Curious Random Thoughts

As I sit now and reflect on the year gone by, I have nothing but gratitude in my mind. While 2020 has been rough for many due to loneliness, sickness and the loss of livelihood; it also has been deadly for some who lost their lives due to the covid pandemic. However for those of us who were lucky to have survived the pandemic with a job we love, a home to live in and a loving family, I feel this has been one of the best years ever.  While it sucked that we could not travel or visit loved ones or interact with colleagues in the physical world for most part of the year, in many other areas this year has been a real blessing in disguise.  Despite the most unusual circumstances we all have seen during our lifetime, I have come to realize how happy I have been going out even for a small walk with family, enjoying the long hikes without the crowds, appreciating the beautiful planet that we live in, having the time to take photographs and taking the time to appreciate them, having en...

  Extreme Economies by Richard Davies is a fascinating journey around the world to people and places which have survived despite the odds, to places which have lost their economic potential and to places which give a window into the economics of the future. The author through his travels to Aceh in Indonesia, the refugee camps of Zaatari in Jordan and to the prisons of Louisiana in the United Sates shows the potential of humans where market dynamics trump official policy when they are allowed to bloom.Through his travels to the Darien Gap in Central America, Kinshasa in the Congo and Glasgow in Scotland, the author shows us a different side of humanity where despite the past glory and the current potential these places have not been able to come out of their rut and don't seem to have a future. Finally traveling through Akita in Japan, Tallinn in Estonia and Santiago in Chile, the author shows us how the future economies might be shaped with an aging declining population or with fu...