Around 1997, Thailand was in an unforeseen economic crisis resulting from "bubble economy". The root of the problems was the collapse of real estate sector in our economic system.
This big domino triggered rippled effects to the entire economy and scars of this are still noticeable all over the country.
The burst of the bubble in Thailand was not the first collapse. It had happened before somewhere else, would it happen again?
Was it possible to happen in America?
Since World War II, most of Americans shared one common belief that their worthwhile investment was buying a house. Its value would never come down. Thus, the Americans whose strongly adhered to this notion bought a house as biggest as they could possibly afford and sold it when they got old or needed money for other things in their lives.
This strategy had been working well fitting with their belief..... one generation after one generation....
It became a national norm.... Many of the Americans solely invested and saved their money on their houses.
Recently, I spent some of my time watching HGTV, a home improvement TV network.... Because I would like to have some ideas about home decor.... There were some shows about how American people bought houses, resold it few years later and gained big money....
But, in their current reality, the American real estate industry had been forestalling in the past few years. Foreclosure of houses nationwide were skyrocketting at an unforseenable rate. Many families had to leave their dream homes with nickle and some changes from selling their last and only investment.
Well, was the generations-long notion turning ugly?
The answer was, "Yes".
There were few major factors contributing to this scary situation;
1) Buying a house as big as they could afford TODAY.... This notion didn't gaurantee that there would be no rainy days tomorrow. Unluckily, interest rates for housing mortgages were steadily climbing. This was topping and topping until until those homeowners were not able to pay mortgages on time.... Finally, foreclosure situations ensued.
2) 100% loan from the banks. This looked like a help, but it actually hurt the American homeowners. Bankers gave their customers this kind of loan.... Many people were enjoying it because they could own a house without a dime in their pocket. Again, rainy days came but they didn't have any umbrella. They got wet and, even, drown....
The magnitude of the problems was escalating. For-sale signs were virtually everywhere.... What's this sign telling us?
It said, "I'm drowning and desperatately needing to get rid of my dream house before the bank takes it away from me and I got absolutely nothing but grief and agony."
To be exact with my very last question, the answer is a "no"... The situations may be just similar, but the magnitude of the prospecting problems would not be that serious compared to what it was in Thailand.
Before that crisis, many Thai people bought and sold real estate properties based on speculations for possible profits and that rose the prices to unreasonable levels.
However, for the Americans, they buy a house to live, meanwhile they can make profit when time passes.
================================= Note: My life has been intertwined with works and many others. New responsibility has emerged, resulting less and less time for my ordinary life. Although, a love to write is still intact... But having less time is related to having less imagination.... Therefore, I could not come up with new writings for quite some times.
It might be a good time for me to leave this forum for moment.... Please take it as Mr. A.T. is having a sabbactatical leave or something like that....
As noted above, my love to write is still the same... and will not be changed. Sometimes somehow, I hope I could come back and give some thoughts in this blog once more.
Cheers, Mr. A.T. June 6th, 2008
=================================
Hello,
My pen-name in Pantip is amatuer translator. Actually, I'm a lousy translator with lame translation. My pen-name is somewhat misleading, I have no background in linguistics what-so-ever. Anyway I love to read, write and communicate with people...
Reading is my most favorite hobby. I read everything from shopping bags to articles in theoretical physics. I do research and teaching for my living. So, reading, writing, thinking and doing research works are my everyday routine.
I would like to define myself as a person who is accepting new ideas and adopting those into my way of life.
I believe in power of knowledge/education. I think every society can be a better society with knowledge. Ignorance can be dispelled by it. Humanity can live sustainably and harmoniously with each other along with its biosphere with understandings in the nature surrounding it.
Apart from my philosophical thoughts reflecting who I am, I can tell you something I like or love in particular;
I love dogs.... Particularly, labradore retrievers.... One day, I would like to spend my time and life with them as a big part of my family.
Zhuge Liang is my hero. With his wisdom and faithfulness, he led a tiny army to a mighty and formidable kingdom. He left his humble residence with a hope to come back. But, sadly, he had never returned and died far far away from home in a horse carriage in a battle field. If I could choose where I would, I would say where-ever my lovely wife was nearby.
I value happiness and my family as my first priority. My profession and my philosophy come in the second. Pursuit in wealth has never been in my desire.
I'm glad to be your friend, and look forward to seeing you around krub.
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Unfortunately, they don't know their economic situation very well.
From my view, I foresee something here. It's gonna be something which is happening in Thailand now.
It would be much more difficult to earn the extra money, while living cost is increased.
Furthermore, the tution fees tend to increse and reach up to the sky and never go down hill for sure.
Moreover, many college students must loan the money for their education whether they will get jobs after graduation or not.
Some elder say, education is a best inverstment because there is no risk to take.
Conversely, nowaday, it's very big risk for spending your money without thinking carefully about your future.
May the wisdom be with you !!!