Friday, December 30, 2011

And Next is Europe Again

Thanks to Paul Krugman post we came to know about US being in a state of some sort of recession.
Now economists tell us the recession will return to Europe next year.
This is a bad news.  Bad news because though it is an integral part of life but our friends there do not know how to handle it. In Islam the solution has always been there. The solution is simple and it says that when your income is less then reduce your expenditure. This is what is difficult to communicate to the western elite as well as the people. The people who have been brought up on the staple diet of borrowed glory will find it impossible to comprehend that they have to tighten their respective belts. By borrowed glory we mean the glory and goods brought into your house on credit. In case of the housing crisis generated depression of 2008 the people simply returned their houses to the banks from whom they had taken their loans and the whole goods, the house, were lying in the go-down, virtually, called the banks. The growth based economy assumes a sustained growth. This is a logical inconsistency because the natural resources are finite. The obvious solution is to spend when you have the money and tighten the belt when you do not have it. Both of these things are anathema to western way of life. When you have the money they insist that you save it - that is what banking and insurance is all about. And when you do not have the money they insist that you spend it by borrowing loans including multiple mortgages of all the immovable property. And then live the rest of your life according to the whims of your creditors. This is a mess in the best of economic times and during recession it means a worse thing - it is called depression. Latter is amongst the most horrifying calamities that Lord Most High has sent to mankind. And anybody who does not spend his time in contemplating about hereafter above statement might trigger another bout of anxiety by insinuating that God is not Merciful. May He(SWT) forgive us for repeating the words of such grave import. God Most Beneficent is indeed Most Merciful but we have traveled on the wrong path to such large distances that He(SWT) is possibly angry. Bad things come either as a means of testing and examination or they come in as a means of retribution and punishment. Recession is certainly a test and an examination while depression probably is a punishment. Those who are wise take admonition by such things while the arrogant  people wave away these things as fantasies - only to be plunged deeper into the calamity. may Allah(SWT) save all those who follow the path of guidance from severe trials tribulations.