Americanism !

There's a reason for not having blogged for a long time. There simply wasn't an interesting topic to write :p Honestly, I had to literally dig for topics on which I could have a strong and clear feeling !

I have been following the Economic Crisis taking place in America, for quite some time now. The magnitude of the impact because of the crisis is un-doubtedly the worst ever since the dot-com burst couple of years back (I wasn't there during the Great Depression) !
Let me not get into the details on how the whole crisis started cuz I am sure everyone of us would have heard about it by now. What bothers me now, is whether India could be the next destination for a similar Crisis and the recent developments strongly suggest the possibility!
Let me explain why....

Since an year or so, there seems to be a new unseen Credit Card revolution in our country. Card companies have been hounding the earning-class, especially the youth, to take their Credit Cards for free of cost. There was a time when having a credit card was a status symbol, which only the rich and the elite could afford to. But now, you can find people just out of college piling up atleast 3-4 of these cards in their leather wallets ! Having a credit card has never been this easy and simple !

Buying is on an all-time high in our country. Its almost a disgrace if you don't visit your Mall every weekend and buy something new for yourself or your family. Spending has become part of our DNA. 10 years ago, a great amount of planning, saving and ofcourse a post-mortem was inevitable even if the tiniest of things were to find its place at our homes ! But now, thanks to the increase in salaries, an average middle-class guy doesn't really need to think too much if he sees a nice sleek LCD tv in his local electronics appliance shop.


Real Estate prices have sky-rocketted to unrealistic figures ! While some buy flats or independent homes to settle down, there are others, who would have already purchased a house, but still would want to buy another site or an apartment all cuz of investment sake ! All this leads to an increase in the cost of real estate whose actual value would have been much lower.

The Mall culture, Credit Cards, high-spending etc : All these had been flowing in the veins of an average American long before an average Indian picked them up. It doesnt require an economic professor to tell you that India is slowly marching on the path, once treaded by a "great" country called America, which is currently reeling under severe economic crisis !

The time has come for the Indian Government to have stringent regulations in place before our worst fears turn into reality in our country. The people also need to realise that they need to cut down on their spending on un-necessary goods/luxury items as there seems to be a scarcity of "hard-cash" everywhere. All your assets like flats/gold/stocks are loosing their value and therefore it has become all the more important to hold onto your cash like never before !

Remember, this is only a short-term but very important sacrifice we all need to make, if we want our economy to get back on its feet !