The Fluctuating Fortunes of the City

A simple walk through our capital city underlines the fragile nature of financial systems.

The sun shines and reflects through the river that gives life to the city. On bright and hopeful days the river glitters with light and creates a glorious path throughout the urban area. It is as if thousands of coins of gold and silver have floated up from the riverbed to bathe the citizens in wealth. But the clouds prevent this and at times the river subsides to little more than a trickle. While we may become mesmerised by the glowing sight of our wealth we must also recognise that it can dry up without warning.

The main bank of this city shows similar patterns. It is a dated building made of decrepit concrete and depressing steel. This place really belongs to a bygone time, an era when this style of architecture represented the future, not the past. We look to this place as a symbol for economic security and all we can see is the instability we faced years ago. More than this, the actual shape of the building underlines a disturbing economic reality. With it's thin base and very wide top, citizens can easily recognise the precarious foundations that our entire economy is based on.

Are these observations really tangible? Can economics really be connected to apparently frivolous details? Economic systems themselves are completely intangible and only gain worth when we choose to invest time and thought into them. I have invested time and thought into these observations and they therefore have just as much worth as the economic systems that they represent.

The fortunes of the city fluctuate and these fluctuations are written throughout the city for all the citizens to see.

-The English Student