Credit crunch. Stocks slump. Global economic crisis. Recession.
I hardly have any idea how these stuff would do me any bad. As an ordinary person in an ordinary developing country, I am not (yet) affected by the gloomy crisis days.
The only reason why I also felt depressed about two weeks ago was simply because I read too many stories on this issue, which has been continually making headlines in almost all newspapers during perhaps the past month.
Later on I find out, after some discussions with some friends, that the U.S.-led financial crisis only took direct effect on Indonesia's stock market, which means only the shareholders would feel the impact.
Poor people like me can only pity the panic stock players and thank God the same maddening stuff doesn't hit us as severe as the skyrocketing oil prices did us several months ago (even the oil prices are slumping now; isn't that a good news for ordinary oil consumer like some of us? I just wonder why our government seems so reluctant to cut the prices after increasing them a few months ago).
Back to the economic crisis, the only impact I can feel directly on me is the rising prices of laptops.
The credit crunch and all those sorts of stuff, including the U.S. bailouts, have somehow made the rupiah plunge deeply against U.S. dollars, and subsequently prompt the notebook price hikes (most of our laptops are still imported; that is why we're badly affected with this currency issue).
I've planned since last year to buy a laptop, but have always delayed the plan because I needed the money for everything else. And now the prices are rising, and I have to wait until they slump again, which could be never =(.
Of course, some observers have predicted that most Indonesians will start feeling the impacts of the global economic crisis next year. But, somehow I'm not so worried about that.
Anyway, even though I and many other people here hardly felt the bad impacts of the crisis personally, I had had no idea it could bring any positive impact before I heard a lecture from an Australian economics professor last week.
He said the crisis, while is on-going, may reduce greenhouse gases emissions, which mean a little slowdown of the global warming. Well, well, well, isn't that a good news?
I have earlier talked lengthy about the negative correlation between economic growth and environmental sustainability efforts in this blog. Yet I have no idea how the world will ever be ready to prefer saving the environment to slowing economic development. Every country is too selfish and too greedy to give up their growth prospects for the sake of saving the environment.
So, there's no other way to make these countries reduce their emissions but by slowing down their economic growth and therefore their production capacities.
And it is these credit crunch, financial crisis, stocks slump and things as such that makes it possible.
You know, I don't think the recession is that bad either. I think it can teach us to spend our money more wisely instead of continually wasting it for unnecessary stuff. And believe me, that can indeed slow down our carbon emissions and,hopefully, cool down the warming globe.
