The News, and how Americans don’t get it

There is a lot of things that I like about America, and many things i am sure I will come to miss during my stay here. One thing I will not miss though is American Cable News.

As many of you know, the only decent way to get the news, especially world news, in the US is to listen to the BBC or go to their website. This is because all news organizations in the US have become sensationalized. For some reason Americans insist on hearing about the latest crap on Britney Spears or whoever rather than what is actually happening in the world so that is what CNN and MSNBC and FOX cover, maybe with a different slant but it is all the same crap. Then Americans act surprised when other countries think we are a bunch of stupid rednecks… Really? Is it THAT surprising? Remember four years ago when Jon Stewart went on Crossfire and totally owned them for what a crappy job they did? Sure they got canceled but nothing has really changed in coverage, and it doesn’t have to be that way. There is CNN over here too, but it is different. It is a world version of CNN so they actually report the news instead of the latest OJ Simpson trial.

In America everything has to be sensationalized, every issue must have a winner and loser RIGHT NOW. The other day, while at Beer Corner, talking with a bunch of Aussies about the pros and cons of America; George brought up something that happened in his class. A little girl, who was Catholic, was telling him how her church had a Santa Clause come in and give them KFC vouchers for a kids meal or something. George said it would make news in America because all the fundamentalists would freak out about a Santa in church. But I disagree, the reason it would make news is not because of fundamentalists; after all there are plenty of fundamentalists in other countries even Vietnam. No, the reason it would make news is because Americans like hear about stupid things that are not important.

Really, all this “culture war” crap doesn’t exist in other countries, or if it does it comes second because it is not important. The world is not going to end if gay people have a parade or if a city puts up a manger, so why the hell are we A. suing each other over these things and B. allowing these stories to dominate our news media? Seriously this is what Americans fight about, and it is these issues that get ratings, and that is why we look like stupid rednecks to the rest of the world.

As I was saying I am pretty disappointed that I get better news in a socialist republic, than in a country where the cornerstone of the Bill of Rights is the freedom of speech.

The Communists AGHHHHHHHHHH… not so much

I entered grade school just as the Berlin wall fell, so I missed out on all the “red scare” propaganda that my father’s generation had to put up with. Now the fear mongers have recognized that it is those damned terrorists that we need to worry about and we can’t carry toothpaste on the airplane. Now it seems the Vietnamese commies don’t pose that much of threat, as if this third world country could have ever mounted an offensive attack against the US. As most intelligent Americans know, we have nothing to fear from the allegedly communist countries out there. China is the best example of this. China is growing at an astronomical rate and the government, though openly communist, knows that it must continue to do so if it’s people are to prosper. I recently befriended a Vietnamese stockbroker and he told me that Vietnam is actually right behind China in growth of GDP (Though the 7 year old Vietnamese stock market is still very unstable, kinda like *cough* Wall Street *cough*).

That being said, Vietnam is officially a Socialist Republic, though I would say that the people here are communist like Jon Stewart is Jewish. I guess you could say that they are “culturally communist.” I will deal with religion in a later post but I think it is a good example to use for this case. Many “Christians” in the US only go to church on Christmas and Easter and certainly do not live to the standards that religion demands, yet when they are asked their religion, they say “Christian“ without missing a beat. The same is true for economic philosophy here; the government and the people are obviously not communist but they still claim to be.

Because the country is so capitalist, seeing all the communist stuff here is pretty funny. For example all of the government officials wear uniforms that look like the ones the communists wore in 1980’s spy movies. Next to beer corner is a school that pumps out communist propaganda and songs from a loud speaker. The songs are especially funny because no one can understand the words because they are not using the tones correctly when they sing. The flag of Vietnam is red with a big gold star in the middle, bringing communist imagery to mind (I also find it very amusing that there are many street vendors that sell t shirts with the flag and even Ho Chi Mihn’s picture).

My favorite so far has been the Christmas decorations. Over one of the main streets here there are banner-like Christmas lights with different Christmas objects in the middle. One is a snowflake (by the way it doesn’t snow in Vietnam), one is a Santa Clause, one is a Christmas tree, and one is a hammer and sickle. Now really think about that… communist symbolism to celebrate a Christian holiday that has turned into a secular holiday based around the buying of goods. If that isn’t a sign of “cultural communism” I don’t know what is.

Beer Corner Capitalism

Investor Jim Rogers has been quoted as saying “In the 19^th century the smart investor moved to London, in the 20^th New York, and in the 21^st he will move to Asia.” Jim Rogers himself has moved to Singapore. The reason this quote sticks out for me is not because I have met successful investors, but because it is very hard to describe where I live.

I am in what is known as the “Old Quarter” of Hanoi I honestly cannot compare it to anything in the US and I have a hard time comparing it to anything in Europe. The closest place I can compare it to is the Little Italy depicted in the Godfather part II. The streets here are narrow and there is constant economic activity. The same type of activity that sprang forth in New York of the early 20^th century brought about by the economic upturn of that city. The more rich investors that moved in, the more opportunity there was for poor Italians to gain employment and trade.

The people George and I hang out with are primarily other Expats who teach or have similar low end jobs. Thing is though, a $1400 a month job here will allow you a very high end life style and you will still be able to save at least $500 a month. Hardly living paycheck to paycheck, especially for a young adult. For example I go to the bar every night and my bill has never been more than $0.75! The “Bar” I go to is one of four unnamed establishments that act as cafe’s during the day and bars at night. These bars/cafes are known collectively as “Beer Corner”. They are all open air establishments and you sit in little plastic chairs like little kids use for playing house. Beer Corner itself is an example of how the country has benefited from opening up to capitalism, less than 10 years ago the entire block would have sold for less than $100,000. Today one building is worth over $500,000.

Those of you who know George know that he is an exceptionally lazy human being, one evening he took this laziness to an extreme. We were sitting at Beer Corner after we finished work and George proclaimed “I am hungry but I don’t want to move” I told him this may be a problem but he assured me it would not. Soon a woman wearing a traditional Vietnamese hat and carrying two baskets attached to a wooden board appeared selling star fruit and George purchased a kilo, for what I am sure was a dollar at most. Then another woman appeared selling what were basically sugar donuts for about $0.10. Then a teenage girl came by and made us an egg and sausage sandwich with delicious French bread right on the street for about $0.75. Earlier that day we took our motorbikes out to the countryside to go two tracking like we used to do when we were in high school. As a result my shoes got pretty dirty. But that was also not a problem because just as we were finishing the sandwich, a shoe shine boy appeared and cleaned them up for about $0.25, a modern day Ragged Dick if you will.

For those that don’t believe in trickle down economics take this as an example of why it works. In America where I would be making less compared with the prices, I would never indulge in a shoe shine, nor would I buy that much food from three different people from one meal, I also would not be at the bar every night. But since I am making enough so that these luxuries are now affordable I am taking advantage of the situation and so are many others, and the result? The people here prosper.

Fun with the Black Market

Several years ago I went to Europe. Changing money in Europe was a depressing experience. You would go to a bank or an American Express and hand over 2 dollars and receive 1 pound or 1.5 euro, depending where you were. In Vietnam it is much more fun because at a bank for 2 dollars you get 32,000 dong (pronounced dowm, say dow like the stock exchange followed by an m sound as in Matt).

However, if you know George, you go down to the open air cafe and have a coffee or beer with a guy named chew-key, or uncle key. Then you give chew-key 2 dollars and he gives you 34,000.dong. But chew-key is not the only game in town, there are small “gold shops” all over the city that will give you a better exchange rate. But here is the good news for Vietnam, despite the ridiculous exchange rate it is not that much better on the black market which is an indication that the currency is doing well.

Money is far from the only thing exchanged on the black market. George, through a connection, was able to buy a police issue license plate for his motorcycle. The plate allows him to legally break the few laws that are in place, such as the helmet law. For those of you that know George, you know that he is rarely happy with what he has and always wants something better, the license plate is no exception. George is currently trying to trade in his blue police plate for a red military plate and even more power. George tells me that in the south, near Cambodia, all kinds of commodities, oil, cigarettes, even fruit, are smuggled across the boarder to be sold at higher prices in Vietnam. George claims that these smugglers are some of his favorite people in Vietnam and has promised that I will meet them later in the trip. Be sure to stay tuned for that adventure.

Introduction

Hello family and friends, as you may know I am now living and working in Vietnam with my friend George. This blog will chronicle my travels. For a number of reasons, though primarily because I cannot update everyday, I have decided to give themes to each entry and tell my stories in relation to those themes. The themes will include economics, politics, history and religion. Basically what I studied in college and shortly there after. This will also make the blog more interesting for my political and economist friends, especially those who have blogs, and maybe get me a few more hits. So read on and I hope you enjoy it.