The Money Pit

How does our knowledge and perception on economic forecasts influence lifestyle changes and spending habits due to emotional fear?

Economic reports are often full of doom and gloom. If you scan the headlines of any newspaper or watch the financial news we seem to be permanently at the precipice of a recession. And this seems to be a global phenomenon, not restricted to any one country or market. But the crux or epicenter of this financial earthquake always appears to start with the only superpower, the United States which manages without fail to send after shocks throughout the world. After all, they say if the US sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold. But on a knowledge point of view how accurate and believable are economic forecasts. Are trumped up business suits with their Harvard degrees trying to simply flex their muscles on their economic knowledge, with their charts and graphs which translates to the latest breaking new? After all is it not true to say the media needs a story and that story needs to be sensational? No one wants to read that all is well, that does not translate as good copy or become a talking point over the water fountain at the workplace or on the bus route. Are economists and financial wiz kids simply playing god, hitting us where it hurts most, our pocket book and using scare tactics for some self serving purpose, such as controlling stock markets or bad mouthing the current administration for political gain. Often non tangible data is analyzed and intuition and belief used, so how do we decipher the truth from the guess work.

A recent article showed that the RBI is increasing its repo rate once again to decrease the money supply in the hope of reducing spiraling out of control inflation, despite the downside and risk on economic growth. The RBI hoped the commercial banks would offer more costly loans thus decreasing demand due to less money supply and increasing supply to bring the cost of living down. But for any normal person who has a job and savings, how much of any reports of economic futuristic downtown affect our lifestyle and spending habits? Well it does and in doing so we are being controlled by a big brother type of economic regime. We perceive as the gospel truth reports as they are derived by experts and we consider ourselves laymen in this highly complex field. We believe the evidence presented without actually understanding or having concrete knowledge or experience. We justify our reactions by explaining to ourselves that if we do not believe then we shall fall. We shall be left behind and poor while others were smart enough to make changes to accommodate the forecasts. So we stop going as much to restaurants or we forgo that new car or holiday and we stop splurging on that new dress or shoes, not because we have knowledge or not because we no longer have the capital or means but because of one simple justification. And that justification that we are certain of is FEAR. In fact in reading the novel, “ one night at a call centre “ I remember the author criticizing the US that the popular Dunkins Donut slogan, ‘ America runs on Donuts” should be more appropriately changed to, America runs on fear. Fear without real proof or understanding of the issues. Almost on a rumor or whisper, we change our lifestyle based on hearsay, predictions and our fortunes are defined by crystal ball gazing. Reuters recent reports show that holiday shoppers to spend less in the US amid financial fears .About 27% percent of people surveyed by Americas Research Group said they planned to spend less this year while 55% expects to spend only as much as last year as they expected the economy to slow further before recovery and did not feel better about their family finances than a year earlier. But this fear surely is not based on their own analysis, they do not hold economic degrees or prowess and yet they perceive the truth from only what they hear. You might have a job but stories on job losses and high unemployment make you think you will be next even though the unemployed may be less qualified. The truth is more than 90% will hold onto their jobs and yet the entire focus is on the 10% who are jobless.

We need not to blindly believe but know the truth comes from our own personal experience. It may well be that emotional fear is the driving force behind our actions and reactions when logic needs to prevail.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903927204576573930170368972.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Zero-ing on Size

How does our perception of the industry standard of the perfect body type lead to emotional insecurity and poor body image?

Recently scanning through the pages of the American magazine, ‘life and style’ the article of ‘Dieting To The Extreme’ caught my eye. Here popular celebrities such as Kate Middleton and Angelina Jolie, were shown looking highly emaciated as if pressurized to conform to standards that dictate beauty and fitness to remain popular and iconic. Is it not ironic that those in the enviable position of wealth and privilege, who can afford to eat in the worlds best five star Michelin acclaimed restaurants look as if they could do with a hearty meal. While those not so lucky in third world countries are lucky to sleep not hungry? One has a choice while the other does not. But this is not about the moral issues but on a knowledge point of view of what drives these women to the brink of starvation. And how their images praised and lauded has a domino effect on our perception of beauty and, how we react without reason emotionally to these conceived values.

I remember that my first image perception of the ideal woman was Barbie. And while I dressed her and combed her hair, I never stopped to question why she has an unreal, unobtainable body measurement that bordered on the ridiculous. I never realized that a fully grown post pubescent woman cannot have a 40” bust and a 18” waist!  It was the norm and acceptable and every little girl worth her salt wanted to grow up to be Barbie. In fact from as long as we can remember women wanted bodies out of the ordinary. Therefore, in the movie ‘Gone With The Wind’, we saw poor Scarlett O’Hara trying to tighten her corset to have a 16” waist so she could nab a husband at the ball. But is this not about conditioning and societies dictates that make us believe rather than actual facts and knowledge?

Today, in the fashion magazines we are bombarded with images which are airbrushed and photo shopped to perfection. And in fashion shows across the globe we applause at the stick thin figures with their pan caked faces and rouged cheeks in awe and admiration or at the six feet skinny mannequins on display in stores. ( However, we are shocked at the sight of starving bony Africans in their recent famine. What sort of warped standards are we setting?)  So egged and encouraged by these fashion images we try on the clothes only to realize that we fall far from expectations. We have failed while those we admire have not. So in an attempt to conform to ideals we starve and exercise to obtain approval.  We justify our actions on the belief that those in the know are right. We wrongly interpret media attention and focus on bodies as our core values and part of our culture and custom and tradition.  And we convince ourselves that there can be no other alternative or explanation that we must be thin.

The truth is we do not have actual factual knowledge. Weight is just a fad, a passing trend. Were not all those women in Raphael paintings bordering on the obese, and were they not considered beautiful in their time. Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, it is not a knowledge but simply a perception of the time. If we look at medical facts, anyone with a BMI of 20 is considered fit and healthy, and yet we choose to be below a BMI of 20 as we feel prettier.  We do not know pretty we feel pretty. We feel by our sensory perception when we should be knowing with our neural perception. We are given an yard stick of beauty by weight and we critically measure ourselves and others by this. But this is a falsely created number, unlike body temperature that is set at 98.4 and is knowledge based 30 23 30, size zero waif like proportions are not.

 Is it not time that we ignored these fallacies which are frivolous and promote poor esteem and body image and serious disease such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Supermodel Kate Moss to many epitomizes beauty, famously, said, “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”. May be someone she never tucked into a cheeseburger or cheesecake to know how that tastes. And while we can debate on this issue forever, it certainly gives us food for thought!

Back to Our Roots

How does the influence of a foreign culture hurt the sensibilities and traditions of a country?

Whenever, Valentines Day, comes around in India there are always news reports of local political groups kicking up a fuss that this new norm goes against traditional values, culture and religious beliefs. There is a belief among a section of the population that this trend of aping the West corrupts especially young minds and it is perceived that this will lead to a breakdown of centuries old traditions. Western infiltration and influence is thought to be evil and should be stopped at all cost to preserve family values and morality. Of course the ‘culprit’ tends to be the United States that has a powerful affect not just in India but globally. We can see it everywhere to Mcdonalds springing up all over China, to children in the UK now having a school prom. Language is also a key factor as all over the world we are literally invaded by American slang. The police are now cops and the currency is now termed as bucks. Whether it be Hollywood movies, MTV culture, clothes, music or food the influence of US culture is hard to ignore.

In the example of India, and China which have over 2 billion people between them representing over a third of the population, the perception that traditional culture is in danger may well not be justified. Yes, there is influence but the extent of that influence may be limited and not critical. These countries have a very solid foundation of influence that cannot be dissolved in an instant. Religion, clothes family values and food have in fact the counter effect of infiltrating Western culture. Curry has become the most popular food in the UK and Chinese in the US. Western people love the clothes, weddings, jewelry, Bollywood etc of these foreign countries and often cultural divides are merging. Values, tradition and culture of the oldest countries in the world cannot be easily changed by a country only a few hundred years old and there is no real evidence to suggest so. Minor influences are often marketed by foreign countries to make viable sales but both can live in harmony. A recent example is the new Oreo cookies ad which is iconic in the US and is always eaten with a glass of milk or the tradition of cereal for breakfast. Now while we can give an explanation that suggests many will be influenced, nothing suggests that traditional food such as spicy samosa for a snack or paranthas for breakfast can fully replace this. What is perceived as different or an invasion is simply a fear without hard core truth. Often emotions can over ride reason and logic and change can be difficult to accept among those of the older generation. But a large population of India is in fact under the age of twenty five and they are growing up willing to accept changes. Life for them represents a choice of picking and choosing the best and ignoring the worst, and this is certainly progress. While there are aspects of Western culture that may offend or be distasteful to Indian value system surely these will be ignored by many in favor of the traditional. However, the youth also recognize that there are certain aspects of Indian culture that may be distasteful to them, they question the system and demand these unsavory aspects be eliminated. In India these may include, child labor, child marriage, forced marriage or dowry, female abortions, caste discrimination or sati the tradition of burning a widow with her dead husband. In these case, surely it is true to say India can learn a lot from the West and be fearful of it based on popular misconception.

A child’s knowledge of his or her tradition, religion and culture begins early on in the family from parents, grandparents school etc. These core values and beliefs remain ingrained so any outside influence is superficial at best. So while politicos trying to throw their weight around will have protests, there will be little they can do. After all come Valentines day, people will shop for cards and buy roses and the like as a new tradition, but nothing can replace the traditions of weddings, and local customs. And it is this interpretation of knowledge and belief which should allow the spirit of foreign influence to prevail.