Panic! at the Banks!

The world is so different now than it was when I last posted on this blog. Large firms, insurance companies and banks have folded or have been bailed out. A $700 billion bailout package was passed by Congress (won't be implemented for a while though) . Phrases like "bailout", "Wall Street to Main Street", "PANIC!"and "Depression" are seemingly interwoven into every newscast I watch. More recently Wall Street has spiraled out of control and pretty much brought the entire world with it. Unemployment's creeping up, energy prices are through the roof and - even though the government says it's not the case - inflation is going up (heck, I feel it in my wallet, how can they say it's not a problem!) These are definitely trying times. This scenario seems to be a Perfect Storm of sorts to bring down our country's economic and foreign relations power.

Coincidentally, all of this is going down as we get ready to select our next president. Politics and the economy are going to definitely go hand-in-hand in this election race but I find it disconcerting how each candidate promises to cut taxes and cut spending, because I personally think that's the wrong way to handle the economic crisis that we're in. Let me tell you something, the DEFICIT is killing us! It's devaluing our dollar, increasing our dependence on foreign countries and weakening our ability to conduct diplomacy. Most importantly, it's taking away real wealth from the average American household. In recent history, the government's been cutting taxes and banking on the hope that these cuts would spur enough growth to eventually cover the deficit caused by the cuts. Then they cut spending to make it look like they're doing all they can do to save us - the regular Joe Six-Packs of the country - money. But the government is the biggest spender in the country and I think it needs to spend money to spur growth in a New Deal-esque way. You need to spend money to make money right? Spend money on our infrastructure, on alternative energy sources for the short term and the long term, on services that improve the quality of life (health care) and build a stronger, more competitive workforce (education), etc. All of this has to be paid for in some way. Tax us fairly so the rich don't get richer through tax loops; widening the gap further between the middle and upper class. I personally do pay a lot in taxes but wouldn't mind the tax burden if it meant that I would be getting grade-A service in return.

So let's talk more on the topic of services provided by the government. In light of the current financial sector meltdown, I think that the government should provide oversight over and regulation of the various sectors of our economy. Many argue that it's sacrilegious to our capitalistic foundation to grant government so much power over firms and businesses. Hell they're using the bailout package to essentially buy a stake in these companies! A colleague of mine states that so much regulation would put a stranglehold on innovation and the creative means by which businesses generate money. He argues that no one had a problem with these companies when they were making money during a boom and tax revenue was coming in. This is true. It's easy to turn a blind eye to situations when the good times are rolling, but that doesn't necessarily mean that when everything heads south we shouldn't take a step back, evaluate where things went wrong and how to prevent them in the future.

Everyone is scared about where this economy is heading. Wall Street is scared about the future and the markets have really plummeted in the last week. When the Great Depression hit, it was the lack of movement of money which really made things worse and fed the panic. In order to prevent that scenario, our Congress passed a $700 billion bailout package to ensure liquidity. However, even after they passed the bailout package the markets continued to plunge. So why are investors still hesitant about the economy? Well, one of the reasons is that although the amount of money was agreed upon, the actual implementation will take a few weeks and possibly months to feel the impact. But I think that the traders on Wall Street need more assurance. What sort of regulations will be put in place to ensure that this doesn't happen again? Heck, what the hell are they even going to regulate? Derivatives? In speaking with my cousin, it doesn't seem like derivatives are all that bad if used properly. It seems like it was the underlying contracts that were risky. Regardless, it's Congress's and their subcommittees' jobs to figure this out. And I think that eventually a set of checks and balances will restore confidence back in the market.

Additionally, the government should set up a "bubble watch" committee which would keep an eye on bubbles in various sectors report them to Congress once a quarter. It's not hard to see that there's a bubble forming and once Congress is notified, steps can be taken to differentiate a speculative bubble from a genuine boom. This ability to nip a bubble in the bud may also restore confidence in the stability of our economy.

I recently came across transcripts of FDR's fireside chats online. He held these chats to reassure the United States' citizens during the Depression and explain to them in layman's terms what the government was doing to restore the economy and their reasons for taking those steps. I wish the next president holds the modern day equivalent of these fireside chats. .

Politically Incorrect

I watched Obama's speech last night and I have to admit, he's a good public speaker. He seemed very comfortable up there on stage. I look forward to listening to McCain's speech next week. See, I'm not really one to associate myself with a party. I'm not Red and I'm not Blue. I'm more of a Purple - kinda Red and kinda Blue. And I think that's probably the case with most Americans. I agree with Obama on some things and I agree with McCain on some things. We all essentially gavitate to the middle.

What I don't understand are the hardcore Democrats and Republicans. We have a few of those at work. I don't really enjoy discussing politics at work because it's such a divisive topic, but some people love to wear their Red or Blue on their sleeve. So this Democrat, we'll call him Elephant, was raving on and on about Obama today. I liked the speech too, but come on! This grisley bear of a man sounded like a 13 yr old school girl gushing over Justin Timberlake. And the Republican, we'll call him Donkey (not to be confused w/ Donkey from Shrek), turned beat red (pun intended) talking about how McCain's choice for VP doesn't take away from the Republicans' attack that Obama is too inexperienced to become president. I find it comical. I wonder if they make their own choices or just adopt their party's choices because they're loyal to that party.

I'm Purple. I think that the artist formerly known as Prince would love it if a party adopted Purple to represent them. He can perform "Purple Reign" at the innaugural. I wish they had a font for the symbol which represents the artist formerly known as Prince so I wouldn't have to type "the artist formerly known as Prince."

Work

Work.. that's the magic word lately. Everywhere I look, someone's talking about how much work they have. My friend, S, has been swamped lately. She's been working until all hours of the night and stressed with having to deal w/ a crappy project manager and incompetent consultants. Pobresita.

We have also been swamped at work since we're in the midst of a huge web re-engineering project. My manager's been putting in a crap-load of hours on it. Late night calls testing printouts to the client in Japan, db back-up and restores a million times over, canceled vacations. The list goes on and on and it seems that whenever something goes wrong, it inevitably falls on his lap. I try and help out where I can, but it's been getting to me too. These consultants - though they're nice guys - are a pain in the ass! Their requests are becoming more and more demanding and we have to cater to them like WE work for THEM. And even though H & M have put in work to the project, most of these requests go to my manager or myself. That wouldn't even be so bad if it's the only thing we were working on. A lot of people have the luxury of working on one project and then going on to the next project. Not so for us. It seems like every IT related project goes through our Network group at some point so we get dragged in a million different directions at a time. The best is when someone from one of the project keeps asking for your status and you really don't have anything to tell them because you just haven't had the time to work on it.

I've learned, however, that no matter how bad you have it, you'll always find someone who has it worse than you. I was talking to one of the Indian consultants at work and he was at the brink of cracking up. He was telling me how he's been working until 11pm or later for the past 2 weeks and how his wife is mad at him and doesn't understand the pressures at work. He had planned to take his mother-in-law (who's visiting from India) on a trip to Niagara Falls last weekend but had to cancel it for work. So I'm sure that didn't go over too well w/ his wife. This man was on the verge of breaking into tears as he was telling me this. Thank God he didn't start crying. I don't know how to act in front of a crying man!

So, yeah, work has been a bitch lately but I don't have it so bad in comparison to him. Plus, I'm on a 100-day plan right now. Basically, ever since I got back from Florida, my plan has been to push myself harder than ever for the next 100 days. It's not like I'm going to coast afterwards, that's not my style, but the idea is that during these 100-days, I'm going to just go all out in everything I do. "I don't sleep, cuz sleep is the cousin of death."

Nickel & Dime

My cousins and I went to Six Flags Great Adventure yesterday. It's actually a tradition that we go to the park once a year together. I heart doing these things w/ my family. This year we asked Dhruvi, Bhavik, Sagar B. and Yaggy to come along with us and it was pretty fun. We were rolling 10 deep! Sagar B. and Yaggy's dad made us sandwiches from his deli too. They were soo good! We got to the park around the time it opened and went straight to the new Dark Knight ride. If anyone reading this post is planning on going to the park, take my advice and don't bother even trying to get on this ride. It sucks so bad. And on top of that it wasted about 1.5 hrs of our day.

One thing that's apparent is that Great Adventure is blatantly nickel & diming the masses. They used to have little cubbies to put bags and stuff near where you boarded a roller coaster. However, now they make you put your bags and loose items in lockers for $1, and each coaster has a locker area near it. You're not allowed to even get on line with a bag! That seems so petty to me. We've pretty much gone to G.A. every year since we were little and they always let the girls drop their bags by the roller coaster control desk. Is there a real need to nickel & dime you like that after you've paid an outrageous amount to get into the park?

Another annoyance is the Flash Pass. This little device is what I'd like to refer to as legalized line-cutting. There were so many times when we'd get to the front of the line after waiting a long, long time and the security guard would let the Flash Pass holders go ahead of us. I'm not blaming the pass holders because they paid good money for it. But now G.A. is basically distinguishing between the Have and Have Nots. We paid $275 for tickets, at least $50 for gas, $30 for parking, and at least $175 in food and drink. We weren't going to pay another $202 (yeah you read that right, it's $202 for 10 people) to get a Flash Pass.

So I guess nickel & diming the average Joe (or Raj) is a sign of the times. They must need that money to operate if they are going to resort to that right? I wonder how else they could raise revenue without taking these measures? lol, go green?

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Why? Because nice guys finish last, that's why! They get played, duped, swindled, made fools of, taken for a ride, taken advantage of, taken for granted and eventually they're made to be the scapegoat, put out to dry, take the fall, left for dead, foot the bill, etc.

So if you've gotten accustomed to having me cover for your ass, sorry, homeslice, but fend for yourself. If you (HO) try to dump work on me, I'll dump it right back. If you owe me money, pay up, bitch! A new day has dawned and I'm not taking crap from anyone anymore!

Eh, Jim's right, who am I kidding!?! I'm too nice a guy... But that doesn't mean I can't make changes. I'm no longer going to be taken advantage of again!

Game Theory: Nash Equilibrium

It's no big secret that after watching A Beautiful Mind, I became very interested in Game Theory. I sometimes pick up on games as they occur in real life. Things start move a little slower and I start analyzing minute details of the events and interactions before me. Actually, I have picked up on these situations before I even watched the movie, but I didn't know that there was an actual term for it.

Recently, J at work brought up something with which he has an issue and I think I can classify it as a GT example - specifically a Nash Equilibrium example. In J's example, there is a task that needs to be carried out by a group and one person from that group has to always be available to execute the task. The problem is that this task has to be executed around lunchtime so not everyone from the group is around and, specifically, one of the group members always gets up and leaves as soon as it's 12:00. One of the other group members always find a way to be there when it needs to be executed.

The Nash Equilibrium is a game "in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other players, and no player has anything to gain by changing only his or her own strategy (i.e., by changing unilaterally). If each player has chosen a strategy and no player can benefit by changing his or her strategy while the other players keep theirs unchanged, then the current set of strategy choices and the corresponding payoffs constitute a Nash equilibrium."

Therefore, in our example, it comes down to a question of what each member of the group believes is beneficial. The guy who leaves at 12:00PM on the dot would probably think that as long as he gets to go to lunch, that's all that matters since the other members of the group will execute the task in his absence. The rest of the group may believe that as long as the task is executed, it's all that matters. Since that one guy is always leaving anyways, the rest have grown accustomed carrying out the task.

So long as the individual and the rest of the group hold onto their strategies, does that constitute a Nash Equilibrium with two recognized goals? They would, of course, have to hold onto their belief of what is beneficial. If another member of the group changed his mind as to what is beneficial, then that would disrupt the equilibrium. Or, even better, if the individual changed his belief to coincide with what the rest of the group believes is beneficial, then that would create a new equilibrium with only one beneficial outcome instead of the two I've presented.

No one stated that it is the right thing to do for the individual to consistently leave at lunchtime - he's obviously not a team player. But regardless, he's found an equilibrium state in which he is definitely benefiting since the rest of the group's goals are being met. Maybe he shouldn't be considered a part of the group being analyzed in the equilibrium. But, no, he's still a part of that team. Ah, I digress.

Dear Abby

I've become Abby from "Dear Abby." I don't know when or how this happened but at some point I took on this role. It's funny because I really am very unfamiliar with all of these problems that I am presented. Yet, lately I've been asked to find solutions, fix relationships, talk people off ledges (figuratively speaking, though, not too far off), mend friendships, end friendships, advise on career paths and so on. I have no social skills or experiences that would make me any sort of authority whatsoever! I can barely hold my own! I don't know how to hold down a relationship. I am very sheltered on a lot of things that I'm asked about. I don't know or comprehend a lot of things. But I'm asked for my two cents nonetheless. I've made it sound like I'm upset that I'm asked for help on these things. I'm not at all. I just don't know what qualifications I have.

Let's see. Here's what I've come up w/ so far:

1) I'm a robot (beeep boop beeep). I'm very logical with regard to a lot of things and those people that ask for my assistance are usually more on the emotional end. Trust me, I've been emotional myself at times, but I don't deviate for my normal robotic thought processes for long. I always come back to being logical. So I can relate to the emotional craziness but bring it back home to the logical end.
2) Read I'm Like Sylar. I am pretty good at looking at the problem for my patient's point of view. I've read them and profiled them and know what their reactions would be. It helps in finding the best fit solution.
3) If I didn't help, I'd feel guilty. I think if you're put in a position to help and you don't, then you failed that person.
4) I'm not stubborn. People are so damn stubborn that they fail to see what they're at risk of losing if they just give in a little. "It's not always rainbows and butterflies, it's compromise that moves us along" - Maroon 5. I like that line a lot.
5) I think I like being the "go to" guy. :-P I like being called up to pinch hit in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs. I'll walk up to the plate with a cocky-ass look and just when the pitcher's about to throw his pitch, I'll ask the umpire for time just the psych out the pitcher.. ok my example went off on a tangent. Focus people.

Hmm when I started this list, I didn't think I was qualified at all, solely because I was asked to help out in situations that I haven't dealt with. But after looking at my list, I think I really am pretty qualified. Yeah I'm full of myself. At least I admit it.

05/04/08: Update. I changed my mind. I don't want to be at the plate anymore.