Despite the platitude, most people probably can't dance.

Hey there,
It's been my experience that thus far, although I try and keep my posts to an arbitrary friendly letter format (because that IS what we are after all, a format I mean) it seems when I upload a picture it has the unpleasant consequence of dislodging whatever construct I had used unto that point and replacing it with, what could at best be called, complete and total text chaos. So, again my sincerest apologies, but I am as new to this as I suppose they come, although I do see the irony of me becoming more experienced with every keystroke I make. Luckily my razor wit caught such irony before you, viciously, used it against me.
However, despite these minor typographic setbacks, I still have been able to eek out an existence in the harsh throws of this all too quaint town quite well as of late. Although I did express a certain amount of concern about my STRONG desire to forgo this quarter completely in favor of shaving my head, fathering children, joining the marines, becoming a major and getting my own sitcom, however it has recently come to my attention (thank you USA) that Major Dad has already been a long standing sitcom in syndication allowing me to focus more completely on my studies. Something that I, and my mother, could not be more thankful for.
This does not mean that all my classes are light as a gum drop, I guess it might be more accurate to say that instead of dreading attending class I am back to where I usually am. Which is a quite sincere indifference smelted with a streak of pithiness. I know what your thinking, with those characteristics I would be the perfect guy for Major Dad, and believe me I agree with you, but sometimes you just have to let dreams die.
It's been quite a busy time in the news hasn't it? As I alluded to in an earlier post, I challenge anyone to think of a more exciting time to be a global citizen. With the general world populous becoming progressively more aware of the unsustainable nature of the current fossil fuel quagmire. With rapid burgeoning middle classes in countries that have never felt the joy of simply buying skittles when they so choose. With technology growing at such a rapid rate, that it is simply being devolved on the off hope it might be a potential "winner," on wall street? It simply is a revolutionary time. I must build one dam in this waterflow of progress, and I think it is one that many people much more qualified than I, have been levying in on (sorry for all the irrigation references). Namely, is the pace of world growth sustainable? The South Korean market grew by circa 65% in fiscal year 2005, with similar growth all across the third world, something that gives some of us the willies. I think a perfect reflective anecdote might well be the recent Japanese wrong ticker trade incident that I mentioned in an earlier post. With the Pacific Rim economy growing at such clip, investors have almost no choice but to "get in it," as it were. This does not negate the fact though, that many feel as if it could easily become a house of cards (that distinct possibility I'm sure many would argue is lessoning by the day) and with one large firm entering one wrong trade (a simple incorrect numeric entry, which by all American standards would never have happened, given the brokerage software used here) everyone pulled out, literally plunging their fiscal world into complete disarray. I think the more acute question is of course, is this a symptom of a larger instability, or merely the fits and starts of an economy growing its way into stability and economic prosperity? I don't know which camp I belong to, but I will say that I guess by merely entertaining the position that it (rapid growth) could be a facade, I might be not admitting to myself that I align closer with one philosophy than the other. Which pains me a great deal, for a long time (a lifetime in fact) I have let me conscience, for the most part, be the North Star for my economic tradewinds. I have always felt that good and morally responsible action (re: Fair trade vs. Free, NAFTA, Kathy Lee, etc. etc.) almost always can intersect with good fiscal policies. I wouldn't go as far to say as I am from the Kucinich school of electricity dealings, but nonetheless I was a bit of an ethicist.
It would seem to be then I would be unequivocally rooting for the expansion of this middle class that some are predicting. How can it not higher the standard of living and average wage per worker in places like Sri Lanka? I am only worried about two things, and I believe them to be both in the best interest of the "keep on truckin," Sri Lankan's. First, I have always thought that, on a macro scale, time would eventually be the greatest equalizer. That is not to say that I was against movements of humanitarians and philanthropies. Or that I was some kind of crazy isolations. Not so, in fact,what I was in favor for, was the long arduous journey that unleashed OUR economy. America, and other industrialized countries, although being around for a shorter period of time than some other countries, happen to employ, what I would call, a successful "me-first," driven economy. I believed that it was our responsibility as a developed people to make sure that no governments stood in the way of this occurring in other countries, (i.e. dictators, slave-drivers, war-mongers, etc. etc.) and made enviroments conducive to growth, mainly because I believed that although some-what self-absorbed it was a peaceable economy, when done ethically. I think/thought that long term sustainable growth must come from supply AND and demand side driven economies, a situation that can only be devolped from a populous who has accumulated general liquid wealth and with it has created an economy that supports them and thier loved ones (re:thier kids) to participate in this ecomony (re: spend money) with confidence. Not thinking that the rug can be pulled out from under them at any time.
And while their are some very real contributing factors to the tear that the world markets have been seeing, I believe it, to a large degree, has been directly related to Americans, and the civilzied world, dropping the moral ball. Yes, it is the responsibility of a corporate entity to look after its bottom line, so to employ third world labor, in both blue and white collar sectors, is semi-permissible. But at the expense of the American employee? The American employee has priced themselves out, pushed for too much, health care, retirement, the list goes on. Not even to mentioned the irresponsibility of credit that the baby boom generation has launched us into. But in regards to another macro model, I believe it would be safe to assume that when the world economy grows it might, roughly, resemble, in vague ways,the way that ours devolped. That is to say more precisely, that eventually, ALL workers, will be demanding things like health-care etc. Then with everyone demanding it, profits can increase from increases in price points and people and corporations make more money, with everyone now a viable global consumer. And so on. The artificial inflating of the third world economies, allows for none of the confidence and infrastructure to be set up, thus making it more potentially combustible.
However, at the same time, perhaps rapid expansion is the only method, and it will eventually lead to everyone in China not living in squalor, but that remains to be seen.
Well, I guess that's it for me. It's been fun as usual. In regards to advice for the next couple of days, my first thought would be you should probably get your advice from a more reputable source, but if you do listen to me, I have the following words of wisdom. Get a secretary of the opposite sex, even if you have very little to do, there must be someone whom you can pay enough just to file your papers, I mean that takes like five seconds. The power trip is unreal, or maybe that's just the coffee I've been making Susan make me, her name is Jen, but she's my secretary so I can pretty much call her whatever I want. I suggest getting your own Susan or Derek.
Be real.