The Economy Bandaid - lets stimulate

The world was abuzz, the messiah had spoken, the savior has arrived, your problems will be transformed into nuisances and your nuisances will melt when this savior aggrandizes the house that the Americans built. Well, I am not crazy, err.. not yet anyway.. but that’s how I translated all the post-Obama electoral victory news coverage. I feel very sorry for him, lets scan what is about to confront the new US president in the coming days… a couple of wars going nowhere, an enemy dispersed, strong and diverse, an economy that’s in the maddest of all tailspins, a health care system that reeks with stale ideals, an education system that’s been downgraded, a housing market that’s looking like a mazy abyss than a green pasture with an azure embellishment and a disgruntled group of denizens desperate for some good news and ready to be waken from the nightmare of endless negative missives in the name of news reports.

Welcome President Obama, no pressure there… we re considerate…. once you are done fixing everything that everyone has drawn up in their list, you can cure melanoma, achieve the drug for immortality without aging and find a world where everyone sits on their fanny and makes a million bucks a day.

I think among the million bytes of digits that scanned the globe as the US election run-up ratcheted one question stuck that was asked by a reported struck a chord in me … “ Senators Obama and McCain, do you for even a minute think, do I want to win and inherit this mess” .. Ofcourse they said the right answers but the kind of mess they are inheriting is unfathomable, really historical and deadly in its cocktail of complication and consequences.

The most famous rallying cry “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country” galvanized then Americans, Obama is no stranger to catch phrases, he apparently is an eloquent talker, but walking the walk and talking the talk are two different things. The economy rightfully has taken center stage and is sucking all the resources into working in this issue, but there are 100 other ones that are as scary as the economy, not the least of which is the security threats.

How do you not feel obligated to help the President Obama in every single way, he is trying to patch and fix on the go one of the most epic financial collapses a once-a-lifetime – hopefully – event for us. Now, this issue is not isolated to US or even Europe, the way every economy in the globe is structured we are mostly a house of cards, every single failure has a cascade effect, be it a bank going kaput or a insurance company going broke or a car manufacture going insolvent. Sometime I do feel angry, I mean a few thousand ineligible borrowers have rocked everyone’s boat and we are all swimming or trying to anyway upstream. Its time to hold hands and help each other out. The stimulus package will be a nightmare – any final version that gets approved – because of the burden its going to impose on coming generations, but there is no choice.

The mark of a true fighter is when his wound is exposed and his salt is down, are we gonna stand up and do something about this or not. I like every other Joe Smith, do want certain assurances of how these gargantuan bailout money is being spent. I need assurances, checks, double-checks, reports, status, insight and every damn nickel accounted for. But, lets also get smart. Lets not eat out if we don’t have to, lets not buy every single ipod that comes on the market, lets save some money and spend smartly. Don’t switch off your AC or heater but do switch off your TV. Take the public transport, donate to charity than going on a ski trip. Keep your resumes current, stay sharp and focused. Watch your leaders, whether what they say is what they do, watch yourself and your family and finally realize.

It didn’t take one bad decision to lead us to this rut, it took a series of hidden debacles to get here, it took turning a blind eye when a sore spot is spotted, so there is no silver bullet. No one decision can create the 2 plus million jobs last year or the ones that are gonna be lost this year. But we each can have a personal motto, spend wisely, be prepared and do your part to stimulate the economy. Every one wants to be part of the party but not everyone likes to clean up the dishes, you may not have wrecked every thing but lets be part of a solution. Support President Obama in his trials, his hits and misses, we need call him out if he proposes something unworkable. But lets also be reasonable, the man is under the spot like no other for the reason he inhibited something, not procreated, so lets cut him some slack and remain hopeful and work hard.

Zooming out of Gloom... hopefully

When 2008 was about to roll in, the numerology department was working overtime... the significance of the total 2+0+0+8 had them in a dizzy... its a great year or so they said... 12 months later... don't we all think 2008 as one of the most dramatic, impact-ful, draining, eye-opening, gut-wrenching times of most living beings' lifetime.. from the economy that was in a tailspin and the violence that wouldn't stop around the world and the melting glaciers and the deficit in most countries' budget and the increase in hunger deaths and the loss of jobs and the rise in crimes and the .... too many bad headlines...

10 years from now - when, hopefully we are out of this crisis - we will recall 2008 as the year that had too many bad headlines, the year that doomed many a savings account, the year where we started saving on fast food, electricity, gas and anything that can be saved... History will equate 2008 with 1931 the most comparable and deadly ogre of a cousin.... the great depression... History will by then have all things we did wrong in 19 titles on newsstands, of what we should learn, what we missed and how to avoid... and someone will make money on it too...

Human race... we are funny... we commit the mistake , we avoid the reactions, we sidestep the repercussions until it hits us in the face, we smart from it because we have no other choice, some try and stand up, like water off a duck's back we march on and commit the next series of blunders...

2008 was not all that bad... in fact 2008 was the ugly bill for all the sins of 2001 to 2007, the sins also called as failed policies, missed warning signs and general lack of concern for the future... 2008 was the ugly product of all that was wrong in the previous years... 2008 was needed, it was important the human race gets hit on the face with reality.... its a splash of cold water...

No one needs a million dollar home, no one needs a 4 bedroom home, no one needs 3 cars, no one needs 2 cellphones... but almost everyone wants them all and thats how we ended up with 2008... if we only keep paying the interest on a loan the primary never disappears, if we only look 2 days ahead in our life, the deadlines in the next week never shows up early, if we remain short sighted with a head bigger than the stomach we all only deserve 2008...

No one knows which one policy will take us out of this rut and deliver us to the next one... we are all as excited as can be... for what did we get from 2008 that we cant let go off ... other than a pile of bills, a rack of empty headache bottles, a few broken glasses that bore the brunt of our anger as the stock indexes went for a swim-dive.... its a fallacy to expect one policy to be the silver bullet a series of policies are necessary ..

As individuals we need to step up and distinguish our needs from our wants... in times like these we don't need what we want... we should want what we need... the more we realize the difference and cater to our needs... the better we are all off...

Can 2009 be as bad as 2008, well who knows... but every individual can command what happens with them, as more individuals get smart... with a concerted effort to keep ourselves better prepared we will sail through it... and we can even live to describe it to the next generation... of how we learnt WANT, NEED, GREED, PURPOSE and PERSPECTIVE from the year 2008.... Happy New Year