Savings based Economy

Lets start savings and come out of debt.

STRONG FINANCIAL SYSTEM BASED ON SAVINGS ECONOMY

Time and again I see articles in Business magazines that financial systems in Asian Countries are not well organized and we need to make them strong as American and Western Financial System. Work made me live in Asia, Middle East, Europe and America and I really wonder sometimes as to what is a Strong Financial System.

What kind of strong American Financial systems do we want to impose on Asian Countries?

- One which leads to sub prime crisis and foreclosures creating havoc for the housing market
- System where the Americas savings rate is in negative percentage
- Strong Financial markets where stock crashes from 150 Dollars to 5 Dollar leaving old people’s pension vanishing overnight
- Strong System where the Govt. is in Trillion Dollars Debts.
- One where even essential commodities are not regulated by Govt. and oil companies can make a profit of 40 Billion while public has to buy gas on credit cards.
- Strong Credit System where every stage of an adult person is dependent on credit - From 18 to 80 years living on debt (Student loan at 18 years to Reverse Mortgage at 80 year)
- Where Majority of large corporations pay no income tax
- Rich farmers get millions in livestock compensation while teacher’s compensation is at 30000 dollar a year for their hard work
- Basketball stadiums are being built with millions of dollars and schools are being closed for lack of funds.
- Minimum wage has not risen in the last 10 years while cost of living has increased three to five times.
- World’s richest country in the world – with limited resources ever for healthcare

What kind of strong financial system is this??

So why do we want to impose this STRONG financial system on other countries which create wealth only for top 5 % of the society and leaves other 95 % working throughout their life.

In Asian countries, most of the retired Govt. employees own their homes free of debt and live on their pensions.
Even today, an average middle class family can afford to send their kids to college without taking a home equity loan for education.
Prices of essential commodities are controlled by Govt. so that MNCs cannot make exorbitant profit on gas and food items.

If America has a strong Financial System – why are we in this crisis of today? Why Feds need to save the Banks in this STRONG Financial Market System. Why Airlines are getting bankrupt and stores closing daily and thousands of jobs being lost.

Capitalism and consumerism are good for a society for improving the economy – but then, excess of everything is bad – That’s what is happening here in America. Capitalism at its peak is increasing the gaps between the rich and the poor. Consumerism is making all of us slaves of credit.

So let’s stop imposing our Strong Financial System on other countries and see what we can do to improve America. Let’s put our house in order first.

America is a country of innovation. It cannot maintain it’s supremacy by military power. Nobody likes foreign power – whether it’s a family, a company or a country. So instead of showing our might – we should better prove our supremacy by our technology and innovation – which can be used to create a better world. World used to respect us for our Innovation. But how can we maintain our supremacy in innovation - if we do not produce enough engineers and scientists. How we will produce great engineers – when kids will not have money to go to college.

So what do we need to do to make us the technological leaders and get respect of the world – create the dream America where the cream of the world’s talent want to come for studies living and working.

I see two main solutions for the problems we have today

1 Make higher education affordable. Students should get low interest loans directly from Fed. Feds should promote savings for higher education – spend money on creating tomorrow’s engineers and scientists – who will invent world class products – and lead the technology revolution.

2 Invest in a nationwide Rail / Transport System ( just take the example of Swiss Transport System – where you can go from point to point – without having a car)

How will railways benefit us?

It will generate thousands of Jobs – which cannot be outsourced
It will reduce our dependence on foreign oil
It will make our society healthy – Walking to train stations daily and no stress of driving will make people healthy (see the Europeans – They also eat cheese pizza, chocolates and French fries – but it’s their daily life style which keeps them slim and healthy)
It is environment friendly
Safe and friendly transport – no airport security hassles.


And Finally – REDUCED no. of cars per family – will lead to reduced maintenance, insurance and gas expenses – it will lead to money savings for families – more savings will lead to more money for college – which will lead to more kids going to college – which will lead to more engineers, accounts and scientists – more innovation we produce – better paid jobs – less debt – no sub prime mortgages a better, healthy and rich society.

So let’s stop advising other countries on how to make their Finacial Systems Strong. Let’s start thinking on what we need to do for improving the conditions here in America. There is no harm in learning about a good transport system from Europeans and a good savings habit from Asians.

From families to companies to Governments - Let’s try to make this society less dependent on DEBT. April is “National Financial Literacy Month” – Let’s learn to start savings – otherwise day is not far off when we will have to buy gas and groceries using home equity loans. Let’s implement a strong financial system based on savings and not on debt.