Homeland Security in London

Homeland security means for travellers long lines, sometimes taking your shoes off three times before you pass the control  and almost certainly no significant findings. However,  commercial trucks enter the airport area with almost no control at the backgates. Security systems are very complex, need a lot of thinking and good control. Perfect security cannot be achieved. Therefore the question is how to get the biggest improvement in  security with a limited set of people and money. 

When you visit London you will realize with surprise that there is no garbage in any subway station. A friendly voice from the loudspeaker will remind you not to throw away any garbage but to hand it over to a garbage assistant. Thus the threat by bombs hidden in garbage cans or litter is significantly reduced and the public enjoys a clean public transportation system. This could be a nice model for New York too.        

My home is my Bank’s castle

When a good Swiss friend bought a very expensive apartment with a nice view on Zurich Lake I wondered where he got the money to buy this property. “You don’t buy your home in Switzerland!” he said and explained the Swiss system to me. Although Switzerland is considered the #1 country in the world about 60% of the population does not own a house or an appartment. Rich Swiss people don’t trust their banks too much when it comes to secure their retirement income. They rather prefer solid rental revenue from houses in Switzerland (hard to carry away).  Even when you buy a home you do it with a high loan from the bank – you are not supposed to pay back the loan! You pay a little interest and  you are committed to keep your (the bank’s) property in good shape. Swiss banks must back up their capital partially with real property in Switzerland. Therefore they are interested in raising prices of houses and commercial buildings in order to grow their business. 

You can see a similiar trend in the US. Pension funds and hedge funds are trying to get “real” assets in order to give their clients a good feeling after they lost billions of dollars of your pension money with good old solid companies like GM. The Blackstone – EOPT deal is certainly the tip of the real asset iceberg.  But don’t forget – even very large icebergs are melting nowadays with a little help from the GM gas guzzlers.      

Virtual Money and Virtual Wealth

Wealth is a cornerstone of the American Dream. However, the amount of real money in the national monetary system is closely monitored and managed by the Fed. The banking and insurance industry, companies and clever business people have always found ways to create virtual money, which you can buy for your real money. They all want your very best – your real $. Diamonds are a classical virtual monetary system controlled by De Beers. When you buy diamonds you will loose about 40% of your money in the moment when you close the door of the shop. People are really doing crazy things! There always was fake money – remember ENRON – but recently the banking industry has developed a whole world of virtual money. Housing is a good example. If you are lucky the price of your home has doubled in the past years and gives you a really good feeling of wealth and security. In reality you still live in the very same house you lived before and in the moment you sell your house you will realize that the money will not buy you bigger or better house. Thus you have been trapped by another illusion of virtual money or a secret inflation.

In good old times the $ was backed by gold which was not so easy to make. However, there was a big inflation in Europe in the 16th century when Spanish ships brought large amounts of new gold to the continent. No big changes in the world in last centuries – only the direction of gold flow has changed.