Mason, P., 2010. "America's new poor: The end of the middle-class dream". Available at: Link [Accessed October 14, 2010].

There are two things that struck me whilst reading this article.

• The same pattern is visible around me. People conforming to a higher standard of living than what they really can afford. The flashy lifestyles are often maintained by credit. It took America 30 years to reach the state they are in. Our credit act might have protected a lot of people from following the same trend, but the root cause of the problem is still there. “Keeping up with the Joneses and following the Madison avenue lifestyle”.   There are of course major exceptions to this.   In most cases loosing your job is not something that people ask for.

• The salary expectations of people. South Africans are pricing themselves out of the global market. Do a quick research on the salary expectations of South African jobs compared to similar jobs in Europe and the US. It is no surprise that some of our work is moving to lower cost centres in the world.

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The assignment on "Systems Thinking" was submitted last week.      I am not sure how well it will be received since I had to "censor" a large part of the document due to confidentiality agreements with my employer.   Need to wait and see.

I now need to get my mind in order to study for the exam in Nov.   This is not going to be easy.