Arise, Awake and Stop not!

I have always believed in not crying about problems, but taking it as a challenge and to come up with solutions. Better still, see the opportunities arising from this peculiar situation and we can be better! I am not an expert, but I did think about it from a layman's perspective. With so many doom sayers around, what would it really take for the economy to really get back up on its feet?

For this, I went back to the Great Depression in 1929, which was the only comparable thing. Then, the Black Tuesday in October put a halt to the parties flung by merry men counting illusionary gains in the stock market. Same effects as today, Black October, trade decline, job losses, debt inflation went in a vicious circle. Back then, Roosevelt came and thought of a way out of the mess with the First New Deal, by providing more jobs mainly through construction work.

In this current scenario, with cities bursting with skyscrapers and unsold houses, construction sector could hardly provide any scope. So, whats the alternative. In my mind, the solution lies in the often neglected sectors and neglected things in a booming economy. Right now, lets do a Random Access analysis..

My Answer: Be Clean, Be Green, Be Seen

In the internet age, people are glued to the gadgets for our emotional needs. Our physical needs are catered by junk foods which are portable along with our laptops, mostly wrapped in cans and plastic. These are then mindlessly thrown into bins by decent souls and everywhere else by the majority. This means that in this cyberage, we often neglect their surroundings without even knowing about it. Wall-E, which some say is the best movie of 2008, brings it right to the point in the only way people seem to see things nowadays.. in animation.. Even cities boasting to be the cleanest place on earth, like Singapore, has seen its effects on its roadside pavements and inside lifts. Given the mess we have made in the last few decades, the Be Clean movement can create a lot of jobs in itself. And needless to say, it makes our home a much more liveable environment. So, Be Clean!

They has been a hightened concern about being green in the last few years, under the veil of global warming, but thats just one aspect. People do not realise anything until quite a few lives have been lost, because thats when the survival instincts kick in and they wanna set things right. As scientists have been screaming it could be too late before humanity wakes up to reality. But as always with scientists, they do not concur on anything and everyone has a different opinion. Some say global waming with screw things up, others say we are inbetween two ice ages and we are looking at a Global Freeze. Whatever it is, doesnt justify the way we are living right now. All bad things have good precincts, which even applies to atom bombs. Lets face it, the current situation is Do or Die! Given the current state of affairs, you would probably need a billion people on this movement to set right the impact of lousy decisions and lousy stuff our predecessors have done. In finance terms, increased jobs increased (green) resources, increased awareness and increased recovery. So, Be Green!

Its one of the ironies of life that its always easier in hindsight, but enough effort is not spent in foresight. In hindsight, people blame a lack of accountability, lack of responsibility and lack of due diligence, while forgetting the root cause of this round of recessions are due to lack of trust, which is the single pillar of the financial systems. Trust is linked to many factors and is as fragile as a girl's mood, which the world has realised in the harsh last few months. One of the most important things that trust is linked to is transparency. Complete transparency is scary, as the "Moments of Truth" show in Star World shows. However, better transparency is required to form the bond of trust in the first place! This is what the finance experts need to hold on to to revitalise the economy and the financial systems. Better transparency from firms allow it to "be seen" by the public and regulators, who would have better trust in investing in them. If they cant see what they are going into, they would just not go into it in a sinking economy. Bear Sterns to Satyam, things can be traced back to a lack of transparency. So, we need to ensure that companies are as transparent as they can be, and get in the regulations and enforcement as soon as possible to restore the public confidence in the system.

Lets start from the invidual by being clean, progress through our neighbourhood by being green and reach out to the masses by being seen!

I would love to see more solutions and opportunities arise from this situation we are in, rather than problems and cribbings.

Random Access
The search has just begun !!!