"Between 40 and 45 percent of the world's wealth has been destroyed in little less than a year and a half," Schwarzman told an audience at the Japan Society. "This is absolutely unprecedented in our lifetime." (Reuters March 11, 20090
The quote is from Stephen A. Schwarzman, chief executive of the Blackstone Group.
Blackstone describes itself as "a leading global alternative asset manager and provider of financial advisory services ..".
This is a classic example of the myopia of the financial community which sees wealth as pieces of paper that flutter between financial institutions.
The farmland, forests, mines, factories, homes, minerals, office towers, warehouses, etc. still exist. Yes the prices attached to these assets have changed. Yes the composition of the ownership is continually changing with some winners and some losers. The flutter of paper is largely a zero sum game.
The losers in the flutter of paper seek bailout money from us taxpayers while the winners in the zero sum game are understandably maintaining a low profile.
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