It has always been my role to tell you the reality and teach you how to fish, and not giving you a fish, nor the bogus “American Dream” or things-will-somehow-get-better hope. I have been saying for a while that the economy is going to be much worse and now the really hard time is going to come.
The House approved one of the biggest cuts in US history. When they were discussing this, there were many scientists trying to oppose to the plan, including FASEB. Why? Look at the numbers, among the comprehensive cuts in all governmental agencies, here are a few that we are very familiar with:
NSF -$139M
CDC -$755M
NIH -$1B
One billion cut at NIH means that the funding rate will become even lower and many programs will not be sustained. As they also put it
Make no mistake, these cuts are not low-hanging fruit. These cuts are real and will impact every District across the country”.
Put it simply, it is a survival game. There is nowhere to hide in society now given the budget cut, poor fundamentals of the US economy and societal structure. Those who want to get a chance (note: it is “getting a chance”) to survive need to show their very best in this modernized jungle. You need to fight very hard for your chance and survival. If you possess the “American-Dream” mentality that “I have done everything and I have tried, hence I deserve an “A” or “X”, despite things didn’t work out”, you will have trouble in this game.
Yuk Fai Leung says:
A friend forwards this article from a Hong Kong newspaper to me which echos what I am saying here. It is a bit long for me to translate, but I am sure if you are interested in reading that, you can find someone to tell you the story or use google translate to get the picture.
http://hkm.appledaily.com/Home/ShowArticle/1dd52119-349e-4f3a-9cb7-2f75ef44b62c
There is a social problem in Hong Kong recently that college graduates can’t find (good) jobs. Many gets $1500/month salary or low. There is a case that a Master graduate whom sent out 200 applications and didn’t get an interview. They are all depressed and think this is the problem of the society and they are not treated fairly. They deserve “X” because they are a college graduate and/or they have tried “hard” enough. I myself also feel the same way sometimes and think this is a very dangerous thought because it is not being realistic. I wonder how we have evolved into this mentality and our parents’ generation did not.
February 20, 2011, 3:03 PM