Some of my friends have asked me about jobs at healthcare industry. Are they secure? They were wondering. Not exactly. Nothing is guaranteed and nothing is secure. Face this reality — anything that can be digitalized can be offshored. e.g. medical transcription, radiology images, medical coding and billing. You can always scan the paper, the bill and transfer it anywhere you can find cheap labor to analyze it and file it to the insurance company.

At least two key trends have been made possible by IT and Internet. The first trend is going electronic in as many fields as possible, eGovernment, eHealth, etc. The general rule is any jobs that need in person service in health care, like doctors and nurses, cannot be outsourced.

The second trend, also made possible by the Internet, is more and more companies are seeking for global solution, which means seeking globally for cheaper solutions and high profit. The fast development of IT and Internet opens unlimited possibilities for the way a company organize and runs its business.

Face this fact, if you think you can put on a white uniform working securely in a lab, chances are someone in other countries can do a similar job or even better job than you, all at a fraction of your paycheck. There is nothing to stop the off shoring of this whole lab. This is only one possible scenario. Not that far-fetched when you are in dire need for cheaper solution. That is, until everybody’s labor gets cheaper not by dozen.

The weekend was so freakingly un-relaxing when I had to freak my brain out on 2008 tax return and financial aid application for my son, one built upon the other. The deadline is 4/15, the coming Wednesday, being aware of the approaching date further pounding blood into my swirling head.

The cost of higher education is higher than sky — reaching nearly 60K per year, the thought of which frightens my shrinking wit out of my body when I look ahead to the years when my daughter will be there.

We were so unfortunate last year to have our tax audited and had to render a fine of a few thousand sweet dollars. How crazy can things become? I have no idea. Right now, I only need to collect all my brain power and focus on getting the tax return and financial aid application forms out of the door before the threatening deadline.

Good thing I had one return complete, the federal tax, still need to work on state tax return.

My daughter said I could pay professional tax help over $300 to get it out of my head. Last year I had a coupon and had an Indian tax guy estimate the cost of my tax preparation, which reached $480. Forget that help. How I wish to stay away from torturing my head! Well, for that price? I guess I have not loved my head that much yet.

The President plans to pour in $17 billion out of his $787 billion economic stimulus package for incentive payments to physicians and hospitals that adopt electronic medical records (EMRs).

After its implementation, everything in patient’s chart go electronic, including filing to government for Medicare and Medicaid patients and to insurance companies and to drug stores. No more paper report on lab result, CT, pathology, operation, hospitalization, radiation, doctor’s exam and diagnosis, prescriptions, etc.

It is not only an environment-friendly gesture, paper-saving and tree-saving, but also hugely money saving, too much to be listed here.

To be sure, there is a huge upfront cost of hardware, software, installation, user training, data transfer, followed by the long term cost of maintenance, IT support and enhancement. Uncle Sam will foot part of these initial bills as an incentive for physicians. If not going with the eHealth, penalty will follow in the form of decreased reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid patients. There are too many details to be mentioned here.

I think it a piece of good news for IT folks, only if these jobs are not shipped overseas. I know it is a heavy IF, especially at the time when everybody looks for cheap solution. Still, eHealth initiative will be a real bonanza for IT support and Internet security jobs. A little knowledge in medical record and terminology might put you above the average IT applicants in job-hunting.

My dear friends, not all of them, only those who work in IT field and are among job-hunting troop, be armed and be prepared. Be the lucky one when opportunity knocks at your door.

Recently, you often heard people talking about a not-so-new term “Survival job.” It means you pick up whatever job you are offered after you are laid off in order to be able to pay the bills or to put the food on the table, even if it is not in your field, or it is unrelated to your previous work experience, or it means a step-down from your last job in pay and status. It is expected to be temporary in nature, as you are waiting for a chance to jump back to the previous cushion. The belief is it is better to have a job than without, whatever it may be.

Or rather in order to survive the layoff, as in the example of a laid-off senior manager, he takes up a job as janitor while hoping to hop on another management position. This is from USAToday website, a man made “six figures and supervised employees” two years ago. “Now, the laid-off Sun Microsystems manager sells plumbing supplies at Home Depot.”

The term was once used on artists or actors who have to have some means of living while seeking for opportunities to have their talents recognized and profitably employed. But artists and actors make up a tiny percent of population. Now with the swelling army of unemployment, people feel grateful even with a survival job because even survival jobs are hard to get.

I like the action of taking a survival job to help tide over the hard time. Meanwhile, you have to work hard preparing yourself to leave this temporary job. Otherwise, you are likely to become a permanent fixture at your survival jobs. Not a bad thing if that is what you want.

After all, financial independence is better than its opposite. Uncle Sam must be smiling counting the tax dollars that we pay, regardless how. A step-down? No. It is called adaptation and survival of the fittest. Be proud of your independence and survival.

Last weekend I read a piece of news from the Internet, saying the New York Times, now $1.1 billion in debt because of purchase of Boston Globe, the 137-year-old money-loser, threatened to close the Globe. The article says, “Faced with the global recession and declining revenues, the newspaper business is reeling — one major paper has already folded this year and several others are seeking bankruptcy protection…. ‘It is a huge warning shot across the bow of the newspaper industry. If this can happen to the storied Boston Globe, pretty much nothing is safe,’” a professor said.

I am overwhelmed with a sense of sadness over the inevitable demise of such a senior, respectful tradition or even the newspaper profession. Like so many trades and tricks, they all will become obsolete and on the way to become history, brought about by the advance of technology. Thus, people spend more and more time in physical isolation.

To be sure, the decline started not with the recent recession but with the rise of other medium of communication, radio, TV, then Internet in that order. First, when radio, TV, and Internet are free, it makes incomplete sense to pay for newspaper for news. Not me.

Second, with pressing crunch of time, people can get news from radio while driving or cooking or eating or walking, who will allocate a special moment for newspaper? Even if newspapers are free, well, time is not.

Third, unlike the non-interactive mode of newspaper, radio and TV, Internet is the most attractive and interactive media of all. It is so attractive that people start devoting more time on the Internet than the combine of newspaper, radio and TV. After all, you can do almost everything on the Internet, from shopping, to watching news and video clips, investment, research, reading, gaming, broadcasting, chatting, dating, all sorts of entertainment that you can imagine, with boundless possibilities.

Have you heard of this? A 16-year-old boy, posed as a 25-year-old young man, totally grapples the heart of a mid-30s wife. Not that absurd, right? Indeed, anything’s possible in virtual reality. All this happened before recession set in.

When I talked to my daughter about this, she did not pay much attention. Upon further asking, she said, “You will surely lose readers. Who will read it? It’s so boring. You just cannot write anything interesting.” What a feedback! So lovely expressed, and so encouraging to learn of this. Hey, it is not a newspaper.

Last Friday, 4/3/2009, my daughter hugged goodbye to a skating buddy, who told my daughter that she was not coming to skate because her dad lost his job. While talking about this girl, my daughter commented, “I am very lucky.” My mind rushed back to those who got laid off in recent economic downturn, especially both adults being unemployed, its impact on children and their future. For my daughter, other people’s misfortune seems to remind her of counting her blessings.

Yesterday was another busy weekend, art lesson in the morning, skating from 12 noon to 3 PM, Border’s after that, then to library, to an Oriental grocery store.
PS. I finally created some categories and retrospectively categorized some of the old postings, not all of them yet.

My son called on Fool’s Day that his spring semester fees was due on that day. He told me it was a 5-digit number bill. And there would be late payment fee if payment came after 4/1. I still remember last year that I paid nearly a hundred dollar for late fee charge. Why didn’t he let me know a little bit earlier? I am sure he always has more important things to attend to. Talk about the cost of procrastination!

I heard from one of the monitors that came early March that there were quite a few students who used credit cards to pay for college tuition and only paid the interest. Now as we see a sharp climb in credit card interest, even as high as 25%, why don’t these students get student loan with a far lower rate than using credit cards? Talk about financial decision! Nothing can be more absurd than this! One of my co-workers paid an agent to take care of all her monthly bills when she is living from paycheck to paycheck.

I am daily dazzled by the remarkable choices that people make in their lives. This makes the world so diverse and never suffers from boredness. They are wonderful choices only if we don’t have to pay dearly for it.

It is high time for the young people to learn to behave reasonably and responsibly regarding their money or their parents’ money. Perhaps financial responsibility will come, if it ever comes, when they are on their own. For now, enjoy this Spring Friday and don’t forget to pay your bills, tons of them.

The latest not-really-new news about US deficit, according to US Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the deficit will hit $1.8 trillion this year, $93 billion more than foreseen by the White House. That would equal 13 percent of GDP, a level not seen since World War II.

What does it mean to us? Simple. Raise tax to pay the debts. The government got to raise money in some way at some point, probably after the country climbs out of recession. It is simply unsustainable in the long run to maintain this debt-to-GDP ratios.

Funny everybody talks about borrowing money and never worries about the heavy burden on the future generation. Whatever package the government tries to sell, it is all funded by borrowed money. No one ever thinks of cutting expenses everywhere to save money, then use the saved money to fund the package. That’s how we have event like AIG using government $170 billion aid for $165 million bonus, as ridiculous and outrageous as the government. This only shows AIG did not need anything extra to survive at all. This is how the borrowed money is spent!

The package is nothing but an opportunity to exploit future generation. Whatever we spend and waste today will be conveniently taken care of by our children’s generation. How irresponsible can we become? A sweet legacy to future generation — a big and deep dip into your paycheck to pay your granddaddy’s debts. Oops, sorry, there are five Dips.

No kidding. Yesterday while taking our evening walk, we talked about the president’s $800bn stimulus plan. I said it was like tearing down the eastern wall to amend western wall, giving people more money so that their consumptions will stimulate production. My daughter responded with the depth of wisdom that is so much lacking in president.

“Worse than this, you don’t even have the eastern wall to start with. You have to borrow walls from other’s to amend all your walls. Americans have to change their lifestyles in order to get to the root of the problem. Otherwise, it is like a vicious cycle — they borrow more and spend more and are locked in this borrow-consume cycle. It is simply not right to spend more than you can afford. Those who spend more than their income should not be helped and should be held responsible for their failure. After all, they made bad decision and should suffer as the result!” A tough punishment, yet fair enough. The president never advises the people against spending more than their income.

There is a naked folk truth to what she said. Responsibility is one of the life skills that we adult constantly hammer into children’s head. Yet, how can we teach our children to be responsible for the consequence of their decisions if we adult fail to do the same? I feel like a double-faced hypocrite.

Not much actually, though I love hearing the speech of this president, his optimism being so contagious and encouraging. After all, who likes hearing a whining baby? Plus, what an educational entertainment to go through his speech!

“…it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we’ll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament.” I wish I knew how by the end of his speech.

“And though all these challenges went unsolved, we still managed to spend more money and pile up more debt, both as individuals and through our government, than ever before.” Didn’t we know that we are a nation thoroughly soaked in red, redder than Red China, not so red after she amassed so much wealth?

This is what I want my children to avoid — “we have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election.”

“People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway.” How stupid do we have to be before we ever grow up, mentally I mean?

How dreadful to learn that either action or inaction is going to be costly when we have nothing to spend! — “… while the cost of action will be great, I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy that sputters along for not months or years, but perhaps a decade. That would be worse for our deficit, worse for business, worse for you, and worse for the next generation.” How much “worse” do we need?

Finally, cheer up — “We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century. And yet, it is China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient.”

A compliment on China — once in a blue moon. I am happy by now. Good for today.

I have to constantly share some ugly facts with my children:
(1) The mountains of national debts — up to $10 trillion by last September and are still endlessly growing. Who will pay the debt? You and your generation.

(2) The unprecedental large army of babyboomers who are going to retire in the coming decade. Who will support them and their medical cost? Again, lucky you.

(3) First and foremost, the future generation will have to clear up the Bush legacy — the extreme fiscal irresponsibility, his pet war, unbridled spending, and outrageous abuse of mother nature.

Keep in mind the best part is these babyboomers — well-educated, well-fed, well-groomed– will be the dominant political force. They will leave no stone unturned to out-vote the young blood so that their voice will be heard in all levels of government and their interest be served to the utmost. Yes, politically and financially, they will be in control of your pocket so that you will be lucky to be able to take home half of your paycheck. That’s how the first three tasks are taken care of.

The next generation will be inflicted with the heaviest financial burdens of all. Don’t you want to unload this burden to the next or next generation? That’s why I have kept telling my children to learn foreign languages. When push comes to shove, at least they can land on some jobs on some land and keep most of their hard-earned money. Call me alarmist or selfish or whatever. I think it unfair for the next generation to clear up after Bush. Don’t we always take a bag to clear up after our dog poops? Well, not this one.

The sun will burst out today. Well, it doesn’t take much for me to see a rosy future for our sons and daughters, does it?

As if I have not done with my complaints and must continue with it today. Now here I am, keeping on sharing with my readers about the current situation of our lovely economy.

My second major concern, which might not be warranted according to some people, is the changed job market, not a numerical one, but a structural change or a color change from blue to white collar with many jobs being gone forever through outsourcing and factory going overseas. If anything, outsourcing force is growing fast and strong. Don’t you hear all the foreign accent each time you call customer service? My colleague said, “Get me an American to talk to me.” Too bad it is not going to happen. This entails a new set of skill — the ability to work with or manage people from all parts of the world or even go wherever job market thrives. Here’s the importance of speaking many languages. I wish we were this smart!

My third one concerns American politics, one of the least pragmatic ones. Politicians would resort to any means for political gain, regardless of its dire economic consequences. The last US president cut tax in 2001 and 2003 for political expediency, then threw the country into this billion-dollar war. It never makes economic sense to decrease income and increase expense at the same time. Yet, it is so typical of American politicians to behave this way, at the risk of depressing the country. Aren’t we already depressed? They are so good at dethroning the country from its once powerful position.

What does it leave to us? Well, taking care of your own checkbook before it is empty. Share it with our youngsters so that they will be motivated to learn more foreign langauges which will open more doors to them in case they need to run somewhere. Well, they might not find it necessary if it turned out I were wrong. We certainly have a great nation — “I have a dream …” Keep dreaming!

I have kept telling my children to learn at least three languages so that they will be better positioned if they need to go global in the future. I simply do not have enough confidence in the future of US economy. Here are some of my probably unnecessary concerns.

The first huge concern is our gigantic trade deficit. To be sure, tons of writings have been generated on our this topic. There is an interesting article that asks a rhetorical question on trade deficit — “Are We Trading Away Our Future?” Well, isn’t the answer self-evident enough? This is on 2/11/2009 Foreign Trade Statistics site.

Another one on Peterson’s IIE site, written 2 years ago, “The huge and growing international trade and current account imbalances, centered on the US external deficits and net debtor position, represent the single greatest threat to the continued prosperity and stability of the United States and world economies.” Too bad the then president fixed his eyes elsewhere as “the single greatest threat.” Funny he is so famously smart!

It is not that we don’t want to export more, but we cannot create anything better and cheaper to attract other countries to buy from us. Worse than this, we have to buy tremendously from other countries because we Americans simply cannot produce goods of this price and quality. To be utterly realistic, the day will never come when we can sell more to foreign countries than we buy from them. We would be blessed if we could narrow the gap.

Don’t be so pessimistic. No country can beat us in our annual generation of garbage. We can beat all European countries combined in our production of garbage! We got to be number one on something!

Yesterday I took my daughter to her orthodontist appointment at 4 PM, then to Town Center, where she wanted to purchase a jean using her aunt’s credit card. Her aunt wanted to give her a present, but did not know what she wanted. So she was free to buy whatever she wanted, as her aunt told her.

We first went to American Eagle, her favorite hangout. She tried a pant and liked it, but walked away from it. “$35 is too expensive.” Indeed, money is money, no matter whose money it is. Next we went to a health and beauty store on Town Center. In the end she spent $10 for a bottle of lotion at Bath & Body Works. She had a chance to spend way more than this, but she didn’t. I am so proud of her for her maturity.

At Bath & Body Works store, I observed the salesgirl’s interactions with customers. She had tons of nonsense with a white customer, so natural and spontaneous; but did not waste a single word dealing with us. So laconic. I have long got used to this xenophobic behavior, or some other terms for lack of a better one. No matter how long I have been residing in this country, I am always conveniently perceived as non-American. Clear-cut category. Easy to be identified. We see categories or large classifications. Who cares the individuals within the large category? When my son was home and we went out together, people talked to my son, then asked him to explain it to me. So darling and so considerate! I should feel touched, indeed.

It is only natural when you think of “Birds of a feather flock together” and should not be surprised to hear birds of a feather singing together. Even if you can sing the same song, you are still not one of the flock. Let different birds sing their different songs, separately but happily in their own way. What we learn from this? Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.

My son told me last weekend of certain China Development projects at MIT that he planned to enter. To be sure, while US is wallowed miserably in mountains of national debts, China is in the position to open her fat checkbook to lend and spend. But I always have doubt about the sustainability of this development. It bothers me each time I learn of development in China.

I read from Auto Observer news last year that China had surpassed Japan in 2006 as the world’s second largest car market, chasing the United States, with sales of 7.2 million units. China was then the third largest vehicle producer, after Japan and the United States. Three years ago, auto ownership in China was 44 for every 1,000 people, while the United States had 750 vehicles for every 1,000 people. This year, China is going to lead the market.

While it is not fair to tell China not to follow the beaten path preceded by developed countries, it is both environmentally unsustainable and catastrophic in the long run if China followed this path to the letter. Imagine what China would do in order to meet the huge craving for and the frenzied search for the limited world fossil fuel reserve? Imagine what the sky would look like if millions of cars were polluting under it?

When I first came to the States, I thought it a huge waste to drive to the fitness center and ride a stationary bike there in order to shed extra pounds. Why didn’t people use their muscle by riding the bike like the Chinese people? That was back in 1984. Riding a bike is like killing many birds with one stone — losing weight, transporting you to wherever you need, gas saving, without polluting the air. I wish Americans could do the same. Now a quarter of a century later, the opposite came true. How sad!

How I wish I could tell people the old way is still the best! Don’t follow the lead. Well, as if people listened to me.

PS. my daughter said riding bike could also save a lot when you did not need to pay for car, auto insurance and high gas price.

Recently, two of my previous friends called me asking me about how I entered into healthcare industry. I explained to them how to pass the certification course on medical coding and billing a few years ago, but I had long ago moved to clinic research, because coding and billing were on the way going outsourced. Now they know better.

The phone chats reminded me of American labor force structure. The average Americans are supported by labor forces from the following sources:

(1) Any jobs that is in service industries and that need direct contact, from doctors and lawyers to restaurant waitress and hair-cutters.

(2) Any workers residing in foreign land like India and any English speaking countries. In fact, anything that can be digitalized as a file and transferred over the internet have been or have the potential to be outsourced. Call centers of many State government and big companies have moved overseas so that you always heard foreign-accent speakers when you call customer service. Radiological images are transferred overseas and the readings can be sent back in half an hour. Software developments have been packed out of the country since early 2000s. Medical coding and billing job has also been outsourced as you can cheaply transfer the images of medical bills and get the results.

Even some sections of education have already been obtained overseas. How? I learned that medical schools in India cost only a tiny fraction of that in US, therefore more and more doctors having educated in India come to America, pass the board exams and practice here. I am sure the list of going offshore will get longer in the years to come as education becomes standardized globally and we know China is going to produce more Ph.D soon, which opens another channel for US employers. More and more jobs will go overseas as US, running bottom-low in cash, is searching up and down for low-cost service and for maximizing profits.

(3) Workers all over the world who engage in goods-producing industries from apparel to toys, kitchen utensils to electronic appliances to anything smaller than airplane.

(4) Over 6.5 million undocumented immigrant workers who are severely under-paid and are working silently in lawn care, construction sites, office building or any cleaning crews, back-kitchen in fast food restaurents, farms and ranches picking strawberries or apples, beef and pig slaughtering halls or any place that average Amercans avert.

This is far from being the whole picture. Still, it is enough to make you think about the implications to the labor force or would-be labor force here in US? I have to leave it to my children or their generation to ponder upon.

I always take advantage of the time when I walk with my daughter for sharing ideas. A few days ago, I introduced to her some ideas of Karl Marx. e.g. according to Marx, the whole capitalist system serves the interests of the ruling class; it tries to keep the people of lower class down where they belong, restricting upward social mobility using laws and rules which were laid out by the ruling class, etc.

In other word, if you are trapped in serving food at McDonald’s and cannot move up social ladder, it is the system that is responsible, not the individual. That’s how he called “Workers of all countries, unite!” Strengh lies in unity. Marx certainly could not anticipate individual success like the current president, C. Rice, C. Powell, celebration of M. L. King, and so many famous black superstars in all fields of life, etc.

My daughter thought Marx’s idea was stupid. I told her American society was still an open one, that is, opportunity to move up is still there, though not equally given to everybody. Marx might have under-estimated the power of dream, ideal and thinking.

The important thing is not where you work but what you are thinking while you are working. You have the potential to greatness if you can think like Bill Gates or Obama while working at McDonald’s. The real tragedy is very often people cannot transcend the present state to think and plan beyond their nose. It is not their position, not any rules and regulation but their mind that restricts them and keeps them down there.

Back to Marx, to be fair, he was a very intelligent and kind-hearted person, with highest level of social responsibility. His thoughts are a whole lot more complicated than what I told my daughter.

At least he cared for the poor, the underpriviledged and was a hugely less greedy than the big bankers, 8 of them, who, without tiny bit of social responsibility, still have the hearts to indulge themselves while receiving $125 billion bailout money. To be sure, the poor would not be poorer and rich not any richer if our leaders were as great as Karl Marx. How I miss the old Karl! Sound so distant in a far corner of human memory.

Excuse me for using slang here. Yesterday at my office I overheard co-workers talking about cutting expenses. The monthly bills for an average American family includes the following; I listed them below so that my children will have some ideas about where all the paychecks go.
1) House mortgage or rent
2) Electricity
3) Gas
4) Water
5) Telephone
6) Cell phones
7) Internet service
Cable TV
9) Property tax
10) Car insurance
11) Medical insurance
12) House insurance
13) Car payment if they haven’t paid it all
14) Waste collection fee
15) Waste water management fee
16) Home association fee — a good neighborhood cost more to maintain
17) Recycling collection fee, if they care to recycle
18) Credit cards, many of them

A colleague of mine has four car payments, for two adults and two teenager children. One of the girls who got laid off on Monday just bought a new car not long ago with a monthly payment plan. The sum of the above bills could run up to $4,000, and much more under extreme weathers (heating and air conditioning bills). We don’t have number 8, 13 and 17, but we have a college student to support and some extracurricular activities for the child at home, and the cost of maintaining this site.

China was once described as Red China. America is now equally red financially, living with a deep deficit from the government to average household. Using the words of my co-worker, “I work my butt off to pay these bills.”

Yesterday morning, a department meeting was called within less than one hour of notice and everybody must attend it. We all sensed something bad was going to happen, but I thought normally bad news was passed in a private setting, not in a meeting. The thought calmed me down a little bit. Indeed, it turned out the meeting was to inform us that a reduction in force had been implemented, reducing 21% of our department employees.

Although we had guessed something of this nature would happen and had prepared for it to some extent, we still felt very uneasy and could not go back to our work after that. Those impacted left the company immediately. It could be any one of us. It could be just the beginning. People started talking about next round of headcount reduction.

This is actually expected. With people being laid off everywhere, patients without money and insurance cannot pay their medical bills and thus medical practice cannot carry on as usual.

A few weeks ago, I bumped into a book entitled Bulletproof Your Job: 4 Simple Strategies to Ride Out the Rough Times and Come Out On Top at Work by Stephen Viscusi. Flipping through the pages, I didn’t give it much attention.

I think the book does not offer anything new. It only reinforces the obvious unpleasant fact that we must keep in mind everyday, that is, no job is secure and no job is bulletproofed, especially during this all-time downturn. The simple solutions or rather the author’s advice are four words: visible, easy, useful and ready. I wrote down mostly for my children in case they are fortunate enough to find themselves in need of them.
(1) Be visible. Not just do your work but show your work. A toughest one.
(2) Be easy to work with. That’s easy.
(3) Be useful.
(4) Be ready to do whatever is needed.

Here’s the most challenging task –”keep friends close and enemies closer.” The thought behind it must be: the greatest harm comes from our enemies. But what if we cannot tell who’s who? Beat me. Back to work.

Here are some facts regarding recent economic turn. Just as one black president will not change the black culture, don’t expect one recession will make a dent in the existing consumer culture in the long run.

Rising:
—unemployment, 7.6%
—saving, nearly 3% up
—government’s debt and spending, the only big spender now, uncle sam never changes.

Falling:
—consumption,
—property value, with too many foreclosed houses on sell
—stock market,
—credit availability,
—trade deficit, resulting from falling imports with less domestic demand
—consumer confidence, that’s what more saving and less spending means

Just heard the news today– “More than 200,000 [California] state government employees were expected to stay home without pay Friday as California began its first-ever furlough, a move intended to save money during an ongoing fiscal crisis…. The governor ordered the two-day-a-month furloughs, reducing the average state worker’s salary by 9.2 percent to solve the state’s $42 billion budget shortfall.”

How much could the federal government save if the same would be carried out on federal level? Talk about sacrifice when no one really is willing to make a real one.

On personal level, my daughter has been very conserving since this year, contributing to falling consumer confidence and painful contraction. Is it an enhanced personal responsibility or a lesson we have learned from this crisis?

Yesterday, 2/3/09, founder of Habitat for Humanity, Millard Fuller, expired. He dedicated his life and his fortune to what he believed to be Christian charity at age 30, a young millionaire then, and had built more than 300,000 houses, sheltering more than 1.5 million poor and underprivileged. Huge accomplishment in one’s life’s span. How many of us can achieve a good deed on this scale in our lifetime?

This reminded me of a talk between my daughter and I on Monday evening, 2/2/09. I shared her a piece of news that I read on that date. “The City Council’s Housing Committee endorsed a proposal to require that [bank-owned foreclosed] properties vacant for more than 120 days be registed with the city.” Because “they want to make sure owners of vacant properties don’t just let them rot.”

To be sure, a few dilapidated houses will de-value the properties of the whole neighborhood and trigger more departures. I told her my thought was more with people who had to move out. What happened to their children if they had them? Where did they move?

My daughter said, “Why don’t the banks let people live there until they can sell the houses. This is like killing two birds with one arrow. The previous dwellers can still take care of the house on the one hand; on the other hand, the banks have the opportunity to serve the public by this charity so that people still have a place to live in this cold weather.” She certainly has a bigger heart than those of the bankers.

One thing for sure, these bankers, many of them being millionaires, do not share the same belief as that of Millard Fuller. People might have a big piggy bank but a small heart.

We have a very limited time on earth with very limited capacity. It is very hard to accomplish one real good thing in this short span. I want my children to remember Millard Fuller some day when they have a chance to be that rich.

Higher education is getting more and more expensive and is more and more like an investment. You want to major in something you are interested in, but you also look for returns for the money you pour in your education. As higher education cost is skyrocketing, it is too naive to ignore to this stark fact.

Here’s the story of a monitor that I met last week. He received Ph.D. in Epidemiology on heavy student loans, but could not get a well-paid job to pay off the loan. After some training and re-education, he received CCRA and started working as medical monitor now, still paying on his loan now after a decade. I am not sure if he is typical of some people. With a PhD, MPH, and CCRA, he is certainly a very assiduous student. But I am sure there must be many better ways of investing so much time, money and energy in getting this Ph.D. Would you think it has been a good investment from very beginning?

Here’s another real-life story on a girl whose parents paid her through a very costly private college, over 50K per year, getting a degree in music. By the time she graduated her parents had to sell their house and found themselves heavily in debt at the point of their lives when they should retire. The daughter had to get whatever job available on the market, like fast food restaurant, before she started doing what she enjoyed. This is more an enjoyment than an investment, only if you can afford it.

Why didn’t she do some research on the annual job openings for a musician and the entry level salary for this major before throwing a huge sum into this education? I wish we could get smarter from learning other people’s experience so that we can avoid experiencing it in our lives.

Undoubtedly, this is the worst economic times that we ever face since the time at least I can remember. It is so bad that nearly everybody lost something in the process, either your job or the value of your savings, or even the dear lives as we see an increase in suicide cases. Some of our investments have been cut by half — big ugh. It hurt so much that I don’t even want to think about it. Yet, a smart move should be trying to salvage something out of the worst turn, transforming bad into something good by making it the best time for needed education on financial discipline and consumer-driven economic model, etc.

In the past, my children could not fully appreciate some of the practice in our family, that is, no Christmas presents, no allowances, no pay for doing household work, always putting part of paychecks in savings, etc. One of my children kept comparing our expenses to those of her classmates. They used to think like average Americans, that is, you are rich only when you drive, dress and house like a millionaire, regardless how deeply indebted you are.

Now they understand that you are rich only you have savings because paycheck can be cut off at any time beyond your control. Without savings, you are rendered penniless upon receipt of pink slip. At difficult moments, it is better to have savings in reserve than all the useless junks that they once so much desire but have not needed. They understand why some people become homeless instantly once they become employed. “Don’t they have some saving?” No, they don’t.

In the past, they were told by society that they would be good citizens until they become good consumers, the more money pouring into the market, the better to our economy, as our GDP is largely driven by consumer spending. Savings mean contraction, hurting economy. Now, they know the first responsible thing to do is taking care of themselves financially.

They used to talk about what they would buy when they had money — big house, fancy car, the most luxurious furniture, more than celebrity style of living. Now they learn what should be taken care of first. My daughter told me she would spend what she desired until she had enough savings. Before that, she only spends what she really needs for a living.

To be sure, children’s appreciation of a toy never lasts longer than a week or so. It is the parents who should be wise enough to put a brake to any unreasonable demand that the children might raise. The wise parents should know what is really good to the children. It is so easy to turn your hard-earned money into some kind of junks, but totally impossible to transform it back.

Recently my daughter and I talked tremendously on this topic, so much so that I am deeply convinced that the current economic crisis will leave an indelible mark in her memory and will definitely influence her in many ways.

Well, think of the loss in stock market as your tuition in economics 101.

The state of California faces a projected deficit of nearly $42 billion by the middle of next year. To save money, its governer issued an executive order requiring 238,000 state employees take two days off without pay each month. A Sacramento state court judge orders officials to immediately implement this plan. This equals to a 9% pay cut and a saving of $1.3 billion for the state through June 30 next year.

Instead of giving out money for more spending, this is taking away so that they don’t have anything to spend. Of course, less consumer spending will cause contraction. But why spending on borrowed money?

This is the brightest idea and a very courageous act that I have heard of so far since the nation’s economic crisis, even at the risk of his political career. It is like a political suicide to even mention it because people hate to the guts even the idea of a penny cut from their paycheck. When I talked to the monitor about this yesterday, he thought American would never accept this. Personal sacrifice like this simply runs against the cultural gene.

The United States would be immensely better off if we had a revolutionary president like this governer. Imagine how much saving it would mean to the federal government if all federal employees could take the similar action! Well, another idiot’s dream.

Yesterday, I learned of two suicide cases happened in Los Angeles, both committed by unemployed fathers. In one case of an Indian family, the father took away the lives of three children, his wife, mother-in-law before he ended his own. In another, also a minority family, the father finished the lives of his five children, his wife and his own. There are many cases of individual suicide lately, but it is too tragic to take the whole family.

These crazy family killings must have sent a scary message to the children. My daughter said jokingly to me, “Don’t kill me if either of you loss your job. I still want to live.” She has learned the company was going to lay off people soon. I told her not to worry because we can manage over 2 years in case the paychecks were cut, without touching our retirement funds.

So much for an American dream or the end of it for those Dear Departed. Should we call it an idiot’s dream?

Why do I dwell so much on money and economics and won’t move on to something more cheerful than this? The recent sharp economic downturn comes at the time when my children are mature enough to understand and learn something. I want to nail this experience in their heads so that they could learn a lesson from this crisis.

At the recent annual World Economic Forum in Davos, the world politicians and business leaders used this opportunity to throw blames at each other. Not long ago, the newly-employed US Treasury Secretary blamed China for “currency manipulation” that led to high US trade deficits and contributed to the current economic crisis. I have never known China has become so powerful that she can create such a hell of luck for the US. How we wish the problem were this simple!

The Davos gathering provided Chinese leader a chance to have China’s voice heard. The Chinese Premier, in his first appearance at Davos, sent back the blame for the crisis squarely on the US authorities. The crisis was caused by US “inappropriate macro-economic policies of some economies and their unsustainable model of development,” a model of high spending, low savings, living on credit, without economic discipline, that is, “the failure of financial supervision and regulation”.

Russia Prime Minister, if anything, is more frank and challenging. He blamed American “poor quality regulation” and the world’s dependence on the dollar as the only reserve currency.

To be sure, financial supervision and regulation are beyond individual’s control. The only thing we can do is not following the failed spend-more-than-your-earning model. Go the other directions — spend-less-than-your-earnings. A strict financial discipline needs to be in place so that we can squirrel away enough acorns for extreme weathers and live as decently as our dearest neighbor — the squirrel family.

The announcement is once again echoed on Monday throughout Sprint Nextel headquarter — “Sprint Nextel Corp. will cut a total of about 8,000 jobs by March 31.” The news once again throws many people into a period of worries, fear and instant panic. Indeed, panic is the first reaction upon job loss. That’s why the first advice that is often handed out to the unfortunate is “Don’t panic.”

This piece of news coincided with some observations and a book that I am reading at the moment. I observe some people that I know of drive BMW and dress rich. You may be dazzled by the display of wealth and find it hard to tell “the difference between wealth and pretend-wealth.” Only their retirement fund or savings in reserve and their attitude toward event like job cuts can reveal this difference. These observations remind me of the book by Lee Eisenberg, The Number, A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life.

He uses a term which can be applied to some folks that I know of, the faux millionaires, that is millionaires in appearance only without anything salted away. It is these people that are panic-prone upon the sound of job cut.

The author classifies people into four personality types. According to him, none of these types are perfect, but the last one is obviously the better of the three. For me, having a plan is always better than not having and you won’t go terribly wrong if you have both action and a feasible plan.

(1) Procrastinators – without any plan, or any sense of the Number.
(2) Pluckers – having a vague plan and an arbitrary Number.
(3) Plotters – having a plan and a Number but no purpose.
(4) Probers – having a plan and a Number that is centered on what would really make a difference in their life in retirement.

I wish my children could read this book, learn lessons from other people’s unpleasant experience and accept “the premise that saving money comes before spending it” so that they won’t join the army of panic in case they happen to find themselves in that situation.

The president asked the nation to make sacrifice. In what way? What kind? Driving less? Eating out less? Live in a smaller house? Consume less? Change of lifestyle to more saving? None of the above.

What he actually plans to offer is this: we government borrow trillions of dollars and create jobs so that you consumers can make money and further consume to boost up GDP, because consuming spending makes up over 70% of our GDP and large part of that spending is on housing. In essence, this is the same thing as I borrow money via credit cards to maintain my consuming spree and go on like this as long as I have places to borrow.

But who are actually paying for this? Who are in reality making sacrifice? Not Americans, as far as we can see. Well, do we care to know who are supporting the government and our consuming habit? No, we are not that sophisticated to care about that. We are far more cheerful than this.

In summary, smart solution to recession: borrowing from creditor countries and going deeper and deeper in debt. Consume and forget “trillion dolloar deficits for years to come” as the president told the nation. How smart can we be?

With job loss everywhere and economy going downhill, how can we pay back the long overdue ancient debts, not to speak of the mountainous new debts? Well, we don’t and the creditor countries have to make real sacrifice by keeping lending.

What can parents tell their children about our dear president’s call for sacrifice? I am speechless.

I just learned last week that the Circuit City, the 60-year-old grandfather electronics chain was going to liquidate its whatever unsold goods it still has, then close all 567 stores. No doubt there will be a large army of layoffs, at least 30K as I learned later.

It was pretty sad seeing my favorite hangout is going to close. This is actually expected. I like the store because there are not many customers, to be exact, having more well-dressed and well-groomed sales boys than customers, because the price is never competitive, though the service is of good quality. It is kind of natural to see the store with least ability to compete in today’s market going out of business first. Only good quality won’t keep the store alive. So sad!

The Circuit City store also reveals the consumption behavior of US government and a typical American family — spending beyond its means and living off borrowed money — the practice stands in sharp contrast to China who has tries to save and lend out money to countries like USA.

From the demise of Circuit City, I would think in today’s global economy, no ability to compete is the sure ticket to exit out of the scene, regardless of where you are and what you engage. Relentless but true. What shall we say to our children? “The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind…” It’s better to leave the question to our readers.

Friday evening is always busier than other weekday evening. Yesterday was  day after Christmas when many stores normally offer deep discount on that day. The two youngest ones in my family have been looking forward to shopping today. The little boy has been asking for an MP3 player ever since he saw many of his classmates having them at school. I promised him I would buy one for him right after Christmas.

The girl asked her brother to take her to Town Center as she believed she could get some good deal for her clothes. Too bad my son did not have the car key to drive them around. They waited for me to get back from work.

I took them out immediately I got back before 4 PM. The boy got what he wanted and the girl did not find any good deal but asked to go to Border’s. So I dropped her there and got back home with the 10-year-old and my son.

My son had a dinner gathering with his friends and then they went to one of his friends’ house and stayed there till a little after midnight.

Seeing them so eager to buy and spend, I found it highly necessary to share with them my thought on the plight of the couple that we met at Christmas dinner. My son told me not to worry about him, while my daughter shrugged it off as if the topic were so irrelevant. I surely hope they will eventually truely understand why we need to save while we have instead of spending it all.  Right now, they remind me so much of the couple we met at Christmas dinner.  Only they are a lot younger.

We were invited by a neighbor for Christmas’ dinner, where we became acquainted with a couple who came from the same city as our neighbors’.  The plight of the couple is so dire that I kept thinking about them afterwards.  It provides a sharp contrast to the happy mood of the season.

The couple became jobless lately, living pretty much on money from the man’s relative. In an attempt to save money, they set temperature at 50 degrees at their house, so cold that the husband, in his mid-40th, got sick and now both of them lived in our neighbor’s house. Fortunately, they don’t have any children.

On the one hand, our neighbor has demonstrated real Christmas spirit in extending kindness and a warm dwelling to them. On the other hand, both of them used to work and make decent income before. Why didn’t them save some for time like this?

Their current plight was brought about partially by their irresponsible and carefree lifestyle. They used to “get drunk today while there is wine” and let tomorrow take care of itself. Also, the wife, a Ph.D holder, used to live in Japan and can speak Japanese but failed to make necessary adjustment here so that she could live and work here instead of relying on her husband’s income.

“Money cannot make you happy but you cannot be happy without it” – this quote came to my mind especially at this moment. How much self-respect can you maintain when you find yourself in this situation? I want my children to remember this lesson and really learn something from this. Unfortunately, this is a sad Christmas story on this Christmas day. It could be a happy one if …

My daughter had two art classes in the morning, one of them was a makeup for last week’s.  This is the first art class that she attended since I got back from China. Saturday morning was spent chatting with friends and reading magazine and books at a church.  It was such a pleasant escape.  It almost gives headache when I think of a house with three kids and the amount of household work that is waiting for me. Yes, I am so selfish.

As you may have guessed, the word of the day for the 10-year-old yesterday was grateful , yes, as grateful as our closest friend — dog. I explained the word to him and shared with him the story of a grateful dog. He understands that it is very very bad to “bite the hand that feeds you” and we humans should learn from the dogs who return loyalty to the hands that feed them. I feel so hopeful, well, also a little bit too idealistic.

In the afternoon, the boy had tennis lesson at 2 PM and the girl had a birthday party at 3 PM, with me being the full-time driver.

A friend of mine recommended me a reward system as the mechanism to curtail the unsatiated demand for clothes and other expenses.  I used to practise it when my son was at elementary school, like 1$ for each 100 score that he made either on his homework or on test.  But I ceased doing that when he showed the tendency of requesting for return for whatever he did.  I found the system containing a flaw that cultivated this tendency.  That is, the child got the idea that he only did something when there was reward. The eventual fallout for the system was it was difficult to make him do anything for nothing.

What about responsibility, volunteering, and the love and care that parents have shone on their youngsters unconditionally? Getting good grades only means taking care of their responsibility, just as we parents take care of ours. A reward should be given for exceeding the expectation not simply for meeting it.

Yes, I do need to put a reasonable brake to the uncontrolled expense.  In the afternoon before my daughter’s birthday party, she asked to buy an additional gift for her friend. I vetoed the suggestion and reminded her that I had spent over $25 on her friend’s gifts. I knew she would eventually override my veto, still I raised it so that she would feel the constraint and tried to reach the point of mutual satisfaction in the end.

At this point I brought up the topic of budgeting and constraint, fiscal responsibility, the idea of living on borrowed money and going bankrupt when you have no place to borrow, etc.  After a brief lecturing, I asked, “How about this? Starting from next year, I give you a card with a total of $500 for your total yearly expense on your clothes and any other minor indulgences that you would want?”  I thought she would think it not enough and ask for more, but guess what? she asked me, “What if I have some money left by the end of the year? Can I keep them?” “Of course, you can keep them and you can deposit into your account if you have more money,” said I.  At this point both of us are as happy as we can be.

I feel like celebrating the triumph of reasoning, understanding, and compromise over everything opposite to these. On top of this, I am grateful to my friend who first gave me this suggestion.