For me, Chinese New Year often means foods, foods and... foods. Yes, I can only think of foods when I think about Chinese New Year. Some of you may ask, why only foods? Isn't New Year a time for gathering and family time also? Well, it should have been, but that's not the case with my family. My family was a pretty large family with seven kids and large extended families, but yet somehow most of the heads of the families chose to do things by themselves on Chinese New Year.
My mom always tried to celebrate Chinese New Year by holding a small smorgasbord in our small home, but most of my twelve uncles and aunts seemed to have forgotten that we existed. Year by year, only three families gathered in our tiny home, squeezing ourselves in small rooms while avoiding stacks of items for sale. Yes, our home was small and filled with stacks of salable goods. My mom utilized our home as both home and warehouse. The only think come to my mind when Chinese New Year nearing was the good foods that we could have. My parents rarely prepared good foods on our dining table because we were not very rich to begin with, but they somehow always went out of their way to prepare the best foods they could provide for the New Year.
Since I lived in the house, I could care less for the stacks of goods since I was quite used to them. But that may not be the case with my extended families, my aunts and uncles and their kids. They must have been living more decent lifestyles that most of them seemed to hate coming to our small and not-so-clean place. I don't know if they really hated our homes, it could also have been because they were too busy with their routines, who knows? Throughout the years when I lived in the house, only two other families came to our homes, one of them because they lived next door and the other one used to live under our roof.
But the absence of others did not seem to bother the young me, because the more relatives showed up, the higher the chance for verbal fights and arguments to break out. At times, my cousins and my siblings often fought over foods even to the point that we had to roll on the "not-so-squeaky clean" floor. In my selfish mind, I was happy because I could eat more foods without having to fight over them with more competitors. But never did we realize that we would have had enough foods to eat without having to fight over them, because the amount of foods prepared was based on the anticipation that my other extended family members could show up. And yes, we always ended up having too much left over foods which we had to finish up for the following two weeks or so.
Yes, I had a bittersweet childhood memory about Chinese New Year, maybe just like most of us. I often envied some other people who had fond memory of their Chinese New Year as a time of gathering and family reunion, a time of laughter and joy. But for me, it was about foods, foods, and foods because that was all that I ever knew of.
When I moved to the States, I started to forget about some of my old bittersweet memory. I did not even celebrate my first Chinese New Year in the States because I was too busy working, but I began to expose myself to Chinese New Year celebration again as I met new friends when I joined the Indonesian Evangelical Church in San Jose, California. From there, I noticed that most people celebrated Chinese New Year truly as a joyful event, a time to celebrate and enjoy with friends and families. It's almost like the feast of Thanksgiving in Western hemisphere, without the hams, turkeys, mashed potatoes, or gravies.
From that time on, I began to see Chinese New Year from a different lens. I began to celebrate the New Year with glad tidings, with new and old friends I met in the Bay Area. I had never participated in a large smorgasbord party for Chinese New Year during my years in the Bay Area, but it does not mean that we did not have a great New Year celebration at all. True, sometimes we did not even have to go out to eat but the presence of laughter and smiles, and warm feelings extended by friends were more than enough to warm the coldest corner of my heart. Yes, I miss those days when people smiled and expressed their feelings with joy as they welcomed the New Year, and I hope this New Year will be the same, at the very least.
Happy Chinese New Year!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
The "have" and the "have not"
Recently, some of us may have noticed about the increasing rate of violent and brazen crimes in our neighborhood. I live in Greater LA area, and Yes, I knew that violent crime is nothing new to LA, but the degree and frequency of such crimes in the last few months or so had been a lot higher than ever. Last Christmas, I saw news about party shootings done by a man wearing Santa's outfit. And yes, almost every week we heard news about robberies or grand thefts, affecting common people, banks, and yes, even the rich people and celebrities who lived in Pacific Palisades, Bel Air and many other affluent places.
In many instances, both the law enforcement authorities and victims seemed to agree that the increasing rate of crime they were facing had a lot to do with the economic hardships faced by most people, especially those who can be categorized as the lowest rank in the financial pyramid. Yet, many of the rich people seemed to be unfazed by this compelling arguments and kept on showing off their wealth by wearing expensive clothes, bags, or jewelries, as if they did not realize that the not-so- lucky people around them are silently watching their actions with envy, some even held grudge against them.
The overwhelming facts of the gap between the rich and the poor in America nowadays is a big concern for me, since such issue had been the driving force behind many riots, revolutions and even civil wars all across the globe. Riots, revolutions and wars are sad realities which should not have happened if we all have truly live our lives as brothers and sisters. Yet, all those bad things happened over and over again because of our insensitivity toward one another, or our callous heart which prevent us from being able to sympathize about the needs of others. Some of us may be unable to do much for others because of the personal circumstances in our lives, but some others may have been blessed enough to be a blessing toward other people.
For me, it's sad to see rich people who would rather spend their hundreds of dollar by eating at a fancy restaurant or shopping for unnecessary items at fancy boutiques or specialty shops when they know that they could have used those money to help the local relief groups or homeless shelters around them which may be able to use the money to feed many people who are needy and hungry. Don't get me wrong, I do not see those actions as despicable or sinful, but I see them more as proof of negligence or insensitivity.
I know many of us did not really enjoy to be around homeless people or poor people because of many reasons. Some of us may have had bad experience dealing with poor or homeless people, while some others may simply dislike the poor because of the common stereotypes we heard about them.
Here are some of the most common stereotypes:
1. Poor people smells bad
Yes, many poor people smells bad or stinks (literally), especially those who lived on the street. Many of us who had been raised in proper homes probably do not want to even get near such people. Yet I do not believe we should judge them by the cover. (Let alone those people who had never been taught about propriety, even some of us who are raised properly may still have few bad habits that we still do every now and then)
I believe some of them probably did not really care of hygiene because of the bad influence of those around them, maybe because they never have a family or maybe they came from a dysfunctional family. On the other hand, some poor people probably just did not have money to buy soaps or take a bath at a paid shower room. Yes, some of us may argue that these people seem to have money to buy beers, how could they claim that they have no money to take a shower. Well, I believe the main reason behind that is priority and accessibility. What I mean by priority is the fact that many poor people, especially homeless people who lived on the street for most of their lives simply did not have a good grasp about life's priority. They simply consider beers to be more important for them than shower, maybe because they think beers are necessary to warm their bodies or perhaps just to satisfy their addiction to beer. Availability here means the lack of public showers or restrooms in the neighborhoods where these people live. What makes it worse is the abundance of beer-selling venues on the street where they live. The beer-vendors seem to have either targeted these poor people or their neighborhoods.
2. Poor people are irresponsible people
The other reason for our reluctance to be near the poor is our perception that poor people as those who are simply irresponsible with their lives. Yes, some poor people are indeed irresponsible, they used the money they received from others to buy beers or drugs on the street or other similarly stupid things, but that does not mean that all of them are like that. Many of the poor people are not very well educated, some of them did not even finish their grade school, therefore many of them do not have a very good understanding about their responsibility as part of a society. I believe it's our duty, as people who have better understanding in this matter, to teach them to become more responsible in action, with love and grace. I know that it will take time, I also realize that such actions may not even have a lasting impact in their lives because they may be too old to be able to change from their old bad habits but I still believe it's worth trying.
3. Poor people did not have willingness to leave their lifestyles.
Some of us view the poor as those who do not have willingness to get better. Yes, some poor people may have such inclination, especially those who had been homeless for a long time or those who had completely lost their hopes. To give us a better understanding on this matter, let's take a look at an ancient story from the Orient. Some of us may be familiar with the ancient Chinese story of a frog in the well who have a very small and narrow perspective, yet this frog even dare to brag over another frog who live in a big ocean. Indeed, the main reason for his foolish action was because the well is the only place the frog ever knows of. The same thing applies to the poor people. Those poor people may never have the slightest imagination of leaving their "lifestyles" because they may have never known of another world better than the world they currently live in.
Now, hopefully most of us can agree on the fact that we may have judged the poor people so much, then what should we do after knowing that we may be able to do something for them. It does not have to be something grand or extravagant by any means, even simple gestures may help bridge our worlds with theirs.
Few suggestions:
1. If you have extra money, you could donate small amount of money to your local relief organizations, such as LA Mission, Food Bank etc.
2. If you have items that you do not need, you could donate them to local organizations such as Goodwill, Salvation Army etc.
3. If you do not have extra money or items to give, don't worry, you can still help your local relief organizations by volunteering at local homeless shelters. In greater LA area, you may find LA's Union Rescue Mission in downtown LA, First Day in Whittier, Long Beach Rescue Mission in Long Beach, Orange County Rescue Mission in Tustin and many more.
Wait, even if you have nothing to donate... you may be broke and have no time to go to visit your local social services organizations, you can still at least do one of the following suggestions:
1. Pray
Yes, you could do this in your own bedroom or wherever you are.
Pray that the Lord will raise up more and more people who are willing and able to move forward for His sake. Pray that the Lord will once again relief the poor from injustices around them.
2. Act
You could also kindly show your love and mercy toward others in your daily life. Yes, you may be tied up because you spend your whole day at your workplace, but you can still do your part there. If you have exposure or contact with people (maybe you work in department store, grocery store or restaurant), show mercy and kindness to those who are less fortunate than you.
3. Raise Awareness
True, some of us may be stuck in cubicles or work in front of our computers everyday without much chance to interact with other people, you can still do your part by raising awareness about this issue, either via your own website, or your profile in MySpace or Facebook.
God bless y'all
In many instances, both the law enforcement authorities and victims seemed to agree that the increasing rate of crime they were facing had a lot to do with the economic hardships faced by most people, especially those who can be categorized as the lowest rank in the financial pyramid. Yet, many of the rich people seemed to be unfazed by this compelling arguments and kept on showing off their wealth by wearing expensive clothes, bags, or jewelries, as if they did not realize that the not-so- lucky people around them are silently watching their actions with envy, some even held grudge against them.
The overwhelming facts of the gap between the rich and the poor in America nowadays is a big concern for me, since such issue had been the driving force behind many riots, revolutions and even civil wars all across the globe. Riots, revolutions and wars are sad realities which should not have happened if we all have truly live our lives as brothers and sisters. Yet, all those bad things happened over and over again because of our insensitivity toward one another, or our callous heart which prevent us from being able to sympathize about the needs of others. Some of us may be unable to do much for others because of the personal circumstances in our lives, but some others may have been blessed enough to be a blessing toward other people.
For me, it's sad to see rich people who would rather spend their hundreds of dollar by eating at a fancy restaurant or shopping for unnecessary items at fancy boutiques or specialty shops when they know that they could have used those money to help the local relief groups or homeless shelters around them which may be able to use the money to feed many people who are needy and hungry. Don't get me wrong, I do not see those actions as despicable or sinful, but I see them more as proof of negligence or insensitivity.
I know many of us did not really enjoy to be around homeless people or poor people because of many reasons. Some of us may have had bad experience dealing with poor or homeless people, while some others may simply dislike the poor because of the common stereotypes we heard about them.
Here are some of the most common stereotypes:
1. Poor people smells bad
Yes, many poor people smells bad or stinks (literally), especially those who lived on the street. Many of us who had been raised in proper homes probably do not want to even get near such people. Yet I do not believe we should judge them by the cover. (Let alone those people who had never been taught about propriety, even some of us who are raised properly may still have few bad habits that we still do every now and then)
I believe some of them probably did not really care of hygiene because of the bad influence of those around them, maybe because they never have a family or maybe they came from a dysfunctional family. On the other hand, some poor people probably just did not have money to buy soaps or take a bath at a paid shower room. Yes, some of us may argue that these people seem to have money to buy beers, how could they claim that they have no money to take a shower. Well, I believe the main reason behind that is priority and accessibility. What I mean by priority is the fact that many poor people, especially homeless people who lived on the street for most of their lives simply did not have a good grasp about life's priority. They simply consider beers to be more important for them than shower, maybe because they think beers are necessary to warm their bodies or perhaps just to satisfy their addiction to beer. Availability here means the lack of public showers or restrooms in the neighborhoods where these people live. What makes it worse is the abundance of beer-selling venues on the street where they live. The beer-vendors seem to have either targeted these poor people or their neighborhoods.
2. Poor people are irresponsible people
The other reason for our reluctance to be near the poor is our perception that poor people as those who are simply irresponsible with their lives. Yes, some poor people are indeed irresponsible, they used the money they received from others to buy beers or drugs on the street or other similarly stupid things, but that does not mean that all of them are like that. Many of the poor people are not very well educated, some of them did not even finish their grade school, therefore many of them do not have a very good understanding about their responsibility as part of a society. I believe it's our duty, as people who have better understanding in this matter, to teach them to become more responsible in action, with love and grace. I know that it will take time, I also realize that such actions may not even have a lasting impact in their lives because they may be too old to be able to change from their old bad habits but I still believe it's worth trying.
3. Poor people did not have willingness to leave their lifestyles.
Some of us view the poor as those who do not have willingness to get better. Yes, some poor people may have such inclination, especially those who had been homeless for a long time or those who had completely lost their hopes. To give us a better understanding on this matter, let's take a look at an ancient story from the Orient. Some of us may be familiar with the ancient Chinese story of a frog in the well who have a very small and narrow perspective, yet this frog even dare to brag over another frog who live in a big ocean. Indeed, the main reason for his foolish action was because the well is the only place the frog ever knows of. The same thing applies to the poor people. Those poor people may never have the slightest imagination of leaving their "lifestyles" because they may have never known of another world better than the world they currently live in.
Now, hopefully most of us can agree on the fact that we may have judged the poor people so much, then what should we do after knowing that we may be able to do something for them. It does not have to be something grand or extravagant by any means, even simple gestures may help bridge our worlds with theirs.
Few suggestions:
1. If you have extra money, you could donate small amount of money to your local relief organizations, such as LA Mission, Food Bank etc.
2. If you have items that you do not need, you could donate them to local organizations such as Goodwill, Salvation Army etc.
3. If you do not have extra money or items to give, don't worry, you can still help your local relief organizations by volunteering at local homeless shelters. In greater LA area, you may find LA's Union Rescue Mission in downtown LA, First Day in Whittier, Long Beach Rescue Mission in Long Beach, Orange County Rescue Mission in Tustin and many more.
Wait, even if you have nothing to donate... you may be broke and have no time to go to visit your local social services organizations, you can still at least do one of the following suggestions:
1. Pray
Yes, you could do this in your own bedroom or wherever you are.
Pray that the Lord will raise up more and more people who are willing and able to move forward for His sake. Pray that the Lord will once again relief the poor from injustices around them.
2. Act
You could also kindly show your love and mercy toward others in your daily life. Yes, you may be tied up because you spend your whole day at your workplace, but you can still do your part there. If you have exposure or contact with people (maybe you work in department store, grocery store or restaurant), show mercy and kindness to those who are less fortunate than you.
3. Raise Awareness
True, some of us may be stuck in cubicles or work in front of our computers everyday without much chance to interact with other people, you can still do your part by raising awareness about this issue, either via your own website, or your profile in MySpace or Facebook.
God bless y'all
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Love of money, the root of all evil
As the economy is getting worse, we all know that money are harder and harder to come by for people. Interestingly, with the current job market, more and more people are looking for "creative" ways to make money. Some people followed more legitimate ways, such as opening new business and such, but other people want to get rich quick by doing something almost unimaginable, cheating others.
Here is some new ways people make money by any means, starting from the ones least trustworthy:
1. Sell something free for money.
One of such example is a loan modification business. This type of "business" asks the struggling homeowners to pay in advance for their service. the fees usually range about $2500 to $5000. And it's not guaranteed either.
Interestingly, many people fell into this trap.
Many people don't know that the government had actually set up an organization to help struggling homeowners to modify their late loans. The organization is called HUD. And HUD actually had some HUD approved counselors who can guide you through the process at no cost or a very little cost. I realize knowledge is power, but I don't think you should abuse it to extort money from helpless people.
2. Sell lies
I recently stumbled into a website where someone who claimed that he can show you how to make money online. And I managed to find his "get rich quick idea" without paying, courtesy from one of his customers who posted the guide online. The concept is simple and can be true. You can sell anything which cost you nothing or close to nothing, and sell them for a small amount of money (say $1.50-$5.00) and basically instructed your buyer to do the same. Similar to the pyramid scheme.
3. Start a Ponzi business
Well, Ponzi business is nothing new but it's recently being under a lot of scrutiny in the media because of recent Madoff case. The basic of Ponzi is basically offering a high return rate for "investors." The money used to pay the "investors" is basically received from the new investors. It was a very good way to attract more investors since most people will claim hat they indeed receive a steady return. The question is: Will it last? You know the answer.
4. Start a chain letter to get money (another pyramid scheme)
I recently stumbled into this type of paid chain letters, its quite surprising because it has been around for a long time in many Asian countries. The concept of this chain letter is simple, the sender asks 10-20 people to send money to someone on the top of the pyramid. The sender's name can only start at the bottom of the pyramid if 10-20 of his friends sent money to the person on the top. They usually make sure that the person at the top of the pyramid is not the sender, just to make it sound more plausible, (the sender is usually on the bottom of the pyramid). They usually make up a success story such as making millions of dollars or having a great life without working.
Less obvious ways people make money by taking advantage of others' gullibility:
1. Recruit free sales people who only receive a small commission when they bring it client to sign up for high margin referral "businesses."
Examples of such high margin referral businesses are life insurance services (the boss can get pay to 40% commission on the dues paid, and the sales person only receive 5% of the commission), home modification business (the boss will make between $2500 to $5000 while paying you $200)
2. Make a networking chapter,
The way this works is you just send out invitation to all small businesses in the area you targeted. Invite them for a breakfast in a sit-down restaurant and tell them that they are cordially invited and that there is only one business can represent your own trade. Asked them to pay $500 a year and invite the other businesses they know. Yes, out of 20 people who showed up you may only get 5 of them joined your new chapter, but you already make $2500 and you probably spend less than $300 for the breakfast.
I really don't know if this is legit or not. True, some people can really expand their networking through this chapter, but isn't it too much to pay?
And many more.......
Here is some new ways people make money by any means, starting from the ones least trustworthy:
1. Sell something free for money.
One of such example is a loan modification business. This type of "business" asks the struggling homeowners to pay in advance for their service. the fees usually range about $2500 to $5000. And it's not guaranteed either.
Interestingly, many people fell into this trap.
Many people don't know that the government had actually set up an organization to help struggling homeowners to modify their late loans. The organization is called HUD. And HUD actually had some HUD approved counselors who can guide you through the process at no cost or a very little cost. I realize knowledge is power, but I don't think you should abuse it to extort money from helpless people.
2. Sell lies
I recently stumbled into a website where someone who claimed that he can show you how to make money online. And I managed to find his "get rich quick idea" without paying, courtesy from one of his customers who posted the guide online. The concept is simple and can be true. You can sell anything which cost you nothing or close to nothing, and sell them for a small amount of money (say $1.50-$5.00) and basically instructed your buyer to do the same. Similar to the pyramid scheme.
3. Start a Ponzi business
Well, Ponzi business is nothing new but it's recently being under a lot of scrutiny in the media because of recent Madoff case. The basic of Ponzi is basically offering a high return rate for "investors." The money used to pay the "investors" is basically received from the new investors. It was a very good way to attract more investors since most people will claim hat they indeed receive a steady return. The question is: Will it last? You know the answer.
4. Start a chain letter to get money (another pyramid scheme)
I recently stumbled into this type of paid chain letters, its quite surprising because it has been around for a long time in many Asian countries. The concept of this chain letter is simple, the sender asks 10-20 people to send money to someone on the top of the pyramid. The sender's name can only start at the bottom of the pyramid if 10-20 of his friends sent money to the person on the top. They usually make sure that the person at the top of the pyramid is not the sender, just to make it sound more plausible, (the sender is usually on the bottom of the pyramid). They usually make up a success story such as making millions of dollars or having a great life without working.
Less obvious ways people make money by taking advantage of others' gullibility:
1. Recruit free sales people who only receive a small commission when they bring it client to sign up for high margin referral "businesses."
Examples of such high margin referral businesses are life insurance services (the boss can get pay to 40% commission on the dues paid, and the sales person only receive 5% of the commission), home modification business (the boss will make between $2500 to $5000 while paying you $200)
2. Make a networking chapter,
The way this works is you just send out invitation to all small businesses in the area you targeted. Invite them for a breakfast in a sit-down restaurant and tell them that they are cordially invited and that there is only one business can represent your own trade. Asked them to pay $500 a year and invite the other businesses they know. Yes, out of 20 people who showed up you may only get 5 of them joined your new chapter, but you already make $2500 and you probably spend less than $300 for the breakfast.
I really don't know if this is legit or not. True, some people can really expand their networking through this chapter, but isn't it too much to pay?
And many more.......
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Seek and ye shall find
In these tough economic times, I often find myself engulfed in a personal battle in my mind. Indeed tough economic times had forced many people to do the unbelievable things they would never have considered in the past. We all heard the statistics that crime rate always go out during a period of economic crises and I have no reason to dispute that. In fact, tough economic times also often prompted large demonstrations, riots, or even wars in many third world countries. But here in America, the effect of the economic crises had somehow been subdued (at least on the surface). When we do out to the chic malls or designers boutiques, we can still find people who splurge on their hedonistic desires as if the economic crisis does not have any impact on them.
Yes, the world is unfair. Poor people who do not have access to large money from the government or the financial institutions often end up committing crime in order to get what they want. Yes, and many of them were caught and jailed. I am not trying to defend their actions or anything here. Yes, they're wrong and therefore they deserved to be punished, but somehow I felt they were being incriminated because of their social or financial situation. Had they been a little bit more lucky or a little bit richer or more connected, they may not have to commit those crimes.
Let's imagine. If they were from middle and upper class families, they could have just borrowed thousands of dollars from their wealthy friends or relatives to cover up their late mortgage payments. Had they been celebrities or other famous people, they could even write a book to raise money. Or if they were fund managers in Wall Street, they could have swindled money from hundreds of rich investors who would not be affected by the loss very much (just like the way Madoff did it). Had they been investment bankers, they could have just asked the government to bail them off. If they were executives of large corporations, they could just laid off the lower ranks in the company to preserve cash and then shower themselves with big bonuses for saving the company some money.
But then... that's just a wishful thinking, a dream. A dream that may never come true. Let's go back to reality. If you were out of cash and you were late on your mortgage payment, what should you do? Don't grab a gun and rob the bank, that's foolish. Neither should you spend few dollars left on your pocket on lottery or casino games. Yes, you may have a chance to win, but your chance to win is smaller than your chance of becoming a celebrity overnight. Here is what I think you should do:
1. If you have no job, go and look for job. Any job is better than no job.
2. If you have a job but need more hours to pay your bill. Go to your employer and beg them to give you more hours. And even if your employer was not able to give you more hours, look for other employer.
Yes, you may not get what you wanted immediately. In fact, you may have to persevere for a while before you actually find one, but I can assure you one thing: Your chance of improving your life is a lot better than if you're not doing it at all. Yes, you could say that I am daydreaming. In fact I have personally tried the steps that I listed above and yes, I admit that I have not been successful, but I believe that I am better off than I used to be (albeit slightly).
Never give up, never surrender ... Even though the world is unfair, if you try hard enough you may find someone who is willing to help you out. Even amidst unfairness in the world, you may be able to find someone who is merciful to help you out. No, do not dream of Oprah's giving you money to pay off your home, neither should you dream of having Home Makeover host to fix your home and pay off your debt. There are many other people in this world who still have money to spend at their discretion. Who knows if you're lucky enough to attain mercy from them. And you'll never know until you ask them.
"Seek and ye shall find, Knock and the door will opened unto you."
God bless you all...
Yes, the world is unfair. Poor people who do not have access to large money from the government or the financial institutions often end up committing crime in order to get what they want. Yes, and many of them were caught and jailed. I am not trying to defend their actions or anything here. Yes, they're wrong and therefore they deserved to be punished, but somehow I felt they were being incriminated because of their social or financial situation. Had they been a little bit more lucky or a little bit richer or more connected, they may not have to commit those crimes.
Let's imagine. If they were from middle and upper class families, they could have just borrowed thousands of dollars from their wealthy friends or relatives to cover up their late mortgage payments. Had they been celebrities or other famous people, they could even write a book to raise money. Or if they were fund managers in Wall Street, they could have swindled money from hundreds of rich investors who would not be affected by the loss very much (just like the way Madoff did it). Had they been investment bankers, they could have just asked the government to bail them off. If they were executives of large corporations, they could just laid off the lower ranks in the company to preserve cash and then shower themselves with big bonuses for saving the company some money.
But then... that's just a wishful thinking, a dream. A dream that may never come true. Let's go back to reality. If you were out of cash and you were late on your mortgage payment, what should you do? Don't grab a gun and rob the bank, that's foolish. Neither should you spend few dollars left on your pocket on lottery or casino games. Yes, you may have a chance to win, but your chance to win is smaller than your chance of becoming a celebrity overnight. Here is what I think you should do:
1. If you have no job, go and look for job. Any job is better than no job.
2. If you have a job but need more hours to pay your bill. Go to your employer and beg them to give you more hours. And even if your employer was not able to give you more hours, look for other employer.
Yes, you may not get what you wanted immediately. In fact, you may have to persevere for a while before you actually find one, but I can assure you one thing: Your chance of improving your life is a lot better than if you're not doing it at all. Yes, you could say that I am daydreaming. In fact I have personally tried the steps that I listed above and yes, I admit that I have not been successful, but I believe that I am better off than I used to be (albeit slightly).
Never give up, never surrender ... Even though the world is unfair, if you try hard enough you may find someone who is willing to help you out. Even amidst unfairness in the world, you may be able to find someone who is merciful to help you out. No, do not dream of Oprah's giving you money to pay off your home, neither should you dream of having Home Makeover host to fix your home and pay off your debt. There are many other people in this world who still have money to spend at their discretion. Who knows if you're lucky enough to attain mercy from them. And you'll never know until you ask them.
"Seek and ye shall find, Knock and the door will opened unto you."
God bless you all...
Friday, January 9, 2009
Roller coaster ride
I myself am not a fan of roller coaster, just as I thought: What is the fun of riding something which only makes you worry and scared? But many people who actually love riding roller coasters often claim the excitement they experience in the ups and downs of the roller coaster ride. Sadly, when it comes to money and investment vehicle, not many people are really excited with the roller coaster ride of their investment.
With so much uncertainty in the market, many people withdrew their money from the market and keep them elsewhere such as in bonds, CDs, gold or silver, just as they want to be able to sleep without worry.
What is the main cause of our worry? I guess the main cause of our worry is our unwillingness to lose something that we have (Whatever they are). Many psychologists, neurologists and psychoanalysts had studied about worry for a long time yet they cannot really find a permanent solution to fix our worry-ness. True, scientists had found a way to suppress our anxiety with drugs (as they managed to find the nerves activated when we become worry), but these "suppressants" are not the true answer to our worries, since they basically suppress the after-effect of our worry-ness only, and they do not treat the cause. They basically numb the nerve, it's not much different from the illegal drugs which were sold off the street. They pretty much have similar effects: They are addictive, create temporary happiness or illusions with long term consequences.
One of my former employees (back in the days when I used to manage a sandwich shop) told me that his wife was addicted to the "anti-depressant" pills that she was prescribed to treat her problems of anxiety. I remember asking him what happens if his wife missed her daily dosage, and he told me that she will start screaming and throwing things off like a mad woman. Sad but true, but here in America, we are used to these type of situations. We often treat everything as medical, biological or neurological problems. We try to solve everything by drugs or medicines. If one catches a cold, he/she should take cold medicines (which basically treat the symptoms of the cold, and not the cold itself). And the same thing applies to our economy as well.
When the economy collapsed because of the credit crisis, US government responded by lowering the interest rates, which basically provide cheaper money to the banks, but yet the credit crisis still persisted. Then they moved by opening a special credit window for any financial institution, but the credit became tighter and the rate was still high. Later on, they moved by providing more liquidity (read: money) to select financial institutions by pouring billions of dollars to banks (regardless whether they want it or not) under the controversial TARP. Then what happens? Nothing. The credit market remains tight (and for some people it's even tighter than ever). The economists in our government think like those scientists in the medical fields, they tried to treat the symptoms and not the cause.
What is the cause of the crisis? Well, there are many factors but some of the main factors are the drop of housing price and the job loss (at least in my opinion). When people truly have extra money to spend (not from borrowing from their credit cards), the economy will definitely be better. Until then, any superficial things that the Feds and Treasury do will be like treating the symptoms of the economy and not the cause. In fact, their actions will more likely benefits the rich (Wall Street financiers, bankers and the likes) more than the poor who really need them.
My solution? Conceptually, it's simple. Don't give the money to the banks or bankers, give it directly to the people who need them! But it is not as easy as the theory. There are a lot of problems involving this seemingly simple concept. How do we determine who needs them or not? How do we do that? How can we make sure that only those who need them gets them? How do we eliminate frauds? How can we make sure that everybody will feel that the distribution is fair? And many more questions... The more I think about it, the more I see a probability of more problems.
After all, this world is a complex world because of the complex beings who live in it. And sadly, many of these beings live like wolves toward one another, devouring one another for their own benefits... Could we just change (maybe just once) for the sake of the world? I guess it's a question for us to answer personally.
With so much uncertainty in the market, many people withdrew their money from the market and keep them elsewhere such as in bonds, CDs, gold or silver, just as they want to be able to sleep without worry.
What is the main cause of our worry? I guess the main cause of our worry is our unwillingness to lose something that we have (Whatever they are). Many psychologists, neurologists and psychoanalysts had studied about worry for a long time yet they cannot really find a permanent solution to fix our worry-ness. True, scientists had found a way to suppress our anxiety with drugs (as they managed to find the nerves activated when we become worry), but these "suppressants" are not the true answer to our worries, since they basically suppress the after-effect of our worry-ness only, and they do not treat the cause. They basically numb the nerve, it's not much different from the illegal drugs which were sold off the street. They pretty much have similar effects: They are addictive, create temporary happiness or illusions with long term consequences.
One of my former employees (back in the days when I used to manage a sandwich shop) told me that his wife was addicted to the "anti-depressant" pills that she was prescribed to treat her problems of anxiety. I remember asking him what happens if his wife missed her daily dosage, and he told me that she will start screaming and throwing things off like a mad woman. Sad but true, but here in America, we are used to these type of situations. We often treat everything as medical, biological or neurological problems. We try to solve everything by drugs or medicines. If one catches a cold, he/she should take cold medicines (which basically treat the symptoms of the cold, and not the cold itself). And the same thing applies to our economy as well.
When the economy collapsed because of the credit crisis, US government responded by lowering the interest rates, which basically provide cheaper money to the banks, but yet the credit crisis still persisted. Then they moved by opening a special credit window for any financial institution, but the credit became tighter and the rate was still high. Later on, they moved by providing more liquidity (read: money) to select financial institutions by pouring billions of dollars to banks (regardless whether they want it or not) under the controversial TARP. Then what happens? Nothing. The credit market remains tight (and for some people it's even tighter than ever). The economists in our government think like those scientists in the medical fields, they tried to treat the symptoms and not the cause.
What is the cause of the crisis? Well, there are many factors but some of the main factors are the drop of housing price and the job loss (at least in my opinion). When people truly have extra money to spend (not from borrowing from their credit cards), the economy will definitely be better. Until then, any superficial things that the Feds and Treasury do will be like treating the symptoms of the economy and not the cause. In fact, their actions will more likely benefits the rich (Wall Street financiers, bankers and the likes) more than the poor who really need them.
My solution? Conceptually, it's simple. Don't give the money to the banks or bankers, give it directly to the people who need them! But it is not as easy as the theory. There are a lot of problems involving this seemingly simple concept. How do we determine who needs them or not? How do we do that? How can we make sure that only those who need them gets them? How do we eliminate frauds? How can we make sure that everybody will feel that the distribution is fair? And many more questions... The more I think about it, the more I see a probability of more problems.
After all, this world is a complex world because of the complex beings who live in it. And sadly, many of these beings live like wolves toward one another, devouring one another for their own benefits... Could we just change (maybe just once) for the sake of the world? I guess it's a question for us to answer personally.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Count our Blessings
One of the biggest headline of the day, which also brought down the stock market index is the warning from the semiconductor bellwether, Intel Corporation. For those of us who follow the market recently, we may know that Intel had already lowered its earning prediction a couple months back, but this time they actually claim that they may miss the lowered prediction. No wonder the stock market tanked. The fact that Alcoa announced that it will lay off 15,000 workers does not help the market either. One of the only bright side of the day is the sinister joke I read from a member of the MarketWatch forum (I forgot his/her user name, since I could not find the comment anymore... But the credit still belongs to the person)
The person wrote an interesting "How to" (in a sinister mode):
(Please note: This wording being conveyed here is my own paraphrase - or in my own language - and may not be exactly as the person wrote them originally)
"How do I get $1 million from the stock market? Easy, I put $2 million in the market months ago and now I get $1 million from the market."
Well, if I am not mistaken the real intention of what the person wanting to convey, I believe this statement is a sinister joke about how much money people lose from this volatile market. But then again, we should go back to reality. Yes, it's true that many people people lost thousands of dollar from the stock market, but many of these people who lost money still have a lot money saved elsewhere (either in CDs, bonds, etc.), can you imagine how hard it is for those who actually lost everything that they have (home, savings etc.) because of their unwise choices which may not be as evident as the stock market (like those who bet on the housing market etc.)?
Yes, some of us may have felt that the heaven may have fallen upon us (something that's feared the most by the ancient Gauls), but even amidst all the uncertainties surrounding us, maybe we can still find a silver lining behind every storm. Talking about my own experience, I felt that I am poorer than ever these days, but still somehow I could manage to find something to thank for. So I am sure you also could do the same...
I remember the old song I heard from the church, "Count your blessings, name them one by one..."
Yes, even though I may only have one thing to thank for today, I am still thankful for it. And the more I count, the more I realize that there are plenty of things to thank for...
The person wrote an interesting "How to" (in a sinister mode):
(Please note: This wording being conveyed here is my own paraphrase - or in my own language - and may not be exactly as the person wrote them originally)
"How do I get $1 million from the stock market? Easy, I put $2 million in the market months ago and now I get $1 million from the market."
Well, if I am not mistaken the real intention of what the person wanting to convey, I believe this statement is a sinister joke about how much money people lose from this volatile market. But then again, we should go back to reality. Yes, it's true that many people people lost thousands of dollar from the stock market, but many of these people who lost money still have a lot money saved elsewhere (either in CDs, bonds, etc.), can you imagine how hard it is for those who actually lost everything that they have (home, savings etc.) because of their unwise choices which may not be as evident as the stock market (like those who bet on the housing market etc.)?
Yes, some of us may have felt that the heaven may have fallen upon us (something that's feared the most by the ancient Gauls), but even amidst all the uncertainties surrounding us, maybe we can still find a silver lining behind every storm. Talking about my own experience, I felt that I am poorer than ever these days, but still somehow I could manage to find something to thank for. So I am sure you also could do the same...
I remember the old song I heard from the church, "Count your blessings, name them one by one..."
Yes, even though I may only have one thing to thank for today, I am still thankful for it. And the more I count, the more I realize that there are plenty of things to thank for...
Monday, January 5, 2009
Another wave of bad news
Here is the snapshot of one of the biggest news of today:
=== start ===
Ford, GM, Chrysler end year with big sales drops
Toyota, Honda hit even harder in December than its top two U.S. rivals
By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC on Monday all reported steep drops in December U.S. vehicle sales, closing the books on one of the toughest years the domestic auto industry has ever seen.
=== truncated ===
Here we go again... Another wave of bad news in the market, looks like it. Most automakers reported that their December sales were down substantially, led by Chrysler which dropped 53%. And again, the drop not only impacted US brands of autos, their Japanese competitors (like Toyota, Honda and Nissan) are also affected (in fact, their sales were hit harder than the Detroit 3).
Now, what does this mean? Is the end of the world coming? Well… yes, it is coming soon, but we don’t know how soon it is. Meanwhile, we should be thankful for two things which prevented the numbers from getting worse for US automakers.
First of all, I believe we should thank the government for providing lifelines to the Detroit 3 (including last minute injection to GMAC, the finance arm of GM) as the savior of the day. Truly, the number could be a lot worse if the government did not provide lifelines to the Detroit 3. It’s not very surprising that GM’s sales jumped in the last week of December 2008 because GM not only lowered its price tags, but it also lowered the standard of credit-worthiness it required to finance the vehicles (Thanks to GMAC lowering their standard of lending after the government provided them the life support of $6 billion).
Second, we should also be thankful for the lower gas prices at the pumps (Yes, I myself had thanked God repeatedly for this). Gas price drop not only encourages the owners of gas-guzzling vehicles to drive their “tanks” back on the roads (I believe that I’ve seen more Hummers on the road in the last month than the previous 6 months combined), but it also discourages prospective buyers from getting a gas-sipper cars. Well, it’s not very surprising at all. When gas prices are this low, buying a gas-sipper won’t save buyers as much money as when the gas was near $5/gallon. Also, with the additional saving from US automakers and the relaxed requirement to finance the vehicle, buyers will have a hard time to resist the temptation from buying vehicles from the Detroit 3.
Don’t get me wrong. Truly, I am not trying to give US automakers bad reviews here. I believe US automakers had recently started to embrace fuel-efficiency as one of their goals, although they’re a bit too late to start. True, GM had Chevy Cobalt which is on-par or even better than Toyota Corolla in its fuel consumption. Ford also had Ford Fusion, a chic car which also consumed less gas than many competitors in its class. The only problem with US automakers’ recent sale event is that the majority of the vehicles they’re pushing to their customers right now are the gas-guzzlers.
A mechanic friend of mine had recently told me that he was told by his customers that they were being offered big trucks like Ford F-150, GM Suburban and others for a very cheap price, it comes with a good financing too. I won’t blame the dealers for trying to entice their customers with the least-sellable vehicles they have in their lots, but I am afraid to say that the worst is yet to come yet. Even with the boost of last minute sales, many US automakers’ dealers still have too many unsold vehicles, and with the new model year arrival, the older vehicles have to go. When GMAC had used up the $6 billion they received from government, the credit crunch will probably return, since not so many lenders are willing to loan money cheaply these days.
I guess until the bank is ready to loan their bail-out money, we may not stop hearing these bad news about the Detroit 3. And God knows when… since those bankers had repeatedly stated that they cannot reveal how they used the money they received from government (So much for a transparency, huh?). Maybe they’ll continue buying smaller banks and competitors or injecting the money to their other asset overseas with their bail-out money (like what Citigroup did).
References:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Automakers-end-year-big-sales/story.aspx?guid=%7B671DCD3F%2D60EA%2D4E82%2DA7C2%2D3C63C5BC8666%7D
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/22/bailout.accountability/index.html
http://libn.com/blog/2008/12/11/big-banks-go-shopping-with-bailout-money/
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/29/news/companies/citi_south_korea.reut/index.htm
=== start ===
Ford, GM, Chrysler end year with big sales drops
Toyota, Honda hit even harder in December than its top two U.S. rivals
By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC on Monday all reported steep drops in December U.S. vehicle sales, closing the books on one of the toughest years the domestic auto industry has ever seen.
=== truncated ===
Here we go again... Another wave of bad news in the market, looks like it. Most automakers reported that their December sales were down substantially, led by Chrysler which dropped 53%. And again, the drop not only impacted US brands of autos, their Japanese competitors (like Toyota, Honda and Nissan) are also affected (in fact, their sales were hit harder than the Detroit 3).
Now, what does this mean? Is the end of the world coming? Well… yes, it is coming soon, but we don’t know how soon it is. Meanwhile, we should be thankful for two things which prevented the numbers from getting worse for US automakers.
First of all, I believe we should thank the government for providing lifelines to the Detroit 3 (including last minute injection to GMAC, the finance arm of GM) as the savior of the day. Truly, the number could be a lot worse if the government did not provide lifelines to the Detroit 3. It’s not very surprising that GM’s sales jumped in the last week of December 2008 because GM not only lowered its price tags, but it also lowered the standard of credit-worthiness it required to finance the vehicles (Thanks to GMAC lowering their standard of lending after the government provided them the life support of $6 billion).
Second, we should also be thankful for the lower gas prices at the pumps (Yes, I myself had thanked God repeatedly for this). Gas price drop not only encourages the owners of gas-guzzling vehicles to drive their “tanks” back on the roads (I believe that I’ve seen more Hummers on the road in the last month than the previous 6 months combined), but it also discourages prospective buyers from getting a gas-sipper cars. Well, it’s not very surprising at all. When gas prices are this low, buying a gas-sipper won’t save buyers as much money as when the gas was near $5/gallon. Also, with the additional saving from US automakers and the relaxed requirement to finance the vehicle, buyers will have a hard time to resist the temptation from buying vehicles from the Detroit 3.
Don’t get me wrong. Truly, I am not trying to give US automakers bad reviews here. I believe US automakers had recently started to embrace fuel-efficiency as one of their goals, although they’re a bit too late to start. True, GM had Chevy Cobalt which is on-par or even better than Toyota Corolla in its fuel consumption. Ford also had Ford Fusion, a chic car which also consumed less gas than many competitors in its class. The only problem with US automakers’ recent sale event is that the majority of the vehicles they’re pushing to their customers right now are the gas-guzzlers.
A mechanic friend of mine had recently told me that he was told by his customers that they were being offered big trucks like Ford F-150, GM Suburban and others for a very cheap price, it comes with a good financing too. I won’t blame the dealers for trying to entice their customers with the least-sellable vehicles they have in their lots, but I am afraid to say that the worst is yet to come yet. Even with the boost of last minute sales, many US automakers’ dealers still have too many unsold vehicles, and with the new model year arrival, the older vehicles have to go. When GMAC had used up the $6 billion they received from government, the credit crunch will probably return, since not so many lenders are willing to loan money cheaply these days.
I guess until the bank is ready to loan their bail-out money, we may not stop hearing these bad news about the Detroit 3. And God knows when… since those bankers had repeatedly stated that they cannot reveal how they used the money they received from government (So much for a transparency, huh?). Maybe they’ll continue buying smaller banks and competitors or injecting the money to their other asset overseas with their bail-out money (like what Citigroup did).
References:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Automakers-end-year-big-sales/story.aspx?guid=%7B671DCD3F%2D60EA%2D4E82%2DA7C2%2D3C63C5BC8666%7D
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/22/bailout.accountability/index.html
http://libn.com/blog/2008/12/11/big-banks-go-shopping-with-bailout-money/
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/29/news/companies/citi_south_korea.reut/index.htm
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Welcome to 2009
The year of 2008 is now behind us, leaving us with memories we may never forget in a life time. The year of 2008 was not the best year for many people in the United States. It was all began with something called "the sub-prime mortgage crisis" which later reverberated into a larger crisis that affected many aspects of our lives. We see volatility everywhere, from the price of gas to the stock market, from our blood pressure to our temper. With more and more bad news in front of us, even Christmas is no longer the season to be jolly for many people. Yes, we all may be quite familiar with a famous story of how the Grinch stole Christmas, but now it almost as if it was not the Grinch who stole our Christmas, but the Greed.
Many people would agree that Greed (but personal and corporate greed) may have made this crises worse for most people. Personal greed of those who recklessly speculated on the real estate market had not only brought down the housing price but also many banks and financial companies involved in the schemes. But that's not it, we also heard about the executives of large corporations who showered themselves with millions of dollar despite the fact that the companies were laying off many of its low-paid workers. The missteps of our federal regulators in overseeing, monitoring and preventing the crises from becoming more uncontrollable have also spew traces of the personal interests which may have overstepping the public interest.
If we go to our local malls, we also easily see the decreasing confidence almost anywhere we go, from the richer neighborhood of west LA and Orange County to the working people's neighborhood in East LA and Inland Empire. Many small retail shops or restaurants had closed its door in 2008 because they were no longer able to make money or make the payment for their leases. But they were not the only ones affected by the crises, even larger corporations are not immune from the plague. Larger retailers like Mervyn's and Circuit City had closed down many of their locations and perhaps a few more will follow suit.
But then again, we'll never know for sure. Our fate may follow the roller coaster ride of our stock market which plunged from its peak at the end of 2007 and had been ups and downs for many times since. The first trading day of 2009 had brought the Dow Jones Index above the 9000 point for the first time since November 5, 2008, but we do not know for sure whether the worst are over yet or not. We all know how the Dow Jones Index dived below 8000 threshold for many times before it finally ended up higher than 9000 point on the first day the market open on January 2, 2009.
Some people called it a good sign for a better year of 2009 while others who are more skeptical charged that the market movement was being manipulated by few market movers due to the thin trading volumes. Then again, only times will prove which side is correct, but meanwhile let's face the new year with a more positive attitude as we also welcome the historic new administration with the first minority to be the person under the helm of leadership of the nation.
Good luck and may God bless you, president-elect Obama (who will not be president legally yet until January 20th). We truly hope that you will be able to sort this mess quickly and bring up the beauty from ashes in this land of the free, the United States of America.
God Bless America!
Many people would agree that Greed (but personal and corporate greed) may have made this crises worse for most people. Personal greed of those who recklessly speculated on the real estate market had not only brought down the housing price but also many banks and financial companies involved in the schemes. But that's not it, we also heard about the executives of large corporations who showered themselves with millions of dollar despite the fact that the companies were laying off many of its low-paid workers. The missteps of our federal regulators in overseeing, monitoring and preventing the crises from becoming more uncontrollable have also spew traces of the personal interests which may have overstepping the public interest.
If we go to our local malls, we also easily see the decreasing confidence almost anywhere we go, from the richer neighborhood of west LA and Orange County to the working people's neighborhood in East LA and Inland Empire. Many small retail shops or restaurants had closed its door in 2008 because they were no longer able to make money or make the payment for their leases. But they were not the only ones affected by the crises, even larger corporations are not immune from the plague. Larger retailers like Mervyn's and Circuit City had closed down many of their locations and perhaps a few more will follow suit.
But then again, we'll never know for sure. Our fate may follow the roller coaster ride of our stock market which plunged from its peak at the end of 2007 and had been ups and downs for many times since. The first trading day of 2009 had brought the Dow Jones Index above the 9000 point for the first time since November 5, 2008, but we do not know for sure whether the worst are over yet or not. We all know how the Dow Jones Index dived below 8000 threshold for many times before it finally ended up higher than 9000 point on the first day the market open on January 2, 2009.
Some people called it a good sign for a better year of 2009 while others who are more skeptical charged that the market movement was being manipulated by few market movers due to the thin trading volumes. Then again, only times will prove which side is correct, but meanwhile let's face the new year with a more positive attitude as we also welcome the historic new administration with the first minority to be the person under the helm of leadership of the nation.
Good luck and may God bless you, president-elect Obama (who will not be president legally yet until January 20th). We truly hope that you will be able to sort this mess quickly and bring up the beauty from ashes in this land of the free, the United States of America.
God Bless America!
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