Saturday, March 30, 2019

Should banks and private money lenders be punished for loaning 'untenable' amounts of money to borrowers?

I am reading now about China's massive loaning of untenable amounts of money to countries (like Sri Lanka ) in order to put these countries in a debt trap. This reminded me of the ordinary people who are given such untenable amounts of money by banks and loan sharks.
 Banks, credit card companies and of course private money lenders all over the world are loaning massive amounts of money to people ,who even on cursory evaluation, are unable to return the money.
Here are 2 examples from India. I have seen banks loaning money(lakhs of rupees)  to a 82 year old retired person, who has limited pension and there is no way he can return the money to the bank unless his children bail him out...putting themselves into deep financial mess. I have seen another guy, almost 60 years old, earning less than 60 k rupees a month who has taken loans from banks, credit card companies and private loan sharks. The interest on his loans is exceeding his income! There is no way he can return this money.

Shouldn't the governments of all countries do something about this? The unscrupulous banks who  lended money to people (with limited income) at low interest rates and then hiking the interest brought down the US economy and housing in 2008. The ripple effect of this was seen in countries and affected made victims of people, all over the world who had nothing to do with this! Let me give an example.  The US economy was booming pre 2008...textile factories in India exporting to USA were booming. Women from villages and towns on the outskirts of Bangalore came to Bangalore, worked in these factories and sent money home to their families. Agriculture has been failing in Karnataka (where Bangalore is in) and these women's earnings supported their parents, brothers and children. When the US economy crashed, the textile factories closed in Bangalore, leaving these poor employees in the lurch. Many of these women turned to prostitution! There was no other job which would pay them as much as working in a garment factory. Some tired to work as housemaids and it simply did not pay enough to support themselves, their families and the terrible inflation in India. So do you see what I mean when I say, about ripple effects?

I am working in the mental health sector, specifically with developmentally disabled (i.e. mentally retarded) adults. I see a few of them getting into the traps of these loan sharks (money mart for example). When people with 'normal' IQ are getting into the clutches of loan sharks, can you imagine how much worse it is for people who have significantly lesser intelligence than the average population, when they get trapped into debt by loan sharks?

I strongly believe that the government needs to do a lot more than what they are doing now to curtail the legal but highly immoral behaviours of these banks, credit card companies and private monehy lenders.

My suggestions would be:
Check the income of the person to whom you are loaning the money.(they are already doing this I think)
Next, CHECK his current expenses. They are NOT doing this for sure.
Then check, what are the practical plans the borrower has to return the money. Usually, the borrowers have  no workable plan to return the money. They have a fantasy plan, based on wishful thinking than reality, when it comes to returning the money. THIS is where the problem lies.
I know that banks , credit card companies and loan sharks need these fools to sustain them. Their survival becomes difficult  without these foolish borrowers. Robbing is illegal and robbers are finding it difficult to survive as the government has made robbery illegal. But they do find other legal ways of earning a living. I hope that the government makes money lending to people who cannot return the money also illegal. I am sure that the lenders will find other ways of earning a honest and moral living.



Friday, March 29, 2019

March 29, 2019, walk in Rouge Valley near Meadowvale, Toronto

Walked this morning in Rouge Valley, first time this year. The snow was frozen on the paths and some paths were slushy. But the temperature was great, around 10 degree celsius. As it was a working day, no crowds at all . Enjoyed the silence. Saw the longest train I have ever seen go by through the valley. I recorded the passage of this train for 6 minutes...imagine it's length! It had 3 engines and so that itself predicted that the train would be long
The waters of the Rouge river was a brownish green and reminded my husband of the glacier waters in the Himalayas. The river was running quite fast...maybe lots of water due to melting snow. 

 Above is needle pine I picked in Rouge Valley and below is another type of pine I picked at Don Valley.

 Below are pine trees, ice covered ground and the Rouge river running with snow melts

One can sit here and meditate. At one point, during the climb, the only sound was of a tree! I guess a tree was rubbing against another in the wind and we heard a series of sounds. At first I could not figure out what that noise was..I thought it was some bird, and then maybe some person was working on something and after a while realized it was generated by one or two trees when the wind moved them to rub against each other.

I realize that I have hardly ever been able escape from noise...human made noise, especially traffic sounds.  How far away from civilization should one be to escape noise? Then, to reach that place, we need roads and roads mean traffic noises! If traffic could come to a standstill, once in a while, it will be so lovely ...we can then notice the other sounds ...like birds, the rustle of leaves, the rain, wind, flowing waters (and the cardinal I am hearing outside my window right now at 7am, March 30 morning).

My friend who goes to northern Ontario speaks of the silence and beauty there ...but the problems of being far from civilization seem to be greater than the advantages unfortunately!

Sunday, March 24, 2019

Beaver cut tree in Beechwood Drive entry to Donlands ravine

Yesterday, Saturday, March 23, 2019, we took our first walk this year at the area behind Ontario Science Centre and later at the Don Valley ravines from Beechwood Drive (where the police dogs training spot is)

Saw that the streams flowing into the Don river were still frozen.

Trees still bare of leaves.

and also a tree cut down by  beavers!

I now understand why some trees have a iron mesh work round them about 3 feet high, on the ground.




Observe the teeth marks on the bark...it's definitely not  the marks of any man-made tool.

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Spotted this march 23, 2019...first flowers this year in the garden.
There may be more flowers but not dared to venture out into the ice-covered garden at back

Thursday, March 21, 2019

March 21, 2019: Happiness is ...spending a cloudy working day at home...

Now it's 10.30am, March 21, 2019...I have taken the day off from work (Religious holiday...Holi). I am studying today.
At this very minute, as I am typing this, I am on a study break from my psychology exam...
Thanks to the absence of brilliant cognitive functioning, studying has always been an arduous task for me. But today I am enjoying as I am reading something fun...cases studies dealing with ethics.

During this break, I am typing this to record the sense of peace I am feeling now. I want to record it as these moments are quite rare. I am not generally unhappy or depressed but neither do I  have frequent moments of this sense of peace and well being.

I am alone at home. (Husband is at work) The cat's fast asleep at my feet. As I look outside, the bedroom window the skies are grey. It's one degree celsius.  I am warm in bed, with a sweater on  and tucked under a duvet.
 It's quiet. I love this silence! Especially because it's so rare! My husband is such a chatterbox and  a youtube addict and music lover....which makes for continuous noise at home when he's around.  Since we both leave to work and arrive together, we are always together and so ...no silence at home.

For breakfast I am having  leftover Kombucha(gingerade) from costco with leftover Ruffles potato chips (Husband buys chips but does not finish them. I have poured the  leftovers from many packets into a bowl now) and bitter gourd chips (Udupi chips). It's heavenly to take a sip of Kombucha after a few ruffles chips in mouth!

Going back to my studies now. 
Hope to have lots of these moments of silent peace in future.
My mind is blank...no thoughts of the exam, my family and their problems, my friends or the political situation or anything. 

Nirvana today  is .... me, the silence, the grey sky, blank mind, kombucha and chips!

Back to study now!

I believe I am so fond of silence these days as I am trying to study...I simply cannot concentrate with noise around me. 
Silence was not such a big deal for me before. Once I finish this damn exam, I may not cherish silence as much as I do now.

Change over time..in me

 I have stopped rating books, TV shows and movies based on how much I "liked" them or "enjoyed" them. I rate them as ...