Thursday, December 4, 2008

Simpler Life

Over the past few years, thanks to ample supply of easy money, we have spent, spent and spent on useless and redundant stuff. Imprudent lending practices are also guilty of damaging our otherwise reasonably sound financial system. This time the extent of financial losses around the world is humongous. They are in trillions. It will cause many of us unbearable hardship. In addition, it will take years before our economy can be restored to its old balances.

But there may be a silver lining under the gloomy cloud of an economic downturn. The current economy slowdown gives us some breathing room to rethink how should we adjust to this harsh reality from now on.

In a recession, many of us face the possibility of losing our jobs. The prospect of reentering the job market in a contracted economy is also very limited. To meet these challenges, we may want to tie our belts a bit and to live a simpler life.

It is also an opportune time for our governmental agencies to be frugal. They should spend less on administrative matters. So there will be some money left in the public coffers to spend on helping many innocent people who fall through the cracks under this man-made economic disaster. - Ayee

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