How to be a Good Lemming
November 30, 2007 at 4:12 pm | Posted in communism, culture, developing economy, economy, fairness, filthy lucre, free market, global evils, God's kingdom, goods and services, human-performed, industrial evolution, justice, kingdom ethics, kingdom of God, mammon, market, MNC, multinational corporartion, per capita, poverty, real value, redundancy, socialism, trickle down, value addition, wealth distribution, world GDP | Leave a commentTags: Christmas, credit, currency, deflation, Diwali, economic cycle, economy, excess, feeding frenzy, harvest, holidays, inflation, lemming, margin, marketing, money, net profit, Pongal, return on investment, Thanksgiving, value
‘Tis the season to be jolly… would be quite frivolous if it were not at the same time also so profoundly real.
The Christmas season in the West is a time especially set aside for spending, purchasing, buying, gifting, and generally being very, very, jolly.
In the U.S. the spending season kicks off with a bang at Thanksgiving, but all over the world, common sense will lead us to suspect that the jolliest of traditional seasons will begin soon after the annual harvest. Give a couple weeks or a month for all that excess to start getting distributed, and then them holidays, and that spending will ensue – it makes good sense.
In India we have that grand ‘festival of lights’, Diwali, that is strategically placed after the first harvest in October or November and then, in the South of India, there is a second celebration (Pongal) that comes right after the second monsoon season in mid-January and that forms the very exciting and satisfying climax to our times of splurging.
Economies and spending cycles that keep them vibrant have to be based on the presence of excess, and most times that excess is only available for a short while right after the harvest. Holidays are also timed to help to distribute all that ‘excess’ and just as efficiently as possible! Any great delay between when the excess arrives and the application of peak marketing pressure to get people to spend may result in that excess getting channeled into savings accounts – economists don’t like that at all. When we have plenty, and so much that we can even think in terms of excess, the purse strings will be at their loosest. Marketing has to strike while the iron is hottest but that is not the end of the story. We too help out by apparently just temporarily choosing to collectively forget that the upcoming year may hard and long.
Marketing the world over, is geared to maximise its hype just at these times. Spend – buy – purchase – CHARGE IT – or the ubiquitous EMI with 0% interest!
This year, the absolutely essential gadget is…
Everybody simply HAS to have this!
The teaser SAAALE! drags you out, ‘pushes’ you over that last little hump of caution, and then…
Insidiously, we also might not notice that we will really have to shell-out just a bit more this year than we did last year to get that ‘absolutely essential’ something. Economic cycles rely on the feeding frenzy to slip into the inflation mode too, for this is the one time of year that folks will be blithely unaware that the essentials just got a bit dearer. The small incremental adjustments will slip quietly into place in the corners of our subconscious even before we have time to register them, for there is so much else of an exciting nature to capture and hold our collective consciousness in thrall.
Value addition is one culprit, but the yen for bigger profits is certainly another. For the corporates, turnover should increase, and so too should the return on investment, the profit margin. Balance sheets will be anxiously prepared as the financial year draws to a close. At stake is the size of the share price pie for that depends on ‘the figures’.
To the economist, inflation is a godsend. Deflation, when prices actually drop, (do you see red in the diagram above?) is an absolute disaster and must come straight out of hell. Modern economies rely on inflation to create the space in which value addition creates levels of work both in manufacturing/marketing and in services/marketing. More jobs, more earning, more spending, more money – MORE
Those little entries on corporate balance sheets called profit (net after taxes) quietly also rely on inflation. The trend is paradoxically opposed by innovation and new technologies! The whole complex process works together to keep standards of living on a slow rise that is slightly worse than what the actual inflation level would lead us to expect.
At some point people do question whether this all adds up. Of course it doesn’t, not nearly, but it sure looks good while it’s flowing along. Pension plans will be the most obvious harbingers of the bad news that eventually inflation catches up with you. Other painful reminders include the cost of health-care, health insurance, and medicines. Long term savings plans and incremental investments will yield something but much less than they should when compared to the damage that inflation has quietly been inflicting.
Money and easy credit are the end of a very long road that has separated our spending from the realities of our actual contributions to life. Think about it, as it is you’re just the last stop between the ATM and the corporation that owns the store that you’re heading to with the plastique in hand!
What would happen if inflation were to stop? What would happen if our governments printed just enough notes to maintain a fixed amount of money in circulation? What would happen if value addition were to be replaced by true value? What would happen if the purchasing power of a dollar or of a rupee were to become rock steady?
Have you thought about it this year-before you start (or at least finish) spending that bonus?
What will this Christmas/Pongal bring I wonder? Is it perhaps even possible to have fun and fellowship with friends and without money? Will anyone believe that you love them anyway even though you didn’t push your plastic a few thousand more over its already strained limit?
GOLD > Coins > Bills of exchange > CREDIT Þ Transactions
April 2024 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Recent Comments
payday loans on ECO-T Kathy Ann Hoseid on Greg Manikiw on the Yin and Ya… Mel Noble on Greg Manikiw on the Yin and Ya… ponnvandu on The High Seas Odile on The High Seas -
Recent Posts
Top Posts
Meta
MY SONG PLAYLISTS on Playlist.com
Blogroll
- (e)mergent Voyageurs
- A New Testament Student
- ALTERNATIVE ENERGY BLOG – Solar-Energy-Wind-Power.com
- Amicus Dei
- Amy’s Humble Musings
- Are You There God? It’s Me, Dawn
- Astrid’s Journal
- Bad Science
- BBC News | Health | World Edition
- Ben Witherington
- Better Bibles Blog
- Beyond Words
- blueVicar
- Café Apocalypsis
- CHALLENGE – Sam’s blogger blog
- chez Odile
- chomsky.info
- Chrisendom
- Conservengland
- Conversation at the Edge
- Cultural Parody Center
- disciple 13
- Dr Jim West
- Dr. Greg Manikiw
- Dr. Scot McKnight
- Earliest Christian History
- ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES
- Eclexia
- Elusive Lucidity
- Emergent Village
- Emerging Women
- EnviroLink News Service
- Euangelion
- EurekAlert! – Space and Planetary Science
- Every Square Inch
- Eye on DNA
- fishers, surfers and casters
- Generous Orthodoxy ThinkTank
- getting free
- God is Better than All
- Higgaion
- Hopeful Daniel
- Hypotyposeis
- I’ll Make the Movie
- Inner thoughts of a Questioning Mind
- Integrity
- Intellectuelle
- James Wibberding
- Jason Clark
- Jesus community
- Jesus The Radical Pastor
- kata ta biblia
- KODAIKANAL – Ragland Jebbaraj
- Kruse Kronicle – Michael Kruse
- Ktismatics – Dr. John Doyle
- Larval Subjects .
- LeRon Shults
- Lingamish
- matrix theology
- microclesia
- Moved Mountains
- Musings – Dr. Mahil Carr
- Musings from the Windowsill
- Musings of a Christian Psychologist
- N.T. Wright Page
- National Geographic News
- Nature
- Nutrition Journal – Latest articles
- NYT Book Review
- One for the road…
- open source theology – Andrew Perriman
- OrganicJesus.org
- Per caritatem
- Pharyngula
- Phoenix & Ahead
- Pickle-osophy
- Poetix
- PonnVandu
- Prolegomena
- Pruned
- Pulse Laser
- Pursuing Holiness
- Reflections of a Jazz Theologian
- Reuters: Science
- ricoblog
- robbymac
- Schenck Thoughts
- Scottish Nous
- Sexuality and Religion: What’s the Connection?
- Sherman on the Mount
- SimpleBits
- Soulgardeners
- sustainablog
- Suzanne’s Bookshelf
- Tall Skinny Kiwi
- TEXT TO LIFE – Dr. Dhyanchand Carr
- The Antidote: Counterspin for Health Care and Health News
- the art of story – Stacy Barton
- The Blind Beggar
- The Complex Christ | Signs of Emergence
- The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion
- The Forbidden Gospels Blog
- The Forgotten Ways
- The Golden Ass
- The Jesus Dynasty Blog
- The Mirror
- The Theos Project – Jon Erdman
- the view from her
- Theoblogy
- Theology for the Masses
- two and two makes five
- Vanguard Church
- WordPress.com
- _awakening
Friends
Me
medical transcription
Archives
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
Pages
Categories
- "in" crowd
- "new species"
- "Tate Gallery"
- "The Little Black Boy"
- 123 Nuclear Treaty
- 16C
- 1st Amendment
- 3D
- 9-11
- a.a. milne
- acceptance
- ad hoc stenting
- Adansonia digitata
- ADHD
- Agkistrodon
- allies
- alpha male
- angiogram
- Animal Census
- annexation
- Anthracoceros coronatus
- antivenin
- antivenom
- Araucaria
- army health
- Artocarpus heterophyllus
- Aruna
- asian elephant
- Aspergers
- asylum
- atheism
- Aung san Suu Kyi
- Autism
- avoidance
- bacteria
- balloon catheter
- bamboo
- banana
- baobab
- Batrachostomus moniliger
- BBC
- beauty
- Bengal Tiger
- Bhopal
- Big Bang
- biodiversity
- bioinversity
- biosphere
- biotechnology
- bird
- birds
- bison
- Bitis
- black mangrove
- blair
- Blake
- blogosphere
- boatmen
- bonobo
- Borneo
- Bos gaurus
- bovine
- brain damage
- brain trauma
- british empire
- British meddling
- brutality
- Bugun
- Bungarus
- Burma
- bush
- C. brachyotis
- C. sphinx
- cardiology
- casteism
- census
- Cervicus
- ceylon frogmouth
- Challenge Centre
- CheneyMeToARiceBush
- Chernobyl
- children
- chimpanzee
- chimpy
- China
- Christian
- Christmas Wishes
- CIA
- Cincinnati
- circinate vernation
- civilian massacre
- classification
- coffee invasion
- collateral damage
- colonisation
- colonization
- colosseum
- common cobra
- common krait
- communal insect
- communism
- competition
- conservation
- consumerism
- corporate agriculture
- corporations
- corral harvesting
- corral reef
- Craig Murray
- creation
- creator
- Crotalus
- culture
- Cyathea
- Cycad
- Cycas
- Cycas circinalis
- Cycas revoluta
- Cynopterus
- Daboia
- Dalai Lama
- damaged soldiers
- Darfur
- dating
- debillitating
- deforestation
- Deleuze
- Delia
- democracy
- Derrida
- developing agriculture
- developing economy
- development
- Dickied Rice Bush
- dictator
- differant
- discrimination
- disingenuous
- displaced persons
- dissidence
- dissidents
- DR Congo
- Dr. George T. McDuffie
- Dr. J.K. Periyasamy
- Dr. Ravi Thiagarajan
- dugong
- dynamite
- dyscalculia
- dysfunctional
- dysgraphia
- dyslexia
- dyspraxia
- earthquakes
- ECG
- Echis
- economics
- economy
- ecosystem
- ecotourism
- ecotourist
- education
- Egypt
- EKG
- elections
- Elephant
- Elephas
- endangered species
- environment
- equality
- escher
- ethnic cleansing
- Everest abandonment
- exile
- extinction
- extrajudicial incarceration
- facsimile
- fairness
- faith
- false doctrine
- family
- family prerogatives
- farmer suicide
- fear
- feminism
- feminist
- fern allies
- fertilize
- ficus
- filthy lucre
- fire season
- First Amendment
- flood
- flying fox
- forced marriage
- forcible deportation
- forest
- forest department
- forest strata
- fractal
- FRCS
- free market
- freedom of speech
- friendship
- fruit bat
- Gadamer
- Garcinia mangostana
- Gaur
- gender
- gender equality
- gene silencing
- gene transcription
- Genesis
- genetics
- genome
- George Bush Junior
- George Dick and Rummy
- Gingko
- global evils
- global warming
- God's kingdom
- goods and services
- gospel
- government
- great britain
- Guantanamo
- Gulf of Mannar
- guns
- GW
- H.A. Carr
- habeas corpus
- habitat
- Haditha
- Hamas
- hard of heart
- hardwood
- health insurance
- health plans
- heart attack
- Hegel
- hermeneutics
- heron
- herpetology
- Hezbollah
- Hike
- Hindu
- Hiroshima
- homeless veterans
- honesty
- honour killing
- horse protein allergy
- horsetails
- human rights
- human-performed
- Hypnale
- hypothesis
- ICCU
- IMF
- immanence
- income dostribution
- India's double standards
- Indian bison
- Indian Constitution
- Indian foreign policy
- Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary
- individual freedom
- individual rights
- industrial evolution
- injustice
- International Monetary Fund
- intersection
- intolerance
- Iraq
- Iraq vets
- Iraq War
- Israel
- IUCN
- Ivan
- jackfruit
- Jamaican Cherry Tree
- jambolam
- Jane Goodall
- Jason Hesiak
- Jerry A. Snider
- Jesus
- JFK
- Jimmy Carter
- John Doyle
- Jon Kamholtz
- junta
- justice
- JV
- Kargil War
- king cobra
- kingdom ethics
- kingdom of God
- Kosovo
- ktismatics
- Lacan
- LAD
- Langur
- learning disorder
- Lebanon
- Leopard
- liberty
- liocichla
- Lion Tailed Macaque
- literature
- loss of self
- lost childhood
- LRB
- Lusaka
- lycopsid
- magna carta
- Mahanadi
- mammon
- man's inhumanity to man
- mandelbrot
- mangosteen
- mangrove
- Manmohan Singh
- marine life
- market
- market forces
- marriage
- maximus
- McDuffie
- mechanisation
- medical transcription
- mega dams
- Melursus
- mere christianity
- Michael Kruse
- migration
- Ministry of Environment and Forests
- mismanaged forests
- MNC
- MNC nexus
- MNC. economics
- MNCs
- modern warfare
- MODIS
- MOEF
- monoculture
- monocultures
- monopoly
- multi-use species
- multinational corporartion
- munera
- Muntiacus muntjak
- Muntingia calabura
- Musharraf
- Mushy
- Muslim
- Myanmar
- myocardial infarction
- N.Korea
- Naja
- Name and Shame
- NASA
- Nataraj bird guide
- nenthram
- neoconial
- neocononial
- neocononialisation
- neocononialism
- New Creation
- new word
- Ngobel Prize
- NHS
- niche
- Nilgiri
- Nilgiritragus hylocrius
- Nobel
- non-aligned
- normal
- noxii
- nurture vs nature
- observation
- ocean
- openness
- Ophiophagus
- OST
- Palestine
- Panthera
- Papua
- paranoia
- paranoid
- paw print plaster cast
- peace
- per capita
- Permian
- pest control
- Peter Kuper
- phenomena
- phototrap
- physical appearance
- Piaget
- pichavaram
- pichavarram
- pied hornbill
- planning commission
- play
- poaching
- poetry
- Polistes
- Polistinae
- pollinator
- Ponnvandu
- poovan
- popularity
- poverty
- preemptive strikes
- private healthcare
- psychotherapy
- pteropodidae
- PTSD
- Ptychodera
- puppet government
- race
- racial profiling
- racism
- range
- rasthali
- Ratufa indica
- reading
- real value
- reality TV
- red mangrove
- redundancy
- regenerate shola
- religion
- rendering
- Richard Oxman
- right and left
- Roger Stuebing
- Rome
- rosewood
- Russell's viper
- Saddam
- Sambar
- Samuel Daniel
- Sariska
- Saudi Arabia
- saw scaled viper
- scats
- science
- SED
- Seed Fern
- self
- self destruction
- self determination
- selfish
- semi-nomadic
- Senthilkumar
- sethusamudram
- sevallai
- sexism
- Seymour Hersh
- shola
- SKCAS
- Slavoj Zizek
- sloth bear
- small RNA
- snakebite
- socialism
- sonnet
- specialisation
- spelling
- spin
- spying
- Stacy Barton
- starvation
- statesmanship
- Stott
- strand
- strangler fig
- subversion
- suicide
- suppression
- survey
- Surviving Nashville
- Syzygium cumini
- Tahr
- taxation
- taxonomy
- teach your children
- teach your parents
- teak
- tempigrant
- terror
- thatcher
- The Nation
- theartofstory
- Tibet
- Tiger
- tiger population
- timber mafia
- time for kids
- Tomasello
- Topslip
- torture
- toxic waste
- Trachypithecus johnii
- trait
- transcendence
- tree
- Tree Fern
- Treehouse
- Trek
- tribal
- trickle down
- Trimeresurus
- tsunami
- Uncategorized
- unnatural disaster
- Uzbekistan
- value addition
- venationes
- venomous
- Ventura Omnitech
- Vespidae
- veterans
- victorias
- Vietnam veterans
- Vincent
- viscesious
- vote
- war
- Ward Churchill
- warzone
- wasp
- WB
- wealth distribution
- weapons of mass destruction
- Western Ghats
- WMD
- Wolfowitz
- women and children
- World Bank
- World Bank rapes forest
- world GDP
- WW1
- Yogi Berra
- Zimbabwe
Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.