On the Financial Crisis

I’m not interested in adding to the hype and fear generated by the media coverage of our current economic turbulence. Having lived through the last three financial crises in New York, not far from Wall Street, I believe that this one like the others, will work itself out. What is, however, missing from the coverage is:

1. The problem is not a sub-prime mortgage crisis which can be addressed by the government buying up the entire lot of worthless mortgage backed securities. It is a debt crisis and the only way out is to reduce debt. That would be personal debt, corporate debt and national debt.

2. The Iraq war has done more to damage the national economy than worthless securitized debt.

Now the good news:

As Marcus Aurelius put it:

“The universe is change: our life is what our thoughts make it”

The events that we may view as disaster may be the greatest teacher to another. A man living on the border of China cherished his stallion above all else in his life. One day his horse escaped and was captured by the nomads across the border. Everyone tried to console him, but his father only said, “What makes you so sure this isn’t a blessing?” Some months later his stallion returned home bringing with him a mate. The man was overjoyed at his good fortune, but his father only said, “What makes you so sure this isn’t a disaster?” Riding his new horse one day he fell and broke his hip and was once more lost in despair. His father asked “What makes you so sure this isn’t a blessing?” Soon after, the nomads invaded the village and forced every able-bodied man into their army. The father and his lame son were spared this fate.

We may be in for some hard economic times … or not. Either way we have an opportunity. I spend my days in the world of technology; which is fine … when it works. Often, however it doesn’t work, not correctly anyway. Instead of lamenting the software defects, I tell the users that what we have is not a problem, its an opportunity.

On Conception and ......

I spent most of the summer in New York. Having flown down to Florida in anticipation of confronting hurricane Ike, (who decided to go south and off toward Texas), this will be my first post from what is actually my home state.

When I work in Miami, I have long train rides every day to and from West Palm Beach. Therefore I have plenty of reading time. So far this week I have been able to get through about half of Gandhi an Autobiography – the Story of My Experiments with Truth.

On the trip home last night I came across a passage that sort of dovetails with my previous post on “Happy Food”. It is my contention the product of ones hand, illustrated as prepared food in a restaurant, is affected by the negative or positive energy of the producer.

The passage from Gandhi indicates his belief that one’s energy can have a much greater impact.

“The education of the child begins with conception. The physical and mental states of the parents at the moment of conception are reproduced in the baby. Then during the period of pregnancy it continues to be affected by the mother’s moods, desires and temperament as also by her way of life."

It is accepted that from birth to five years of age, children learn more than they will learn for the rest of their lives. Absorbing the atmosphere/energy of the home plays a very large role in that early learning. Now if we take Gandhi to heart, that education actually begins at the time of conception.

To quote Gandhi again from a later chapter…

“This instance to some extent serves to show what a terrible responsibility it
is to be a parent”

(The word terrible in this context I take to mean frightful or frightening and not something awful or very bad.)