I am concerned about the United States of America. Could it be that I am going to see the downfall of the once regarded as the best place to live in the entire world? I think when a person evaluated what constitutes a great place to live, they look at the economy, the people, and the weather. As I can remember it, United States had some of the most amazing elements that build up those three criteria.
The 80's we had our share of the hardship economically, but people continue to respect one another. The conservative idea of respect thy neighbor were still instill within one another. We had a common experience that the land was new, with the constant flow of new immigrants, growth in population and change in civil law were getting planeted. You can have kids play out in the street and there would still be that common respect for the people around you. Things were tough economically, but at least people had each other in a brotherhood kind of way. We had a sense of common benefit that we live in the number one place in this world and we better make it work. We had our conflicts and internal battles but we never lost our humanity. Even war has etiquette. As for the weather, well it was always acceptable in comparison to the rest of the world.
Now as for the 90's we finally got out of our economic slump. Wealth began to accumulate and so does the divide lines. Business boomed, people continue to flock the country, and we all felt we were worth something (sometimes maybe we think we worth more than we really do). Now this country really became the country where a person can find gold right around the street corner. If literally that was the case, then we would not have any more streets. Thank god for that. But during the 90's, it was the birth of understanding thy 'Self'. We use the idea that we needed to take care of our self and somehow it morphed into a sense of entitlement because we work hard, we made money and whatever the other reasons why the 'Self' made it. The sad thing is that people became less banded as we focus on the 'self'. We chase after that gold around the corner and we left people behind while doing it. People stop being less considerate, less neighborly, and conservative ideas begin to fade. Of course there are the conservatives still, but then the line gets drawn by the conservatives against the liberals. So that in itself fracture the brotherhood in humanity. Maybe that is why we like sports because for that duration we draw back to our humanity. With all that wealth we were prouder than ever.
Now getting back to current time. Economy is falling apart. People lack humanity. Look around how strangers interact with strangers. Examine the media on what draws people's attention. United States became less of an envy but more of a downfall of the champ. In my prior blog, I mention my thoughts why the crash of the markets were going to happen. I was hoping that the worse of it would happen during the middle of next year. But unfortunately we have people who were more concern about greed and backing up their supporters than to look at the big picture. I think our banks and the home owners will get bailed out. But don't think that is a good idea. In fact this will plant an malign cancer in the US economy. We can try to redress the bad debt that got us into this mess. What about the greed and the unethical practice of people that got us here? Our bailout is not for the people that will suffer, but to cover the people that should be responsible for the failure that we are seeing today. If the policy makers can help it, they would not want this to go public and therefore the bailout will package (just like we repackage loans) to appear that we have to save the US economy. But if you look at it, Paulson and Bernanke were wrong in the past. If you look back at their statements in the past, they were wrong. Who is to say that they are right this time? But they don't need to be right in the long run, just so that some people can have time to recover and plan their financial strategy. So the bottom line to all this. We are not the envy anymore. The value of the dollar will drop, the redistribution of wealth across the world will happen and US will loose its shine.
So what is answer to all this? Well I don't have one just yet. I have some ideas. But for the immediate response, move oversea if you can. Go find that next corner filled with gold. Otherwise, go find your humanity. But for now at least we still have the weather. Just as long as global warming don't get the best of us.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The Smart...Please stand up.
The wonderful stock market that can make a hero today and can also crush that hero in a matter of few days. I've been following the market for awhile now. To be exact for 22 years. I enjoyed studies the history and all the stories that it leaves behind. For the future generations, if you ever want to read about a true soap opera, then follow the market and its history. But this time I am reading about a irony and I'm compel to have my opinion about what has happened thus far.
Over the years, I've seen companies that entered into the market with their IPOs and those that fall out of the listings that we all entrust. Riches were made, egos build on top of egos, emotions run on high octane, famous books are written about the successes, the formulation of the 'secret sauce' to make it big spread like wildfire, and the new generations copycat themselves to be like one of the superstars they read about.
Yet, have anyone every wonder the people behind such things. They are the leaders and they the people who tries to impress the leaders. These days we are seeing the large, what once thought of as the most prestigious and safe companies go belly up. These are companies that suppose to be the 'solid' ones. The ones that brings other companies to market. The one that hires the graduates from the elite schools, the one that rejected so many by putting some many gates to allow only the so call the "best". They are the one that were smart enough to know. You see them everyday. They announce their greatness and everyone follow the smell that they leave behind. They glow over cocktail on how much they add value to their company, they believe that somehow they can never be wrong and they proclaim their 'eliteness'. And why wouldn't they be, they came from the elite schools?
Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that people that came from the elite schools are smart. But I wonder in what way are they smart. Maybe we've lost what is smart. Maybe smart is not definitive, but instead relative? I've seen impressive grades with technical skills, and I've seen eloquent speakers and I've seen those with abundance of academic regurgitation. But beyond that, what is it that makes that person add value to the company or the company around him? Maybe they need to be right. But beyond that, maybe they need to have ethics and the responsibility for the company that they are at. I see business being broken by abandoning the basic. That basic is that an entity is there to bring value to its customers and in return that customer will exchange for that value. I believe that there are flaws in many of what we refer to as sound technical instrument. Imagine just the model we created to help us forecast and plan. These are the models build by elite graduates using the black Scholes model or solver to help us be that much smarter. But are we really that much smarter? Or have you just gotten smarter at making other people look more stupid?
I've been to my share of large and small companies. I've been fortunate enough to be around very smart people and those who were very successful in their own ways (money, life, family, spiritual). The sad thing is that I think we've lost it. I mean I think we went astray to the basic and we find that the complex is somehow better. To prevent myself from going to further detail in that thought, I will stick with just the topic of finance and the people who we entrust to handle that money.
If you look back, there are a lot of shocking news of sudden collapse of companies for the past 11 years. Companies come and go, but these couple of years a company can be reporting good earnings for quarters, gave outrageous bonus and then the following quarter later announce that they are filing for bankruptcy. Yet if you notice, through those years, there are a growing pool of MBA professionals than ever before. But what is it that make them professional?
Looking back, a lot of the long surviving companies today started out with those people without the impressive credentials. But as times goes on, they started to add the elites in their staff following that common belief that you always surround yourself with smart people. But what many people forget is that beyond what is on paper, you got to follow your gut whether that person would be good to the company. Then you judge their work ethics and beyond that you monitor the person's integrity. You see, when you take smart + ego + greed then it = entitlement, then - ethics and moral then it = failure to the company the company that you surround you. Being smart is the beginning, but unfortunately it is not the end.
Now when you look at it, for all the major surprises to the failure of these great companies. The less elite banks such as Wells Fargo Bank has a larger capital share than Citi bank and let's not talk about Merrill or Lehman. Did anyone ever wonder the people that are in Wells Fargo now are probably the people that once were rejected by these elite companies? So it left me to wonder, what is smart and what are we using it for? The greatest danger is not by those who don't know, but by those who knows but don't apply it right.
Over the years, I've seen companies that entered into the market with their IPOs and those that fall out of the listings that we all entrust. Riches were made, egos build on top of egos, emotions run on high octane, famous books are written about the successes, the formulation of the 'secret sauce' to make it big spread like wildfire, and the new generations copycat themselves to be like one of the superstars they read about.
Yet, have anyone every wonder the people behind such things. They are the leaders and they the people who tries to impress the leaders. These days we are seeing the large, what once thought of as the most prestigious and safe companies go belly up. These are companies that suppose to be the 'solid' ones. The ones that brings other companies to market. The one that hires the graduates from the elite schools, the one that rejected so many by putting some many gates to allow only the so call the "best". They are the one that were smart enough to know. You see them everyday. They announce their greatness and everyone follow the smell that they leave behind. They glow over cocktail on how much they add value to their company, they believe that somehow they can never be wrong and they proclaim their 'eliteness'. And why wouldn't they be, they came from the elite schools?
Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that people that came from the elite schools are smart. But I wonder in what way are they smart. Maybe we've lost what is smart. Maybe smart is not definitive, but instead relative? I've seen impressive grades with technical skills, and I've seen eloquent speakers and I've seen those with abundance of academic regurgitation. But beyond that, what is it that makes that person add value to the company or the company around him? Maybe they need to be right. But beyond that, maybe they need to have ethics and the responsibility for the company that they are at. I see business being broken by abandoning the basic. That basic is that an entity is there to bring value to its customers and in return that customer will exchange for that value. I believe that there are flaws in many of what we refer to as sound technical instrument. Imagine just the model we created to help us forecast and plan. These are the models build by elite graduates using the black Scholes model or solver to help us be that much smarter. But are we really that much smarter? Or have you just gotten smarter at making other people look more stupid?
I've been to my share of large and small companies. I've been fortunate enough to be around very smart people and those who were very successful in their own ways (money, life, family, spiritual). The sad thing is that I think we've lost it. I mean I think we went astray to the basic and we find that the complex is somehow better. To prevent myself from going to further detail in that thought, I will stick with just the topic of finance and the people who we entrust to handle that money.
If you look back, there are a lot of shocking news of sudden collapse of companies for the past 11 years. Companies come and go, but these couple of years a company can be reporting good earnings for quarters, gave outrageous bonus and then the following quarter later announce that they are filing for bankruptcy. Yet if you notice, through those years, there are a growing pool of MBA professionals than ever before. But what is it that make them professional?
Looking back, a lot of the long surviving companies today started out with those people without the impressive credentials. But as times goes on, they started to add the elites in their staff following that common belief that you always surround yourself with smart people. But what many people forget is that beyond what is on paper, you got to follow your gut whether that person would be good to the company. Then you judge their work ethics and beyond that you monitor the person's integrity. You see, when you take smart + ego + greed then it = entitlement, then - ethics and moral then it = failure to the company the company that you surround you. Being smart is the beginning, but unfortunately it is not the end.
Now when you look at it, for all the major surprises to the failure of these great companies. The less elite banks such as Wells Fargo Bank has a larger capital share than Citi bank and let's not talk about Merrill or Lehman. Did anyone ever wonder the people that are in Wells Fargo now are probably the people that once were rejected by these elite companies? So it left me to wonder, what is smart and what are we using it for? The greatest danger is not by those who don't know, but by those who knows but don't apply it right.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
This is your life now....
I am visiting my family this weekend, catching a big game, and now watching a movie that I can't help but to quote it. I find it to be motivating.
"This is your life now. It does not wait for you to get back on your feet."
I love watching movies despite I know it is not real. But I think the beauty of the arts and yes movies can be an art, is to allow one to escape reality and for a spare moment (90 minutes) the elements of the world to be contained.
(amendment after 9/21)
For those who struggle today, look at the quote above. Nice thing about life is that it evolves.
"This is your life now. It does not wait for you to get back on your feet."
I love watching movies despite I know it is not real. But I think the beauty of the arts and yes movies can be an art, is to allow one to escape reality and for a spare moment (90 minutes) the elements of the world to be contained.
(amendment after 9/21)
For those who struggle today, look at the quote above. Nice thing about life is that it evolves.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Thoughts
Thoughts while driving this past weekend:
....I really love the feel of driving at night with the window down. San Francisco is perfect when it is 75 degrees and the fresh air makes me feel extremely happy. Maybe it reminds me when I was younger cruising, but regardless what the reason is. It made me feel lucky to be alive and to even just have such feeling at my age. For that moment while driving, all my worries and thoughts just fly away. What was left is just the music and a big cheesy smile.
....I am amazed once again how I have very different friends and I feel so fortunate. Each makes or plays important parts of who I am. I realize that some of my friends can make me feel like I can do anything, nothing is impossible, push me to the edge, challenge my rules, and pump me up to the brink of almost being a bastard. Then there are friends that just do the opposite. They bring me down to earth. Makes me realize the essentials, what I should appreciate, point out how unreasonable my standards are and even to just double check my zealous ambitions. Although that makes me one difficult person to deal with, but it keep me interested in the world that I live in.
....One other thought. I sometime wait last minute. Maybe I enjoy the rush or maybe I am just a natural born procrastinator. Whatever the case may be, I need to get stuff done. I have my moment of brilliance and my moment of idiocy.
....Oh I wonder if I have learning disability. I been reading things backward. For instance, I read 397, but it was actually 379. I do that a lot. Am I loosing brain cells. Maybe I need to start taking fish oil. Make note to self...buy fish oil.
....I really love the feel of driving at night with the window down. San Francisco is perfect when it is 75 degrees and the fresh air makes me feel extremely happy. Maybe it reminds me when I was younger cruising, but regardless what the reason is. It made me feel lucky to be alive and to even just have such feeling at my age. For that moment while driving, all my worries and thoughts just fly away. What was left is just the music and a big cheesy smile.
....I am amazed once again how I have very different friends and I feel so fortunate. Each makes or plays important parts of who I am. I realize that some of my friends can make me feel like I can do anything, nothing is impossible, push me to the edge, challenge my rules, and pump me up to the brink of almost being a bastard. Then there are friends that just do the opposite. They bring me down to earth. Makes me realize the essentials, what I should appreciate, point out how unreasonable my standards are and even to just double check my zealous ambitions. Although that makes me one difficult person to deal with, but it keep me interested in the world that I live in.
....One other thought. I sometime wait last minute. Maybe I enjoy the rush or maybe I am just a natural born procrastinator. Whatever the case may be, I need to get stuff done. I have my moment of brilliance and my moment of idiocy.
....Oh I wonder if I have learning disability. I been reading things backward. For instance, I read 397, but it was actually 379. I do that a lot. Am I loosing brain cells. Maybe I need to start taking fish oil. Make note to self...buy fish oil.
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