Yet, even with talks of recession (& for some depression), it is extremely crowded out there. There are talks of millions losing jobs in America, high percentages in Asia too, yet, I don't see a decrease in activities that much. At least not where I'm right now. Back then 10 years ago during the Asian financial crisis, or during SARS epidemic, the atmosphere was depressing. It is not so right now from where I had been traveling the last 3 months.
Nonetheless, the figures & facts speak for themselves. What are the causes of the dilemma we are in? I think it's overcapacity. The world is producing too much & consuming (as much as we had) at a slower rate. We have (me included) changed our cellphones like we did our shoes (& us ladies know how often we do that! Man got a clue from watching Sex & The Cities, incidentally I missed that show!). Aside from over producing, we run into knowing the prices of everything but forgetting the values of anything! Escalated high prices for properties (through real estate speculation, I know of a classmate who owns 42 properties in Southern China at the height of the market; wonder why he needs to own so many though! and yet plenty who wants to live in one couldn't afford it anymore since it's prices skyrocketed to Jupiter), exorbitant 1st class air tickets, inflated branded goods (& inflated egos from owning them), food wastage... they all in one form or another accounts for the plight we are all in today. It is over producing coupled with over spending in the real economy. But, who can blame us if we get the idea we are rich when the banks have been so frivolously (& agressively) pushing us free money, right? Some talks of conspiracy theory. Can we blame the bankers? They are afterall mostly like us, mere employees of the company. Top bankers, perhaps?! or the regulators?! The governments now tell us they are spending to stimulate the economies; clearly, short term this will provide jobs, but in the medium and long term, who will pay for the price of printing more money? Next generations? Taxpayers? Us!!! If we are young enough to have another 20 years lifespan in our professional capacities. Will we be able to cope when the day come?
I have come across many employees who are just trying to do their jobs. Trying to survive & trying to stay in their jobs. The system has literally compelled them to be what they are today. Those who made the decisions how a business should be run are guilty. Yet, the root of the problem is still excessive greed. Naturally, every business should be run to make profit. But along the timeline of globalisation & expansion, people seemed to have forgotten the real motivation for running that business to begin with. Hospitals, schools & charity organizations are now run like any other business. To make returns that keep on growing is the very main goal of the enterprise, it seems. Something is clearly not right, don't you think?
Things to ponder: last time we had depressions, the world responded with world wars to get rid of excess capacity. I should not be thinking of this on a saturday night, but I am. That gives you an idea how serious the condition we are in right now, isn't it?
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