Who says you can’t predict the future:

Here’s a passage from the original edition of my book, Future Files, published in 2007 (so written in late 2006).

“Transparency and regulation will increase across other areas of financial services, too, which will significantly increase operating costs for financial institutions and will put many smaller players out of business. And don’t expect the customer – however stupid and shortsighted – to take responsibility for their actions either. We will see a significant increase in litigation against banks, and insurance companies because “you made me have it” and “I didn’t realise interest rates would go up that much.”

Here’s something from a certain Karin Upton Baker, who is defending herself against legal moves from Challenger Managed Investments and Perpetual Trustees. According to newspaper reports, Upton Baker says that “lenders should never have let her owe them $18 million because they knew she was not earning enough to repay it. Ms Upton Baker, who earns $360,000 a year as the Managing Director in Australia of the luxury goods brand Hermes, has also admitted she did not read the terms and conditions of her mortgages and that she falsely declared that she had received financial and legal advice before she took out the loans.”

So, basically, any profits Ms Upton Baker makes on real estate trading are privatized, while any losses she makes are socialized? I must remember to add ‘personal responsibility’ to my extinction timeline.