Left 4 Dead

I find it ironic that over the past few years we have been criticising Americans for running a hugely unsustainable fiscal deficit and overspending beyond their means. When I was in the United States over a year ago, that mindset seemed to be in fashion. Economist were up in arms trying to defend themselves while governments and papers around the world were printing stories of their extravagents and why we shouldn't support it any further.

Look at the world today. Even since they stopped spending and started saving, we have sort of been in a runt. Admittedly, most governments realise that the only way out of this recession is if we can get Americans happy and optimistic enough to start buying stuff again. The global economy is a very strange system. People are only productive and wealthly if someone is consuming these goods which allows production to occur and no one spends better than the Americans.

On hindsight of this recession, it becomes painfully obvious that even though the US government funds their economy by printing money, it is much better than the situation that we are in now. At least everyone had a job and people were feeling better about themselves.

Maybe someone else should be spending this money. The Chinese? The Indians? The Japanese? The Singaporeans? That's a thought isn't it? However, that idea simply is not going to happen. Us Asians are much happier keeping our money under our bed and watching the stack grow.

This Asian methodology clearly requires some tweaking. Look at the Japan, they have been in a recession for the past 10 years even though they possess the highest savings rate in the world. I mean I just read in the newspaper that the Japanese reuse their bath water! The largest Japanese companies like Honda and Toyota had to go to guess where? That's right, the United States and they are now one of the largest companies in the world.

Perhaps these Americans have got something right after all. They have a cake and they are eating it too. Maybe we can learn a thing or two about these "ignorant" Americans because the joke is on us.

It will be a new wave thinking, make money by spending your money. We can back this up by suggesting welfare all around Asia, that way there will be some form of security to make up for these excessive spending. But honestly, we probably wouldn't need to use it because we will all be richer from all this spending! Hooray ipods for all!