Time not to be shy about blogging the "d" word

Sometimes I have to wait for my thoughts to be more politically acceptable before I can share them publicly. The "d" word, but not the "D" version is now safe. I mean "d" as in depression.

To the layman, recession is when your neighbour loses his job and depression is when you lose yours. I think we need a new definition - depression is when you and your neighbour cannot find jobs, i.e., this problem is taking a long time to be solved.

In a depression, the market is hell bent on only one thing - wealth destruction. Politicians cannot allow this to happen and so governments the world over will expand in size and power trying to wrest control from market forces to protect their constituencies. They will try to mitigate the pain of adjustment by spreading it over a longer time but not admitting so, as they always need to sell quick solutions. This where the Obama administration is presently at, where Singapore is doing with greater cleverness and swiftness and where Dubai and the UAE is still scratching their heads and in denial since they believe things will get better from the middle of this year.

Come the middle of this year, what if things here do not get better? Debts failed to get rolled over, the place is insolvent. Then what? This will escalate from an economic problem into a political, social and may be a security problem. By all means be optimistic and hopeful but it is prudent to have a Plan B.

Obama quoting St. Augustine in early February had the nail on its head when he said, we should pray like everything depends on God and work like everything depends on us. I believe in Dubai they pray, but I am not sure that they work. It seems like they are waiting for each other. Meanwhile at the working level, i.e., the non-decision makers, they are waiting for their pink slips.