economic flu
January 6, 2009 • 2 comments • 1309 viewsI bumped into my high school chairman whilst having lunch yesterday and we exchanged hellos and small talk. Today, I received a text from her wishing me happy new year, and saying how time just flew by and I’m graduating soon.
Right now I just feel really…sad and nostalgic.
Is it weird that I miss her? An immaculate woman she is, matching suits, hair always in place, giving us words of wisdoms every Monday morning. I miss all that, I miss high school. Not the work or the activities so much, but more of the feeling of being in a comfort zone.
Of course at the time, you feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, and no one is more stressed than you are studying for SPM and all. But as you grow older, the previous years start to look easier. The exams you were stressing about, the fights you have with your girlfriends, the excuses you come up with for not handing in a piece of homework. They all just seem petty now.
Reality is due to be knocking on my door in a few months. And I’m..well, scared.
My friends think that since I have my dad’s business served on a plate ready for me to dig in, everything is easy for me. But it’s not. The pressure is immense, the expectations are unbelievable. Being a female in a male-dominated industry doesn’t help either, as most men will only grant you a project in exchange for your…well, non work-related skills.
My dad always says I can do whatever I want, as long as it makes money to survive. I’ve always wanted to start my own magazine, but reading about the industry nowadays is very discouraging. Economy is bad, times are bad. Advertisers and customers are holding on to their money, opening the exit door for magazines.
It’s not just magazines. Unless you’ve been in a cage (but with a laptop for some reason??), you’d know that we’re in a recession. Companies are going bankrupt, factories are closing down by the hour, people are losing jobs. On top of that, people are dying in Palestin, painting a realllyyyy grim political picture, and blurry future for all of us.
Students are complaining that it’s a really bad time for fresh graduates now, struggling to get jobs. But it’s an even worse time for middle-aged people whose fates are on the edge of retrenchment, with mortgages and car loans to pay, and worried about feeding their young children, who are pestering for the latest mobile phones, and money for “books” which is actually slang for cigarettes and booze.
A dark universal cloud is above our heads now. We should all try to spin the economic wheel faster so we can get past this inevitable recession quickly.
*Turns to economists for answers*
I’m no economist so I’ll give you a strategic management consultant point of view (in fact, I was discussing the topic with my workmates cuz researching all this stuff is what we do :S) :
In discussing economic outlook, there’s two ways you can look at it. While its true that economic outlook for the US and Europe are melancholy at best, things in Malaysia are still uncertain, we may yet be able to ride this coming recession.
The negative way of looking at it: 30% of Malaysia’s GDP comes from manufacturing and 80% of the manufacturing industry are exports. As our main E&E goods are Americans and Europeans, their slump in demand would undoubtedly affect the industry. This would then lead to tightening of credit by banks because less people would borrow money = less capital to work financial magic with. Tightened credit would mean private borrowing and spending would become more difficult, thus the general population would become more savings orientated and you would have all the characteristics of a recession.
The good stuff: compared to ’97, private lending now is low and reserves are high. Plus, FDI are still coming into the country in the form of high-end property investments where Malaysia is still a very popular choice for real-estate investment as oppose to Thailand and Singapore, where the property industry is overheating. Along with this, the RM7 billion that govt will be pumping into the country should help. It may not work miracles but at least it will soften the blow.
And yes, “We should all try to spin the economic wheel faster so we can get past this inevitable recession quickly”. You know what that means right? Since in macro economics C+I+G+X-M…that means we all should be spending more! Haha so if you have a bag u’ve been eyeing, now is the time to buy it! (of course, to increase consumer spending is the reason why we have so many sales now and why VAT was reduced :S).
Omg, I just realized my reply is a bit too long. There’s of course more aspects and point-of-views to this recession, mine’s a very compressed version (the kind of version where you reply to ppl’s blogs while working!) Anyway, great article vivy!
i think it should be “great article, AIMAN” ahhaha
you’re right, malaysia is less of a global market, so we won’t be hit as hard. but for those looking for jobs or making deals abroad, chances are slimmer.
i especially like your 2nd last paragraph =)
thanks for the input!