The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry

saima shah,

please fix the economy real fast so i can pay off my student loans and buy a car and be debt free :(

i think the author deserves credit for raising some very interesting points which are being ignored by the u.s. media which as usual has its head up its ass. comment on u.s. economy being on a debt induced consumption binge is especially relevant because as a result of this, u.s. policy makers are slowly losing control over interest rates and exchange rates - two essential tools through which they shape the u.s. economy. u.s. is currently running record trade and budget deficits. trade deficits means that u.s. is figuratively speaking, sending dollars in record amounts to foreigners - mainly chinese, koreans, taiwanese, japanese and arabs (for high oil prices). at the same time, u.s govt is borrowing record amounts to finance budget deficits which occur because govts spend more than what they receive.

so what does the record u.s. trade and budget deficit have to do with u.s. govt losing control of interest rates and exchange rate? its because, foreigners who now hold dollars in record numbers are buying u.s. treasuries (ust) in record numbers because they have to invest their dollar holdings earned through exports. ust is the instrument of choice because its regarded as the safest investment instrument in the world. for those who dont know, ust is the instrument through which uncle sam borrows money. the more buyer there are for usts, the lower the cost of borrowing for uncle sam. while in normal situation this is a good outcome, in the current economic scenario, when the fed is trying to raise rates to fight inflation, low long term rates are not a desirable outcome for the fed because low rates rate to higher consumption which usually leads to higher inflation. btw this was the ``conundrum`` greenspan talked about recently. also paul krugman argues that u.s. economy has recently done better than it should have because lower rates have caused a bubble like situation in the real estate sector. wrt exchange rate, since foreigners hold record amount of dollars, they can also sell these dollars whenever they please there by driving down the value of the dollar.

anyone who knows americans know that americans hate losing control and they hate it even more if foreigners have a say in the affairs of the americans. fears are justified because foreigners may react in ways which might be to the detriment of u.s. economy. while this not going to happen in the short run because i. global central bankers want to preserve stability ii. u.s. is the only game in town in the medium term.

long term? well that depends on your view. my view is negative on the u.s. economy. after wwii, u.s. was the only game in town because its competitors were in shambles because of war (europe and japan) and third world was either emerging from colonialism (india) or revolution (china). things however are going to be different going forward and i would argue u.s. industry will never regain competitivenss in important sectors like auto, electronics, steel etc. this essentially means that high paying middle class manufacturing jobs are essntially gone forever. obviously u.s. companies are going to dominate the service sector (hollywood, banking) fo sometime to come. however service dont pay that well to people on the lower rungs. essentially this means that in my opinion, succeeding generations of americans are going to be less well off than their parents - opposite of what was the case after wwii. data on income seems to confirm this assessment. real wages for lower and middle class americans have been stagnant since early seventies.

markets also seem to indicate that all the action is going to be in emerging mkts going forward. while u.s. markets have essentially gone sideways over the last five years, returns on emerging market asset class have gone through the roof. also warren buffet had made a huge bet against the dollar although he pulled after suffering huge loses. also, bill gross, the leading bond fund manager in the u.s, is pretty negative on the u.s. economy. i can post his views here if required.

Cumkhwa, #74 {``chacha chauhan...
can we apply the same rule on altaf bhai and his followers and send them back to where ever they came from for a better life...;) ``}

Betay Khamkhwa meN mat preshaan kiya karo. :)
Who is the ``we`` in ``apply`` and ``send back? `` I thought that you were a Punjoo from Faisalabad. When did you purchase Karachi? BTW, did it ever occur to you that many of them left a better life because of the partition imposed on them without their permission?
By immigrating to Pakistan, the Mohajirs raised the literacy rates of both countries. :)

Re: # 83

Conventional literacy does not preclude tech literacy. In example, there are many consumers of cell phones, the internet, dish cable, etc. who barely have high school degrees. They may have difficulties paying their rent, owning property, investing in stocks, getting loans or participating in the economic, social and political power wielding networks of this country, but you`ll find that people find ways to educate themselves through experience and knowledge systems that speaks to their realities. And that would be alternative press sources.

An eighteen year old student of mine who has six month infant can explicate a fairly nuanced critique of the international policies of the Bush administration. Why shouldnt she?

Re: # 80

[What if the immigrants and/or the children of immigrants, rather than listening to or watching CNN are logging onto www.democracynow.org?

Is this not a convenient counterpart for you to address?
]

FOr that, they need to have internet connection, but with no job, how could the family afford internet? Wait, maybe govt should provide internet connection to all unemployed ppl. But what about PCs/laptops? and the list goes on......

Re#81

I am harsh because i read the whole article, and got nothing out of it. And on chowk.com, this is the 2nd arcticle which wasted my time.

I swear I could take every para in this article, and just wonder at the premise of the arguments presented. Just out of curiosity, I have subscribed to one Pakistan Labor/Communist Party group in Yahoo, and i usually get the kinds of mails, in which Chavez and Castro r presented as the next answer to USA, and free market economy`s ills r presented in layoffs and bad medical coverage.

Here is a another gem:

``Mainstreaming of American life perpetuate. What this means that all the people in positions of power have the same values, otherwise they don’t get there. Thanks to a filtering process adopted by all corporations that weeds out all nay-sayers, the Corporate only hires its own kind.``

I don`t know which American org the author has worked for, but my experience is very different. Dissent is always encouraged. This is how a free society works. South Asians come from traditional/conservative societies, where dissent is discouraged, women and men r put in some specific roles, and degrees r assumed to be key to a good life-time guaranteed 9-5 job. They come to this country, and get confused at how come Corps could lay off ppl.

BB, this is market economy. you can fire your company and vice versa, at will. I hope you will read the emplyment contract, if u ever get one.

Re#79 by freesoul

[Last but not least, this articles should have been thrown in trash. it is amazing the author has MBA degree. Was there an Economics course in that degree?]

Freesoul, I would not be so harsh on this author and throw her article into the trash. Please note whose role this author has effectively replaced (under the new “organization” of the site) and what a vast improvement that represents – especially in the matters of style. And she is just expressing her frustrations. I provided additional thoughts on this in #72.

Also, an MBA degree does not necessarily imply a masterful hold on ideas and concepts – mostly it is a product of a lot of hard work!

Sincerely,
Beej.

Re: # 51

Queen Sahib/Sahiba,

Because I find you as beneath contempt as I do your pseudo intellectual companions, I will not be responding to any of your posts.


Saima,

What if the immigrants and/or the children of immigrants, rather than listening to or watching CNN are logging onto www.democracynow.org?

Is this not a convenient counterpart for you to address?

``Instead of a few minds, it absorbs hundreds of minds from all over the world who devote their energy to the survival and profitability of the corporation. The corporation is ruthless, it spits out those who do not bring in money, yet it keeps their work intact ready to be utilized a few years down the road. By systematically buying out competition, enhancing product lifecycles, producing at minimum costs and selling high volume, low margin, the Corporation has become the cockroach of free market economics.``


I don`t know which Marxist drug u r on, but i really don`t have any clue what ur criticism is? American companies like diversity, and thats why u r not in streets burning cars. It is a plus point for 3rd world poor yet bright hungry ppl.


Corp is ruthless because it is not NGO. It has to show quarterly profits so that ppl keep investing in it. Don`t tell me u don`t go to WalMart because it sells at lower prices.


Last but not least, this articles should have been thrown in trash. it is amazing the author has MBA degree. Was there an Economics course in that degree?

Re#71 by GT

[Believe me, if you are smart enough you do not end up in jail. You play the system....and it is not very difficult.]

I generally agree with you with one exception - unless the system is a dictatorship which muzzles free speech - I will never compromise on that. Such compromise is a hall-mark of the Indian subcontinent - and especially the Pakistanis (sorry Pakistanis, in your defence - let me also say that sometimes even forced ``practice can make perfect``, if you understand what I mean).

And if I understand your double-meaning sentence correctly - being able to ``live`` as a dictatee (especially in the virtual world, where people DO have a choice not to accept that) - represents the depth of utter, utter humiliation. With all due respect, there is no honor or glory in any of that.

But then, janitors are simplistic individuals - not the sort of erudite (yet in my opinion - quite moronic) individuals that this site is so crammed with.

Those thirteen thousand chowk ``individuals`` interactors did not come out of the blue, after all!

Re: # 76

Yes for sure language is the darndest impossible thing, infernally clumsy. I use a dialectic style sometimes--a conversation in the mind- to just bounce ideas. Thanks very much for the comments.

S

Re: # 66

Actually, to communicate, I should let you know that I cannot express myself well in language (?). I work on applied game theory (and hence GT). The rigours of the structure of this language (?) truncate my thoughts. Of course, therefore, when I go beyond I make mistakes in communicating (which are prone to misunderstandings). Anyway I enjoy the process, and my last post (as well as others) didn`t mean to be paternilistic. Please do try to understand.

Re: # 66

Dear SaimaShah:

One thing that all immigrants from South Asia must get used to real fast in America is to be a rugged individual. Unlike the South Asian culture of dependency, America creates values for those who depend on themselves. And that has always been America`s strength.

[IMHO it isn`t the best system because it ignores that you exist. You work here all your life and you never belong politically.]

This is because immigrants are mostly confused about politics. Democracy is difficult. Making decisions are difficult. Which party to vote for is difficult. Personally, I have always studied the issues and voted in almost all elections. So, I do not accept your premise that ``you never belong politically.``

[Because you are afraid of being ridiculed or coming on to a dangerous watch list of some sort? You are American so you don`t want to draw attention to the fact that you weren`t. or Aren`t or whatever. Why is that?] Saima, that is simply not true.

[You will most likely die of cancer because the food is rotten because it does not rot.] I like that play of words..... `` the food is rotten because it does not rot``.

[If you are naturalized, you will always feel apologetic that you weren`t born American.] I have never felt that way.

[It is a ruthless system, it compensates the strong at the expense of the weak.] Yes, agreed.

[The American culture imparts confidence. One becomes more direct and forthright living here. The best American insitution is the entrepreneur. Some of the most brilliant people thrive in a capitalist system. The miracle of capitalist creativity is the best side of America.] And that is what the immigrants should be doing instead of jumping on the corporate gravy train that makes them lethargic.

[But for how long, is the question.]... As long as we have the good old American political system intact, that has not been hijacked by the two party system.

Now, you are swaying away from your article.

Respectfully submitted,

Re: # 45
chacha chauhan...
can we apply the same rule on altaf bhai and his followers and send them back to where ever they came from for a better life...;)

Re: # 66


You impart so much feeling, not linguistic explanation, that I agree (how I do not know). At the same time, I do not think that you are complaing about the system. You are simply expressing frustration at not being able to come up with a universal language to put forth your theorem (tautology or feeling)....Actually I am grasping at edges too.

Gt.

Re#66 by SaimaShah

Saima, I do not wish to minimize the intensity of your frustrations and the fact that perhaps there are many others who feel a bit along similar lines – perhaps especially in the area of civil rights, in the current climate of heightened security fears. Certainly, it is perfectly legitimate and a God-given right (and perhaps duty) to express such fears.

Note: you started out talking about ALL Americans but you have now narrowed it to the immigrant experience.

Immigrants generally never have it as easy as the “native” population – that has been the case in the US ever since its early days. In fact, immigrant rights (even illegal immigrant rights) are protected just as much as anybody else’s – under the constitution. However, if one compares with what the Irish immigrants underwent, the Eastern European immigrants did, and the saddest of them all, the African Americans did – the present day South Asian immigrant experience comes out sounding like a fairy tale. But there is always room for improvement – provided the approach is right (and abides by democratic norms)! Perhaps the US living standards were not as good in the past as presently – which means that perhaps it could happen to go the other way too –and worsen! Again, just a fact of life!

Tons of bad things can happen to individuals – whether in US or in the subcontinent or elsewhere.

I must disagree with you on “If you are naturalized, you will always feel apologetic that you weren`t born American.” – Why should anybody? – We are all covered by the same supreme laws – of that constitution! Those who suffer from any complexes along these lines should aggressively work to reduce them. I have also stated elsewhere (I forget where and when) that one problem with the subcontinent is that the parents get too involved in the lives of children and try to plan those out meticulously – a bit too much so.

At this point, it is appropriate to put in some good words on this article – and my main observation is that your honesty in expressing your feelings is to be appreciated. At least you have not been pretentious in this article – you wrote what you felt and were not afraid to discuss it – and did not become defensive by being worried about a “loss of face” as I have seen some writers do here – perhaps again a sub continental trait!