Can we grow amidst all this uncertainty?

Since the Great Recession, starting in 2008, economics has become the most important subject on earth. For us in India economic growth is absolutely essential to provide jobs with 68,992 turning 25 years old everyday, which is 2.1 million every month. A report says that only 7% of graduates of business schools are fit to be employed, because the quality of education is so poor. Banks, finance companies and maybe even the Life Insurance Corporation of India are sitting on huge bad loans. If the economy grows fast companies will make more profits, which will allow them to pay off the loans, and invest in new projects, creating more jobs. Banks will start lending again once they have cleared up their books. Trouble is that global trade is still weak which maybe why India's exports keep falling. But economics is not just about numbers and theories. It is also about perception. If people are optimistic about the future they will spend more, which will increase sales and lead to more jobs. If, on the other hand, people are gloomy about future growth they will spend less and save more. Which would not be such a bad thing except that in India people will probably buy more gold, to hedge against inflation and the fall in the value of the rupee against the dollar. Some think that the US economy is in an ideal state, what is known as a Goldilocks economy. Growth will be between 2-3%, unemployment will be down and inflation rate will be just right, allowing the Federal Reserve to increase rates gently. While others think that Obama has completely destroyed the economy. Apparently businesses are unable to pay their creditors, they are borrowing to pay employees and using credit cards to pay taxes. That sounds devastating. Politicians have elections to win so they will go with what the majority of people want, even if it will be harmful in the long run. In the US, Democrats and Republicans are almost equally balanced because most of the economy is in private hands and the government does not run any business. In India, the vast majority of people want handouts, which bankrupts the state, because revenue is chronically less than expenditure. Punjab, once the richest state in India, is having to borrow from the Reserve Bank's temporary borrowing facility to keep functioning. Scientists are now concentrating on behavioural economics to work out why humans behave the way they do. They are realising that textbook theories cannot explain real life situations. Thousands of years ago Paris made a series of wrong choices which resulted in the destruction of Troy and to his own death. Self interest and short term gains still tempt people and governments. Therefore, low growth is going to be the norm. We will just have to adjust.