Taking Things for Granted

So I'm sitting here in "Rethinking our Financial Markets in a Post-Crisis World" (the class is about as much fun as the name suggests), and my professor was discussing his upcoming State Department trip to Pakistan to lecture on..... I don't know, all kinds of boring things. But something he said really caught my attention (and gave me something to think about for the rest of the 2 hour class, and hence this blog post).

Gretchen (State Dept. lady): "Are you clear on the details of your itinerary and the different lecture topics you'll be giving?"
Prof. Westbrooke: "Pretty much. But will Powerpoint available at each of the lecture locations?"
Gretchen: "We'll be lucky if they have power, so I wouldn't count on Powerpoint."
Prof. Westbrooke: "You're not being serious."
Gretchen: "Yes I am. They get about eight hours of power a day, so we may well be without power during the lectures."

Apparently, on average the entire country receives only about eight hours of power per day. Eight hours, for the entire country! That's not just the little rural towns in the middle of nowhere, that includes the big cities, the capital... everywhere.

He sort of explained why this is the case, and I caught some of it: As opposed to here in America, where it seems like everyone is in bed together (politicians, lobbyists, judges, etc.), in Pakistan it's apparently quite the opposite. Apparently it's a major power struggle between government vs. business, and the two are completely adverse to one another, and it makes it impossible to get anything done. One example we heard was a textile factory owner whose factor keeps getting broken into, but he can't get the government (police/military somehow run together, I'm not sure) to step in and help protect him. In terms of the power issue, apparently the government has more stable power supply, so doesn't really care how it affects the country's businesses, or people in general I guess.



That blows my mind. I had no idea that in 2010, something that we take so for granted like power is so unsecure in other countries. Obviously I know that there are people in third world countries who live their whole lives without power, but I always assumed that was just the poor rural areas, and that the big cities of the country were more modernized. No wonder these countries can never climb out of the basement and compete with the US or England. How could you run a government, or ever get anything done? You can't. That's just beyond my imagination, when I use power from the time I wake up (from an alarm clock, or the alarm on my phone) to the time I go to bed (turn off the lights). And if they don't have reliable power, who knows what other kinds of ammenities or things that we think of as just part of daily life they don't have (or isn't reliable). For all the problems with America and our current system (and especially in the last year or so, I feel like I notice a lot of them, especially healthcare and insurance), it's a pretty great place to live.