Is poverty really at the heart of the London Riots?

A society can only work if every member of the said society feels that they have something to gain from being a valuable and law-abiding member of that society. The counterpoint to having something to gain is of course when people have nothing to lose. When we reach a stage where people feel they have nothing to lose, their lives and prospects so bleak that they would rather spit in the face of the society that they are supposedly a part of – we end up in a scenario like we have in London right now.

The question I am interested in understanding is how people reach a stage in a country like Britain where they feel that they have nothing to lose. The point I am trying to raise here is that the rioting has been blamed on the poverty, deprivation and injustices that these youths feel. However I am at a loss to understand this point – Britain is country with an extremely generaous social security system which cares for anyone who is unable (or not wanting) to work. There are also ample opportunities for people to skill themselves as the education system is free and despite its various flaws is able to provide a decent education to anyone that is motivated enough.

Now compare this to the truly extereme poverty that you see in many countries across the world (more than half the worlds population live in genuine poverty) and you certainly would not see these people rioting – even though some of the citizens of these countries probably should be demonstrating more due to the extreme corruption that keeps them poor in their countries. No doubt the poor in these countries would consider the so called poor that are rioting very privileged given all the opportunities that they have had. And also probably foolish given how little they have made of those opportunities.

The point here is these riots have nothing to do with poverty. The real problem is the culture of instant gratification that permeates through our society now. It is no longer deemed necessary to work for anything, these youths feel that they are owed everything as their “human right”. What does it matter if they are not able to find gainful employment ? They can just break into shops and loot what they like in any case – after all they feel that they are justified in taking whatever they feel they deserve.

I saw the following quote in an article in the Guardian:

That Cameron doesn't know what he's talking about. He's lucky he can get a holiday. These kids don't get a holiday.

The above pretty much sums it up really. David Cameron may be wrong on a lot of things but at the end of the day he is the prime minister of the country and he works pretty hard – so he does deserve a holiday. These kids would also be able to get a holiday if they worked hard and made an honest living. It is this culture of entitlement that seems to be poisoning the very fabric of the society that we live in. The feeling now is that the socity owes them something for doing nothing and if it is not given it should just be taken. There is no understanding that in order to receive you need to initially put something into your community and society.

So lets stop blaming social exclusion and poverty for the London Riots. There are plenty of poor people in the world who behave with far greater dignity in much more trying circumstances than these youths that have brought havoc to London.

Germany will not suport Italy with any form of bailout.

The Spiegel reports that Germany cannot support any bailout of Italy as the numbers are simply too large. Expect carnage on monday, or a retraction on sunday...

Link to the google translate of the original German Article.

US Downgraded, China starts to gloat

Following the downgrading of US debt from AAA by S&P, China has started gloating and even giving free advice to the US to curb its addiction to debt.
In the piece linked above on Xinhua above the Chinese seem to be viewing this as an opportunity to demand some changes of the US. The spirit of the advice is not wrong - the US does need to control its spending and certainly the debt is at an unsustainable level. However for China to be doling out advice is a bit rich.

China, the largest creditor of the world's sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States to address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China's dollar assets.

I find the bit above amusing - if China does not like the way US debt is going surely they can just sell it rather than whinge about it publicly? As a bond holder they should be aware that there is an inherent risk of holding any financial asset. Also they are the single largest foreign creditor to the US, but they are nowhere near being the largest creditor to the US - US Pension funds, the Fed and other organizations hold by far the largest amount of US Treasuries (on an aside it will be very interesting to see how pension funds react as they may have to sell due to loss in rating).

To cure its addiction to debts, the United States has to reestablish the common sense principle that one should live within its means.

Absolutely agreed with the above sentiment. However lets also add that it is common sense to let your currency be valued realistically and not let it remain artificially weak and as a result imbalance world trade and build up reserves by "beggaring your neighbour".

China needs to seriously look at their own house before they start commenting on others. While there is some sense to what is being said, the tone of the comments seem a bit odd.

Putting the You back into YouTube

One of the killer features of Google+ has to be Hangouts. Hangouts allows you to initiate a video chat with upto 10 people - this is the functionality that could really put Google+ ahead of Facebook in the Social Media war. Facebook of course have also rolled out functionality that allows you to talk to your friends using Skype within Facebook, but in my view the Hangouts functionality is by far superior.

Early indications are pretty encouraging for Google, with Michael Dell being a big fan and he is even talking about using Hangouts for customer service for Dell. This is merely one example of how this could be used by various people. I have envisaged one potential use for myself being the ability to start a work circle related hangout and then I can essentially have a conference with people in different geographic locations. This could really add a big boost to the off-shoring model - hangouts gives companies a cheap and easy way to communicate with their off-shored staff and make everyone feel like they are part of one global team and get a lot of "face time" with different employees.

Another use for hangouts could be to do live press conferences. Of course there is the problem of the 10 users per hangout , but there is already sites where a hangout can be streamed to reach a wider audience e.g. Googlecircus.com . Of course the ideal solution would be for Google to allow a feed of a Hangout to be broadcast live to YouTube so that non participants can just view the live Hangout event. Add some record functionality to the YouTube feed and you really have a very compelling product. Imagine how aspiring musicians could use this to reach a wider audience. I can also see this being used for delivering training courses, teaching etc.

Ultimately I am sure Google will create this link to YouTube, it is such a obvious move for the company. And once they do it it really could put the You back in YouTube.