Navajo rugs and the economic crisis
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Gary Lachman
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 21, 2009 00:00
The Native American Navajo tribe is known for its exquisite rugs; bold geometric creations that rival the best kilims of Turkey and tribal rugs of the Caucasus. As the first Americans, they forged the original melting pot.
They were naturals at absorbing the essence of other cultures and adopting what best suited them. They were never finished with this sociological process, and in fact, they hated to finish anything. Completion was anathema to them, whether in story, song, or craft. They believed that anything that was complete, or too perfect, resulted in theft of the spirit of its creator, imprisoning it in the metaphysical equivalent of the creation itself. This applies to their beautiful rugs, which are still woven with a slight imperfection Ğ a thin line starting at the center and running to an edge, left as a dangling thread. The Navajo refer to this intentional flaw as a "spirit outlet". Whether it was in warfare or social interaction, literally or figuratively, the Navajos always left themselves an "out".
Is this avoidance of completion a national characteristic of America? Of late, this is appearing with increasing regularity to be the case. The economic crisis is far from finished, as well. A first bailout, a second bailout, and now, scarcely hours after this second one has passed Congress, talk of subsequent trillion dollar bailouts being required to save the American banking system.
As I discussed in an earlier column of the Consultant’s Corner, America is printing money with abandon. This must eventually result in some devaluation of the dollar. The only mitigating factor that I can see is that the UK and other European nations are doing the same thing. So perhaps a global devaluation will keep our currencies relatively balanced with one another. Or perhaps this is just another errant thread of an economic Navajo rug.
Greener pastures
Other than rugs, where can one safely park money to weather the economic storm? In my humble opinion, the two safest destinations continue to be real estate and energy-related projects. To be sure, these sectors are fraught with potential danger. Further depreciation in the commercial and residential real estate sectors is a very strong possibility. Non-producing wells and dramatic fluctuations in non-renewable resources like oil and gas are risks inherent to energy investments. Nevertheless, there are two respective ways investments in these two sectors can be made with relative safety. Renewable energy is indisputably the future of sustainable power. As storage (battery) technology improves (smaller/cheaper/longer-lasting) this sector will surpass petroleum and coal based energy production because of the cleanness of its use and smaller footprint on the environment.
With respect to real estate, over the long term, I favor multi-family rental properties. I am always reminded of something my grandfather once said. "Even in the most dire financial times, people need a place to live." I therefore believe that a combination of the two should be pursued. Well-located, urban, affordable residential, redevelopment projects that incorporate renewable energy systems to provide heating, cooling and electric power is my proposed solution. This type of development also addresses another pressing problem the world’s major cities are suffering from. Traffic. Locating such residential projects along metro lines, close to employment centers, should dramatically reduce the need for private cars.
This is the Navajo rug I weave. By its very nature, it cannot be finished. In fact, why should it ever be finished? Its beauty should be that it is designed to be an eternally evolving work in progress. One that involves all of us in its creation, as we weave a dramatic new design for the world’s future. Gary S. Lachman © 2009
Gary Lachman is an international lawyer formerly with the US Department of State, real estate developer, and associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University with a consulting practice in Istanbul. He can be contacted at glachman@lifunds.com.
Is this avoidance of completion a national characteristic of America? Of late, this is appearing with increasing regularity to be the case. The economic crisis is far from finished, as well. A first bailout, a second bailout, and now, scarcely hours after this second one has passed Congress, talk of subsequent trillion dollar bailouts being required to save the American banking system.
As I discussed in an earlier column of the Consultant’s Corner, America is printing money with abandon. This must eventually result in some devaluation of the dollar. The only mitigating factor that I can see is that the UK and other European nations are doing the same thing. So perhaps a global devaluation will keep our currencies relatively balanced with one another. Or perhaps this is just another errant thread of an economic Navajo rug.
Greener pastures
Other than rugs, where can one safely park money to weather the economic storm? In my humble opinion, the two safest destinations continue to be real estate and energy-related projects. To be sure, these sectors are fraught with potential danger. Further depreciation in the commercial and residential real estate sectors is a very strong possibility. Non-producing wells and dramatic fluctuations in non-renewable resources like oil and gas are risks inherent to energy investments. Nevertheless, there are two respective ways investments in these two sectors can be made with relative safety. Renewable energy is indisputably the future of sustainable power. As storage (battery) technology improves (smaller/cheaper/longer-lasting) this sector will surpass petroleum and coal based energy production because of the cleanness of its use and smaller footprint on the environment.
With respect to real estate, over the long term, I favor multi-family rental properties. I am always reminded of something my grandfather once said. "Even in the most dire financial times, people need a place to live." I therefore believe that a combination of the two should be pursued. Well-located, urban, affordable residential, redevelopment projects that incorporate renewable energy systems to provide heating, cooling and electric power is my proposed solution. This type of development also addresses another pressing problem the world’s major cities are suffering from. Traffic. Locating such residential projects along metro lines, close to employment centers, should dramatically reduce the need for private cars.
This is the Navajo rug I weave. By its very nature, it cannot be finished. In fact, why should it ever be finished? Its beauty should be that it is designed to be an eternally evolving work in progress. One that involves all of us in its creation, as we weave a dramatic new design for the world’s future. Gary S. Lachman © 2009
Gary Lachman is an international lawyer formerly with the US Department of State, real estate developer, and associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University with a consulting practice in Istanbul. He can be contacted at glachman@lifunds.com.