Today, many Indians are fleeing America. The dream which lured them there has turned into a nightmare. The tide has reversed but they may find small solace even if they return to India. For the contagion has spread to the homeland

Frantic moves are afoot to salvage the situation. The British have shown the way and hopefully the crisis will be contained before it engulfs the world. But there is no doubt that the aftershocks of this economic catastrophe will continue to be felt for many more years to come. But whether the architects of this debacle will learn any enduring lessons is a moot point. For human greed has a way of reasserting itself when the conditions are ripe.


Actually, America’s woes began much earlier. Perhaps it began when corporate America began moving jobs abroad to shore up profits. As more and more Americans found their jobs "Bangalored", the crisis began to take shape. People who had good jobs were forced to work in supermarkets and gas stations to survive, or go on the dole. As America is a capitalist society, people accepted the situation without much protest. To make matters worse, the war on Iraq put the economy under further strain. And then the sub prime bubble burst.

Today, many Indians are fleeing America. The dream which lured them there has turned into a nightmare. The tide has reversed but they may find small solace even if they return to India. For the contagion has spread to the homeland as well, with massive lay offs across various sectors and the Sensex in free fall. Even the once booming realty sector is feeling the pinch. Amid all this chaos and confusion, one cannot ignore the role that human greed played in this drama.


Youngsters just out of college were paid obscene salaries. People hopped jobs in gay abandon. Those in the IT sector went crazy buying flats as they didn’t know where to park their excess funds. Rentals went through the roof. The ordinary man found it impossible to buy a flat or even five cents of land in a decent area in the metros. Some correction seemed necessary and perhaps this is God’s way of answering the ’aam aadmi’s’ desperate prayers. Perhaps, America’s tragedy may yet open our eyes to the fact that no country can "shine" when making money takes precedence over the welfare of the majority of its citizens. In this flattened world, we must always be conscious that what happens in one corner of the globe will have a trickle down effect and its consequences will be felt in our corner too some day. And more importantly, it is time we created home grown jobs for our own people instead of snatching them from the beleaguered American or the British middle class. Unless a Republican government returns to power, outsourcing seems doomed anyway.