Just Overheard

Overhead this conversation on the bus this morning:

 "I remember it was 1998, I was in junior high school and it was the best year: The temperature in winters was a pleasant 70-80 F, Gas was 79 cents a gallon & the Illinois football team won the game which was the reason why a super strict teacher gave an additional one week for a submission"

What a year would it have been! However I have not verified any of the above facts and I didn't have my morning cup of coffee before i overhead this exchange. This conversation jogged my memory back to a side note which I wrote down from a budget editorial in India back in 2006-2007, I can vouch for the truth here:

"It was the best of time-GDP 8% growth

It was the worst of time-reforms have disappeared like the Cheshire cat, leaving only the grin

It was the age of wisdom-FM agrees that growth is the best antidote to poverty

It was the age of foolishness-we believe in antipoverty flagship programs of dubious efficiency and delivery

It was the epoch of belief-PM has raised the bar of growth to 10%

It was the epoch of incredulity-nothing in the budget to move the trajectory from 8-10%

We had everything before us..

We had nothing before us.."

Economically how do I remember the year of 2012. 

The year when USD INR exchange rate reached an all time high of 57.13 in June 2012, an average drop of 27%  against the US dollar over the course of a year. The year when round trip flight tickets(US-India) in Dec were above $2000 mark. The annual GDP growth rate was a dismal 5.3 in March 2012. To sum up in the words of a senior economist, India's economy is suffering from "policy incoherence, shifting global risk appetite and a comatose government"

Not the best of time for sure..

Yesterday was the presidential debate here in US, I did not follow it closely to make any intelligent comments about it or form any opinions. Lately I haven't really been following any economic-political stories. All that I seem to notice around me are the Apples and Google's of the world and their petty wars. Guess this is what happens when the newsprint papers gets replaced with smart phones and I only look at news feed courtesy Mashable on my Facebook page. No more Dickinson commentaries for me, no more argumentative friends around. May be after posting the blog I should read a real newspaper for a while.