I always read my year-end review the year before, to see how things were like in the prior year. That, in some ways, provide some kind of perspective. It's odd that the the macro outlook (be it economic or political) of 2011 was always the same as those of 2012. So, it saves me some typing, since not much has changed from 2011 to 2012.
Economy wise, US continues its mend though with the fiscal cliff that hangs over our heads. That only goes to show how dysfunctional the politics in Washington has been, and I must say, I'm very tired of it. (If I have the choice, I would fire all of them in the House, and start over from a clean slate.) As everyone knows, GOP is going to yield in the 11th hour, and they're going to pass some stop-gap measure to kick the can down the road, which was how the fiscal cliff was created in the first place when the fight over budgets and stimulus package took place a few years ago. Anyone with a bit of sense would realize that GOP has no political capital whatsoever to speak of, continuing its argument that taxes for the rich and wealthy absolutely cannot go up when the rest of the country suffers. The vociferous Tea Party is waning, for good reasons; hope it stays that way.
Economy in Europe is still muddling along, as with Japan, although the situation looks to be less dire. But anyone who follows the issues in Europe and Japan knows that nothing has been done to correct the underlying causes and issues. All everyone is trying to do, is to buy time, and to hope that China continues its growth path.
That brings us to the economy in China which trajectory has been slowing down considerably, even though its growth rate is still an envy to the developed world. Its conundrum is not that easily solved. Its economy is big due to the sheer size of population; but on individual level, barring the land-grab by a handful few who got filthy rich (and who mostly transported their wealth out of the country), its population still live poorly by Western standards. The middle class rank is growing, but it's still a pipe dream that its consumer buying power can replace the consumers in the West. The big question in 2013 and beyond: Can the Chinese central government engineer another successful shift from government-directed investment-led economy boom, to a private-sector, consumer-led economy, going forward? Don't underestimate the determination of the Chinese though, given the track of Deng Xiaoping since 1980s in opening up its economy to the world, and the Chinese are a very adaptive people. With the monumental change of political guards in the Chinese government in a decade, they can only hope to continue the economy growth in order to appease the growing social unrest, against issues like the widening gap of rich and poor, and corruption.
Speaking of politics, the presidential election of 2012 finally put it to rest all those GOP and Tea Party trash talks of putting Obama out of office, whatever it takes. Too bad GOP couldn't come up with a better candidate than the flip-flopping Mitt Romney who could have had a chance in a lifetime to take the White House, if only Romney had the backbone to come out as a moderate Republican. But, nay, Romney leaned so far right, to even labeled himself as severely conservative, that everything that came out of his mouth during the presidential campaigning season sounded and felt fake and concocted. In the end, GOP failed to appeal to moderates and independents like myself. Even though I have not been overly impressed by what Obama has achieved in the past four years, the alternative of turning the White House over to Romney/GOP seemed even less viable and appealing. So, Obama becomes another Dem president to do a second term. Whatever his fault might be, I can only hope that he'll continue on the right path that he has started, by and large, since four years ago.
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On a personal front, stock market has not been that appealing to me this year. With the mortgage rate still at rock bottom level, I bought another investment property, returning some 10% annual yield which I'm quite happy about.
The startup has been going quite well too, which has been keeping me quite busy. I should be so glad that I get to work behind the scene, rather that having to go out all the time for the startup.
The kids are growing well and happy which I'm forever thankful for. I'm rather apprehensive, as they approach puberty which would present new sets of challenges. But, we'll take it as it comes.
With the property market still in doldrums, I'm even contemplating buying something in Spain. (I've always liked Spain, as a country, with its people and culture.) We'll see what happens when I do my lookback in 2013. :)
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Of the notable people who passed away in 2012, Neil Armstrong moved me the most. His passing was all the more glaring, in this age when everyone looks to have their 15-minute fame in order to make quick bucks, in contrast with Armstrong's quiet strength, intelligence and fortitude. His death, in a way, signals the passing of an era when this nation was on the rise. These days, all we have, are kids busy yapping with each other and posting trash comments with little substance, oftentimes even posting as "hard news", thinking social networking is a great leap forever in humanity. How sad.
