Tumbling down

Economics has never been my strong point. Sure, I did my MBA way back in 1995, and one of the subjects was economics. But to be frank, the subject is too subjective for someone who is used to handling chemicals, test tubes and the Bunsen burner in laboratories. Give me organic chemistry anytime.

Anyway, this past few weeks, our media has been running a lot of stories on Malaysia's impressive economic showing. There were people who are happy with these indicators. This is because Jack and Jill were both going up the hill. Nonetheless, there are detractors here and there in the blogosphere mainly who refute these claims as not painting the full picture. Sure, Jack and Jill went up the hill, but is there water on the hill that they can actually fetch?

However, I am no expert in economics. So, I take the figures as they are - simply, figures. For the figures to matter to the man on the street like me, they have to be translated into something that I can derive direct benefit from. For instance, my buying power, my income, my expenses, etc. So far, I have yet to "derive" any direct benefit from the figures that has been released periodically saying that the economy is good.

And of course, when the Chinese stock market tumbled as reported everywhere today, the regional economies feel its impact. Malaysian stock market also came tumbling down. Just asJack fell down, Jill also came tumbling after. It could have been worse if not for the institutional buying at the eleventh hour. While many people see this as worrisome, I for one am at least grateful that I wasn't affected directly because I am not an investor per se. But I do worry if this is a sign of worse things to come.

Things have been pretty much fluid and unpredictable these days. I hope that the powers-that-be know what they're doing because if the economy is run by Jack and Jill who only know Economics 101, then we're in trouble as things would surely come tumbling down.

But then again, who am I to comment. Like I said, I'm no economic expert.