'Dad, our Futures are Up'

Every morning before primary school, whilst eating my Weetbix, the radio would be playing, and every morning I would hear about the ups and downs of the NASDAQ.

I wondered who NASDAQ was. Why was their future up? Was their future important? Should I be worried if NASDAQ’s future is down? I heard about them every morning, so I assumed they were pretty important person!

These are reasonable questions and concerns for a 7-year-old… at least I hope.

Thankfully, I know now NASDAQ is not a person. But it is funny how the stock market is worshiped in our modern world. It’s omnipresent, impacting all of us whether we’re aware of it or not.

I thought that 1929 would’ve been the moment we collectively scratched our chins, let the stock market kick the bucket, and went back to the drawing board. But that sort of thinking on my part is highly optimistic and naive, because we know what that crash resulted in: WW2, the invention of the atomic bomb, and the cementation of America’s dominance.

And as the world’s No.1 dick swinger, America found that controlling the stock market was a pretty hectic tool for empire expansion and maintenance.

Over the years, we’ve had many financial failings, each time a band-aid was placed on an ever-intensifying wound. With people often saying it’s too big to fail, I think that mentality feels a little optimistic and naive.

Although I can tell you about the stock market's impact on history and people, I still don’t quite understand what it is or what it is meant to do. Like it just feels imaginary, like my friend named NASDAQ when I was 7.

But I don’t really want to understand it, because why would I want to understand something that puts dollars before people, before the planet? Like it’s time for something new… and don’t you dare say CRYPTO, same system, new lipstick.

We imagined this system, and the first step to leave it behind is to imagine a world led by people, not ruled by money—a world where a 7-year-old could never think that NASDAQ is a person.