Perspectives on the global economic meltdown- (Nov 28 2010)

[devaraj_d]

If you give me specific examples of how something complex (except IT and semiconductor industry) was accomplished in a very short time frame in India I can then understand your basis of arguments. Otherwise I am not understanding where you are getting those time lines.

As I said, you need to erase from your mind the idea that things take 20 years to finish because they don't. I've been on teams where an entire rather complicated product was built by a team of 6 (competent) people and I've been on projects where even with 50 guys on the force, things moves at a glacial pace. The difference is one of bad management and/or incompetent people.

Unless its deep level R&D like some particle physics discovery or something wholly revolutionary that hasn't been done before, nothing is a 20 year process. Needless to say a workable, decent car isn't something years ahead of its time. It does not fit in that category as its largely a medium tech item.

There may be some issues with getting around patents which major manufacturers might have filed up the wazoo but again its not something insurmountable from the engineering prespective. Maybe from the chemistry prespective with catalytic converters and such but I'm largely clueless in that area.

Once again, get rid of the idea of the 20 year saga or you'll never progress. 20 years of guys sitting around sipping coffee and dragging their feet is not a model of development you should have in your mind. Anything you aim to develop should start with an interm goal of a rapid prototype to get a somewhat working version of a gizmo and then improve on it (rapidly) thereafter with trials and end user feedback.

I gave you several specific examples from past history so that you can understand how it has taken longer for changes to happen. And moreover, when did i quote 20 years or provide any other time? In one of my posts, I told the time taken will depend on many factors. I did not give any timelines as we are not talking about anything specific. I gave examples that took nearly 20 years because you said it will not take for anything to be completed in 5, 10 or 20 years.

If everything is so easy as you describe history will be entirely different. In WW2 the Japanese had a different approach to aircraft engines because of their manufacturing limitations. Even now it is still valid in almost all areas.

Who is going to buy this-also-can-work-gizmo? TATA burnt their fingers when they rushed the first Indica.

I am sorry I will not accept your arguments unless it is specific with some examples.

[ramana]

Prem,
Is WS making people into traders? The buy and hold strategy of investing seems risky in short term and in long term you are dead anyway.

For instance Dow went up today. Tomorrow it will go down based on sellers out to cash in. Then again Wednesday there will be a rally. And cycle repeats.

[SwamyG]

With globalization, the risk is being spread across the globe - to all Governments, while the Corporations continue to pocket the rewards. The boom and burst cycle will be shorter - i.e more controlled. However, USA will see a steady fall in lifestyle though. There is no way they can maintain such an unsustainable lifestyle. There was a talk about how employers are reluctant to hire laid-off works. The local radio show was talking about how some go to the extent of mentioning this in their advertisements. The unemployed are up in arms because they consider it as a discrimination.

[Prem]

Prem,
Is WS making people into traders? The buy and hold strategy of investing seems risky in short term and in long term you are dead anyway.

For instance Dow went up today. Tomorrow it will go down based on sellers out to cash in. Then again Wednesday there will be a rally. And cycle repeats.

My guess , the cycle is safe for the next few weeks.

[sumishi]

What sh*t is this?
Krugman calls for space aliens to fix U.S. economy?

On GPS this week, we explore the most important topic (the economy) with the most important economic voices. Fareed Zakaria talks to Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman and Former IMF Chief Economist Ken Rogoff.

The show also turns a myth on its head. China’s not doing the U.S. a favor by buying its Treasury Bonds - the pleasure is very much China’s. We’ll explain.

All that, plus a fascinating look at America’s fractured relationship with Pakistan with the journalist Ahmed Rashid, and a smart, macro look at the London riots with two top British thinkers.

But first, why does Paul Krugman say space aliens could fix the U.S. economy? Here's an edited excerpt of what he and Ken Rogoff had to say:

Ken Rogoff: Infrastructure spending, if it were well-spent, that's great. I'm all for that. I'd borrow for that, assuming we're not paying Boston Big Dig kind of prices for the infrastructure.

Fareed Zakaria: But even if you were, wouldn't John Maynard Keynes say that if you could employ people to dig a ditch and then fill it up again, that's fine, they're being productively employed, they'll pay taxes, so maybe Boston's Big Dig was just fine after all.

Paul Krugman: Think about World War II, right? That was actually negative social product spending, and yet it brought us out.

I mean, probably because you want to put these things together, if we say, "Look, we could use some inflation." Ken and I are both saying that, which is, of course, anathema to a lot of people in Washington but is, in fact, what basic logic says.

It's very hard to get inflation in a depressed economy. But if you had a program of government spending plus an expansionary policy by the Fed, you could get that. So, if you think about using all of these things together, you could accomplish a great deal.

If we discovered that space aliens were planning to attack and we needed a massive buildup to counter the space alien threat and really inflation and budget deficits took secondary place to that, this slump would be over in 18 months. And then if we discovered, oops, we made a mistake, there aren't any aliens, we'd be better –

{Somewhat akin to: IRAQ! IRAQ! WMD..WMD...-- [War and Mayhem] -- oops! No WMD here! No WMD here either!! [Bushy..Smirk..Smirk..]}
{So what now? More Libya and Syria to precipitate a wider conflagration?}

Ken Rogoff: And we need Orson Welles, is what you're saying.

Paul Krugman: No, there was a Twilight Zone episode like this in which scientists fake an alien threat in order to achieve world peace. Well, this time...we need it in order to get some fiscal stimulus.
{That's right out of Project Bluebeam CT!}

[Ambar]

What more do you expect from someone who said the "time is now ripe for another bubble. We need another bubble to take us out of this even if we have to pay for it somewhere down the lane"! The scary part is such imbeciles advise governments!

[ramana]

from Spinster:

ramana garu
I had said long back that there is no intrensic strength in USD and the QE2 3 etc are indication that only way to devalue dollar, and making the money with PRC etc less valuable. It also makes exports to US more costly (if currency is not pegged like PRC). The USD to Yen is at 72. The euro is 1.4 and pound 1.6, this is one way to spur local manufacturing and also to hurt the guys holding dollars. Thats the reason Putin and PRC are crying foul. The oil price is an indication of the oncoming storm.

The only way out is cut defense spending close bases in Japan etc, shift manufacturing from automobiles to mass transit systems. Any way auto market is dominated by non US players and it will continue to be so, unless there is a paradigm change.
Just my two cents.

[ramana]

Prem,
Now its fears of stalling the German economy.

Looks like any reason to go down after an up!!!

The reality is profit taking after a run-up in the stocks.

So the market is in trader control at this time.

[gakakkad]

Time is ripe for India to accelerate real fast. Commodity prices are expected to be quite low for long long time . ....

[SwamyG]

With tough times, Companies will wage IP wars. India has a long history of "Green Products" and India needs to use modern science with age old practices and wisdom to develop newer products for the 21st century. We should not be surprised, if GE or someone applied for a patent on clay pots for storing cool water. Our GDP is the best since independence, we have broken several glass ceilings, people see more opportunities, there is hope and energy; we need to use all these to work on 'green products', renewable sources of energy, health and food production and distribution to lift millions from poverty and provide basic comfort.

[Hari Seldon]

^^^ On that note, lemme quickly dart in to add that this entire concept of frugal engineering that India pioneered, of small-footprint eco-sustainable no-fuss products (check out Godrej's chotu-kool, for instance) and of marrying process innovation to sheer scale (e.g. Narayan Hridayalaya) are the themes for the future where we've some early mover advantage, as usual, unwittingly only.

The era of super-sized homes/cars/lifestyles & lifafastyles has ended even if quite a few TFTAs don't seem to know it yet. Public transport, high-rises instead of giant suburban energy footprints etc will impose itself whether folks like it or not, I reckon. Healthcare wise, already the dam's cracked and breaking fast and the quasi-rich world has little time to get its crap together. Chances are desis will be consultants and process engineers for their BPRs in healthcare. Time will tell, of course. Wait and see.

[Bade]

The era of super-sized homes/cars/lifestyles & lifafastyles has ended

I would not include the bolded part. What will change is that it is back to more than one generation living in McMansions. So the ones with kids will see more care and sharing across generations like it has always been in the past for many cultures including in Europe till recently. I am going to invest in a McMansion if job cetainty is favorable. It will be the single most important investment, much better than stocks in the long run and will be more valuable across generations.

[SwamyG]

I heard this morning, a company was applying patent related to something that they developed. I did not catch the exact classification - design, plant, biological, chemical ityadi. They are developing a non-petroleum base for paints. The base is soybean oil + sugar; then they heat it up with some chemicals. The resulting product was tested for tensile strength, and they found it quit good - good enough to eventually used for painting cars and other bodies. The individual who was talking added that it was not some great new technology, it was some simple chemistry - he made it sound simple enough.

The point is USA and probably the West is going to attempt to get out of petroleum based products. They might not achieve it, as our life is seeped with petroleum-based products. But any reduction should be welcomed. It creates a more sustainable planet and jobs. No point in India waking up and joining the game late. Just like we skipped the mainframe computers and latched on to PC/Server based IT industry, we have opportunities.

We need more Abdul Kalams to motivate and provide the vision; the rest will follow.

[yogi]

The era of super-sized homes/cars/lifestyles & lifafastyles has ended

I would not include the bolded part. What will change is that it is back to more than one generation living in McMansions. So the ones with kids will see more care and sharing across generations like it has always been in the past for many cultures including in Europe till recently. I am going to invest in a McMansion if job cetainty is favorable. It will be the single most important investment, much better than stocks in the long run and will be more valuable across generations.

Property is the biggest cause of family tensions and heartburns. Why would you want to force this problem on your progeny? A better idea may be to purchase 3-4 apartments next to each other or on the same floor of a building.

[ramana]

SwamyG, Modern paint technology grew out of import substituion for Indian made shellac.

What the guy is talking about is a chemical reaction with plant based oils to make them thicker.

[Prem]

Ramana Ji,
Market is always under the control of traders. Trick is to do allignment with trader's interests at least half the time. There is hardly any believer left in the hoax of 'fundamentals".
Vegas rules rule.
Kakkad Ji is right, time for India to accelrate its development. West's economic weakness can be used to our advantage to create even playing field. This is once in hundred years oppertunity. Grab the R&d and run to Banglaore .

[Bade]

Property is the biggest cause of family tensions and heartburns. Why would you want to force this problem on your progeny? A better idea may be to purchase 3-4 apartments next to each other or on the same floor of a building.

It is a counter-intuitive idea, but depending on the severity of the global crisis (transitions are never smooth as the global economy tries to find a equilibrium point) people living in the developed world will be forced to rebuild their ideas of nuclear family. It works in fast growth times like for the good part of the last century, but during hard times which is what most of human existence has been, it has not helped as there is sufficient evidence when one looks around.

I grant it that anything that one bequeaths to the next generation will be disputed amongst the survivors, but the prevailing conditions will force people to work together. It is definitely more economical to share more and reduce overheads during hard times.

[Bade]

West's economic weakness can be used to our advantage to create even playing field. This is once in hundred years oppertunity. Grab the R&d and run to Banglaore .

PRC has used this model with some success, but not gained a lot yet. True innovation of the likes we have seen in the west, is not going to happen anywhere else. Some level of product innovation (nano example) will happen routinely in developing countries. The world has not seen any significant large scale effort where people (even < 10% of the population) are willing to re-examine old paradigms, cast them aside with new ones elsewhere. That is where true innovation lies. Sadly, it will not happen outside of the west, if it could, then it would have already ages ago. We sure had turbulent times politically, but so did the west when most of the innovative ideas were explored. Colonization helped marginally such endeavors, it mostly helped to increase the profit hoard, but not the money that went in to innovation.

[Prem]

There was hardly any worthwhile interaction among different civilizations /countries/regions / socities or large scale population. Current era is different .There is no reason to believe that innovation is natural to WEST and not to Non Western people.

[abhishek_sharma]

Warren Buffett Interview (Video)

[abhishek_sharma]

Buffett has taken the wind out of the argument of Reaganomics for sure, but makes me wonder why he waited this long till his old age to say the truth, after enjoying all the tax benefits for so long.

Actually he has spoken his mind before too. For example, see here.

[devesh]

I can attest to the growing number of houses which are multigenerational. increasingly, you're seeing 3 generations living under one roof. and there is a very tiny but growing number of 4-generation houses. people in 20's are increasingly living with parents and saving money until they can be sure of job stability. one of my colleagues is doing that. he pays electricity+water as his share of the burden. parents take care of rest.

i read somewhere that during 1930's many families invited grand parents to live with them b/c they had nowhere to go. or if the young ones were out of jobs, they moved in with grand parents and there were huge multi-generational families. things are heading in that direction again. this is a real depression according to all the stats. but the govt is today much better equipped in sending the "right" message and controlling the views and ideas that are propagated.

[gakakkad]

PRC has used this model with some success, but not gained a lot yet. True innovation of the likes we have seen in the west, is not going to happen anywhere else. Some level of product innovation (nano example) will happen routinely in developing countries. The world has not seen any significant large scale effort where people (even < 10% of the population) are willing to re-examine old paradigms, cast them aside with new ones elsewhere. That is where true innovation lies. Sadly, it will not happen outside of the west, if it could, then it would have already ages ago. We sure had turbulent times politically, but so did the west when most of the innovative ideas were explored. Colonization helped marginally such endeavors, it mostly helped to increase the profit hoard, but not the money that went in to innovation.

Last time I check SoKo and Japan were in the east. And they have been innovating more than most of the western countries. Barring the US and Germany most of the western countries can't really be called innovations hub.
That India is following the same path is pretty evident. 2020 onwards there will be huge number of patents from the Indians . Also remember that the patent/population in US is artificially inflated by hawkish IP lawyers , who patent things that cannot be normally patented. For eg patenting of genes etc.

Once Indian economy improves there will be innovation.. The younger generation Indians are more than willing to challenge the paradigm .

[svinayak]

Kakkad Ji is right, time for India to accelrate its development. West's economic weakness can be used to our advantage to create even playing field. This is once in hundred years oppertunity. Grab the R&d and run to Banglaore .

Everybody register a company in India. Build some business and take it public in 10 years. Maker sure the pie is large and share it with top quality people. This is once in a lifetime opportunity.

[yogi]

I can attest to the growing number of houses which are multigenerational. increasingly, you're seeing 3 generations living under one roof. and there is a very tiny but growing number of 4-generation houses. people in 20's are increasingly living with parents and saving money until they can be sure of job stability. one of my colleagues is doing that. he pays electricity+water as his share of the burden. parents take care of rest.

i read somewhere that during 1930's many families invited grand parents to live with them b/c they had nowhere to go. or if the young ones were out of jobs, they moved in with grand parents and there were huge multi-generational families. things are heading in that direction again. this is a real depression according to all the stats. but the govt is today much better equipped in sending the "right" message and controlling the views and ideas that are propagated.

Seems like your post is about Americans, where multiple generations living together is definitely a big deal. I thought Bade was mentioning about India. A lot of people returning to India, after a stint abroad, are actually preferring to be in an Apartment community, for the interactions and community feeling, and (perceived) security it provides.

Edit: Upon second reading, I stand corrected. Don't know why I took McMansion term for a large house in India. Seems like I need to stop visiting real estate forums

[Bade]

I was referring to what will happen in places like America as the developed world will see a shrinkage in quality of life as it grows less than in the past with the time. India could go the other way, as a developing country with better or faster growth for next few decades at least. Faster growth implies large disparities to begin with when the transition happens, and makes living under the same roof (as in a family) or large communities little bit more difficult. So we will see more enclaves in India with increasing prosperity.

Though the gap between the super rich and middle class is wide in US and developed world, within the middle class itself there is less income disparity. It is not unusual to see a IT worker and a retail merchant living in the same community in massa.

[Bade]

Last time I check SoKo and Japan were in the east. And they have been innovating more than most of the western countries. Barring the US and Germany most of the western countries can't really be called innovations hub.

Soko and Japan definitely have made deep inroads into product innovation, but I was not limiting my assessment to just MNC R&D. I remember reading a Japanese report being critical of its own foot print in basic R&D even a decade back. It is fashionable to reduce the role of a catalyst basic research has on even applied R&D that companies do these days. Japan had adopted a "western" approach for much longer than SoKo and made more definitive contributions even in the basic sciences than SoKo.

I did not reply to Prem's remark which may have led to the confusion. When I meant "western" it also includes peoples from all over the world who migrate to "western systems" and do wonderfully too. Japan and SoKo has recreated such a system to some extent, PRC still lags behind despite the free spending on their univ systems in the last 10 years.

[SwamyG]

USA is in trouble not because of disparity, but because people sense no opportunities for them. Yes, the disparity within Indian population will grow - it is a given. As long as a vegetable-wala or doodh-wala perceive opportunities and is able to make his ends meet and provide better education and comfort to his kids, there will be less of a problem. IMO, India broke through the glass ceiling in 1991. Life is not rosy and there is still lot of work left to be done. But at least we now have a chance. And meanwhile, we have to keep mischief makers from snaring disillusioned and poor folks - who are in plenty. Change does not happen in one generation, sadly.

[pgbhat]

Though the gap between the super rich and middle class is wide in US and developed world, within the middle class itself there is less income disparity. It is not unusual to see a IT worker and a retail merchant living in the same community in massa.

Yeah. It is not uncommon for an IT worker make the same as a construction worker.

[Singha]

japan, taiwan and Soko use the same cram based/high pressure JEE prep schooling system much derided in India. people check into cram schools where the routine is like kota. this must have been going on for decades now.

yet they are able to come up as world level powers in science and engineering and carve out large profitable niches.

is this due to:
[a] greater overall spending by Govt to promote science?
less immigration of the "top 5%" to america?
[c] more developed economies provide better opportunities for local cos to develop up the food chain?
[d] they eat more meat and wheat?
[e] more open to technology/investment and preferential treatment by USA as munna allies in tech imports?
[f] focus on heavy industry infact all sectors , hw engg?

japan started developing fast from 1870s... so consider taiwan and soko as better examples

[gakakkad]

^^ I would give the following reasons --

Over adherence to hierarchy in educational institutions--- Profs often refuse to even talk to students...especially common in medicine... The best end up in industry...not in research....what ends up in univs is often the residue...reservations force hiring of 22.5 % faculty without any consideration to merit...No incentive for research... Because it is banned for a government insti prof to liaise with private sector for a profit , (flimsy & stupid argument like profs should gain satisfaction from teaching & research and not bother about profit etc)

Lack of recognition abroad- Mainly due to lack of self confidence (and self loathing)...From my personal experience its better to dress in expensive looking suits at international conferences...A group of researchers in CCMB hyderabad worked on micro RNA in 1999 . The work was replicated by a group of Brits and americans LATER. The Americans won the nobel in 2008. Even though the paper which they published clearly acknowledged that their work was a replication of the work done in hyderabad.

Idiotic anti-profit public sentiment-- Mango indians loathe industrialist the way the loathe politicians-True , there are some cronies , but most people are quite decent employment creators. Without profit no organization can be expected to undertake an expensive R&D project...

Counter productive family pressure.- Parents often prevent kids from taking part in science fairs. Often because they might be "just 4 months away from first term test ) or because the parent may need to make some nominal investment. ( Parents start lecturing kids on the value for money because they don't want to cough up tiny sum of money like 10,000 rupee to help the kid participate).

The international science innovation contest by INTEL see's many Indian and NRI participants- And they do vey well.

Indian kids beat global science geeks[url]

Peer pressure to take up jobs on campus The family wants kids to work for software drone producing company. Infosys (god knows what they do) hires civil engineers and in case of one of my acquaintances a biotech guy as ITES pro's.

Situation is improving- At least in biomedical research. India could well be the hub by 2020 in medical research. Of course the reason for this is rather negative . That it is easier to get human guinea pigs in India and China. Africa is even easier. But they don't have the equipments or skilled man power. India has western level biomedical labs , hospitals and production facilities for drugs ...But African level of poor population who can be exploited. Best of both the world.

[vera_k]

Yeah, in some cases taking a campus job is a self goal.

But that is the outcome of people not knowing what they want to do, which in large part is because of substandard education that does not impart any real world skill.

[Singha]

I recall reading a old case study which said the impact of the "top 5-10%" people in any field was very disproportionate to their numerically small figure - in terms of making the breakthroughs that lead to employment generation cos or managing cos to success.

India has consistently lost the top 5% in engg and sciences to america over a period of decades stretching back to 1950s. thats got to hurt.

I am not arguing they could have done anything meaningful given the circumstances back then or now, just that their absense means they were totally out of equation.

it is claimed the taiwanese hw engg machine was jumpstarted by such people returning back from usa.

[yogi]

Chavez Emptying Bank of England Vault as Venezuela Brings Back Gold Hoard

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered the central bank to repatriate $11 billion of gold reserves held in developed nations’ institutions such as the Bank of England as the metal rises to record levels behind a weakening U.S. dollar. Venezuela, which holds 211 tons of its 365 tons of gold reserves in U.S., European, Canadian and Swiss institutions, will progressively return the bars to the central bank’s vault, Chavez said yesterday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Barclays Plc (BARC), Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) and the Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) also hold Venezuelan gold, the president said.

“We’ve held 99 tons of gold at the Bank of England since 1980. I agree with bringing that home,” Chavez said yesterday on state television. “It’s a healthy decision.”

Now read this: A banker saying that a country holding its own gold in its own vault will bring its credit rating down So if USA wants to secure AAA rating, then it should put its gold in India

Boris Segura, a New York- based strategist at Nomura Securities said ... The repatriation and diversification of reserves may also cloud transparency of government holdings, which would be a negative for the country’s credit.

“We sense that Venezuelan debt prices already incorporate a sizeable ‘lack of transparency’ premium,” Segura said. “However, looking at the possible geopolitical signals that these proposed policies communicate, we fear that Venezuelan bond prices may suffer.”

Ohh, and here comes the long due retribution...

U.S. Inquiry Eyes S.&P. Ratings of Mortgages

The Justice Department is investigating whether the nation’s largest credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s, improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis, according to two people interviewed by the government and another briefed on such interviews. The investigation began before Standard & Poor’s cut the United States’ AAA credit rating this month...

It is unclear if the Justice Department investigation involves the other two ratings agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, or only S.& P.

[Singha]

>> The repatriation and diversification of reserves may also cloud transparency of government holdings

this from the country which blocked proposal for a congressional audit of Fort Knox gold store in 2008 saying "terrible things will happen if that were done"

I think India should also dump paper currencies out of Govt holdings and move into gold - which ofcourse should be stored in India only.

[abhischekcc]

I guess all the CT enthusiasts were right when they said that the Fort Knox gold has been emptied into private warehouses held by bankster community.

[SwamyG]

For quite some time now, Australia has realized which side of the bread is buttered.
http://theconversation.edu.au/how-the-w ... shift-2895

While the US is deleveraging and regaining its footing, other regions in the world will fill the economic gap that it is leaving behind. China, for example, is pushing for the renminbi to become more important in international transactions. It is taking successive steps to allow for invoicing of trade in its currency, such as issuing offshore renminbi denominated bonds.

At the same time the BRICS and other emerging countries are becoming increasingly assertive in international negotiations, seeking to shape the global financial system in their favour.

This rebalancing of power is ineluctable as the poorer nations are catching up with the rich ones, thus reducing the West’s share of total global output.

The fallout from the US and European debt binge will merely hasten this process.

http://www.etravelblackboard.com/articl ... ange-hogan

Speaking at the inaugural Australia-Gulf Lecture in Sydney last week, Mr Hogan said Etihad’s growth would be linked to their adjusted focus on un-serviced routes in China and regional India.

“It has taken a long time.

“And now we speak of Asia as the new centre of the world.
“Its citizens’ wealth and quality of life growing and improving rapidly.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/ ... 4620110803

Three themes carried through the conversations:

* Debt burdens will weigh on economic growth in the United States and Europe for years to come, and Washington is still far from addressing the root causes of its fiscal problem.

* Emerging markets have the growth prospects and the public savings to start to supplant the United States as the world's consumer of last resort, driving the global economy. What they lack is the political will and experience to set the agenda, which means the West won't merely fade into the background.

* It will take a long time to clean up the fiscal mess.

"Emerging markets as a whole and Asia in particular can now generate consumer demand on a scale that can compensate for stagnation, albeit not a collapse, in advanced countries," Sanyal said.

China has already replaced the United States as the world's largest automobiles market, Sanyal noted. China and India combined boast a movie industry that rivals Hollywood by some measures. In sports, the Indian Premier League for cricket is the second-highest paying sports league in the world, behind only the U.S. National Basketball Association, Sanyal said.

[Bade]

Just as was discussed recently, but now with numbers to prove !
Recession pushes more in D.C. area to live with relatives

Almost 1.2 million of the region’s 6 million residents were living with extended family members and friends last year, a 33 percent rise over the past decade. Nationwide, according to recently released 2010 Census statistics, at least 54 million people are in a similar spot.
The figures represent a significant reversal in American lifestyles after decades in which extended-family households fell into disfavor and the nuclear family flourished in the suburbs.

“We haven’t seen anything like this since the Depression,” said Frances Goldscheider, a Brown University sociologist who has studied families and living arrangements. “Overwhelmingly, it’s the recession’s effect on people’s ability to maintain a house. You have the foreclosures on one hand, and no jobs on the other. That’s a pretty double whammy.”
The number of adult children living with their parents — one slice of the phenomenon — soared in the Washington suburbs and in the District compared with a decade ago. The biggest increase was in Virginia, which experienced a 45 percent leap. In Maryland, the jump was 40 percent; in the District, 29 percent.

And No. Virginia is supposed to be the richest part of the state.

[Prem]

Talking about Gold, Did some one see Bob Pisani's dropping face this morning on CNBC. He lost all the sheen on his face after being told that Indian housholds hold much more gold (18kTons)than Fort Knox and the Monsoon has the determining effect on the price of Gold .

[ramana]

Specfically month of August in South India. Vara lakshmi vrat is observed in this month.