Jason Liew

 

Do we live for bread?

No.

We don’t live for bread, ONLY.

We, human, live for something greater.

Human being stands out from other living creatures,

because we are blessed with everything animals have,

but we have redefined human life with a greater cause, than merely food.

We are who we are,

because we go beyond the necessities,

because we live by,

and we live in,

excess.

 

On the very first few days of his presidency,

Barrack Obama went on TV and criticized multibillion-dollar CEO

about excessive spending.

 

And Time magazine,

recently came out with an issue,

“The End of Excess”, addressing the greed of corporate high-flyers,

which eventually drove global financial market into hardest hit in post-war history.

 

With all due respect,

TIME, your article was just bullshit.

Mr Obama, your aforementioned presidential address was nothing,

but nonsense that contradicts with the great American Dream.

 

 

Ask a 5 years old kid in childcare centre,

about who he wants to be in the future,

and he says “the brave fire-fighters that save lives”.

And you see a pure-hearted generation with great dreams

that capitalism and materialism have yet to taint on it.

However,

we still see the same thing in these untainted-hearts,

the willingness to live for something greater than themselves,

The kid doesn’t choose this profession

because the urge to put off flames

nor to get on Playboy magazine as the sexiest “iron-man”, 

nor because of financial security or 401k.

 

Indeed,

The kid plans to devote his life to a quite selfless cause.

Would you see fire-fighters as a job?

I don’t.

Fire-fighting is not a job,

it’s a life statement.

It’s about changing endings.

It’s about

“Yes, we can’t do anything about

the occurrence of a tragedy that has already begun

But, we can change the ending of this story.”

And, there goes you read hundreds of 9-11 heroic stories.

 

It’s only when we have people devote their lives to this sort of exotic profession

rather than 9-to-5 office politics,

our society can function as a whole, with unalienable rights upheld.

Fire-fighters put their lives at risk,

and get into a sort of deal with hell and heaven,

literally exchanging his, one life, for another or more,

we respect their passion and mission.

But when it comes to be one of our friends or family who is doing so,

we are likely to judge it

as “excessive”, “unnecessary”

or a simply “Why you?”

 

Yes, “excessive”.

 

 

Putting down the Playboy magazine’s  “the sexiest fire-fighter”,

we get down to Hollywood.

We see Paris Hilton with Chanel bag, Jimmy Choo’s shoes, Tiffany’s ring,

We see Tom Cruise driving Ferrari in Ferragamo sun glasses,

and wearing Patek Phillipe watch.

A rational person may ask

why someone would spend thousands to millions on a Ferrari,

while 1/20 of the price tag

can get you a decent Japanese car or a low-end General Motor’s vehicle,

which also functions exactly same as a tool to transport people from A to B.

 

Yes, it’s all about pride.

Prestige.

The end-product of luxury

The nature of excess.

 

Reaching the very fundamental question of life,

We are all equal under the Declaration of Independence,

and we all are told to be inherently unique amongst the others.

But we know,

by saying “everyone is special”,

it’s just another sugar-coated way of saying “No one is special”.

 

And we live to be REALLY different from others,

some turned out to be a doctor or lawyer,

and some turned out to be a Hollywood star with that Ferrari,

and the rest just turned on the TV, and settled down in mediocrity,

and kept trying to persuade oneself by saying “At least I am simple and happy”.

Pathetic.

 

What I find out recently,

is that people don’t get happy when they are doing things rationally.

Hereby, I propose whichever professor

that created the “Ten Principles of Economics”

with one of them assuming “people are rational”,

You are wrong.

 

If you buy a shirt at $15 at Target,

you pay to get something.

If you buy a shirt at $1500 at Hugo Boss,

you pay to be someone.

Excess, is not evil.

Excess makes you REALLY different.

 

If you are the president of America,

You don’t get happy

just because you are the highest-paid civil servant,

You don’t get happy

just because you propose bills and approve plans,

You don’t get happy

because you read out the blood-boiling presidential speech

written by someone else.

 

People just don’t get happy enough,

when they are doing what they are suppose to, or entitled to.

They need,

and they want

a lot more to be truly happy.

 

However,

 

You get happy,

when you casual morning jogging on the street,

turned out to be a Secret Service marathon ,

with human shield covers you

from more than 8 directions.

 

 

You get happy,

When your family Sunday dinner drive-out,

turned out to be a multiple streets closed-down,

forcing hundreds of other families to eat-in at home,

due to traffic diversion.

 

Everyone will say all of those things are unnecessary.

They are excessive.

They are nothing much about being a president.

But, who doesn’t like it?

 

Who walks into Oval office

with the single thought of just being a top decision maker

of this democratic nation,

while all provided hard choices to decisions sound lousy, anyway?

 

 

It’s about the excessive stuff.

Excess is not wrong.

It’s the powerhouse of society progression,

Greed drives mankind.

It’s like you can’t blame whoever invented knife

for all the murders and homicide.

We should not blame greed or excess.

 

 

When you say bankers and top CEOs are bullshit,

getting millions remuneration while companies are in deep red,

you have to think,

provided the liquidity and job mobility in financial institution and intermediaries,

one and only thing to remain talented employees to serve under your company,

and to turn things around,

rather than get out there with their clients

and broker by themselves on Wall street,

is but the “excess stuff”,

the great umbrella of corporate veil,

the bottomless expenditure book,

the thousands dollar lunch,

the Maldives 5-star holidays

and perhaps

the private jet G5.

 

 

It is not that we ignore the middle class taxpayers voices,

but we have to acknowledge

the priority of serving the upper class people

who generate the most wealth,

who do have enough influence in the market,

who did bring everyone into this crisis,

but also who could bring everyone through it,

is but a controversial move for the greater good of everyone.

 

 

We can play the blame game,

we can fire away everyone who deems responsible.

We can get all the vengeance,

but not GDP,

not credit growth,

not consumer confidence.

 

 

It’s not to say all means to bail out corporations are right,

even a 5 years old kid knows

when a bail-out bill is twice the thickness of Yellow Pages,

there’s something seriously wrong.

But, if we don’t do so

the greatest financial system, the biggest capitalism structure,

just can’t sustain and survive by itself.

 

 

The harshest truth of capitalism,

is to give an illusion of control.

USA is most well known for its social mobility.

You work smart or hard enough,

you may climb the ladders and get to be someone, someday.

 

 

People send their children into Harvard or Brown,

withholding investment and pleasure,

stuck in a white-collar middle-upper class job,

paying a ridiculously high tuition fees,

hoping for a great future for next generation,

and what?

 

 

We got top university graduates that can’t find job,

and firms just say

“Sorry, we value practical experience far far over academic exposure.”

And you find,

schools are an utopia of wisdom

but a complete failure for job market.

 

Be optimistic,

at least from Harvard Business School

One in a thousand, may really end up being a banker, a real capitalist.

At least from Brown,

One in a million,  may really end up being a president,

a real rags to riches.

 

The aforementioned few of them,

do will have their American dream realised,

the so-called “if you think you can, you can!”.

But how about the others?

 

They either stuck with an aging lousy wife,

or a child with expensive tuition fees to be paid,

or a blood-sucking mortgage who requires 2 full income to sustain,

or all of them.

And you, a so-called white collar top school graduates,

don’t even dare to think about firing boss or quitting marriage. 

Congratulation,

American dream just turned out to be the worst nightmare.

 

Yes, this is how capitalism works.

We must keep the rich richer, and the poor poorer,

but at the same time,

we must give an illusion of control to the poor.

We need to set up “education”  as a tool of illusion,

a mean to lure the poor to dream,

We need to show the “excessive” and “luxury” of upper class to them,

in order to motivate them to continue their rat-race

just like you put a BMW sport car beside poker machines in Las Vegas.

 

Excess,

is never evil.

Excess is but the most important element of capitalism,

Excess is but the spirit of American Dream.

 

Excess,

is the well-drafted slogan on your super bowl lottery ticket,

“Your ticket to dream” .

To one or few,

the word “dream” is a noun.

To many others,

the word “dream” remains a verb.