A wonderfully written poem. The philosophy behind this is simple but sometimes very hard to execute. It tells you one great truth -- happiness comes from giving and goodness. And, the universe returns what you give as gifts and happiness for you and all those you love.
Thank you,
Bhaskar
I am an economist, risk manager and banker, and I think that the situation was exacerbated with some of the issues you mentioned, but the compexities be it in financial economics, politics and structural go far beyond. The US has had a half century of steady state growth in the days before the world globalised. The gains from that remained within the US. A corrolary was that US wages rose (check per capital GDP) to unsustainable levels. This also spurred consumption. Then came globalisation and US companies found that they could manufacture the same goods outside the US at a frcation of the cost. The capitalist model remained intact, except now crossborder restrictions started going away. If you are a businessman, you will go to the most efficient and cost effective place. Those places were all outside the US. The Chinese revolution was in fact stated by Wall Mart and to this day, they source most of their goods from China. The US companies are not losers. Their profitability has continued to grow. The main culprit is the unreasonable high wages and cost of labor in the US. No one is going to pay $100,000 to a toy company worker, they'd rather import the toy. Thus the US Companies gained from globalisation, the ordinary consumer gained from falling prices (in my experience, most stuff is available in the US cheaper than in India), but the worker in repititive jobs who had not expanded his skills, suferred. Note that the US was the only country in the world where people got huge wages even without commensurate educational qualifications. It is these blue collars who have been primarily affected. Ultimately, US wage rates have to decline. In some cases it has already done so. Every one complains of lowered standard of living. But, this is inevitable. My consultant friend lives in Atlanta in a 6 bedroom mansion -- completely on borrowed money. I was amazed how he could afford it. In absolute terms, the US is still better off than most countries of the world. The roots of the sub-prime crisis rests with a political decision to make Americans feel good by telling them that all Americans must own their own homes. Interest rates were kept low to facilitate this within the country and to finance wars outside. When you have interest rates close to 0% for long periods of time (Fed policy), the financial markets are pushed to function in wierd ways and it gives wrong market signals and triggers ( interest is the price of money and the Govt made this nearly zero cost). It pushed people to borrow excessively, for speculation, for housing to those who couldn't afford it etc etc. The financial pyrotecnics followed. This is not how a capitalist system is supposed to operate. This was, as economists call it, a huge distortion. To my mind, the capitalist model is fine and well and will continue to benefit millions across the world. The Americans abused it and have been taking rectification actions, though things don't change overnight. Do also look at:
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