Local economy

Just before going to Seattle, we had visited 3 of the local malls in the south bay here to shop for gifts and they were all downright gloomy. Not many people, not many bags, half lit malls (to save electricity?).

The malls in Seattle were brimming with people. Happy people, who were shopping after Christmas, with lots of bags in their hands. Decked out malls that screamed "happy"!

The contrast was too obvious.

It almost appeared as though Seattle had not yet seen the job slump that has hit the bay area.

This mornings news mentioned lots of job losses in the Seattle area and it made me feel sad. They are going to see what we see and it is not a pleasant sight!

Hope that this downturn gets reversed soon.

A lot of friends have forwarded me a funny news item. Apparently the Porn industry wants a 5 billion dollar bailout !!!

Looks like everyone wants a bailout of sorts. Reminds me of how at one point in TamilNadu (when we were in high school) 90% or more of the population was eligible to be called a Scheduled caste/ Scheduled Tribe/ Backward Caste / Most Backward Caste or Other Backward Caste. How could 9/10 people be backward? As a percentile that didn't even make any sense!

Vividly remember, going to Anna University to drop off our DOTE application forms with two numbers on the top of the application. There were piles of applications on the floor and you would shudder when you saw your application getting dropped in the forward caste pile!

Today eveyrone in the US is part of some group or other that has been hit and need some rescue or protection ...Banks, Securities, Insurance folks, Car Makers, Porn makers...

The entire post can be summarized in one word

Kaliyugam!

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My blood boils

When seeing things like this...

Happened to see a one line ad. above my email list on gmail.

It simply said

"Unemployment Grant Kit - Unemployment-Grants.com - $30,000 in Unemployment Grants. Billions Available. Never Repay!"

Free money folks! Free money... so some poor tax paying schmuck like me can make that money free!

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Reviving the economy

Okay, did promise readers no more depressing posts on economy related stuff, especially on Monday mornings.

This post is not to depress. It is more of a "take note of this!" post!

We are currently seeing a viscious cycle where technology companies are having problems because the funding is being released after a lot more scrutiny than before. The time lag for this scrutiny, has a ripple effect on companies trying to develop new technology and or support technology development.

In other words, if you are looking for some high tech gadget to hit your local Fry's electronics store that one ups last years version, chances are, it is going to be slow going.

Now, one can always say "putting food on the table is more important than getting the next Wii". True, no argument there! But the next generation Wii, actually means putting food on the table for lots of folks, and it goes beyond the latest in wifi or the latest in the race for smaller, faster, cheaper!

Innovation feeds innovation in many ways. People who work on one technology pave the way for many others. A friend of mine who works at Fermi lab showed me 12 years ago that a lot of commercially available technology in appliances, software etc. were part of tools developed to fix issues in building the particle colliders, from soldering and welding technology, superconductors, tcl-tk, the WWW, etc.etc. I saw how a project on missile nose cone material translated to state of the art lightweight bicycles!

The situation with housing, took down the economy. Everyone is now cautious with their money, including the banks who are watching their own brethren with ever increasing detail and this goes way beyond the housing sector now.

All that said, it is imperative that tech companies are not starved of their sustenance.

Technology development in the USA has always had an edge over the rest of the world. The gaps are coming down with the advent of China and India coming up fast on manufacturing and computer realted fields over the last few years. In a lot of ways they are coming up because of the support from the American Industry, or joint collaborations which send technology over there. Once the seed is planted, it just grows and grows.

It has always been my belief and experience that American jobs create international jobs. Someone here comes up with some cool technology and by the time it gets made and sold across the globe people from many countries get employed!

The exact number may be in the balance right now, but saving high tech will definitely do its part in reviving this economy!

Hope the new Obama-Biden transition team does something about this, NOW!

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Backyard Hues

Backyard blues turned to backyard hues, thanks to the camera, the sun coming out just after a drizzle and getting me back to thinking

Yep. Tommorrow brings a new beginning and a new day!

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