Monday, May 16, 2011

What about having a big vault with US$ 80,000,000,000?

Hi,

Just the other day I was contemplating on what I would do if I had US$ 80,000,000,000 and I have to admit I wasn't able to even spend half of it. I'm just not that much up to date on what people that have that kind of cash spend it on.
Now former president of Egypt Mubarak supposedly has or should I say had that kind of money. And since Egypt is very much a cash economy, I envision him having this massive vault somewhere safe in the dessert just like Scrooge McDuck (Dagobert Duck in Dutch). And when he feels sad he goes there swimming in all that money.

I wonder whether you really care about money when you have that much. Would he really have bargained his way across the local market shopping for groceries? I guess so, because it's part of the Egyptian culture and after all Mubarak was the self proclaimed father of the people.
But when you have so much money that it would take you a lifetime to count it, do you really care whether something costs 1 Egyptian Pound or 1 Piaster? I think everything feels to be for free. You would probably act the way. Or not.
I remember coming here about a year and a half ago and still thinking in €'s and constantly doing the math to translate all prices to €'s and time after time be amazed about the local prices. People telling me that I'm shopping for my groceries at the expensive supermarket and I am wondering how things could be even cheaper.
But you adjust and everything turns out to be relative. That can of Coke (the drink) that is only LE 2.53, which is about 30 €ct's used to be only LE 2,16 before the revolution I remember. Which is also about 30 €ct. I guess Mubarak was facing the same after getting used to be able to buy everything edible available in the Egyptian markets.

So what is your biggest worry then, when it isn't what you can and cannot buy? I guess it is loosing all that wealth. I mean that even when you take all the stories with a big bag of salt, Mubarak went out of his way to protect that vault in the dessert. He had a whole army of policemen roaming the streets 24x7, constantly on the look out to spot possible threats to public and private safety.
And then there was the army of... Well just the army that supported Mubarak and I would think that that was the reason why he could stay in office for that long (roughly 30 years). Of course being re-elected all the time also helps but that only counts when you have proper opposition and the people
voting actually have a selection of presidential candidates to chose from.
Now think with me, you're supporting a person that has 80bln is cash stashed somewhere in a vault in the dessert. And this person can only acquire that kind of money and keep it hidden because of you.  What does this mean to you? Exactly, you're probably the nicest supporter, the biggest fan or an
extremist altruistic devotee. Or, and I realize I might seem a bit paranoid or conspirational here, you're securing that same amount of money as the guy he takes the fall when everything falls to shambles. But that is unlikely, that's like thinking former president Bush knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but he just wanted to invade that part of the world to show his dad (former president Bush) that he could out-war him in the gulf.
I think that everybody here is a victim of misconception, misunderstanding and demonization by the media. I mean, everybody is innocent until proven guilty, but more importantly, everybody has the universal right (mandated by the UN no less) to pursue his or her happiness. And when somebody gets
of the right track and forgets about the fact that his fellow man has the same basic human rights, it just proves that he's merely human.

And so I am digressing once again and by realizing this, I realize that I should put an end to this post. Please feel free to comment and when I offended you in anyway, it was not my intention at all.

Iwan

No comments:

Post a Comment