The British has started to take bold steps to cut their budget deficit. Although people not used to it are protesting and I sympathize with that but it is not about the immediate problems but for the future of that country. The increasing debts that the developed world is taking to provide for their citizens can no longer be sustainable until the people also start to sacrifice and make do with less or even pay for the services that they were used to not paying for it. The new government in Britain have realized that without massive cuts in spending, the investors and the financial markets would not keeping on buying government or buy it at a premium and also the reality is that the spending has been outstripping the revenues too much.
I can understand that governments have an obligation to provide their citizens a decent social coverage but what is the limit of the decent coverage and where does it end. The more you give to the people, the more they will come to expect of it. In the good old times, it can be provided, but those times are long gone and probably would never come back given the massive amounts of debt that have been accumulated in yesteryears. For the sake of their kids and grand kids and the generations to come, the British( along with the western world) would have to start reining in spending or they will not be able to even get loans without massive interest hikes and diminished access to financial markets.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
More Federal Deficit and Debt
We are now in an era of having trillion dollar deficits as opposed to hundreds of billions of dollars and the effect of these big zeros have started to make us numb. It has been constantly two years in a row that we are in the trillion dollar zone and I don’t know how many years we will be in that territory. We have been accumulating debt at a faster rate than anytime in our history and this is because of this recession. But in order to ride out our recession, we are essentially spending our way out of it which I believe is not the answer. The economists who are saying that we should be spending more right now and when the economy booms we can pay out our debt are at a loss to how are we going to reduce our current debt and can we able to sustain consistently high levels of debt.
We are just paying hundreds of billions of dollars in interest alone on our more than 13 trillion dollars of debt without even putting a dent into the principal we owe. It is like the household budget that we keep on accumulating debt and interest without paying off any principal. In the government’s case, although it can print money and issue debt but how long are the investors going to keep on buying it without thinking that maybe the debt is never going to get repaid (which sure seems like that). Although technically and theoretically the U.S. government cannot or will not declare itself insolvent but the specter of not paying our debt or even rescheduling it will completely wreck the world economy, not to mention the financial markets of the U.S. and the investors. Stay tuned for more on this.
We are just paying hundreds of billions of dollars in interest alone on our more than 13 trillion dollars of debt without even putting a dent into the principal we owe. It is like the household budget that we keep on accumulating debt and interest without paying off any principal. In the government’s case, although it can print money and issue debt but how long are the investors going to keep on buying it without thinking that maybe the debt is never going to get repaid (which sure seems like that). Although technically and theoretically the U.S. government cannot or will not declare itself insolvent but the specter of not paying our debt or even rescheduling it will completely wreck the world economy, not to mention the financial markets of the U.S. and the investors. Stay tuned for more on this.
Privacy Concerns and Reality
Lots of things have been said about privacy and how it is affecting our lives, but there is no escaping the fact that we are also to blame our selves for exposing ourselves so duly on the internet. First of all the things that are not in our control, like when we give our social security numbers and our credit card numbers on line to purchase something or to apply for a loan. The technology is so advanced right now that almost all of things are being done online in order to save money or to have our convenience but this saving money and convenience have a price. And this price we have been paying lately through breach of our information and identity theft online.
I have also been a victim of this online theft, but apart from this, we have also started to give more of our information in the form of social networks and our resumes being online. When we shop, we use our credit cards to make purchases and thus give our address and credit card numbers and when we apply for a car or house loan or anything to do with our social security, we willing or unwillingly have to give our numbers on line and also with this abundance of social networks, we constantly update our status or where we are and we are doing at a particular time so that we invite unscrupulous elements to tap into our information. The reality is that with all this hue and cry about privacy and identity theft, we are still putting more and more of information on line and then try to surprise ourselves when we fall victim to it.
I have also been a victim of this online theft, but apart from this, we have also started to give more of our information in the form of social networks and our resumes being online. When we shop, we use our credit cards to make purchases and thus give our address and credit card numbers and when we apply for a car or house loan or anything to do with our social security, we willing or unwillingly have to give our numbers on line and also with this abundance of social networks, we constantly update our status or where we are and we are doing at a particular time so that we invite unscrupulous elements to tap into our information. The reality is that with all this hue and cry about privacy and identity theft, we are still putting more and more of information on line and then try to surprise ourselves when we fall victim to it.
Being a Celebrity
As the title suggests, being a celebrity has its perks and privileges, but sometimes it is shadowed by the publicity or invasion of privacy that some celebrities crave. I for one would not want to one of those celebrities, where even your sneeze or some little accident becomes front page news on tabloid magazines or even if it is not true becomes a gossip columnist’s paycheck for a while. Then you start to refute that gossip and it becomes a snowball of more gossip or truth and lies that you can’t control. It is a whole industry out there where the hungry entertainment media wants to dwell on the success and the miseries of the stars.
But I also believe that it is not a fault of theirs alone, as some of the same stars when they are not that famous try to have every opportunity to be in the news and when they become one crave for the private lives they once had. And in all this the normal folks sometimes crave or sometimes even enjoy the success and the miseries of these stars. They become jealous because of the stars immense status and success but they also enjoy in their miseries. These stars have the advantage of being invited into exclusive parties but they are also scrutinized intensely even for little mishaps or happenings. This is the biggest disgusting thing that I believe which makes me really cringe for the privacy that I so much cherish. Being famous would be fun but to be constant under radar for little things and invasion of privacy into your family lives and beyond is where I draw the line and then I need my obscurity and anonymous but it is hard to have both I guess.
But I also believe that it is not a fault of theirs alone, as some of the same stars when they are not that famous try to have every opportunity to be in the news and when they become one crave for the private lives they once had. And in all this the normal folks sometimes crave or sometimes even enjoy the success and the miseries of these stars. They become jealous because of the stars immense status and success but they also enjoy in their miseries. These stars have the advantage of being invited into exclusive parties but they are also scrutinized intensely even for little mishaps or happenings. This is the biggest disgusting thing that I believe which makes me really cringe for the privacy that I so much cherish. Being famous would be fun but to be constant under radar for little things and invasion of privacy into your family lives and beyond is where I draw the line and then I need my obscurity and anonymous but it is hard to have both I guess.
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