29 August 2008
19 August 2008
Economic Depression
I honestly can believe the whinging that’s going on at present over the credit crunch, how we are heading for a recession etc etc. In my opinion we have nobody to blame but ourselves. We in the west have caused the problem in the first place, and for to long we have lived above our means as if it was some divine right that we should be able to have whatever we wanted.
The way I see it there are 2 reasons for the current problems we have in the west. The first one is a current problem. Since the late 80’s we have got greedier than ever as a people. We have seen no problem with living outwith our means, borrowing huge amounts of money to buy houses, cars etc etc. We would borrow as much as we could, not really looking into the fact that if the economic climate changed we could have problems repaying it. All it has taken is a slight rise in Interest rates, food and oil prices and people can’t afford the repayments.
House repossessions have rocketed and it’s no wonder. Instead of doing the sensible thing when buying a house, of working out how much you wanted to repay each month, then asking how much of a mortgage that would get you, Mortgage companies were telling people they would give them huge sums, and people were taking it. It seems a case of people were willing to take what they could get, and not realising how much they would have to repay.
And the worst of it is the banks are now complaining. Surely they must have realised people wouldn’t be able to pay them back? I can’t believe the nerve of them that for years they have been making huge profits, they have a bad year or two and they go cap in hand to the govt to bail them out. How many other businesses would be able to do this? It really does sicken me the way that the economy is run now. We as tax payers are bailing out the fat cats who have made a mess of things. Yet how much do we see when they are making huge profits? If I was a shareholder of a bank I’d be asking them to repay their huge bonuses they got to help pay for the mess. That would be a good way of fixing the credit crunch.
Onto the second part of the problem. If the credit crunch wasn’t bad enough, the rising food and gas prices top it all off. Again, we in the west are the ones that have caused the problem. About 500 years ago China and India were 2 of the most powerful countries in the world. However some how we managed to turn them into backwaters as we continued our march to dominance financially. However in the last 20 years there has been a huge change and these 2 countries, with there massive populations are now starting to flex there muscles on the world stage.
As we all know there is only a finite amount of resources in the world, and for to long we have had it easy in being able to get what ever we wanted. However as there is now huge amounts of buying power in these countries, and a demand for things like grain, oil, metals etc it pushes the price up for everyone else. It’s a classic case of as demand grows, so does the price.
From my perspective it’s a case of China and India getting back to where they should be on the world stage, and we are just going to have to deal with the fact that maybe, all the things we used to take for granted, may just go back to being luxury items. For some people under 30 say, they probably want really remember what its like to have to save for things, or not get what you want, but for those older, im sure they can all remember things were very different growing up. It’s looking more and more likely that things aren’t going to get much better in the foreseeable future, if at ever at all. I can just see it being a more level playing field in the foreseeable future, but with us in the west dropping down, just as much as other countries catching up.
The way I see it there are 2 reasons for the current problems we have in the west. The first one is a current problem. Since the late 80’s we have got greedier than ever as a people. We have seen no problem with living outwith our means, borrowing huge amounts of money to buy houses, cars etc etc. We would borrow as much as we could, not really looking into the fact that if the economic climate changed we could have problems repaying it. All it has taken is a slight rise in Interest rates, food and oil prices and people can’t afford the repayments.
House repossessions have rocketed and it’s no wonder. Instead of doing the sensible thing when buying a house, of working out how much you wanted to repay each month, then asking how much of a mortgage that would get you, Mortgage companies were telling people they would give them huge sums, and people were taking it. It seems a case of people were willing to take what they could get, and not realising how much they would have to repay.
And the worst of it is the banks are now complaining. Surely they must have realised people wouldn’t be able to pay them back? I can’t believe the nerve of them that for years they have been making huge profits, they have a bad year or two and they go cap in hand to the govt to bail them out. How many other businesses would be able to do this? It really does sicken me the way that the economy is run now. We as tax payers are bailing out the fat cats who have made a mess of things. Yet how much do we see when they are making huge profits? If I was a shareholder of a bank I’d be asking them to repay their huge bonuses they got to help pay for the mess. That would be a good way of fixing the credit crunch.
Onto the second part of the problem. If the credit crunch wasn’t bad enough, the rising food and gas prices top it all off. Again, we in the west are the ones that have caused the problem. About 500 years ago China and India were 2 of the most powerful countries in the world. However some how we managed to turn them into backwaters as we continued our march to dominance financially. However in the last 20 years there has been a huge change and these 2 countries, with there massive populations are now starting to flex there muscles on the world stage.
As we all know there is only a finite amount of resources in the world, and for to long we have had it easy in being able to get what ever we wanted. However as there is now huge amounts of buying power in these countries, and a demand for things like grain, oil, metals etc it pushes the price up for everyone else. It’s a classic case of as demand grows, so does the price.
From my perspective it’s a case of China and India getting back to where they should be on the world stage, and we are just going to have to deal with the fact that maybe, all the things we used to take for granted, may just go back to being luxury items. For some people under 30 say, they probably want really remember what its like to have to save for things, or not get what you want, but for those older, im sure they can all remember things were very different growing up. It’s looking more and more likely that things aren’t going to get much better in the foreseeable future, if at ever at all. I can just see it being a more level playing field in the foreseeable future, but with us in the west dropping down, just as much as other countries catching up.
22 May 2008
Man U champions of Europe
Man U win on penalties to be crowned the best team in Europe once again. I suppose im happy they one as they've been a better team than chelsea all season. Although i have to say i feel really sorry for John Terry.
No Seriously i do!!
No Seriously i do!!
21 May 2008
Oh the excitment
Its always my favourite time of year the end of May. With the climax of the football season we have the biggy today, the champions league final between Man U and Chelsea. Cant get better than that. Not sure who i want to win, but will probably go with Man U as they play the better football, and as Sir Alex is an ex-Ayr United man you have to with him well.
The other exciting things are obviously my birthday and my birthday bank holiday (yes it is jsut for me) and the big TV extravaganza of the year, the Eurovision song contest!!! Yes it is cheasy, camp, kitsch etc etc, but its one of hte best night TV entertainment of the year. As always the British entry will be dreadfull and if it wasn't for the Irish vote, we'd be staring 'nil point' in the face. The real reason its any good is the fact we have Terry Wogan doing the comentary. He makes the whole show, with his constantly putting people down, and ripping the voting to shreds.
Although you cant really blame the other countries for that. I mean the if you look at the ex Yugoslavian countries or ex russian states, there entries are usually pretty famous in the home countries. As they all speak the same languages, its probable that the will also be pretty well known in those countires as well, and as we all know if you all ready know someone you'll probably like there song more than one you dont.
Saying that though, how can all these countries convince people who have sold millions of records already to compete, when we get stuck with some guy who wasn't good enough to win the X Factor. I mean we've had some big names in the past like Clif Richard, Sandie Shaw, Matt Monroe, Olivia Newton John, The Shadows, Brotherhood of Man, Bucks Fizz etc (im not sad, i looked it up) but you have to go back 11 years to Katrina and the Waves to get a semi big name representing us. I mean from Germany you have there own version of Girls Aloud taking part, and they wonder why we never do well
The other exciting things are obviously my birthday and my birthday bank holiday (yes it is jsut for me) and the big TV extravaganza of the year, the Eurovision song contest!!! Yes it is cheasy, camp, kitsch etc etc, but its one of hte best night TV entertainment of the year. As always the British entry will be dreadfull and if it wasn't for the Irish vote, we'd be staring 'nil point' in the face. The real reason its any good is the fact we have Terry Wogan doing the comentary. He makes the whole show, with his constantly putting people down, and ripping the voting to shreds.
Although you cant really blame the other countries for that. I mean the if you look at the ex Yugoslavian countries or ex russian states, there entries are usually pretty famous in the home countries. As they all speak the same languages, its probable that the will also be pretty well known in those countires as well, and as we all know if you all ready know someone you'll probably like there song more than one you dont.
Saying that though, how can all these countries convince people who have sold millions of records already to compete, when we get stuck with some guy who wasn't good enough to win the X Factor. I mean we've had some big names in the past like Clif Richard, Sandie Shaw, Matt Monroe, Olivia Newton John, The Shadows, Brotherhood of Man, Bucks Fizz etc (im not sad, i looked it up) but you have to go back 11 years to Katrina and the Waves to get a semi big name representing us. I mean from Germany you have there own version of Girls Aloud taking part, and they wonder why we never do well
20 May 2008
Something New
Ok all the other posts were from an old blog, so i thought it was about time i did something new, and here it is.
It seems that not a year goes by without some sort of natural disaster where hundreds of thousands are killed. In the last month we’ve had 2 biggies, an earthquake in China and a flood in Burma. Although Burma was partially avoidable (i.e. if the hadn’t destroyed huge amounts of mangrove swamps in the delta) nothing really can be done to prevent disaster like this happening. And it’s probably going to get worse as the population grows. As we as humans kill of the rest of the living world (roughly 25% of all species disappeared in the last 10 years) it seems the world is getting its on back and trying to redress the balance. It’s amazing to think that in the 400,000 years or so the human species has grown from nothing to over 5 billion, from living only in Africa up to 100,000 years ago to now populating ever corner of the earth. Yet what price has this come at.
For the majority of that time, man was in harmony with nature, killing only what was needed to survive, and hardly changing the natural world at all. However that all changed only about 10,000 years ago, with the advent of farming. We somehow went from a species that co-operated to survive, shared resources and tried to look out for our fellow humans, to one that was greedy and selfish. With the ownership of land, buildings and resource we seem to have degenerated into some sort of self centred creature, only looking out for our own.
With the advent of farming brought the ideas of ownership. Now land, animals and crops belonged to someone, and we decided that the best land was worth fighting over. In fact not just the best, any land. Property and material goods became more important than the life. What triggered this new morality, this hunger to have more than anyone else? Was it always part of man’s psyche or was it something new?
Its always been thought that in the days of the hunter gatherer was were all equal, like one great Marxist dream of cooperation and doing things for the greater good not the self, but was this true? Could it rather have been an altruistic move on our ancestor’s part? Instead of trying to look after everyone and the survival of the species, could it have been instead, the knowledge that if you look after the sick and vulnerable now, they might afford you the same luxury at a later date? If you couldn’t go out and get food for whatever reason they might get it for you, by way of returning the favour. Also with the use of objects or tools, if you are living a life constantly on the move, you don’t want to each have to carry a full set of stone tools, but if you each have a set one, and share, the weight is distributed about the group.
However as soon as you live a settled life, you each have your own little area to store tools, store food etc so the compulsion to share is less? Maybe, maybe not. But back to the point in hand. In shaping the world as we have, we are obviously causing problems for later generations. What problems to building large cities on earthquake fault lines cause? Does anyone know? In these fragile areas does adding the stress of the mass of these buildings of today’s cities cause a problem? I don’t know but I would suggest it doesn’t help. Do mines affect the land, or the buildings of giant dams? Its been proven that dams effect the environment, by causing new ecosystems and weather patterns, and destroy natural habitats etc.
Surely it’s about time that people sat down and looked at the bigger picture. We are not the only ones that inhabit this planet, but until we take a look at what we are doing we may soon well be. Obviously we cant stop countries developing as that would just be denying the rights to those that don’t have what we have, and keeping them down is not fair. Instead we in the western world should be helping them, while cutting back ourselves, and stopping the exploitation of the resource in these countries. We should be looking at what impact our actions have on a bigger scale. And not blindly destroying even more of the world.
It seems that not a year goes by without some sort of natural disaster where hundreds of thousands are killed. In the last month we’ve had 2 biggies, an earthquake in China and a flood in Burma. Although Burma was partially avoidable (i.e. if the hadn’t destroyed huge amounts of mangrove swamps in the delta) nothing really can be done to prevent disaster like this happening. And it’s probably going to get worse as the population grows. As we as humans kill of the rest of the living world (roughly 25% of all species disappeared in the last 10 years) it seems the world is getting its on back and trying to redress the balance. It’s amazing to think that in the 400,000 years or so the human species has grown from nothing to over 5 billion, from living only in Africa up to 100,000 years ago to now populating ever corner of the earth. Yet what price has this come at.
For the majority of that time, man was in harmony with nature, killing only what was needed to survive, and hardly changing the natural world at all. However that all changed only about 10,000 years ago, with the advent of farming. We somehow went from a species that co-operated to survive, shared resources and tried to look out for our fellow humans, to one that was greedy and selfish. With the ownership of land, buildings and resource we seem to have degenerated into some sort of self centred creature, only looking out for our own.
With the advent of farming brought the ideas of ownership. Now land, animals and crops belonged to someone, and we decided that the best land was worth fighting over. In fact not just the best, any land. Property and material goods became more important than the life. What triggered this new morality, this hunger to have more than anyone else? Was it always part of man’s psyche or was it something new?
Its always been thought that in the days of the hunter gatherer was were all equal, like one great Marxist dream of cooperation and doing things for the greater good not the self, but was this true? Could it rather have been an altruistic move on our ancestor’s part? Instead of trying to look after everyone and the survival of the species, could it have been instead, the knowledge that if you look after the sick and vulnerable now, they might afford you the same luxury at a later date? If you couldn’t go out and get food for whatever reason they might get it for you, by way of returning the favour. Also with the use of objects or tools, if you are living a life constantly on the move, you don’t want to each have to carry a full set of stone tools, but if you each have a set one, and share, the weight is distributed about the group.
However as soon as you live a settled life, you each have your own little area to store tools, store food etc so the compulsion to share is less? Maybe, maybe not. But back to the point in hand. In shaping the world as we have, we are obviously causing problems for later generations. What problems to building large cities on earthquake fault lines cause? Does anyone know? In these fragile areas does adding the stress of the mass of these buildings of today’s cities cause a problem? I don’t know but I would suggest it doesn’t help. Do mines affect the land, or the buildings of giant dams? Its been proven that dams effect the environment, by causing new ecosystems and weather patterns, and destroy natural habitats etc.
Surely it’s about time that people sat down and looked at the bigger picture. We are not the only ones that inhabit this planet, but until we take a look at what we are doing we may soon well be. Obviously we cant stop countries developing as that would just be denying the rights to those that don’t have what we have, and keeping them down is not fair. Instead we in the western world should be helping them, while cutting back ourselves, and stopping the exploitation of the resource in these countries. We should be looking at what impact our actions have on a bigger scale. And not blindly destroying even more of the world.
On the Road
Ok, so its 50 years since the publication of On the Road by jack Kerouac, which in my mind was one of the greatest novels of the last century. Not only did it start the whole Beat Generation with the Beatniks and hippies that followed, but it was also that the youth of the world really stood up and where noticed by the wider society as a whole.
However it does sadden me that the message of the book seems to have been lost of millions of people. Most people seem to go ‘yeah, its great, loads of drug taking and sex and dropping out of main stream society’, but to me that’s not really the point the book is trying to make. It’s about the journey of self discovery, and looking for something spiritual or fulfilling in your life. It’s about making the decisions in your life the way you want to and not settling for what is expected of you. It’s about challenging society’s expectations and following dreams. Its about seeing the good in people, and the bad in society.
I think from reading it, it gave me a huge travel bug. I still dream of visiting every country in the world, which I knows probably unlikely. Im only 18 countries down, which leaves about 180 still to visit. I still love travelling, just sitting back watching the world fly by.However for Kerouac it wasn’t to last, by the time On the Road was actually published he had lsot his love of travelling, the whole ‘beat’ scene didn’t appeal to him. He was fed up by the new people who only wanted to look cool, and talk cool, but weren’t really digging what it was that made them ‘beat’. By the time the book was published he had settled into living with his mother, until his death in 1967, 10 years later, but he still managed to write some other excellent works. Its true to say he was ahead of his time, with his worrying over state of the planet, and animals.
The man was a visionary, and I just hope his works are still as important in another 50 years
However it does sadden me that the message of the book seems to have been lost of millions of people. Most people seem to go ‘yeah, its great, loads of drug taking and sex and dropping out of main stream society’, but to me that’s not really the point the book is trying to make. It’s about the journey of self discovery, and looking for something spiritual or fulfilling in your life. It’s about making the decisions in your life the way you want to and not settling for what is expected of you. It’s about challenging society’s expectations and following dreams. Its about seeing the good in people, and the bad in society.
I think from reading it, it gave me a huge travel bug. I still dream of visiting every country in the world, which I knows probably unlikely. Im only 18 countries down, which leaves about 180 still to visit. I still love travelling, just sitting back watching the world fly by.However for Kerouac it wasn’t to last, by the time On the Road was actually published he had lsot his love of travelling, the whole ‘beat’ scene didn’t appeal to him. He was fed up by the new people who only wanted to look cool, and talk cool, but weren’t really digging what it was that made them ‘beat’. By the time the book was published he had settled into living with his mother, until his death in 1967, 10 years later, but he still managed to write some other excellent works. Its true to say he was ahead of his time, with his worrying over state of the planet, and animals.
The man was a visionary, and I just hope his works are still as important in another 50 years
Music
what has happened to music in the last few years. Were are all the bands gone that actually have something to say, something of relevance? I remember back in the day you has people like Dylan and Morrison in the 60's and 70's, along with a whole loads of protest singers. Infact back then if you had an acoustic guitar you were a protest singer. Then along came the whole punk movement with rebelling against who knows what, but at least they were trying to prove a point, then in the 80's and 90's you had Morrissey and Rage Against the machine trying to prove a point through music.
But today what do you have? I mean all the punk bands are just completely self obsessed, is it just a sign of the general malaise with society? Music used to men something, who can forget Geldof and the guy from ultravox during band aid / live aid. No what do we have, a whole concert against global warming that probably used up more fossil fuel to put on than is used to heat a medium sized town for a year. Well done to all involved. Isn't it true that the youth follow what the bands say, or do bands just follow what the people want?
But today what do you have? I mean all the punk bands are just completely self obsessed, is it just a sign of the general malaise with society? Music used to men something, who can forget Geldof and the guy from ultravox during band aid / live aid. No what do we have, a whole concert against global warming that probably used up more fossil fuel to put on than is used to heat a medium sized town for a year. Well done to all involved. Isn't it true that the youth follow what the bands say, or do bands just follow what the people want?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
