Scarcity in Abundance

I was baffled the first time I came across a STOP sign in the US. Thankfully, it was before I started driving there. I saw vehicles approach the sign from all directions, stop for a moment or two, and proceed without any commotion or confusion. I tried my best to crack the code, but gave up, and asked an American colleague. She gave me a ridiculous look and said, well, whoever approaches the STOP sign first, gets to go first. #@$@##@!!

Of course, STOP signs will never work in our country, but even signals are under pressure. On my way to work, I stopped at a red light, put on the hand brake and waited for the signal to turn green. Obviously, I was a novice. The professionals don’t believe in relaxing. Rather, they are on the lookout for the signal to turn green for the cross-traffic, judge how long it would remain so, and slowly start inching towards the intersection as it turns amber, such that by the time our signal turned green, they zip off a clean 5 seconds ahead of us. That’s an important 5 seconds though for they manage to reach the next signal ahead of the pack, and in front of the line.

I am quite certain I have indulged in similar acts of desperation, either on the road or elsewhere, so I don’t consider myself any different. But what drives our behavior? I believe it is the deep sense of insecurity embedded in our national psyche. Generations have grown up in misery and scarcity where life was a zero-sum game. You won only if your neighbor lost. Although the situation has considerably improved, these fears have not been fully alleviated.

This is aptly summed up by Shashi Kapoor in the movie, Deewar. The scene shows Shashi Kapoor being interviewed for a manager position. The interviewers like him and offer him the job when a young lad barges in. He apologizes for the delay and explains that he had to walk as he was out of money for the bus fare. The interviewers turn him away because the job has already been offered. Unable to see the young lad in misery, Shashi Kapoor rejects the job citing poor pay. The job goes to the lad, who recognizes this gesture and is extremely grateful. Shashi Kapoor simply suggests that “Yeh zindagi ek third class ka dibba hain dost. Main baith jaata, tho tum khade ho jaate.”

Credit card fraud

Enough has been said about the less-than-clean practices of financial institutions that perpetuated the housing crisis. Mortgage lenders have been accused of predatory lending practices and selling home loans to people that could afford them in the first place. Yet, the people running the mother of all scams continue to mint money.

The business plan of the credit card business would sound hysterical if it werent true. Create a card that lets people spend money they dont have, then charge banks for issuing these cards and merchants for accepting them!! Sounds villainous, but you have to give it to the ingenuity of Visa and Mastercard. They have managed to drive the world's largest economy into a trillion dollars of debt. In some ways, the credit card culture can be blamed for the reckless nature of US homeowners in taking on loans they knew nothing about.

If the idea was just convenience, couldnt they have just created a card that lets people spend their own money? I realize I am giving the impression that the top guys at Visa and MasterCard went on a strategic retreat for a week and racked their brains to come up with this fraud, which is probably not the case. Most likely, the card started out with the noble cause of offering convenience, but we took it to a totally different level. Of course, the debit card is ubiquitous today and is outpacing credit cards, but thats only 'coz we have realized our folly.