Atash Hagmahani does pessimism in a flowery and Orientally allusive way, but the bottom line is familiar: stagflation is on the way, if not here already, thanks to financial imprudence and the offshoring of work.
His action points are interesting, including starting to save hard (and I agree that's technically possible, though many people might find this hard to sell to their life-partners) and (more controversially) not wasting money on a college education for your children:
They will spend vast amounts of money (much of it borrowed) on an education that is economically worthless; the jobs they could not get out of high-school will still be out of reach after college.
I think that recommendation needs qualification. It seems to me that in poor countries, the well-off are even better-off. Surely it's more important to ensure that your children, if capable and hard-working, either pursue courses that train them for well-paid work, or at least go to universities that raise their ambitions and help them make useful social connections.
But I think he's right to think that we'll soon find we're in a game of musical chairs with most of the seating removed. Another of Hagmahani's options is simply to quit the country. It's time to really think out of the box.
4 comments:
But can Australia take us all?
When there is no satisfactory solution for everybody, each of us is thrown back onto his own resources. Some untypical strategies will be rewarded, others will turn out to have been disastrous. I think there's other ways to compete, and other ways to run away.
Don't flee the country....
Stay, and just make sure that you lose less money than your neighbour. And you'll be fine. ;)
... and fit a burglar alarm, and buy a large dog. I went away for two days last week and returned to find someone had broken into the garage, taken a garden fork and tried to use it to jemmy the front door.
I told the police I believe in hanging for burglary, as unlike with murder there is never an extenuating circumstance.
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