Do you know why business has dirty secrets? Simple. People conduct business, and because business pays, things happen that are not always above board. Shady deals. Broken promises. Handshakes that precede a stab in the back. All of these are unfortunately all too common in business, hence dirty secrets about business. Some you may know, some you may have seen, hopefully, none have been perpetrated against you and your finances.

Dirty Secrets About Business: Morphing Contracts.

This one happens all the time, in fact, you may have one or more in your pocket. Credit cards are famous for these contracts. Miss a payment, and your interest rate goes up. Late with a payment, your rate goes up. Bank profits are down, your rate goes up. Bank collapses, your interest rate goes up. Fed raises rates, your interest rate goes up.

Credit Card Companies Get Fiscally Creative With Your Fees.

Few ever really read a credit card agreement. If you did read a credit card agreement, you would see that the contract seems to favor the bank’s interests. Try to change the contract in your favor. See how it goes. I don’t think they will accept your terms. Credit card companies seem to get away with this because they offer “unsecured” credit. Unsecured means that you offer only your credit history and your willingness to enter into a lopsided contract, rather than collateral to open an account. Other types of loans simply are not legally permitted to create such unfair contracts.

Dirty Secrets About Business: Free Money.

For a while now, banks and certain businesses have been able to borrow money at either no interest or almost no interest ( .5% – 1% ) from the government in order to drive business, create jobs, and foster economic growth. But who pays for the growth? When the government creates and lends out trillions of dollars, each dollar you have saved eventually buys less at the store.

For Banks And Businesses Money Has Been Cheap If Not Free. Not The Same Case For Consumers, However.

When the entities that the government creates this money for go belly up with loads of bad debt, do taxpayers end up on the hook? The same taxpayer that pays an 8% interest rate on a Ford truck ends up with higher taxes and less purchasing power when the bank that wrote his loan with free money somehow ends up bankrupt. Banks get free money to misinvest and when they do, consumers and taxpayers pick up the tab, but there are more dirty secrets about business.

Dirty Secrets About Business: Psychopaths And Sociopaths?

There has been more than one study and report on the types of personalities that seem to excel in Wall Street firms and professional financial positions throughout the USA. Seemingly time after time, it seems that a successful trader could not care less about any of the effects of his trade, as long as the trade produces a profit. Jobs lost. Who cares. Companies close. Who cares. People kill themselves. Who cares. Families tore apart, not my problem.

Unscrupulous, Uncaring Businessman vs. Walter White aka “Heisenberg”. Go Science!

Did you ever see American Psycho? Have you ever listened to some of these bankers testify in Congress, or seen them give interviews? Some of these guys are just not right, but if they produce profits, they are allowed to stay in the game until they lose money or burn out. The guys at the top cashing the really huge bonus checks don’t care if the psychos and sociopaths on the floors below burn out. Human Resources has been using psychological testing for years to weed out people with normal emotions, so there is always a fresh supply of stock brokers and the like available.

Dirty Secrets About Business? Lots Of Rules, No Jail Time.

Business is full of rules and regulations. All of these rules and regulations have rule makers and regulators behind them. However, unless your last name happens to be Madoff or Stewart, (as in Martha), chances are you can do pretty much whatever you want, as long as it makes money or covers the ass of someone who makes money, without going to jail.

Madoff Will See Significant Prison Time. The Other Crooks, Not So Much.

In fact, banks and businesses have learned that engaging in high-risk high-profit criminal and illegal business will probably only result in regulators seizing a small portion of the ill-gotten profits if they even find out. As long as you can get someone high enough up the chain to fix the problem and stroke a check, the psychopaths and sociopaths can continue to break laws and earn bonus checks. Think about it, if you have to hire people who are supposed to know better to participate in illegal transactions, then the people you hire to know better but still do it have honesty and integrity issues. Sometimes the employees are the dirty secrets about business.

Gold is sometimes involved in shady Wall Street dealings, but the gold in your safe is not a psychopath or a sociopath. Gold does not listen to dirty secrets about business, gold is impartial. The gold in your safe is not a banker or a broker that will sacrifice your wealth to pad theirs. Gold coins and gold bars do not participate in congressional hearings nor do they tell dirty secrets. OwnGold.