Black Swan is the buzzword for economists and other street guys across the world. Black Swan is the name of the book written by Nicholas Taleb in which he says that Black Swan is an event which is beyond our thinking.
People across the world have started to call recent financial crisis as once in life time event. If you ask anyone they’d say its almost impossible to predict magnitude of event like this that would happen once in our lifetime or generation.
Would this economic crisis be called as Black Swan?
My answer is NO. Let’s speak about India.
Our crisis started from realty which started to bubble after unrealistic prices across the board in India. Every tom, dick and harry become Real estate tycoon and people got sucked in the name of owning a house.
10 Lacs worth of house was sold around a crore and people went on to buy despite beyond their reach. Their logic- Today’s 1 crore house would get a value of 4 crore within 5 years. People started to think an asset would always appreciate than thinking about the real value.
Banks started to give loans to real estate companies without assessing the real value. Their aim is to mint millions in interests. But these banks have forgotten to assess real value of realtors. Banks started to concentrate on variety of activities other than banking. They ventured in Forex, and derivatives which no one understands in the world.
Greed is reason for this crisis. Every product and service was priced artificially and companies have been started overnight and it looted money from public. “Overnight millionaire†was the motto for most of the entrepreneur.
Companies went on to stretch beyond their capabilities and core competencies. They took too much leverage. If you don’t think big, you’re dumb. Every company becomes dumb by over expanding in new businesses that are not their core competence. They employed thousands of people and borrowed through various innovative instruments which would be subscribed by a genius called private equity.
Whole India ran at leverage and domestic growth story. If pantaloon enters in retail business, why we should wait was the question asked by Birla group and they acquired some retail companies and started MORE which is now creating more problems for Birla group.
Stock broking is another business in which everyone from Kashmir to kanyakumari started to capture their share in India. Insurance is another. Likewise everyone started everything and they went on to demolish brands and made every service as a commodity.
Everything has been created based on DOMESTIC GROWTH STORY which has been misunderstood by corporate managers who work in air-conditioned room with their PowerPoint presentations. They went on to give amazing numbers to their bosses and as a result everyone went on to venture in a crowded business and made it unviable for everyone who has started it without knowing ground reality about the business.
Whole mess has been started by corporate managers who doesn’t know any ground reality about business but who play efficiently with numbers, statistics, case studies and PowerPoint presentations.
Now these folks are calling this crisis as Black Swan. Mess that has been created by managers without understanding of real condition. Mess that has been created in the name of expansion and diversification. Mess that has been created by leverage. Mess that has been created by greed. Mess that has been created by fictitious value creation.
Boys and girls – Don’t call this as Black Swan. Instead call this as “Black Magic†which has been created due to ill attempts by companies in the name of diversification, leverage and growth.
- APPLE – Mind Blowing Facts - January 26, 2012
- Its Black Magic Stupid! - March 24, 2009
- Funny Sites - July 25, 2007
I remember Gorden Gekko words “The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.”
I Agree,greed is the main reason for this recession.
One of the characteristics of Black Swan is it seems predictable _after_ the event. The other two being “High Impact” and “Low Probability”. So, it would not be incorrect to call the current situation a Black Swan event.
BTW, I prefer Taleb’s “Fooled by Randomness.” It is much interesting than Black Swan.
again a clicked article on the same old topic !
that would give Magic a bad name, black or white 😉
more like looking thru rose tinted glasses enmasse