Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The little Park Avenue!



Just like the Americans, we in Bhutan have now become very much obsessed with land, owning a house and a car. This is the ‘American Dream’ where everyone is given an opportunity to own it as people say, “America is the land of opportunities”. Now, according to critics and economists, this balance of power is shifting towards the east. If you know what I mean! 

Whether or not you may like to believe, corporations run the American dream in America. And here, we are yet to figure that out! Corporations feed government, politics, banking, energy, health, education, housing and the list goes on and on. There are a few select top millionaires and ultra rich who run this business of controlling almost all activities in America. Why can’t ordinary Americans afford to pay for health? It’s because they can’t afford the insurance. America is no longer what we fantasize in movies and in televisions. There are working people who can’t afford a decent housing although they trade with the most powerful currency in the world. So is the same with all other sectors. Rich minority with poor majority is the scene in the USA. And these ultra rich reside in Park Avenue, NYC. 

In Bhutan, Thimphu is growing out to be the little Park Avenue for the relatively rich and the wealthy and it has suffered an increasing number of youth unemployment thereby multiplying a host of other urban nuisance. Everything that governs Bhutan is located in Thimphu. An inconvenient truth! I pay my visit to the capital bi-annually for several reasons and the most happening thing would be never ending housing nightmares and new faces in search of opportunities. Can I make the assumption that there are some select wealthy who indirectly owns government? Let’s not make this happen in Bhutan. I also do positively hope that the government now will not let this happen otherwise we are being capitalistic in the name of progress, development and economic prosperity. 

Let us not make Thimphu another NYC with its own little Park Avenue! 

Every sphere of our unique life is colored with traditions and beliefs and it should remain such that we can proudly declare that we are the true people who value love, ethics, culture, morality so on and so forth. Otherwise, it won’t be long when we have to feed on cheap Chinese products which America does today. I want all my fellow bloggers and readers to think about the following, the world fears China not for its communism but for its capitalism!

Food for thought: “The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.” -Thomas Jefferson

2 comments:

  1. Very well written and agree with you point for point on this. Everything is here and when people are tempted we brand them rural-urban-migrating! And that authorities say is bad. But they would not want to move out of the comfort zone and want only OTHERS to be and rot there! Really not happy with this!

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    1. Thanks for the comment Nawang P. Phuntsho. I have lived my professional life in a remote corner of Bhutan and I see this difference and change. Although, I am happy about the rapid urbanization taking place who knows, some may be there to pull the strings and hold them when we need it. Our Government emphasizes Rural Urban Migration as a threat and they do very little to stop this because they have become used to living the Park Avenue life of Thimphu. Take for instance, official letters now take days to correspond and our bosses there does very little effort to leave the comfort of their office to visit other office spread across the country. I have my fingers crossed. Five years into the change and we still are the same!

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