 Don't worry about recession
For the past few weeks, we have been reading and hearing all sorts of ghostly stories about global financial recession as if the world is nearing an end. Some argue that Nepali economy is so out of track that it will never come back. I wonder where has it actually gone – to the Moon or the Mars - and whether it will be back here when the financial recovery returns to the Earth and our finance ministry gets done collecting taxes to actually start its leapfrog development? Well, monsoon is still months away to start the frog-thing, you might say. I can’t agree more.
Now look at the wise-after-the-event economic pundits painting gloom and doom and driving all the hopefuls insane, and all the best brains in the media world jostling to be the first to report the last of the world. Scary, isn’t it? For example, Nepali stock market is falling flat on its face and migrant Nepali workers are coming back and turning to chicken rearing rather than flying back to the Gulf. All these newspaper headlines seem to fall on a fertile ground of human emotion – fear, which is the mother of all recessions and father of none.
Well, do you also believe that this so-called recession is really bad – as bad as our politicians? And do you really believe that recession has really come to Nepal? Consider this: have you stopped buying groceries? We all need to eat, right? And wear, right? Aren’t people still going to pharmacies to get their prescription or non-prescription drugs? Have you felt an ease in traffic lately? People are buying cars and apartments and all sort of stuffs. So, tell me where is the recession? Where is that so-called bubble? All is well with banks and finance companies, liquor and cheese balls companies, laptop and desktop companies and cell phone to land phone companies. Now all you need to do is follow your own nose. Avoid the news and the pundits, I suggest.
I wonder why recession feels like a monster on the loose when as a general rule, it indicates a shorter phase of the business cycle in comparison to the upswings which naturally followed by downswings and again by an upswing. So, see the upswings and downswings and not the ‘meltdown’, ‘shutdown’, ‘putdown’ that lie in between. Fine now? If you are still feeling a chill down your spine, look at the self-employment drive that our government has so rightfully come out with, which aims to turn a nerd into an entrepreneur almost overnight. Fine now? Ok, again, if that doesn’t cool you down, seek professional help, like financial counseling and even better, psychological counseling. If people start making rounds and rounds of these counselors, it will generate tax to the government and more nerds get a break into business, which, eventually, turn Nepal into ‘Nerdland’ if not Switzerland. Now that could be a national pride, I argue, since there is no other place in the world with entrepreneurship so abundant.
Consider also this: An economic recession means that a lot of things get cheaper! But have you paid a single penny less on anything in the last two years? Therefore, rest assured that even if this shadow of world recession engulfs us, you might lose weight but not hope. You know that our finance minister swings solutions so fast and collects taxes even faster. So don’t worry even about the loadshedding; pour yourself another drink and enjoy the candlelight dinner all in the safety and comfort of your home!
|
