Situational Awareness, a Guest Column
Good friend of SD, Edwin Padilla, sent this to me thinking that our fellow SDers would find it an interesting thread. I think he’s right. Thanks Edwin!
Financial Situational Awareness
Situation awareness, or SA, (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
- is the perception of environmental elements within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future. It is also a field of study concerned with perception of the environment critical to decision-makers in complex, dynamic areas from aviation, air traffic control, power plant operations, military command and control, and emergency services such as Fire Fighting and Policing; to more ordinary but nevertheless complex tasks such as driving an automobile or motorcycle.
A need for situational awareness is something that, I think, is basic human nature. And as a pilot, I find that it is an occupational habit that permeates into all aspects of my life (often annoyingly so). I often waste too much time, scanning and trying to make sense of complex things in the world around me that I have little control of, and that seemingly have little direct effect on my life.
One of these things is the financial turmoil buffeting the global economy. But as we are too well aware of in Windsor: while we may have little control of the financial turmoil around us, the effects are very real and can be profoundly significant to our lives.
Below are some recommended articles that, I think, present the big picture of what is going on around us. They run the emotional gamut from an optimist view for Canada, to a sober assessment of the global over-indebtedness, to a more pessimistic view that kind of suggests we have are backs-to-the-wall and need to face the harsh realities or face the possibility of the failure of the whole system.
Finally, I include a link to some of the arguments from a book I find myself re-reading A State of Minds: Toward a Human Capital Future for Canadians. I think it provides a useful framework with which to view some of these events from our Windsor vantage point.
The Mark – The 21st Century Belongs to Canada: Laurier’s famous prediction was just 100 years too early
By: Allan Gotlieb
http://www.themarknews.com/articles/1076-the-21st-century-belongs-to-canada
PIMCO - Secular Outlook 2010: Driving Without a Spare
By: Mohamed El-Erian
Prudent Bear - Credit Bubble Bulletin: Unwitting Beneficiary?
By: Doug Noland
http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/creditbubblebulletinview?art_id=10382
Canada as a “State of Minds” in the Knowledge Era
By: Thomas J. Courchene
http://www.irpp.org/po/archive/jul07/courchene.pdf
Tags: Edwin Padilla, guest blogger
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