Dear Editor,
Since 2008, we have been living in very turbulent economic times. Growth in China is slowing, in Canada and the U.S. growth is stagnant, Spain and Greece are by all definitions in full-blown depression and most of other countries in Europe are on the brink of a new recession. In Whistler, Village businesses are closing or relocating. My favourite coffee and pizza shop run by Miro is no more.
On the other hand, for me, these are also interesting times. Many, many ski seasons ago I graduated in economics and now there are all these clashes of different economic theories, actual actions and effects taking place. It is like if you were studying volcanoes and you would get a chance to watch an eruption of a volcano.
But we, economists, are a funny breed; for everything we have a prediction that this or that will happen but then we add on the other hand this or that can also happen. That is why President Roosevelt said that one should listen only to an economist with only one hand.
A famous economist wrote that world financiers will encourage people to buy more and more expensive products, real estate and technology. For that they will provide more and more credit, which eventually people will not be able to afford. Unpaid loans will cause banks to default. Banks will have to be nationalised. This will lead to drastic social, political and economic changes.
That guy can keep both his hands. This was written around 1850. Better than Nostradamus. It also proves that humanity learns nothing from history.
Drago Arh
Whistler
