Lots of Money dot com
Rahat Talreja
Dy. GM – CSS Mumbai
This is not an article on IT. Nor is it an article on Money. Writing like this is a habit. Habits – which you and me, both have.
They say people live longer these days, a phenomenon undoubtedly made necessary by the 30 year mortgage they have taken on. It’s in the clauses of the agreement. This mortgage could be for anything ranging from their house to wedding to car to business to vacation to shoes or ahem – for another mortgage!
The man who saw tomorrow – does not exist today. So the glorified sayings like we live only once, live life to the fullest, do it now, why wait for tomorrow are the norm these days. People have shelved the postponement of gratification. All the action must happen today. Coffee is instant and 1000 miles is not too distant.
Paul Heyne says that this gap in our economy is between what we have and what we think we ought to have – and that is a moral problem, not an economic one. This behavior reflects all over the world economy and it discounts future values of businesses into today’s euphoria.
And it leaves simple businessmen and workers stressed and thoroughly confused in the bargain. A salesman on the road is not too sure how he could deliver the 27% growth target his management sets him up every year. Each thing takes its time, after all, even today, the Earth takes 365 days to circumvent the Sun. But the moral obligation stressed by the saying “The show must go on” compels one to continue this thinking – no matter what the end result on him. And therefore this becomes one of our “ Habits” of pushing oneself to the limit, up the wall.
Economists will vouch that this habit has tremendously positive economic repercussions. Sectors like insurance grow because people are always in fear and not too sure what’s happening next , healthcare grow because this anxiety introduces them to designer diseases of today , apparel and lifestyle sector grows because you still want to show that everything is perfect and okay with you. In the bargain there is a lot of movement of goods and services and therefore our dear logistics sector feels the warmth of the whole growth story. There also crops a new breed of middlemen called venture capitalists and investment bankers (don’t worry they too have only 2 hands and 2 feet) who then play your excitement to a level where you start seeing tomorrow, get nostradamical about the business and make beautiful looking balance sheets full of hope and rosy corners – whatever happened to doomsday predictions! And therefore your value is unlocked – it’s like honoring a 5 year old child with a lifetime achievement award.
This is how it is – black and white – never mind the green with envy color of money that it is for. Now the question we need to ask ourselves is how far our habit will take us. If it is a brighter tomorrow, please let me know and I’d like to learn and if it is a dim light at the end of the tunnel, please let me know and I’d like to shun.
So with the fate of this greenbuck in your hands, a small tribute to it at this juncture:
Lots of Money dot com
That we all love you is no exception, it is the norm
You are not just paper, much more than a mere form
We wish the ones who curse you, must soon be members of the dorm
Dedication in our mind and commitment in our soul
Serving you forever is our lives ultimate goal
I want to marry you and want you to stay with me for life
Tell my dear parents that money is today’s best wife
Hell with the priests who speak of your vices
What is life without the spices
Here for you
A million poetries
A billion songs
Come to me – oh lots of money dot com
In your arms I feel so warm!