PAK::AFFAIRS

US Government is offering a $65 per month paycheck to its citizens to stimulate the economy? Borrowing money from foreign countries, getting in further debt and aggravating the same problem that actually is responsible for this mess yet again? A quick fix?

Here are my quick thoughts on the aftermath of this stimulus. First US won’t be able to pay this amount for a long long time, I mean generations. Our kids and grandkids will take on the burden as we have taken on the burden of our previous generations. In order to wash out the debt, US will try to engage in other wars, maybe with the lender(s) itself and mess it up yet again. You see where I am going with this? History students and buffs are very well aware of what I am talking about.

I am not so sure that this stimulus will work. I think there are tremendous amounts of opportunities out there that can not only fix the economy but will do a lot of other good things. When I say opportunities, I mean problems that yet need to be solved, as I look at every problem as an opportunity to fix it.

Here is one problem: Energy. Yes, we are still using the archaic technology of so called “fossil fuels” and other pollutants to generate power for cars, industry, etc, etc. There are a lot of very talented individuals in the US who have great ideas for solving this problem and who are actually working on it passionately with their own private money, blood and sweat. Why not invest in them? This can create new industry, more jobs, and work towards solving the problem at hand. Investment in this area will eventually reduce dependence on imported energy, reduce cost of supporting US bases in energy corridors of the world. Just imagine the cost reduction just here! Ok so this was one area among many that I can think off.

The other major area is dumping the existing banking system that runs on speculation, convoluted math and stats, racketeering, and loaning the money out that does not exist – yes making money out of thin air. All this has to go away and alternative banking systems need to emerge – another growth area. Banks that operate differently and have some real products to offer with real backing in simple economic terms.

These are my top two to look into – there are 100s on the list that I can talk about later. I am inclined more towards social entrepreneurship for common benefit, doing good while making money.

Now these two major areas of change are going to shake the cores of the status-quo of Big Oil, Bank(er)s, <fill in the blanks>, and yes it will not sit well with them. The problem is people have seen and suffered enough. In this connected world there is no reason for the like minded people not to connect and take matters into their hands. Enough is enough. Government can not just take the tax payers money and then give it back to them as charity, and a laughable one at that. Speaking of which I always wondered why my with-holdings didn’t earn me interest, but when they are owed, interest and penalties rack up…? Anyway I digress!

I am not sure what is it going to take for people to realize that and get moving. Centralized anything is the cause of all problems, banking or government. One part fails and takes down the interconnected system hence offering no redundancy or fault tolerance against any failure that may occur.

In software world we call it tightly coupled systems, and the answer to that is DE-COUPLING. De-coupled code base and software distribution methodologies and patterns can address the ongoing problems. By mashing up all these de-coupled systems we can create useful and competing applications with lots of choices. So far this system and pattern has proved its worth in this arena at least, something what we have termed it as WEB2.0 in a layman’s terms. Interestingly this scenario gave a boost to social media and networking among people. The problem is its being miss-used. There is too much noise and chatter but not enough substance. People need to realize that they have freed themselves from centralized scripted media and have opened themselves up  face to face and real time consumer generated information. Who cares how many coffees you are drinking, what you are listening to, or whether your nagging wife/husband is on your case. Broadcasting that is not helping the economy or solving the energy crisis… Put your skills to some good use, or if you have no skills use this opportunity and means to get some.

Now, lets use it when its needed the most. Lets leverage this creatively and productively to solve the real issues…