Whilst it's sad to read the tales of hardship and heartbreak from people who've suffered losses in the recent falls in the regional stockmarkets, it's even sadder to realise how few of them have learnt from their mistakes. For example articles like this from Reuters ("Saudi stock debacle sparks rare public debate") - full of stories of people who miss the point completely and are looking for someone to point their burnt fingers at. They need to point at themselves otherwise they'll just get stung again in the next 'big thing'.
"In other countries, the state and financial institutions join efforts in times of crises. Why didn't banks give small investors a six-month reprieve on their debts?
"They can afford to do it, they make billions of riyals in profits," said Dahlan.
Well, that's capitalism. If you remove incentives for companies to make money, they'll go somewhere else to make money. And if banks follow Dahlan's suggestion, the shareholders will sell their shares and/or vote out the BOD, and share prices will drop even more.
Anyone buying shares is in no position to criticise these banks - after all, they weren't buying shares out of altruistic motives. Why should they expect anyone else to have a different attitude?
