Pakistan - Just stop acting like total idiots (Pt.2) and Principled Statements

I thought I would repost by earlier article (http://chairmannick.posterous.com/pakistan-just-stop-acting-likely-total-idiots) partly because I screwed up the title (obvious considering I used the word “idiot” in the title) and also because someone commented it was “controversial”.  It struck me that this is a problem that effects our social and political system – it is increasingly controversial to make principled statements.  We seem to either pussy-foot around a subject for fear of offending cultural sensitivities or have a mass outcry when something tips over an ill-defined precipice.  To carry on my Pakistan theme, there was a perfectly reasonable outcry about the young girl who was shot for standing up to the Taleban view that girls should not be educated, but why did it take that?  Why did it take this?  Why was the pressure not being put on the Pakistani government about the treatment of girls in general?  It seems like “principals” have become increasingly identified with a lack of tolerance, and that should not be the case.  Saying that women in Pakistan should have equality with men and that their society and economy will suffer until they do is not being imperialistic, it is not being racist, it is not showing a lack of cultural sensitivity, it is just the right thing to do.

 

Nick

Pakistan - Just stop acting like total idiots.

28 January 2013 Last updated at 21:17 ET

Share this page

• Delicious
• Digg
• Facebook
• reddit
• StumbleUpon
• Email
• Print

Viewpoint: Pakistan's economic woes are being overlooked

By Bruce Stokes Pew Research Center

Investor confidence is waning as Pakistan's economy continues its downward trend

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Pakistan: sink or swim?
• Is Pakistan's economy facing potential collapse?
• World Bank grants aid to Pakistan

Pakistan is a country beset with political difficulties, but they could be of secondary importance to its economic woes.
While much attention has been devoted to the dramatic Supreme Court move to order the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on charges of corruption and recent large-scale protests led by populist cleric Tahirul Qadri to demand the resignation of the government ahead of elections due in May, the country's financial difficulties have been overlooked.
Likewise recent deadly militant bombings have also distracted attention, as have skirmishes with India on the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the disputed Kashmir region.
These headline-grabbing events have not only served to obscure the profound economic challenges facing Pakistani society but in many cases have also nurtured and aggravated them.
'Deteriorating economy'
The truth is that the Pakistani people are deeply troubled by the plight of their economy and their own economic prospects.

Optimism about the state of the economy is not high

With the government likely to ask the International Monetary Fund this year for a new aid package, the nation's economic plight may soon become topic number one in the global discussion about Pakistan's future.
"Deep seated structural problems and weak macroeconomic policies have continued to sap the [Pakistani] economy's vigour," the IMF's executive board concluded in late November.
Economic growth over the past four years, after adjustment for inflation, averaged 2.9% annually, and is projected to be only 3.2% in 2012-13.
That, says the IMF, is not sufficient to achieve significant improvement in living standards and to absorb the rising labour force.
All this at a time when prices are rising about 11% per year.
Moreover, the government deficit was 8.5% in the last fiscal year and press reports suggest it may miss its budget deficit target this year by a significant amount.
The IMF expects foreign reserves this fiscal year to be half what they were just two years ago, a sign of waning investor confidence and a deteriorating international economic situation.
Hardly surprising then that the Pakistani people are extremely downbeat.
'Personal pain'
Roughly nine out of 10 say the economy is bad, including a majority (64%) who think that it is very bad, according to the 2012 Pew Global Attitudes survey.

Many Pakistanis will see little discernible improvements in their living standards

Just 9% rate the economy positively.
There has in fact been a sharp decline in economic ratings in Pakistan since the beginning of the global economic recession.
In 2007, 59% said the economy was doing well; by 2008, this percentage had dropped to 41% and has continued to fall since then.
A plurality (43%) believes the economy will only worsen. For many of them, this pain will be felt personally.
Their assessment of their own personal economic situation is down 19 percentage points since 2008, one of the largest fall-offs among the 15 countries for which the Pew Research Centre has comparable data.
Only 38% say they are better off than their parents.
More than half (57%) say they are worse off than five years ago. And 65% say it will be very difficult for their children to advance economically.
Unemployment is one of the public's major concerns.
Nine out of 10 people say that the lack of jobs is a very big problem, a more important issue to them than concern about corrupt political leaders or unrest in Kashmir.
However because the survey was conducted in the spring of 2012, it could be that concern about Kashmir has risen more recently because of flare-ups in January along the LoC.
While it is true that issues of life and death and war and peace will always trump economic news, the dire nature of Pakistan's economic problems could ultimately feed political and social unrest as the regional and global discussion about Pakistan's future moves to centre stage.
Polling suggests that the people of Pakistan may say this refocusing is long overdue.
Bruce Stokes is the director of global economic attitudes at the Pew Research Centre.

via bbc.co.uk

I read this article on the BBC today, shortly after reading about the possible collapse of Egypt into chaos and the wanton destruction of Timbuktu’s ancient treasures, and the question that came to me was , “why are these people acting like total idiots?” It appears like a broad swathe of Pakistani society just seems intent on creating chaos without any regard to the Pakistani people. From corrupt politicians, through religious extremists to double-dealing intelligence officers, a general state of anarchy appears to be rising inexorably, while external powers, whether it be in the form of US drone strikes, Saudi covert financing, Chinese arms sales or Indian sabre rattling merely adds petrol to the flames. This is not something that is inherent in being an Islamic society – both Turkey and Malaysia have proved that – so what is it? Whatever it is, it cannot be good in a country with nuclear weapons, massive population growth and many serious environmental issues. It appears that there is always a desire to blame others (America, India, Britain, whoever) and little willingness to look in the mirror.
Nick.

Shopping - the future is almost upon us.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said retail sales volumes fell 0.1% between November and December, after economists predicted a return to growth of 0.2%. It will fuel fears that the economy contracted at the end of last year.

There were further signs that shoppers shunned the high street with the figures showing that non-store retailing volumes grew 1.6% month on month, and accounted for 10.6% of all retail sales in December.

Household goods, including electrical appliances, furniture, hardware and music and video recordings, showed the sharpest month-on-month drop with a decline of 3% - the biggest fall since January 2010.

But it was a better festive period for department stores, which saw volumes grow 0.4% month on month.

Clothes and shoe shops were the only other sector to fare better in December, posting a rise of 0.7%.

With inflation nearing 3% in December, retailers will have suffered as sales values also declined 0.1% month on month and by 0.3%, excluding fuel.

Today's figures come after a lacklustre performance in November, when sales were flat after a shock 0.8% drop in volumes in October.

Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said the 0.6% overall decline in the final three months of the year was yet more evidence that the economy probably contracted at the end of last year.

Howard Archer, chief European and UK economist at IHS Global, said: "The problem that retailers - and the economy in general - face is that consumers' purchasing power has come under some renewed pressure after seeing appreciable improvement over the first three quarters of 2012.

"Inflation moved back up in late 2012 while earnings growth appeared to falter."

The Office for National Statistics said that retailers' internet sales helped to boost overall sales and provided a much greater proportion of business in December than they were expecting.

This has increased the pressure on the high street, where HMV, Jessops and Blockbuster UK have all gone into administration this month.

Peter Saville, partner at advisory and restructuring firm Zolfo Cooper, said: "Today's figures show a disappointing end to a tough year for many retailers. While 2013 appears to be heading in a similar direction, with the likes of Jessops, HMV and Blockbuster being the first to fall victim, the fact that many, including John Lewis, Dixons and Asos, are still performing well means that all is not lost."

PA

via independent.co.uk

Most of the news headlines and political soundbites will be focussed on this as an indication of continued economic difficulties. Whilst it is undoubtedly true that the economy remains troubled - and will remain troubled while the indigestion of the excesses (at a government, personal, corporate and financial sector level) from the decade to 2008 pass through the system (note to all: more borrowing will not help, it just pushes the problem to someone else down the line while easing the pain of those making decisions now) – I believe that there are a number of rapidly emerging trends that these figures are a harbinger of, and which will have great importance over the longer term. Some are already well documented but others less so:

• An increasing element of the population are no longer agreeing with the “shopping is a leisure pursuit” mantra that commenced in the 80s. They may like to buy things, but the whole process of getting in the car, driving to the town/mall, finding a parking space, paying for parking, trekking round the shops trying to find what you want, eating rubbish at the overpriced food court, paying for parking, paying for fuel for your car etc., etc. is not fun. Instead they log on to Amazon/eBay/whoever and a few days later the goods appear at their door; this trend is gaining rapid momentum.
• People are becoming increasingly less concerned about “ownership” as long as they retain the “ability to enjoy”. Retailers like HMV were all about selling a physical manifestation of something that is innately non-physical, e.g. music, films, computer games. Now that technology has reached the stage where the physical product is no longer needed in order to enjoy the material, why would you want something that takes up space, is less convenient? Much is made of people buying media on iTunes, but I would suggest that streaming services such as Spotify and Netflix are what is really changing the game.
• People are getting used to austerity, and are realising that certain aspects of their life are no worse as a result. Primark is booming because people still want clothes to go out in, but they can get what they want for half the price of M+S, who correspondingly are not booming. Going a step further however, many people are realising that the accumulation of more and more “things” does not make them happier, so they are just consuming less.
• The government debt crisis in many European countries and the austerity measures in the UK has seen many people re-evaluate their views on government provision of various services and benefits, so they are in turn making the logical decision: borrow less, spend less, save more.
• Retail expenditure will increasingly no longer provide easy pickings for landlords and governments/councils through rent, business rates (UK property tax) and parking charges. It is the retailers themselves that are currently going bankrupt, but these failures will have a knock on effect and I would anticipate big right downs by banks on loans secured against retail property and local councils making further budget cuts about a year down the line as this feeds through. This is not just cyclical, it is structural, so it will require a re-evaluation of town centres and their role in a community. I would also expect more than a few “out of town” shopping centres to become ghost towns.

Nick