The year 2008 has brought us many obstacles but one in particular stood out, the US recession. For months, this has been a constant topic in newspapers, television, radio and other media. One of the questions we want to ask this New Year is this: How will this crisis affect us? The first answer to this question would be this. It would affect us negatively, but how bad and how long it will affect is not clear.

We cannot deny that there are always two sides to a story. We already know that this crisis will affect us negatively but why not see this problem thru an optimistic outlook. While I was researching for this article, I came across a blog that really caught my attention. The content of the blog to me has a very optimistic view on the crisis we are facing today. The blog goes to say that yes, there will be financial crisis, foreclosure of businesses, stock market crash, reduced sales and unemployment but, in the end the Philippines stands to benefit from it. How you may ask? The author listed the following on how our country will benefit from the US recession:

Increased Investment. With the US in recession, international investors will be wary of putting their money in US companies. Many will shift their investments to the third world, such as those in Asia. The Philippines, with its relatively stable economy, will surely benefit from this increased investment. One good example is the outsourcing industry. With a recession, US companies will be looking for ways to lessen their operating expenses, and outsourcing some of their operations is one of these. It is not only call center operations, but operations like accounting, data entry, etc. which will find their way to the third world including the Philippines.

Cheaper Imported Commodities. The US recession will cause the prices of many imported commodities like oil, steel etc. to decrease. Already, we see that the price of oil declining today. This will result in a lower cost of doing business, and lower cost of living for Filipinos. This in turn will help to stimulate the Philippine economy.

It may be few but it does goes to show that every cloud has a silver lining.

On a personal level, I do think that the crisis will also enlighten us on how to live our lives. We, as a nation, are in desperate need of a reality check. Perhaps this period of time when we are forced to conserve, and rethink our regular indulgences will help us readjust our wasteful habits and bring us back to a much needed, more conservative way of spending.

Source: http://butalidnl.wordpress.com/