This is a story from my dad.
During a recession he applied for a small personal loan for a few thousand dollars from his bank. He had excellent credit, was a homeowner, stable job, yadda yadda. His loan approval should’ve sailed through easily.
But because of the recession, the bank was trying to be extra careful about loaning out money. A loan officer called him to review his paperwork, and asked him what he was going to spend the loan on.
Dad was pissed. He said it’s a PERSONAL loan, and it’s none of their business what he’s going to do with it. It’s personal.
The bank dude was really nice, he explained the situation and said he’s just doing his job. He had to fill out paperwork, one of the spaces required that he writes what dad was going to do with the money.
Dad said, “Ok, when I get the money, I’m going to take it all out of the bank in cash, go home, open my window and throw it all outside.”
He found out a few days later he was approved for the loan.
It was a short-term investment. When the airline industry shut down, oil bottomed out, but I knew it was only a matter of time before COVID subsided and air travel came back, and when it did, I made a profit selling those stocks.
I’d also add that, if I had any real power to reverse climate change, I would. The people in my country are powerless to create real change because American corporations are the biggest polluters, and they also own all of our legislators.