Then again

It’s every economists favorite past-time to belittle sociologists, but here Tim Harford gives some praise. All in all it’s the “what works best” thing going on. If that means economics needs to include sociology, so be it.

Yes, yes, no

It’s interesting how people have such a large distaste for anything corporate. Is it because there is no one person that they find it hard to have positive feelings for such a dynamic and efficient system? Microloans are the new “it” thing, but they do not provide solutions to developmental problems on their own. Lest we forget, second-time borrowers also have staggering default rates.

From the New Yorker:

“But thinking that everyone is, and should be, an entrepreneur leads us to underrate the virtues of larger businesses and of the income that a steady job can provide. To be sure, for some people the best route out of poverty will be a bank loan. But for most it’s going to be something much simpler: a regular paycheck.”

Whining about dining

In the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, food is served all at once so that everyone can enjoy their meal together. Here, however, that meme has not yet taken hold. Instead, dishes are brought out as soon as they are done being cooked, meaning that folks get to watch others chow down. Weird!

Counterintuitive

Why are Laos and Burma so much more appealing to visit than, say, the Philippines or Thailand? Because they are poorer. Megan McArdle brilliantly writes:

“Deep poverty is much more picturesque than moderate poverty. Poor countries have their old colonial buildings still standing, because no one had the money (or the reason) to tear them down and put up something bigger. The countryside is dotted with adorable houses made out of natural materials and natives wearing colorful traditional garb. Animals graze in verdant fields, besides teams of sowers and reapers. Middle income countries are smoggy, and almost everything looks like a cheaper, shabbier version of what you get in the US. Scenic landscapes are despoiled by cinderblock buildings with hideous tin roofs, or trailers; cities are choked with boxy modern buildings that look something like our housing projects. The genteel decay that looks gothic and intriguing on an old Victorian mansion just looks seedy when it’s eating away at badly poured concrete. Affluent Americans underestimate the utility value of things like having personal space, or an automobile.”

The importance of ports

Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York/New Jersey, Tokyo/Yokohama, Seoul/Busan, Taipei/Kaohsiung. All ports and all rocking cities to say the least. Connection?

Viet Nam still lacks a true deep-water port, which can have huge implications for future development. This is due to many reasons, including a lack of development, funding, stability, and geographical hindrances. The biggest problem today is the fact that, despite adequate support from financial sectors, there just isn’t a good place to put such a facility. All of the rivers and bays that could be potential ports are too shallow or fill up with silt too quickly for it to be dredged. Singapore has had a huge project into building its amazing port system, but they have more state control for one, and they are much more economically developed.

The benefits of such a port in Viet Nam would be immense, attracting more investment, cutting costs across the board, and increasing living standards within the country. Sai Gon, Hai Phong, and Da Nang already have ports, but they are not yet worthy of other world powers, and if Vietnam is serious about being a front runner in the new world economy, it desperately needs the rewards that a huge seaport can bring.

Dani!

Interesting for many reasons. Some points are succinct, like The Economist being very aggressive in its writing style. Not everything they write is perfect, but even they know that and willingly admit it in later issues. Still, it is some of the best news out there and serves a purpose.

Also, it goes to show that every stance should be reviewed again and again because you never know just exactly how you feel about certain things. Sometimes you have more information than at others. Who knew.

Hey, ho

Wow.

Winning line: “There is a ‘ho belt‘ phenomenon nearly synonymous with the ‘Bible Belt’.”

On a related note

Regardless of the cause, climate change is happening. It always does, but the current trend is that the poles are warming up rapidly and ice is melting, thus raising sea levels. What this means for the Mekong Delta of Viet Nam is quite worrying. Most of the land is only a few feet about sea level. Already there are many fluctuations depending on what season it is, wet or dry.

The delta is the most productive land in the country, so if that base is lost in the next hundred years, it could spell disaster, or if not that at least much pain. This is also ignoring the fact that millions of people call the delta their home, though the severity of such problems depends on its swiftness.

Cool! Or shall I say warm?

From Scott G. Borgerson’s Arctic Meltdown:

“The private sector is investing billions of dollars in a fleet of Arctic tankers. In 2005, there were 262 ice-class ships in service worldwide and 234 more on order. The oil and gas markets are driving the development of cutting-edge technology and the construction of new types of ships, such as double-acting tankers, which can steam bow first through open water and then turn around and proceed stern first to smash through ice. These new ships can sail unhindered to the Arctic’s burgeoning oil and gas fields without the aid of icebreakers. Such breakthroughs are revolutionizing Arctic shipping and turning what were once commercially unviable projects into booming businesses.”

The power of incentives once again proves to be damn powerful, quick, and efficient.

Wearing helmets

A big social awareness campaign in the States is to make sure that when kids ride bicycles they wear helmets. No one ever wears a helmet when biking around the city. No one.

Kids are young, have a lot of potential, are small and vulnerable to damage, and have their entire lives ahead of them. This makes them prime candidates for insurance, which comes by way of helmets. This goes for bikes and motorbikes.

Now, the situation is a lil different for motorbikes because the kids aren’t themselves tooling around on them, though they certainly will in the future if they make it that far in life.  Parents do not purchase kids helmets even though it is their responsibility to drive their precious, slimy bundle of love abouts. You’d think that the children would come first, but as of yet they don’t. Seeing a child with a helmet is still very much a rarity, and a sad one at that.

Yikes, bikes

Single speeds serve a purpose, but they are not as cool, dynamic, or useful as their geared brethren. For one, single speeds are slow! They do not economize on the speed that you have already attained. What a shame. Really, it is. I’ve seen a guy on a geared bike keeping pace with motorbikes in the city, but all the folks riding single speeds are on jaunts that are faster than walking, but only moderately so. Surely any form of bike is enjoyable and a step up from walking, especially when multiple people can hop on, as is the standard here. But it must be kept in mind that gears work wonders.

It’s also weird how there is, for the most part, only one size of bike. Kid’s bikes are taking the world by storm, but VN is not privy to that awesome fad. All over the place wee children who can’t even come close to sitting on the seat use adult bikes to get around. Their perseverance is laudable, but for bigger folks it can be annoying because the bikes are too small. So it goes.

Uselessness of horns

Like car alarms, no one cares about horns because they are abused to such a great extent. The usefulness of honking decreases as others take part. So, using a horn is a Nash equilibrium that carries some pretty hefty externalities, such as making me go deaf or lose sleep when I want to nap on a bus ride. So sad.

Can you hear that?

Because it is probably Toni Braxton’s Unbreak My Heart or Seasons In The Sun by Terry Jacks. God awful in every way imaginable.

Troubles back home

Lest we forget, America has 1 out of every 100 adults in prison. Yikes! That is pretty frightening. There are many reasons for it all, but one of the scarier things is how inconsistent we are as people in doling out sentences. It is almost unfathomable. Democracy is not the end all be all that some think it is. This holds true for juries as well.

We are all supposed to be equal before the law, but how true is that even today?

The battle of the century

Chopsticks or knives, forks, and spoons? Which is better? Who knows! Well, at the cheap eateries around town they offer both and the youngins prefer the spoons and forks. I gotta say, they have a leg up. They are so versatile and easy to use it’s kind of hard to beat. Chop sticks are nice for some things, but they only work well in bowls, and even then they can be trying. For now there is a happy mix, and I’m happy with it, too.

Mobility

A lot of Vietnamese haven’t been around their own country. If you mention a place, a big place like Ha Noi or Hue, a majority of people go “Oh, I’ve never been there.” I guess that’s what having a dynamic economy provides, travel for business and pleasure. I think it’s a good thing.

Hop on in

Private bus companies have huge fleets of 12 to 15 passenger vans. They are great for getting around and are pretty dirt cheap. One of the nice things is that they also stop along the way to pick up other folks who would like to get on.

Last week some friends and I were coming back to the city from a national park and didn’t have tickets, so we just flagged down a bus. From the looks of it there was no room, but a slick man in charge of the operation insisted that there was. The five of us piled on in after stashing our bags in the back. There were already 16 people stuffed in, and we had no problem getting in.

All along the way back we picked up people and dropped them off. The operation ran like butter. It’s exciting stuff, and who doesn’t mind having 25 people sharing such a lovely experience?

Rooftop Excursions (with the second word capitalized because Garik is not typing this.)

Just to warn the general public, this is Alyssa writing Garik’s blog for him.

Ah ha.  What an evening.  We are sitting on the roof of a bar in the backpacker’s district of Sai Gon.  It has been an incredibly busy week.  We had our History midterm yesterday and our Vietnamese midterm today.  Garik is actually surprisingly sufficient in Vietnamese for the mere seven weeks that we have been in Vietnamese.

Side note:  Vinh says Garik is going to get fat with him because they’re going to drink together.

Anywho, it was mad difficult to get through this week but it is finally reaching it’s end.  We had our Religious  Studies Religion Profile (a five page paper about our roommate’s religion) extended until Monday.  What a releif!  Oi!

So.

Garik is such a good human being.  I feel like he gets quote end-quote “whatitisallabout.”  He has definitely opened himself up to the Vietnamese culture and is experiencing this trip to it’s full extent.   Ah ha.  I can’t fully capture this boy in these words here…an unsuccessful attempt at giving the full credit a good human being deserves.  Shucks, foiled again.

Side note:  Vinh says Garik is such a fucking bastard.

I’m not sure I agree.

Anywho, we’re headed to the Central region on Monday and then to Ha Noi for a month.  Then back to Sai Gon for two weeks and the trip is OVER!  Woah.  Time is such a mind trip, eh?

But Garik is staying in Asia for some extended amount of time.  Thank goodness.  I think he’s a good representation of America - or, at least, he represents America in a positive light - culturally sensitive, interested in learning, he smiles a ton and laughs a lot…what a joy to have on the trip.

But enough gushing for now.

He’ll read this later and perhaps I’ll be a smidge embarrassed…but, nah.   Who need be embarrassed about how the truth?  Not I, not I.

Haha.  That’s elitist enough for this evening.

Take care and love from all of us kids far away…

.alyssa.

Note:  Rice wine goes down smoother than Satan kicking you in the teeth.

Toi thich uong

Yeah, I like to have a nice drink, whatever it may be, with my dinner. Sad story, though. Beverages almost always come after food. It is unbelievably weird to have food served first and then have drinks afterwards as more of a dessert.

Nough said.

Same same but different

Vietnam will almost always be compared with China, and the biggest difference that I’ve seen and heard is that the government does not have the power nor the will to make big, sweeping changes. Think infrastructure. Think foreign trade deals. The process of development is no doubt ridiculous here, but it is not the same “at whatever cost” attitude that China has. Whether or not that will pay off in the future is up for debate. As for now, though, it is still mucho bureaucracy, coordination and communication problems on many different levels, and a longer process to lay down much needed improvements. What the country has going for it is stability, a recognition of future planning, and people’s overall distrust of a growing China.