02 December 2008

Bite me please, Mr Vampire

By Yeoh Siew Hoon

I arrived in the US, fairly optimistic that things would not be as bad as I had read. I left a week later fearing that things are as bad as we all donÃ¢â¬â¢t want to think it is.

ItÃ¢â¬â¢s natural. However an optimist you are, if you live in this country where news is bombarded at you from all corners and angles, you cannot help but get sucked into the vortex of gloom.

As much as I tried to switch off, it is impossible in this media-obsessed, media-intense, everybody-has-an-opinion-and-everybody-has-a-right-to-express-it environment.

From business news to celebrity gossip to any kind of news, it comes at you with such velocity, ferocity and intensity that while you may run, you canÃ¢â¬â¢t hide.

In taxis, itÃ¢â¬â¢s the radio. Whether the taxi driver is talking to you non-stop or he is talking on his mobile non-stop, the radio is on all the time.

I spent most of the days in Los Angeles at a conference and at the hotel meeting venue, the television is also on all the time. Whether it is during sessions or coffee breaks, the news comes at you, uninterrupted.

One evening, I went to a friendÃ¢â¬â¢s house and even as we were talking, the television was on and my host kept switching channels as we talked because he wanted to know what was going on in sports, business, the world and the weather.

ThereÃ¢â¬â¢s so much we want to know about everything that we end up not knowing much about anything.

But this little I know after my one week in California.

1. Things are pretty bad here.

2. We are not as decoupled we would like to think we are.

3. We will feel it in Asia sooner rather than later.

4. It will be deeper and nastier than weÃ¢â¬â¢d like to think and for longer than weÃ¢â¬â¢d like to think.

5. There's a lot of hope riding on one man.

Fact is, American consumers are fearful. After 911, it was fear of terror. Now itÃ¢â¬â¢s fear of bankruptcy.

After decades of over-consumption, it feels like thereÃ¢â¬â¢s a massive over-correction taking place.

I went to the Westfield Shopping Centre, an upmarket mall close to Fox Plaza and MGM, and the shops were empty. There are sale signs everywhere. BloomingdaleÃ¢â¬â¢s and MacyÃ¢â¬â¢s looked like empty warehouses with lots and lots of goods but very few takers.

Retailers havenÃ¢â¬â¢t yet learnt to downsize. Their goods spilleth over. Restaurants too havenÃ¢â¬â¢t yet learn to downsize. Portions still spilleth over your plate.

Suddenly, a group of screaming, screeching teenage girls rushed past me. They were heading for the premiere of Ã¢â¬ÅâœTwilightÃ¢â¬~, the teen-chick vampire flick thatÃ¢â¬â¢s got the nationÃ¢â¬â¢s girls dying for a bite from the leading actor, Robert Pattinson.

Thank goodness for celebrity distractions. Otherwise, I too would have wanted a vampireÃ¢â¬â¢s bite to deliver me from the harsh reality of the financial mess our world is in.

Catch Yeoh Siew Hoon every week at The Transit Cafe - www.thetransitcafe.com