‘I want to get rich now’

Bencyrus Ellorin .

WHATAVER I say here should be taken with a pinch of salt as I may just be sour graping because I do not have money to “invest” as donation… Or so they would say.

Who does not want to get rich?

We work our asses out to earn our keep. Work however is backward and skewed society is obviously not enough to wiggle out of the hell whole called poverty. So people try luck with hard work.

Still, opportunities for upward social mobility is hard to come by unless you are creative and get cozy with the powers-that-be.

They say, nobody wins in a rat race. The winners are still rats. But the problem with getting stuck in this our backward, skewed, unjust social rut is that people are forced by circumstances to join the rat race. And as said, you know what happens in a rat race.

No such truth to “libreng mangarap.” One has sell his or her carabao or small land holding or use dear savings in exchange of a promise of very high interest or earnings in a month or two or three.

I would not discuss in detail here what Ponzi is and why it is a scam. I-Google na lang ninyo.

Marx questioned the market economy, particularly the money earning money schemes. Big businesses do not invest their own money all the time. Investments have risks and the biggies do not want to shoulder the risks all the time.

So with huge monies they have, they open banks, ask people to save or deposit money. You know, keeping cold cash is risky and makes your money stale. It better end up in banks, get ATM cards and transact just like cash.

Your money earns 0.02 percent per month, that is if you maintain the minimum remaining balance of, say, P5,000. Less than that, you do not only default on the interest, you get bank charges for the services of banks.

Then the bank owner through their holding companies invest in malls, hotels, condominiums, etc., using the accumulated savings and/or bank deposits.

And when the bank client is in dire need, he or she goes to loan in the bank. If lucky, he or she gets fleeced with a one- to three-percent monthly interest. And not only that, you get to mortgage your home, your lot or any property, preferably real properties.

It is an unfair world. Capitalism sucks.

Then comes the Bible-hugging sweet talker offering some 30 percent or so of your donation. Add lots of faith, you get paid out in a month, two or three.

Some even give you advance security for your donation. You give a P100 thousand, you are assured of 30 percent per month. And you are issued three post-dated checks of P30,000 each. In the next three months, you go happily to the bank to encash your check. You get P90 thousand in three months. You are happy, they egg you to invest more. You dig deep in your pocket, expecting more payouts. You  give P100,000, you get P90 thousand in three months, wow cool? No. Where is your P10 thousand?

Others just pass on so-called investments through pyramiding. Eventually, the pyramid collapses simply because money does not multiply by itself. In fact, its value decreases over time because of inflation.

While those at the higher rung of the pyramid gets the promised windfall, the surplus money they get in return is not from any production or productive venture. It is someone else’s toil, someone else’s carabao, house and lot etc..

Tired, frustrated when faced with opportunities at hitting big, people most often close reasoning and open up to ludicrous things. That to me is what is meant by “Open minded ka ba?”

Who is to blame for all these scams. I won’t point fingers. But as long as people fall for get rich quick schemes which is in my opinion essentially driven by greed and laziness, financial scams will come and go.

Often when shit hits the fan, the scammed is too ashamed to come out exposed as scammed, greedy, lazy.

This is just my five cents worth. I’d probably die poor.