Monday 16 March 2009

What is Recession?

This story is about a man who once upon a time was selling Hotdogs by
the roadside. He was illiterate, so he never read newspapers. He was
hard of hearing, so he never listened to the radio. His eyes were weak,
so he never watched television. But enthusiastically, he sold lots of
hotdogs.

He was smart enough to offer some attractive schemes to increase his
sales. His sales and profit went up. He ordered more a more raw material
and buns and sold more. He recruited more supporting staff to serve more
customers. He started offering home deliveries. Eventually he got
himself a bigger and better stove. As his business was growing, the son,
who had recently graduated from college, joined his father.

Then something strange happened.

The son asked, "Dad, aren't you aware of the great recession that is
coming our way?" The father replied, "No, but tell me about it." The son
said, "The international situation is terrible. The domestic situation
is even worse. We should be prepared for the coming bad times."

The man thought that since his son had been to college, read the papers,
listened to the radio and watched TV. He ought to know and his advice
should not be taken lightly. So the next day onwards, the father cut
down the his raw material order and buns, took down the colourful
signboard, removed all the special schemes he was offering to the
customers and was no longer as enthusiastic. He reduced his staff
strength by giving layoffs. Very soon, fewer and fewer people bothered
to stop at his Hotdog stand. And his sales started coming down rapidly
and so did the profit. The father said to his son, "Son, you were
right". "We are in the middle of a recession and crisis. I am glad you
warned me ahead of time."

Moral of the Story: It's all in your MIND! And we actually FUEL this
recession much more than we think.


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