Booming in China, but out of control?

Tsk tsk tsk.. I find it hard to believe something so big and slow is all of a sudden 'out of control'

But apparently it is.

The Chinese Economy is doing very well, remember Taiwan was at 10% growth for about 40 straight years. I don't think China at 8% is that scary (ahem, though the country is about 30 times bigger by population.. not usually a great sign for GDP/capita)

Because I'm not living there, I can root for all the really great things that are happening there:

The Olympics in 2008 mean TONS of construction, and all the new infrastructure is investment based largely on that.

In Beijing, an airport terminal under construction will be bigger than all five terminals at London's Heathrow Airport combined. The capital will also add an estimated one billion square feet of high-end property by 2008, according to Jack Rodman, a partner at Ernst & Young in Beijing.

Cool. But let's not forget, China has been hauling ass to catch up to Hong Kong. Which means new laws bringing them closer to the, eh, 20th century. They're still stuck in A Tale of Two Cities, in terms of their working conditions, but be patient. It's called gradualism.

And what has the US been saying all this time? The US is sick of how.. er.. competitive CHina is, and would love it if their yuan was more expensive.

In other words, "please let the Yuan float because it will hurt you" Which China can now do. Yay!

Does it sound like they're freefalling in an Economic boom?

China has tried a variety of tactics to rein in the economy. Under pressure from the US, officials a year ago loosened the yuan's peg to the US dollar, and the Chinese currency has since appreciated about 3.8 per cent. The People's Bank of China has raised both interest rates and reserve requirements for banks, and last month ordered regional branches to halt "blind expansion and building of redundant, low value-added industries".

They call it gradualism.

At least they're not taking 'advice' from their competitors.

The Paradox of Mastery

Busy busy busy....

Last couple weeks up at SFU, and I gotta tell ya, it's getting slack. I've got a few presentations to do (old hat by now) and about 500 pages to read, most of which I'll fake my way through anyway.

The other day I was in the library, killing t-- er, reading up my schoolwork, when a thought occurred to me.

As I watched herds of stressed out students cram for Finals, or finish some online chemistry assignments, I thought what was really motivating me (clearly, it was a case of lacking motivation ;) )..



Most students do the University thing for money. I'm so thankful that I actually do get jacked up talking about international relations and economics, and I don't doubt that every Chemistry student or Humanities nut out there will say the same thing.

But ripping our hair out to be 95% kids in some subject....? Now, if we could use Chemistry to come up with some useful new drugs, yeah, that's incredible, and the Humanities guys are salivating at the thought of travelling the world doing excavations (I won't lie... I'm thinking Indiana Jones right now...I took a couple HUM courses.. very very cool stuff).

Are there other things we freak out about, but don't really do us any good?

I thought about our obsession with Mastery, more specifically. When I think about playing a sport, or playing music, I think about Mastery. Weird huh? When you take a course, you probably think about passing, but there are A LOT of kids that think about MASTERING a particular subject.

How about being the best Doctor, ...not just the best doctor you can be, but the best doctor THERE IS?

We think about perfection when we go to the gym... when we check ourselves in the mirror... when we check our bank accounts... After all, anything less than 'perfection' is a flaw...

So what IS the Paradox?

Trying to master something that inheretly doesn't bring you satisfaction... and when you DON'T get satisfied, your response is to just try harder.

Wow. Sweet. Vicious Cycle.

Imagine you work in a lumber yard. I did this one summer, carrying lumber all day... At first I was clumsy, but I made a game of it, getting better at carrying the wood in bigger bundles, getting good a wrapping the whole thing (some tarps that went over the wood) and stapling the tarps, faster and faster... so that it was like a race, who could get their bundle done fastest.

That's the only way to motivate yourself in a job like that---- the male ego. At some point, you don't make any mistakes.. but something has to give, because it's not a satisfying job... you can either get BETTER and hope that THAT will put a smile on your face, or change directions...

What ultimately brought me satisfaction was the people I worked with, matering the job was like a hobby, a distraction.

My point is not that there are things out there that you shouldn't stress out about, but hey, there are things out there, that get ADDICTIVE because they are inherenty UNSATISFYING... It's hilarious how popular these things are..(duh, they're addictive... smoking, drugs,gambling, crappy movies, video games, shopping addictively, chasing fame, popularity, getting a great looking body, getting someone to like you, a great looking bank account... it's like a sugar rush)

Do you have anything like this in your life...? Is it time you decide what actually makes you happy, and establish some RULES for handling all these distractions?

I have to be VERY CAREFUL when I look at my own life, and say, "Okay, besides the money and power thing, where am I going" because if it's something shallow like that, I know it'll lead to ruin..... Fame, Money, Power, these are EFFECTS of being thrilled/ecstatic NOT CAUSES.

I'd love to hear back from some of you guys, we'll see how this things holds up, and I'll let you know what happens with BCbookworm.com....

Have a great Sunday!