Economy lessons for Americans
I just cannot believe the kind of things the average American does…and the way he harms his body…
Some of these things which my grandma did can help him…:
1. Do not buy bottled water – fill up the bottle!: Most of them consume so much of soda (gas!) in the form of Coke, Pepsi, etc. it is difficult to believe.
2. Use public transport: they use so much ‘gas’ running errands that it is shocking. If they just decided to use public transport….it would be different.
3. Cook at home: Eating out, Starbucks, Coffee, Take out meals, all are EXPENSIVE…if you decide to cook at home and eat, life would not be so bad. Simple.
4. Wear appropriate clothes: if they just wore appropriate clothes, their air conditioning costs and heating costs can come down.
5. Use a cycle instead of a car…
and many more …and many more….
jennystun
Very practical tips and totally agree. The “use public transport”, if even a small percentage does it will make a huge difference.
rrp
How are all these things bad ? If a person had enough money for this (and also for save/invest) then if these things give enjoyment to them what is bad in enjoying these little pleasures in life. Some of these items are for convenience and whoever willing to pay a price gets it. [eg cycling is not practical always, the distance b/w places are huge in US not as dense in India]
Atul
Hi Subra,
This applies to Younger Generation in India as well who loves to copy Western culture!
Sad but True!
Regards
Atul
Srinivas Muthadi
Thank God. My grand dad, great grand dad and the ones before them did not have all these energy guzzling things. Otherwise my life would have been screwed with no fuels left for me to use them.
Maaran
Sounds more like a envy list to me. Avg indian is not even close to being able to afford any of these. Don’t you worry about the avg american. He lives a longer, healthier & more properous life than even many of us rich indians.
All those irrational Malthusian pessimists out there, you should all read the book “The Rational Optimist” by Matt Ridley.
KalpK
Forget America, think how we are going to avoid getting same habits.
Kamal
Subhra sir,
Americans are not only ruining their own contry but also the third world contries
check out the below video..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmK29LvFlOc
Murali
If anything I expect the Americans to learn from their mistakes and come back strong. These problems are there even in India amongst the mass affluent and rich – so why point fingers / throw stones living in a glass house?
pravin
Subra. Good point. But the American economy is built on the use of cars. And public transportation in most cities and smaller urban areas are missing or lacking. They have no choice but to use their own car. The worst part is that they dont even know that they have a choice or care for it. As long as GAS/Fuel is less than US$5/gallon, they arent gonna sit up and take notice. It will take America to tax its Fuel consumption to a higher level to fund the public transportation system. This in back of cripling US Debt. The burden hasnt been felt yet, but should unemployment hit 15% it will be clear that US is going to hurtle itself towards becoming a 3rd World. Things are bad.
subra
Sadly American economy is built on the availability of free and/ or cheap resources from around the world. No economy IN THE WORLD is/was ready for 2 billion people being ready to work for a US $ 1 wage per day. Recently a colleague bought excellent quality shirts from China for US $ 4-5. A branded shirt of this quality is available ONLY FOR US $ 50-55 IN INDIA. One can imagine the kind of impact that such pricing must be having on the American economy. American lifestyle is not on mine or my friends’ wish list. Cannot say for all the readers, but most of us have made the geographic choice
Maaran
“Sadly American economy is built on the availability of free and/ or cheap resources from around the world.” – You make it sound as though americans are stealing it from someone. Chinese are willingly trading with US. Why should this be a problem for anyone? What do you think Chinese plan to do with all the US dollars?
“Recently a colleague bought excellent quality shirts from China for US $ 4-5. A branded shirt of this quality is available ONLY FOR US $ 50-55 IN INDIA. One can imagine the kind of impact that such pricing must be having on the American economy.” – That’s how & why prosperity is widespread in US and millions of semi-nude Indians still live in gutters.
Maaran
“Recently a colleague bought excellent quality shirts from China for US $ 4-5. A branded shirt of this quality is available ONLY FOR US $ 50-55 IN INDIA” – Don’t you think this is a terrible situation for Indians? Blame our tariffs, govt’s efforts to protect plethora of domestic industries & less developed economy for that.
If you mean to troubleshoot problems with US economy, you have got it all wrong.
Anyone who thinks Americans lost jobs only because of China, India that only shows a shallow understanding of trade & international trade.
Maaran
Chinese, Indians stealing American jobs is exactly the same as saying “Computers” are stealing jobs from “Humans” and has made everyone poor. To encourage TamilNadu farmers, may be I should stop eating “Apples” & start eating only those that are cultivated in my state. How does competition between Tamilnadu & Kashmir make it any different from competition between two cities or two nations. How about jobs lost in Chennai due to Pune car factories.
Imagine how many jobs we can create in the “bicycle” industry if we all stopped driving cars & only used bicycles.
Muthuswamy
Not sure this bloke Maaran is from where….but we do know Maaran from DMK, do we not? LOL He seems to have a fantastic understanding of the American Economy, World Economy, Indian Economy and has all solutions. Surely he cannot be from Tamilnadu, so he need not eat apples. I find every few months u get somebody who is a full time contributor to your comments page….why dont u create pages for them..anyway u do not care about the ads…or lack of them 🙂