil. Which is not driven by greater demand than supply can handle. It is driven by speculation. Those people in suits who think they can predict the value of things, they figured that it can't be long before the demand for oil will surpass the supply, so why not get the prices up right now? Gosh, how I hate the stock market! It drives me nuts, the idea that the value of things are being decided by the guys who, I guarantee you, can't foresee the future, and are not even imaginative enough to guess it! No matter how many people are involved in stock market, they are still only people. They are prone to panic, especially because everything in stock market is the matter of their own financial well-being. I wish we could have things back the very old fashioned way, when the value of a company was determined by the value of its assets and its product at present, and not on a wild prediction where the sales could go in future.