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Markus Stocker

Between information technology and environmental science with a flair for economics, the clarinet, and the world of soups and salads.

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I consider Roger Waters to be one of the greatest artists in contemporary music. A pleasant side effect of understanding a little bit of English language is, English songs make sense not merely because of their music but because of their lyrics too. This was not always the case in my life. Actually, it wasn’t for most of my life. What a wonderful new world.

Today, a friend of mine pointed me to a video by Jonathan Jarvis entitled “The Crisis of Credit Visualized.” Jonathan reviews, with simple words and animations, the origins of the current financial crisis. I think, the video is worth the 11 minutes.

Even though Roger argued for a different cause, namely war, I would like to link Jonathan’s video with Roger’s lyrics, part of the song Perfect Sense, part II, the global anthem,

Can’t you see
It all makes perfect sense
Expressed in dollars and cents
Pounds shillings and pence

With John Izaak Alpert’s words on Roger’s global anthem,

If you value things in terms of money everything makes sense, but the reverse is also true: if you value things in terms of love, loyalty, and human feelings, nothing makes sense.

John refers to war rather then to a financial fiasco but if you consider the bombs, the little bursting houses and mortgages, the all rich home owners, brokers, lenders, bankers, investors in Jonathan’s animations, doesn’t it look just like another type of war? Anyone wonders whether or not it makes perfect sense this US civil war spread over to the world and became sort of a world war? It does to me, make perfect sense, for I’m appalled in the first place about our own Swiss banks and their greed.