|
As
a general rule I have not had a history of chasing conspiracy theories.
Nevertheless after observing the chaotic mess that is the stock market
over the last few days, I am getting a picture in my head that
something is very wrong with the way things are working. In fact, I
have developed my own conspiracy theory. Give a listen and then some
thought to this historical review and hypothetical scenario.
You
will recall that it was Osama Bin Laden's stated purpose to ruin the
financial systems of the United States and the rest of the world by
attacking the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11,
2001. His goal was to cripple the economic brain center and
subsequently sow panic and collapse to the capitalistic system he
detests. After the attack the US stock market did take a serious hit,
retreating to the 7000 range in the Dow Jones Industrial average. It
took a couple of years for us to recover, but recover we did.
Now
fast-forward to 2008. After seven years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq,
radical elements of Islam known as Al Quida, have found their immediate
objective in the United States very difficult to attain. The US
military in partnership with other free-world nations have taken the
battle to the enemy and for at least the last seven years have
prevented further attacks on US soil. All of this leads me to the
theory at hand.
Suppose
Osama has rethought his strategy during this seven year period. He has
had little trouble recruiting suicide bombers in the Middle East. When
it comes to getting a big bang for the buck (you will pardon the
obvious pun here), the strategy of one bomber for 50 or 60 Iraqi
civilians, and maybe one or two US soldiers, doesn't really do it for
him. And a war requiring explosive ordinance is pretty expensive as
well. So what's a terrorist to do?
How
about this? Osama trains a thousand agents around the globe to use a
personal computer to buy and sell stocks on the world-wide market.
Instead of strapping explosives on them, he straps on a PC. He gives
them a way to electronically "reach out and touch America", though they
needn't go through any border screening process. He then gives each one
the capital they need to do a million dollars worth of transactions
every day, all coordinated to drive the market in a particular
direction. Then arises the "sub-prime mortgage crisis", an event that
becomes the opportunity for Bin Laden to ratchet up his market attack
and take us to the tipping point. Now the daily market "explosions"
strategically timed to drive the market up one day and down the next
creates huge swings, and the "volatility" creates a public panic that
generates a huge sell-off in the market producing a catastrophic plunge
in the DOW, and with it goes the rest of the world's markets.
Now
enters in the world's governments to restore confidence in the economic
systems of the globe. Is this exactly what the world's leading
terrorist has anticipated? With the governments of the world becoming
the banks of the world, if the banks go down, will they take the
governments with them?
And
with the stage set, what if a single suicide bomber penetrates the
security of the New York Stock Exchange and detonates a device large
enough to take out hundreds of floor traders and knock out the
computers at the site. Moreover, what if that attack is coordinated
world-wide with the other exchanges of the major players in the world
economy. How much panic would that incite? How great would the world
crisis be then?
It
is my hope that none of the events described above will ever happen,
but if they or something like them occur, Bin Laden could still emerge
as the victor.
|
