Tough Love

The reason why we are fat is because McDonalds does not serve healthier food. They do serve fruits and salads but they still serve a lot more burgers and all the advertisements are geared towards selling more burgers.

The reason why we are in this credit mess is because the government did not regulate the predatory lending practices that several mortgage lenders participated in. They should have known better not to allow such loans. It’s not the fault of the consumer that the practices allowed the borrower to buy a house that is way beyond their means.

The reason why gas prices are higher is because OPEC countries are conspiring to keep the prices up and maximize their profits. They should increase production and reduce the upward pressure on these high gas prices. The government should step in and warn these countries not to mess with us.

Today Phil Gramm said that we are a nation of “whiners”. Barack Obama jumped at the opportunity and said that the McCain campaign is out of touch with the economy. As much as I am a supporter of the Obama campaign, here is a sobering thought; Phil just might have hit the nail on the head.

We are fat because we eat whatever is cheap, tasty and easy. We are in this credit mess because we rode the bubble till it burst trying to make a killing. We have high gas prices because we drive 50 miles to work in an eight cylinder, four-wheel drive SUV.

So it just might be time to examine what Phil had to say. Though he is denying the interpretation of his statements, I think that a true recovery is hidden in accepting responsibility of our role in our own downfall and stop whining about it.

Mcain and Obama are both distancing themselves from these comments. But maybe the smarter thing to do is to embrace it and work with it. After all you wouldn’t let a kid get away with blaming other people for his or her problems at school. Then why should you let a nation get away with it.

Tough love might just be the right medicine.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fragility of social order

I was browsing a Time magazine the other day and reading about Dafur and Africa in general and it got me wondering about the very basic things in life that we take for granted. I walk on the streets unaware that there is an underlying social order that stops from anybody walking up to me and slapping me. Nobody thinks of simply walking into my house one day and asking me to get out of the house so that he could live there. Nobody walks into my work place and tells me that I have lost my job and he is now going to work in my place. But this kind of atrocities happen in many parts of the world as we continue blissfully unaware that we are secure in a unspoken order that our society follows. In many a conversations people wonder why certain countries never make it out of their anarchy and chaos. More often then not most arguments hinge on that premise that if they cant help themselves then they don’t deserve any better. One of the most common statements I have encountered is that if India
Read more

Mathematics and I

I have had a long standing battle with mathematics. Sometimes I think a great part of where I am today is shaped by my dislike towards the subject. I sit here today and laugh at all the attempts I have made to avoid it like the plague and how it has hounded me all my life. A below average student in my early years, neither mathematics nor any other subject for that matter evoked such strong emotions in me. I was what you would call a free spirit not tied down by the little things such as studies. I would ignore all the subjects equally and there was no deep seated hate for any one subject. I hated them all without preference. Then eighth grade happened. I was never the competitive kind myself but in the eighth grade it was thrust upon me. I was trying to continue my indifference to education but it was not to be. For some reason without my even attempting anything in that direction I came to be in the top ten of the class. Suddenly there were adulations and everyone including my parent
Read more

To you my brother

Image
My earliest memories of him have to be when I was leaving my grandfather’s house after an enjoyable summer. My aunt had brought back two racing cars from Dubai and both of us were given one each. There was the one with the detachable driver and the other with the fixed driver. I was probably four and he was three. I demanded that I take both cars with me back home much to my mothers and my aunt’s dismay. But he was rather surprisingly magnanimous about it. He was willing to part with it to avoid a scene in the house. Obviously my mother made me leave one behind but for some reason I can’t get it out of my head. Many a summers have passed. Many a memories have been saved. The explorations of the limited expanse around the house, the fish tank swimming lessons, the visits to the beach, the showers under the garden hose, the first cigarette, the first drink, the first “interesting” swimsuit calendar, the “interesting” magazine, encounters in the foriegn land and else. Years are rolling by
Read more