"It is right to see people who consume more than they deserve shattered by a financial crisis from time to time, to suffer so that they can become more reasonable… Many people … in the world do not realize that they have not earned the food they eat, that they take without giving… But if someone consumes more than they have earned, it means someone else is starving… Everybody can be a good broker but this does not bring much benefit for the world… We have so quickly lost our human appearance, we have become beasts… There’s no-one to count on and say “hey neighbour come help me.” He will come but demand a payment…. Milk is not produced by computers, bread doesn’t come from a good company PR. It is necessary to plough, sow and harvest before that."
Comments by Hristo Mishkov, now known as Brother Nikanor, a former NASDAQ trader who returned to his native Bulgaria to enter a monastery. He was speaking about the 2008 financial crisis. Sources: Nick Squires, “Wall Street trader becomes a monk,” The Telegraph (October 2, 2008) and Anna Mudeva, “Broker turned monk offers home truths to needy,” Reuters Wire (Oct. 1, 2008).
