There are so many layoffs, so much bad news in the worst crisis we may have ever faced. Everything that the economy needs is just not there. If we stop for a moment and think.. yes, sometimes, we are so busy that we really don't think. There may be a way to help revive the economy!
We've lost the manufacturing edge, we lost the services to outsourcing, we're losing our edge in science and technology and in this crucial time, we seem to have no marketable skill. All is not lost. One thing that we have in abundance that not a lot of countries have is our rich natural resources. The great vast, diverse lands of this great nation has some of the breathtaking scenes one can see in this world. We may not have a rich history of historical monuments, ancient ruins, but we have a rich land with mighty rivers, scenic mountains, amazing volcanos, etc. The silver lining to this is our infrastructure. Thank God for the able leadership in the 1960s, we now have a very efficient highway system, well connected roads, airports in all major cities, etc.
How can we make use of all this to kickstart the economy? The answer is tourism! Countries like Singapore realized long back that if they don't have any marketable skill, tourism is their only way out. We've got so much that a tourist would want to see. There is a catch, however, which I will explain at the end.
We have never promoted our country as a tourist destination to the world. That's because we always wanted less people coming in. If we can promote our country with reasonably cheap packaged tours that include accommodation, food, travel, etc. to major populations that want to see the US like in India, China, Mexico, etc., we can get people to come in. This will provide income to the airline industry, hotel industry, transportation, retail, mom and pop shops, etc.
Innovation has always been our greatest strength and we should innovate ourselves out of this depression.
The obvious problem that you're already thinking about is, how do we weed out non-tourists who come here to stay and never return. The answer lies in sophisticated screening. If the federal govt. passes a bill that says that all new employees, drivers license applicants must now be fingerprinted and the results sent to a central agency, every person who seeks employment, DL will have sent their fingerprints to the central agency. If we fingerprint all the tourists, we can essentially track them down if they decide to stay. This is just one method. There are hundreds of other methods to track down non-tourists. The cost to implement such an agency is probably about 1/1000th of the bailout money or the stimulus package. What we need is more people to think on this idea and implement it.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Obama is white!
The whole world is celebrating the first black President of the United States. That's awesome, right? Well, yes, but there's one thing that's wrong. He isn't black. He's mixed. Yet, people have been brainwashed into believing he is black. Throughout the whole campaign, the media never questioned the claim that he was black. I'm not a Republican, so don't get offended with my observation.
The notion that anything mixed with white becomes the unwhite color is racist. White supremacists want you to believe that white is the pure color and anything mixed with it is impure, and the result becomes the impure color. Why do people subconsciously consider white as the benchmark? People talk of equality, but unknowingly are racist in their thoughts.
If Obama can be called black, he can equally be called white. No one, including the blacks themselves realize that he has equal proportions of white and black in him. We should stop calling Obama black. Instead, we should correctly call him bi-racial or mixed or maybe even Afro-caucasian.
History has been made by Obama. Not because he is the first "black" President, but because he is the first "bi-racial" President in the world! The media went gaga and made him the first "black" President. Enough confusion? It's only set to begin. What would happen, if 20 years later, say Jesse Jackson becomes the President. Not to say that he will, but just as an example, if he comes the President, who is the first black President then? Clearly, it's not Obama, but the media already made a mistake and we need to undo this mistake when the next real black person becomes a President. When that confusion arises, another confusion will erupt. How do you define black? Who is African American? Who is white? One thing is clear. Race is never going to die.. at least not for another century!
The notion that anything mixed with white becomes the unwhite color is racist. White supremacists want you to believe that white is the pure color and anything mixed with it is impure, and the result becomes the impure color. Why do people subconsciously consider white as the benchmark? People talk of equality, but unknowingly are racist in their thoughts.
If Obama can be called black, he can equally be called white. No one, including the blacks themselves realize that he has equal proportions of white and black in him. We should stop calling Obama black. Instead, we should correctly call him bi-racial or mixed or maybe even Afro-caucasian.
History has been made by Obama. Not because he is the first "black" President, but because he is the first "bi-racial" President in the world! The media went gaga and made him the first "black" President. Enough confusion? It's only set to begin. What would happen, if 20 years later, say Jesse Jackson becomes the President. Not to say that he will, but just as an example, if he comes the President, who is the first black President then? Clearly, it's not Obama, but the media already made a mistake and we need to undo this mistake when the next real black person becomes a President. When that confusion arises, another confusion will erupt. How do you define black? Who is African American? Who is white? One thing is clear. Race is never going to die.. at least not for another century!
When will house prices go up?
When will house prices go up? That's the million dollar question that everybody is asking. The answer isn't too complicated. Let's look at this whole issue in simple terms without the Wall Street pundits predictions or banking jargons. Let's consider just two facts: The population of the US is increasing. Legal immigration is also increasing. These two together are enough to fundamentally change the demand-supply cycle. It's true, housing prices are going down. What's happening is that they are just correcting themselves away from the artificially inflated prices a few years back.
Consumption is the underlying backbone of the US economy. With the housing market near it's bottom, consumption has greatly decreased leading to a further dampening of the economy. Weather we are in a recession or not, basic consumption is never going to go away. By basic, I mean, food, water, shelter, transportation, school, etc. This basic consumption is what is going to drive the economy from the scratch. The economic baloon burst and we're going to have to blow a new baloon. Right after the burst, a huge amount of air gushes from the baloon. That's the stage we're in. We're seeing decrease in everything related to the economy. Once all the air is out, what will happen? Yup, you're right. We're gonna have to take a new baloon and blow it all over. When we start doing that.. when we start blowing our new economic baloon, the first two, three blows are going to impact the basic consumption. We will see a slight increase in food consumption, restaurant expenses, transportation expenses, etc. The moment people have money in their hands, restaurants are the first ones to experience the wealth. So, if you're watching the news and you see restaurants doing good business, you bet, things are changing for the better. That my friend, is the indication that house prices are going to go up. After basic consumption, people are going to get things they need around the house. Retail. That's next to show an increase. This is enough of a trigger in consumption to kickstart the economy back again. Pretty soon, you'll see kids moving out the house, rental income increasing and voila.. housing demand.
If you recollect the bust that happened since last year, the reverse of the above occurred. First housing, then mortage industry, financial industry, banking, now retail. We'll soon here mom and pop shops report losses and then the air is completely out. After that, we're on a smooth ride up.. and the cycle continues..
Consumption is the underlying backbone of the US economy. With the housing market near it's bottom, consumption has greatly decreased leading to a further dampening of the economy. Weather we are in a recession or not, basic consumption is never going to go away. By basic, I mean, food, water, shelter, transportation, school, etc. This basic consumption is what is going to drive the economy from the scratch. The economic baloon burst and we're going to have to blow a new baloon. Right after the burst, a huge amount of air gushes from the baloon. That's the stage we're in. We're seeing decrease in everything related to the economy. Once all the air is out, what will happen? Yup, you're right. We're gonna have to take a new baloon and blow it all over. When we start doing that.. when we start blowing our new economic baloon, the first two, three blows are going to impact the basic consumption. We will see a slight increase in food consumption, restaurant expenses, transportation expenses, etc. The moment people have money in their hands, restaurants are the first ones to experience the wealth. So, if you're watching the news and you see restaurants doing good business, you bet, things are changing for the better. That my friend, is the indication that house prices are going to go up. After basic consumption, people are going to get things they need around the house. Retail. That's next to show an increase. This is enough of a trigger in consumption to kickstart the economy back again. Pretty soon, you'll see kids moving out the house, rental income increasing and voila.. housing demand.
If you recollect the bust that happened since last year, the reverse of the above occurred. First housing, then mortage industry, financial industry, banking, now retail. We'll soon here mom and pop shops report losses and then the air is completely out. After that, we're on a smooth ride up.. and the cycle continues..
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