Delighting in the Misery of Others?

So the global markets yesterday were dealt with another blow. Stock markets everywhere around the world fell and fell badly. When I got home last night after class, all I got from news on Channelnewsasia was grim news. Babe transferred some money from HK to Singapore yesterday and he told me that the exchange rate was in the range of 5.3. I was happy. The worst we had was 5.7. For the amount of money we transferred across, we had a savings of like SIN500. Well, to us, poor souls, it's quite a tidy sum.

As the financial markets take a beating, the US dollar has been rising against the SIN dollar. To us, it's a bonus. We're happy that we're getting more out of our salary now. At this rate that things are going, we might even be able to buy our apartment earlier than expected. In all honesty, we're not really affected by the financial turmoil. Oh, maybe I might, I may get a slight nip in my living allowance, worst case scenario. But I hardly think so at this point of time. As for Babe, I don't think he's really affected. With work, he'll probably be able to get more value for money in the business environment.

But I wonder as people are having difficult times, is it wrong for us to wish things might turn even worse so that we can get that apartment that we want at a lower rental? We can get more SIN dollars from our HK dollars? And we maybe able to get our apartment in Singapore earlier? Babe and I do not have any shares or money in the financial, stock or share markets. Number 1, we do not have excess money to invest or rather gamble and number 2, I'm too chicken and dumb to do it and number 3, if I truly wanted to gamble, I'd rather catch a ferry to Macau to play the slot machines.

But what sickens me is the unscrupulous people who chose to cheat poor victims who do not understand financial jargon into investing risky funds and them losing heaps of money. These are poor people who saved penny by penny and then waking up and realising that they are holding on to fixed deposits that have lost more than half of their values. And look at AIG. After being bailed out by the US government with tax payers' money, the top execs splurge at an exclusive resort in California. Lehman Bros was the same. Top execs had real fat bonuses last year and then this year, declares bankrupt. And in true reality, it is the poor victims are who illiterate in financial terms that are suffering. Top execs had their fair share of fun, frivolous spending ways and their expensive toys but poor victims out are the ones that are really having a hard time.

I guess at the end of this rambling post, I'm just trying to say, in every situation there are winners and losers. The financial and banking execs may think that they are the losers because they can't afford the Porsches or BMWs now but spare a thought for the poor victims who are really misled by their financial advisers. And the trusting American taxpayers who paid for the exclusive retreat for the AIG execs. Sad, huh. Still delighting in the misery of others. As for me, all I hope is for the HK dollar to be at 5 is to 1 for SIN dollar, a cheaper rental for the apartment that we're looking at and lastly, hopefully by next summer, we'll be able to buy our dream apartment. Not too much to ask for is it?