2020 - An Interesting Perspective

In 1995 I was stationed in SE Asia, Malaysia to be exact. I was in SE Asia for several years, but my time in Malaysia is the point of this post.

Back during this time Malaysia was undergoing exponential growth. The then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (long time and loved by Malaysians) had put forth a program called "Vision 2020". The idea was to bring Malaysia to the forefront of 1st world economies by the year 2020. During this phase they built the two world's tallest buildings (Petronas Towers), they hosted the ASEA games, and they were on top of the world in electronics manufacturing (in fact still are, did you know almost all Intel chips are produced there).

The mantra from the ever popular "Dr. M" was the world would be a different place in 2020. I remember thinking how the whole "20/20" eyesight thing was kind of tacky being paired with the "Vision" thing. Clever, but kind of dumb at the same time.

Then in 1997 George Soros wiped out the economy of SE Asia, just decimated it with currency speculation and short selling, much the same way as he had done in Europe years before. SE Asia went into a serious recession as did much of the eastern world. (Note - One man did that, just one guy). Anyway, times got tough towards the end of the 90's and I eventually returned Stateside, but the "Vision 2020" mantra never left the back of my mind. The message was everywhere back in the day; every bus, every billboard, every advertisement, they were so proud.

Since those days, we've experienced the horrific events of Sept 11. 2001, the financial crisis of 2008 and too many other things to mention. And now, in the year 2020, we face one of the biggest challenges of all. The stability and well being of one of the strongest nations in the free world hangs in the balance, right now, in 2020.

So, as I look back on Dr. M's vision of "Vision 2020", all these years later, I wonder...are we really any better off than we were then? Was Vision 2020 a foretelling of the future to come, or was it just a silly statement?

From my perspective, Malaysia never made it to the "1st world" by the year 2020. They came real close, but they didn't get there.

In the same breath, I wonder if the 1st world regressed, because personally I don't think we really matured to the 2020 milestone either. In fact, I think life was actually better when everyone was still looking forward to the year 2020.

Now that 2020 is here...what do you think?

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Now that 2020 is here...what do you think?

I remember thinking about how big the party would be for not just a new year but a new millennium! Then I thought that I would never see it because I didn't think I would live that long.

Now here I am in 2020...what do I think? I say, thank you God for this opportunity to live and breath, to appreciate the sand between my toes, the smell of night blooming flowers as I walk the beach of the third stone from the sun, and a dream in my eye as I stare in wonderment at the twilight of the stars.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

We have regressed, I think. And mainly because the corporations, at the moment, are winning the battle. Politics world wide, with a few exceptions, is now completely disfunctional because our elected politicians and the underlying systems have sold out to the lobby groups and corporations. The law of the land is written by the corporations to serve their interests in the way they want, not the way a free democracy wants.

And there are too many who are weak and fearful. They have swallowed the corporate media story line that they need you to believe what they're telling you, or not believe something that they told you. It all depends on what they need you to believe at any given moment, for their purposes, not yours.

Also, George Soros is still alive, FFS.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I was walking my dog today and looking at how dirty things have become in my area with neglect since they out sourced everything to a private contractors and what i will do about it because none of the public servants seems to have the brains to notice what i can see .

The age we live in now is more like Star Trek and the kids are the Borg connected to the collective of Fakebook ,tik tok etc and i hour in a friends house yesterday with his television on was enough for me to say to him turn that off or i will kill it with the doom and gloom on it about COVID but nobody is dying in my country .

We have taken a wrong turn somewhere and that is plain to see for a old git like me who is close to death back in 95 i had 2 computers 1 of which i just got again on eBay to help my brain a Kasparov chess computer and a atari green screen computer that had a tape recorder to load a programme , the Apache simulator tape took 45 minutes to load on it and if you messed up it had to be reloaded again happy days .

I never thought much about 2020 time has gone so quick since the millennium for me but the destination mankind seems to be going to reminds me of a scene from the time machine where the Morlocks are leading what is left of humanity under ground from a destroyed planet .

We are screwed unless they destroy all that social media and the influencing that is going on with television programming the tech is not helping us it is killing us

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk

Short selling, hedge funds and derivatives should be illegal!! Period!

Errrum,

Short time selling, hedge funds and derivatives, are actually a sign of a healthy market... while, and indeed, MNC'S were and are a big feature in Malaysian manufacture, and 60% to 70% or more, shareholding in the time period you mention. Soros was operating in an order which was normal in a healthy market.

You need to look a bit further to find the crooks.

a reply to: smurfy

Somebody is defending George Soros.

We have officially reached the pinnacle of the 2020 all fu##in weirdness award.

originally posted by: KKLOCO
a reply to: smurfy

Somebody is defending George Soros.

We have officially reached the pinnacle of the 2020 all fu##in weirdness award.

Yeah...if you say so. Pffff!

Trump, not me, defends the offending Soros by default,

STOCK MARKET UP BIG,” he blared in one tweet. “The Stock Market is getting ready to break its all time high,” came another. “NEXT YEAR WILL BE THE BEST EVER.”

"Trump’s relentless cheerleading for the stock market, taking full credit for its gains, has been a hallmark of his presidency, through more than 150 tweets and exuberant rhetoric at his rallies. Yet behind the bluster is a simple fact of which most voters are unaware:
Trump barely has any of his own money in the stock market"

Continue reading,

apnews.com...

Night, Night.

a reply to: smurfy

Volume does not equal wealth.

That, and many other things, is your misjudgement!

originally posted by: smurfy

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk

Short selling, hedge funds and derivatives should be illegal!! Period!

Errrum,

Short time selling, hedge funds and derivatives, are actually a sign of a healthy market... while, and indeed, MNC'S were and are a big feature in Malaysian manufacture, and 60% to 70% or more, shareholding in the time period you mention. Soros was operating in an order which was normal in a healthy market.

You need to look a bit further to find the crooks.

Don't you know? Anything big bad boogie man Soros did is so bad we must witchhunt it and cancel it for every other trader in the world.

Cancel-all-and-blame-someone-else Vision2020

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

And now, in the year 2020, we face one of the biggest challenges of all. The stability and well being of one of the strongest nations in the free world hangs in the balance, right now, in 2020.

I've just watched the documentary "The Plot Against the President". Clearly stability is already lost, the challenge you now face is holding onto the last threads of freedom and democracy that you have, and good luck with that.

In 1993 I sat down with a pile of evidence -- everything from environmentalist doom and gloom to economic debt projections to screeds written by optimistic silicon valley techno-futurists. I set myself the task of evaluating this evidence and determining "in what year will what we consider "normal" life finally become impossible?"

The year I came up with was 2020.

I must say Imagined it would be worse by 2020...that the fabric of life would have frayed to a post-apocalyptic texture. While this has arguably been the case in some areas of the world, I still feel the first world has a long way to fall. 2020 has been disruptive and it's echoes will be felt, but it is not Mad Max.

I no longer believe an all apocalyptic outcome is the most likely, although given nuclear weapons and still-unknown superviruses, it is not impossible. What I see is a long, rancid grind to to a grimier, more run-down world. A planet where the first and third worlds converge, with the end result looking far more like the latter than the former. I'm bumping my timeframe up to 2030 for this to come to pass.