Sunday, November 09, 2008

Screw It, Let's Do It!!

In bad economic times like this, I have often emphasized in my few earlier blogging articles that cash is supreme. We would have to tighten our belt and save as much as we can for the big storm ahead. The current global meltdown is unprecedented in world’s history. Trillions of dollars was swept from the equity market, and numerous banks went down under, resulting in bailout from the Central Bank. Share market is dropping day by day. Singapore has already declared that they are in technical recession. God knows what is there to come. One can say that the current scenario is much worse than The Great Depression of the 1920’s. Interest rates are dropping, another sign of recession in the loom. Saving money is paramount as you will never know how long this storm will last.

However, economist will argue that saving during the bad times will only make the economy harder to recuperate. The money put in banks will not generate more money as the interest rates are usually low. Instead, they will urge the people to spend so that the money will be circulated in the economy. When people spend, it is a sign that the condition is not bad as people has the ability to spend. The effect of the money transferring from one’s possession to another will create wealth, and thus boosting the confidence of the overall market. This is better as the wealth is well spread compared to putting all the money into bank savings, thus benefiting only the bank.

So, instead of practising what I preach, which is save, save and save, I decided to heed the economist’s advice for once, and I went for a buying spree at a local book fair. Talk about walking the talk! I can’t help that I am behaving like a politicians, as 99.99% of them do not practise what they preach. Hehehee!


Screw It, Let’s Do It, by Richard Branson
(I later found out that I have downloaded the e-book version in my laptop last time and I wasn’t even aware of it!)

Marley and Me, by John Grogan
(Story about a family and their beloved labrador doggie)


Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
(I haven't watch the movie version though)

The HP Way : How Did Bill Hewitt and I Built Our Company, by David Packard
(Definitely can learn one thing or two from the founders of one of the
biggest companies in the world)


Chronicles of Narnia (Book 1 to 3), by CS Lewis

Climbing Book, with plenty of graphics, costing only RM10. Cheap, cheap, cheap!!

Obsessive compulsive kicked in, and I ended up buying about 10 books. Total cost = RM150+.

Isn’t it great to know that this money will be benefitting the bookstore, publisher, author, advertising company and newspaper (It was promoted in the local paper), the temporary workers at the bookfair, transporter (massive amount of books required to be transported from the warehouse to the book fair, right?), right down to the ice-cream pedlars outside the bookfair (I also bought an ice-cream after hours spent there)?

I have done my part to save the ailing economy, though it’s not really a big help. What about you?

No comments: