Schadenfreude

Zero sum games occur when one person's gain is another's loss.

Certain pundits believe that harrowing losses in the finance industry mean that their ilk (socialist ideologues) and the poor (cos we all love the poor) will somehow gain.

This is wide of the mark.

Banks going under will directly hurt employees trying to support their families, and as a knock on effect, will probably reach into places like Indonesia and hurt the poor quite acutely.

Look at Indonesia's last monetary crisis in the 90s. Suharto's cronies were mainly hit in their pockets, while Indonesia's middle classes had to pull their kids out of college and its poor were left starving, many having to give their kids up for adoption, not a few dying in misery.

Few benefit from times like these, life will get very tough for many honest hard working people whether on Wall street or in the local kampung.

While some wring their hands in delight at the possibility of hand wavy new world orders, others are trying to put food on the tables for their families. Get real.