When Wall Street Sneezed

...and the whole world caught the cold.

The Wall Street stock market took a severe beating yesterday sending off shockwaves amongst the global stock markets. The Asian market, for one, opened  in the red, down by several percentage points. Shades of the '97 financial crisis appear to be looming and the impact on the overall Asian economy is now being felt by businesses. Words of job cuts, hiring freeze, downsizing and the like, have started to spread around.

Investors are wary to put their money into the market under this volatile condition. The general public is jittery and apprehensive. Not even the substantial reduction in the global price of oil seems to dampen the impact of this financial meltdown. 

This crisis merits a thorough root cause analysis rundown. What went wrong? Why did things go wrong? Who are responsible for this? What can the public do to protect themselves from the rammification of such a crisis?

A rethinking of the global financial system, the way it operates, how it links the global economies in a fragile web, is ripe. Should there be a change in the system? A paradigm shift, as far as the mindset of all financial stakeholders are concerned, maybe. I am not well-versed in the internals of the financial system but I am one with those who think a change in the system is needed. 

I hope  this ends soon. Nonetheless, life goes on.