The Dot Com Bubble Burst

I doubt if there are too many people out there who doesn’t already know quite a bit about the Occupy Wall Street movement that took place around the end of last year. It was labeled as America’s own movement compared to that of Tahirir square in Egypt that saw the end of Hosni Mubarak’s long hold, for good or for bad that’s yet to be determined.  The question is – why? What might have caused this sudden change of events in the great land of opportunity – the sole superpower?  The answer to this question is not a simple one. Whether an individual decided to participate in the Occupy movement or not, there’s little doubt that there is a general concession among ordinary people that the disparity among classes – primarily focusing on wealth – is getting bigger and bigger, with rich getting richer and poor getting poorer. 

The answer to that question is neither simple nor straight forward. However, it is not difficult to figure out that in the corporate world a relatively small group of people controls majority of the cash flow and manages most of the tangible wealth while the rest have little choice but to become the cards of their hands – being played as they wish.  When things look good they take credit for the success and are rewarded with hefty bonuses, when things look bad they get to truncate workforce in their quest to make things look profitable to the investors and again receive hefty bonuses for making it look good. Talk about a fair deal!

Anyway, before discussing the occupy wall street it is important to look a little back to cover two major events in the recent history in the economy of America.  In this article I’ll briefly visit the circumstances of the two market falls – the dot com burst starting around 1998 and the real state bubble burst starting around 2007.

In the year 2000 when dot com bubble burst was going on in full swing I was right in the middle of it all, scared, affected, driven, suffered and finally jabbed right into the face, eventually made my way out of the burst into my new country Canada. At that time I wasn’t fully sure what had hit us but later as things settled down and everybody had time to think the truth started to become very apparent. Too many companies had mushroomed with similar ideas and started their journey with the money borrowed from venture capitalists and failed to bring any reasonably good product in the market before the funding wasted away.  Even the ones that did release some working products they faced stiff competition with other similar products. In such a situation only the best survives and most others perish, with all its ship load of contributors, investors and workers. With that coupled with high compensation for the high ups, offering public shares even before any tangible product was created, and irrational expectation of earnings – everything chipped into the downfall. At the end thousands were out of work, many companies closed.

At this point I must elaborate on the two occasions where I had lost my jobs. The first company was working on to create a new kind of search engine, the novelty of which I was unable to figure out even after working for six months. Everything looked about the same as other ones already in the market with majority quickly disappearing in the oblivion.  I wondered if an insignificant IT professional like me could see it then why couldn’t all the talented venture capitalists.  I guessed they had taken a chance, just in case some miracle had happened.  None did. Eventually the investors figured out they weren’t about to experience any miracle and quickly backed off and I was out looking for work – along with everybody else, must have been a few hundred. That made it even difficult, because too many people were looking for work in an already terrified market.

I ended up getting another position with yet another dot com running with venture capitalist money. This one looked more prospective.  I even heard they were about to get a buyer – a really good thing, sure sign of success. Not sure how things would have gone if not for the terrorist’s attack on the world trade center on September 11 2001 but after that already shaky market turned shakier and worst of all, our potential buyer backed off. So much for success! The company went belly up as they could not find anybody else to finance. The good – I bought a laptop for fraction of the price it was selling in the market from the now defunct company.  The bad – I was out looking for a job again and so were hundreds of others from my previous company. This time things became really personal. Anyway, had I not been working as a foreign worker and getting squeezed by the parent company that sponsored me and only provide a mere percent of the gain for my services I probably wouldn’t be too sour. The loot was all gone and I got barely any share of that. Some did get rich, bilking the cash cows to the max.

 Me and my misfortune!

I’ll continue this article to talk about the real state bubble.

Journey to the Kingdom of Florida (Final part)

We stayed in another Holiday Inn in Miami. 

This hotel was not as good as the Orlando one but it was descent for the price that we paid. The Miami that I had imagined from watching all the Miami vices(TV series) was nothing like that. It actually looked quite nice, green with all kind of tropical trees including large mango trees, something that I saw first time since entering Florida. This gave me immense joy as I have very fond memories of my grandparents mango garden from my childhood years.

We went to visit Marco island next day. This was sort of off the way but considering the day was in

the colder side there wasn't much we could do in Miami. It wouldn’t be a great day to be outdoor.

However, in Marco Island, an island city about 200 miles away from Miami was slightly warmer. It had

one of the finest beaches in Florida famous for its shells. My kids had always wanted to collect

shells from a sea beach. This was their opportunity to do so. Even though it was sort of windy and

perhaps a little uncomfortable temperature wise we still spent hours collecting all kind of shells.

It was a gorgeous day with sun shining over our head. We wished the wind was weaker, so that it

wouldn't feel so cold.

 

 The one reason why trip to Marco Island was so memorable is that we happened

to see real and live alligators lying down by the canals that went along the road in some areas.

There were wooden barriers in some parts of the road and many warning signs to warn the visitors not

to go too close. There were several occasion when many visitors had stopped by the road and

photographed those amazingly peaceful looking animals. Honestly, as far as I am concerned, that was

the high point of my Florida trip. 

 

Next day we went to see the coral reef close to the Keys. This is the only continuous coral reef in

the continental USA that is located so close to the main land. We went to Key Largo to take a glass

bottom boat. I had called them up from Canada and reserved our places. Weather is always a concern

for these type of trips. During bad weather the boat authority usually have to cancel such trips.

Fortunately, the weather was great on this day and we were quite eagerly looking forward to this

trip. The boat filled out rather quickly with mostly families with kids. The center of the bottom of

the medium sized boat was built of thick clear glass allowing onlookers a relatively good glimpse at

the bottom below.

It took us about 40 minutes to reach the shallow points where the coral reef ws

located. Even though the wind was slightly stronger than we expected making the water relatively

murky we still had a reasonable view of the reef. In summer people come here for snorkeling (scuba

diving). Whatever we were getting in December was more than one could expect. The best part was the

kids really enjoyed it. They actually took sincere effort to see the corals and the fishes that hung

out there. 

On our way back from there I thought of driving all the way to Key West- the southernmost point of

Florida Key where the famous writer Ernest Hemingway had lived several years. However, the traffic

was horrible and I turned around going only few kilometers. I did not want to waste several hours on

the road, not when the kids were tired and wanted to go back to the hotel.

                                                          Hemingway's House in Key West

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at Crandon beach. This was a wonderful beach with white sand

and coconut trees. There weren’t a whole lot of people but the view was absolutely beautiful. The day

was quite warm and the kids played with the sand for a little while. Mili was feeling a little cold

and stayed mostly in the car while I and the kids spent considerable amount of time playing on the

beach and collecting fallen immature coconuts.

We returned to our hotel in the late afternoon. Washed up and had dinner in the near by Cuban

restaurant. Miami is the home of many Cubans and it seemed like the right thing to do. The dinner was

very good. With it our Florida trip concluded.

Next morning we checked out and started back. We had a long way to go. We stayed overnight in two places including Washington DC before reaching New Haven, Connecticut to see my parents and sister's family.

Overall a great trip! I wanted to do this for a while and it was every bit of what I hoped it would

be.

Next? - Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, San Francisco. When? No clue. Whenever it is I'll keep my readers

posted.


[Read the author's current book - Kicking in Toronto. Get it from Amazon.com] 

Journey to the Kingdom of Florida - Part 7

Among other theme parks in Disney World we enjoyed Epcot the most. The kids seemed to enjoy the rides there though for most of the good ones the wait time were too long in some cases as much as 2 hours or more. I am always scared of any rides that have moving parts, simply afraid of the possibility where something could go wrong and the long wait time was a relief for me as I used this as an excuse to skip some of the serious rides. The only one that I went for was the rocket launch simulation. We were taken into a realistic looking cockpit of a rocket and had to go through the experience of a virtual launch process. It was definitely a great experience and seemed quite real. However, as far as I was concerned nothing really moved in reality, so no worries. Just to give you an idea why this ride can be slightly scary for some people - the rocket accelerates at a very fast pace and can cause serious nausea and even heart attack. To my relief I did just fine through the process but Mili started to feel very nauseous after the experience and had to be rested for several hours. She ended up spending hours lying down on a park bench while we went on to check out some other displays.

We stayed in Epcot pretty late and enjoyed a marvelous fire work show.

The theme park named Hollywood Studios was another good park to visit specially for young kids. The two events we really loved there were – Indiana Jones show and a car stunt show. Both were memorable shows. We also enjoyed some of the 3D-4D shows. The kids were quite occupied though they complained about the lack of rides. The whiners.

Indiana Jones show:

Car stunt show:

Our friends who were visiting Florida with us left on the fifth day. Our plan was to visit the Animal kingdom in the morning and drive to Miami in the afternoon. Considering Miami was only a few hours drive this seemed quite doable. Unfortunately it was a cooler day with a drizzle. I had earlier checked that weather in Miami was slightly warmer as it was further south. All of us were happy to move out of the sudden cold patch in Orlando. Among several things the safari in Animal kingdom was very good. It did give a solid experience of being in an African safari. Not to be missed.

The African Safari:

Taming of the Teenagers

Long time ago, back in my country of birth Bangladesh, as a boy I had my first introduction to Shakespeare through a television drama, a translated version of the famous play ‘Taming of the Shrew’. It must have had a deep impact on me because I still remember it – more than three decades later. For the readers who are not aware of the play, very concisely: a newly married man resorts to clever means to tame his wife – the vicious and ill-tempered daughter of a rich man. What does it has anything to do with the teenagers? You must have already guessed.

I’ll take a step back at this point. It would be difficult for anybody to not take note of the Shafia murder case where the head of the family planned and killed four family members – three teen age daughters and their dotting step mother with the help of his other wife and young adult son. Aside from the fact that the jury has returned a verdict of guilty if one scrutinizes the bits and pieces of evidences against the defenders (shared by the police) there remains not a shred of doubt that they have done it. An appeal is in progress we learn. Whatever happens at the end that barely changes the fact that the murders were committed solely based on the defiance of the three teenage sisters. It takes little observation to find out that the way of life that the three demised sisters were attracted to isn’t anything out of the world. The truth is in the western societies such lifestyle is becoming increasingly common for young adults – early sexual endeavors, provocative dress up, propensity for drugs and defiance against parents or any kind of authority figures. Let’s forget about the Shafias and shift our attention to the teenagers in general, especially the ones who are out of control - disobedient, addicted or simply deviant from the established family values or life styles.

One must wonder whether this phenomenon is primarily impacting the Muslim communities due to their general reluctance to accept excessively liberal social behavior of young adults, especially of women. Often westerners with generations of ties to the local culture foster a view that the inability of the new immigrants to blend into their new surroundings is a sure sign of narrow faith based practices. The truth is the problem doesn’t solely lie with the immigrating population who may have relatively conservative views. Part of the blame must also be borne by the existing western society.  A quick research on the net revealed hundreds of local families completely outwitted and helpless with their defiant, troublemaking, sexually active young adult kids – boys or girls, some parents even went as far as to ask for legal advices on forcing the kids out of their lives, forever, something that is called emancipation (a term used to free slaves which is irreversible). This to me is a sure sign of encroaching social trouble brewing at the very core level. 

Folks who have flocked in the western countries to escape either harsh conditions back home or simply to ensure a better life for their next generations are rarely closed minded; if they were they wouldn’t be stepping out in the first place. However, it is not totally fair to expect that one would simply give up their cultural and moral heritage and allow their kids to get sucked into a social travesty that is increasingly being blamed for higher rate of unwanted pregnancies, underage drunkenness, drug addiction and youth crime. This writer believes the existing western society must morph into something more acceptable to allow the incoming population a fair chance to integrate. What is bad is bad – here, there, anywhere. 

Now the question is why do the teenagers act the way they do?

 A little research revealed some basic but important information:

·         Recent studies show that neural insulation isn't complete until the mid-20s. This would have definite impact on how a teenager thinks.

·         Two common problems that teens (as well as pre-teens) usually suffer from – ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) and CD (Conduct Disorder). ODD is a pattern of behavior that can be defined as negativistic, hostile, and defiant.  CD is a repetitive pattern of aggressive or nonaggressive behaviors against people, animals or property. 

·        The cause of excessive disobedience may be the outcome of many things: puberty, dysfunctional family, high expectation in achievements in life, easy access to addictive stuff, peer pressure from kids of too lenient families, working parents not spending enough time with the kids, no proper system in the family etc.

Next - how do we handle the troublemakers? What to do as a parent if you are in a situation where your teenage children are engaging into activities that you simply cannot approve?

The available choices are not always easy. Let’s try to itemize the ‘Do’-s and ‘Don’t Do’-s.

·        No harm policy: Do not hurt, harm, even when you are mad. Remember, many kids turn around and put together their lives once they pass the tumultuous years.

·        Preventive measures:

o        Spend more time with them

o        Try being less controlling, allowing them some space to roam.

o        Be cool, learn anger management. Defiant kids often do things just to get their parents mad.

o        Try sharing some family related responsibility.

o        Pick your battles. Don’t pick on everything they do.

o        Have a good family bondage. That is probably the best defense.

·        Seek help of the professionals:  Youth Counselors, psychologists, psychiatrist

·        Boot camp: Worth trying if nothing else seems to be working.

·        Seek Legal Advice: In some situations you may be better off speaking to a lawyer first

·        Emancipation: The absolute last resource.  Once they are 18. If you can’t live with them, let them free. Each state/province may have specific regulations. 

A defiant kid regardless of their age is probably the one nightmare that no parent wants to have.  Unfortunately, at some point of their life each kid behaves badly, more or less. The truth is, there are no panacea that would be effective in handling every kid and every situation but it has been proven that with patience, strong family bondage and genuine love it is possible to turn them around. The question is, as parents, do we have what it takes?

Barrie Winterfest 2012

Every year one thing we religiously try to do - visit a winter festival. Having immigrated from South East Asia, we are sucker for warmer weather and as soon as the air starts to chill in this part of the world with the approach of winter we quickly coil into a shell and rarely peek out of that unless and until something really pressing happens. I personally am not by any means much into adventure, and mind it to us skiing is no less scary than rock climbing. The kids love snow so every now and then we put on our heaviest cloths and knee long boots and reluctantly accompany them outside into the snow. Sometimes, when the temperature is not too low and the annoying wind chill is not hovering in the deep negativity we even enjoy the experience. But that rarely happens. Nevertheless, traditions are made, somehow. And it was one of our traditions to visit a winter festival every year. Over the years we went to Ottawa, Cobourg, Ajax, Sault St. Marie (the famous Bon Soo) and some other minor ones. This year we decided to check out the Barrie Winterfest. It was quite apparent from the beginning that Barrie wasn't anywhere near as big as the Ottawa or Bon Soo festivals but then we wanted it to be just a one day visit. From GTA it was only about an hour long drive provided the traffic was acceptable and no accidents took place in the dreaded Hwy 400.

On February 4th Saturday we drove to Barrie. The drive went very well. We were there by 11 AM. The Winterfest took place in the Heritage Park right next to almost frozen Lake Simcoe. The festival it self wasn't very grandiose in look and feel and activities but the thousands of people who gathered there to celebrate it made the real difference. It did feel like a festival. The temperature were hovering just around zero degree Centigrade but as the location was near the lake it felt much colder than that.

My finger tips and toes lost most of the feelings by the time we were just half an hour  into our excursion through the park. Kids usually like the tall icy slides. Here there was a short one , nothing in comparison to what we have seen in Ottawa and Bon Soo but I guess we weren't expecting much either.
The sorry part was that even this small slide was so rough that most could slide only a few feet before halting in a total stop. The adults could care less but the kids grunted all the way to home.

 Horse cart. We ended up not taking it. 

 There was a helicopter offering ride for CAD 45/person. None from our group went any near than what can be seen in this picture.

They did like the small frozen water body inside the park where everybody skidded and rolled. Even the adults had some safe adventure walking on the thick frozen ice. 

 The kids also liked the big rolling balls.

There was a carnival that hooked itself at the end of the Winterfest. They had several rides, relatively expensive at almost 4-5 dollars per person for each ride, but the kids seemed to like them. We stayed in the festival for about couple of hours before everybody was cold and wanted to retreat. Later we visited the Pizza hut located on Bayfield road and had quite a party with about 20 people in the group.

 The mini roller coaster. Young girls loved it.

 The spinner. The preteens found something to talk about after this ride.

 Barrie downtown near Winterfest

 We returned to GTA only to gather in one of our friend's house and party until it was early morning. Overall, for a days outing, it wasn't all that bad. The kids didn't particularly find the Winterfest that enjoyable but hey they rarely finds anything interesting any more.