Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Nationalists: Agenda



First thing to be known is that we are not representing any particular Nation; rather we are willing to define the nation. Our Agenda is firm and clear. We want the land to be released from the government authorities, private companies and Bhoo-Mafia. Land belongs to us, the public, and the human beings. We believe that Land can not be traded, exchanged or owned. It can only be possessed and utilized.



The inequality in terms of financial status of the people is prevalent all over the world, just because few hypocrites and scoundrels have captured our LAND. We are being forced to sell off our lands to the corrupt politicians and real estate developers who are working in nexus with IT companies and banking industries, who have only one target, acquire the lands of villagers and farmers to develop the artificial economy on their lands by constructing sky scrapers and people are being brain washed with a poor thought that these sky scrapers is the real estate which it is surely not, because it doesn't yield anything to us, whereas they are acquiring the lands gradually and are coming in the agro business and feeding us genetically modulated food which is not at all good for mental and physical health.



If the inflation continues to rise, banks will have to increase the interest rates, consequently affecting the purchasing power of the consumers which is being maintained somehow by the high wages being given to the employees of IT companies and Banking Industries.. These companies are making huge losses and are producing fake balance sheets. Satyam is the latest example and what happened to Enron still resides in our memories.



Government allocates land to these companies for the very less amount (much lesser than the market rates) in the name of pseudo-development, which is no where to be seen. And then, these companies manage to run their businesses by selling off these lands to real estate companies on much higher prices, and these real estate developers finally construct high-rises and commercial malls and find the consumers being produced by IT and Banking companies, so this is pretty comprehendible how our money is flowing in a loop and we are simply being befooled because we would be left with nothing in the end.



We can see, the whole game of conspiracy and corruption has been laid on LAND by the trinity of IT companies, Banking Industries and Real Estate Developers, and this trinity being headed by the Government. Therefore what we demand is the independence. The independence in real terms. And the real independence means, free land. So what we demand is to release our lands. Revolution has already begun. Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Libya and the next would be Pakistan and then India. It hardly takes a moment to transfuse the thought of INDEPENDENCE in the public. Be aware.



PS: If the readers have any doubt, how would economy work if the land is released, they can post their comments and I would make my best efforts to answer them.

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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Nationalists: Inspired from the Scriptures



                                         







Vishnu = Ram = Light, one who pervades everywhere.



RamCHANDRA = Reflection of Light/ Incarnation



Ram = Light



Life: Soul, Light, Ram



Breath = Inhale/Exhale = Hanuman or MANN = Servant of RAM














Seeta = Consciousness, Awareness for the world, decides your perception towards the world.


In first image, the lower 2 chakras are called Mooladhara and Swadhishthana, elements are "earth" and "water" respectively.



Kindly note "earth" or solid matter and water both are attracted by gravity ... whereas FIRE GOES AGAINST THE GRAVITY, the third chakra is fire chakra.



The lower 2 chakras belong to "Material World" and the "World" above the fire chakra is known as "Spiritual world" .




Our breath takes the spiral path as shown in second image.



Our consciousness lies in any of the chakra as shown in the first image.



At the moment we live in the material world (Lanka) , because to us whatever exists is either energy or matter, even we have forgotten the "consciousness"(Seeta).



The lower world (in South Direction) or the lower 2 chakras is what is referred as "LANKA"... ruled by RAVANA, or the material perceptions.



We(Consciousness) take birth on the "earth" (Mooladhara chakra) to raise our consciousness towards the higher chakras(Ayodhya) or the Ajna Chakra(Second from above) to [pass it through the Sahasrara Chakra the higher most chakra to reunite with the universal consciousness.



This process is known as "passing the cosmic current through our body".



It is done by various mystical processes and breath exercises.



The snakes in the second image is the "Naagpaash" or the snake who seduced Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from tree of knowledge.



Ramayan is about the story of RAMCHANDRA's journey from Ayodhya to Lanka and back to Ayodhya.
Apart from breath(inhale/exhale) there is another phenomenon which keeps us alive , that is pumping of heart (Contraction/Expansion), the blood is circulated to each and every part or organ of the body. It supplies the oxygen, which helps in metabolism and the ash or carbon produced in this burning process is exhaled with breath.



 


Therefore we need to arrange a battle between our material perceptions (we are body) or Kauravas, and spiritual perceptions(we are soul) or pandavas.



The later is supposed to be favored and guided by our SOUL . As we see in Mahabharata, Krishna HIMSELF guiding Pandavas towards the "TRUTH".



Spirit can not be located in 3d Space + 1D time (Chausarr) so can not be proved to exist but can only be understood.



The seven doors of "Chakravyuh" as shown in first image can only be opened if we are free from "Kaam"(Lust), "Krodh"(Anger}, "Lobh"(Greed), "Moh"(Attachments) and "Ahankaar"(Ego).



Ego means "Ahnakaar" or "Abhimaan", means, I possess my individual identity in the universe.



If one "Desires" to open the "seventh" chakra, it means "Abhimaan" or "Ego" is still left and should have been vanished by far, it ultimately leads to fall of the raised consciousness to the "Mooladhara" chakra as happened with Abhimanyu. The seventh door opens only by the "Total Surrender" means surrendering our ego to HIS desire not ours then we re-unite with HIM and become one with HIM to attain the supreme consciousness or "KRISHNA" in case of Mahabharata.






The model of "Nationalism" we are proposing is inspired from Ramayana and Mahabharata (and Chanakya's Arthshastra too) on these two phenomenon of "Breathing" and "Pumping".



The system would breath and would extract the black money out of the system by regulating the supply of Silver (remember Moon/RAMCHANDRA) "in" and "out" of the system one a particular intervals, repeating the process for eternity.



The system would pump the GOLD in and out to "TEST" the system , lest the black money should accumulate within the system, it would also test the strength of the system, because Duryodhan is the metaphor of "Blood" and you know he was very powerful too.



And in such system we would enjoy the system being a silent observer like RAM/KRISHNA and will live to fulfill the demands generated by the system, just like we fulfill the demands of our body.



This system has been tested under the principles of Chanakya Neeti.



Vishnu Gupt(RAM/Vishnu) establishes HIS own Kingdom by raising CHANDRAgupta(RamCHANDRA) and making HIM the emperor of the ONE BHARATA, saving the NATION from Alexander(Ownership Claiming on the land), WHICH CAN NOT BE DONE ON THE BATTLEFIRLD OF "ARTHA", as we know SUN can not be owned because it is the source similarly Land can not be owned because it is the source when it comes to "ARTHNEETI"...!!!



Doubts and Healthy Debates are welcome..









Iron present in blood interacts with earth's magnetic field and keep you aware about your body, if somehow blood fails to reach some part of the body, that particular area stops responding to you, you must have noticed it happening several times.



Thus blood gives us "material perception" or body consciousness as it keeps us aware about our body.



We are blessed with five senses (remember, I am not talking about the sensory organs but the sensations), these senses make us aware about our surroundings, we experience the world due to the senses.



Since we can not locate the sensations, it is merely a "feeling" or "Ehsaas", thus these senses are "Spirit" and keep us aware of the world.



Well, so far we discussed "Body" and its surrounding world, but who are we? We are the soul, the soul is the one who experiences.



There is another sixth sense which make us aware about ourselves but if we are living with the material perceptions that is "Body Consciousness" the sixth sense is going to favor the material world only not making us aware about our true self.

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Nationalists: Judiciary



There is a very famous saying "Justice delayed is Justice denied". Hindu scriptures teach us that Lord Vishnu is the LORD of Justice.! Lord Vishnu has established the LAW (Dharma), which keeps the system in balance and symmetry. The entire existence seems to follow the law, the "eternal law" or "sanatan dharma" and when the system is disturbed, LORD Vishnu incarnates to "ORDER" the LAW once again to restore the LAW.



Vishnu literally means "One who pervades everywhere". Thus, LAW is everywhere, LAW cannot be placed in the corner of a system as an isolated entity, it must exist everywhere, it must be omnipresent. Without the LAW system would collapse, be it any system, the solar system or a tiny atom.

The worst thing in current judicial system is that we have to "demand" for justice, we have to file an "application" for the Justice, we have to tell the system that something against the LAW has happened, system itself is blind, it can not see the LAW being broken. Therefore this is a dead system.



We need a live system, like us, life knows how to sustain.



We wear helmets and seat belts only when we see a cop around. Else we are easily breaking the LAW. This is not our fault; this is the fault of our system who has given us the opportunity to go against the LAW. Obviously a cop can not be deployed everywhere, but "awareness" can be. And awareness can not be imposed but realised.



Most of the Haryanvis and Punjabis justify the honor killing but Gujaratis and Marathis don't. And where the contradiction and conflicts arise the justice can not be made.


We need to take an exactly opposite route for the justice what we follow today. Supreme court far away in Delhi can never understand the sentiments and varying behavioral mechanism of humans of the whole country in which we find so many faiths and beliefs.



We must think with the cool heads, what do we want actually, elimination of crimes or the criminals. Obviously we need to eradicate the crime the criminals would disappear automatically...!! And it can only be done with awareness. This can happen if a criminal realises "why his act is against the Law and why he should not have done that".



We know "realisation is the most difficult phenomenon to happen, but it will not be impossible any longer if the system itself is live.




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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Poisoning Indian Stock Markets

They thrive on the 'greater fool theory'. They are driven by the behavior of perennially optimistic market participants (the fools) who buy overvalued assets in anticipation of selling it to other speculators (the greater fools) at a much higher price. They have led to economic catastrophes like the Great Depression and the latest subprime crisis. They are threatening to bring the fastest growing economy to its knees. Yet economic "bubbles" as they are popularly called, are set to have a longer life.





Cheap liquidity which is the lifeline of global asset bubbles continues to find supporters in its birthplace - the US Fed. Determined to keep interest rates near zero long enough to drown global economy in surplus liquidity, the US central bank has refused to pay any heed to sensible economics. In their latest meeting, Federal Reserve officials repeated their pledge to keep interest rates near zero for an 'extended period'.



Economists in the US opine that the housing market will be able to weather the removal of the stimulus programmes once the economy begins to create jobs and banks ease up on credit. Well, if that is the logic for the US Fed's reluctance to raise interest rates, cheap liquidity is here to stay. For the US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has himself expressed his concerns over unemployment rates in the US remaining elevated for longer than expected. US banks can try to ease up lending only if the US consumers get back to borrowing and spending. Each of these is therefore expected to add to the flow of cheap liquidity into emerging markets and risky assets. While China seems to be happy to accommodate it in its real estate sector, Indian regulators need to ensure that they do not poison Indian stockmarkets and real estate.

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Sunday, March 14, 2010

Attrition is back at IT companies

Economic recovery has brought good times for Indian companies. The same is true for IT companies as well. From uncertain times till about a year ago, these companies are now much clearer about their revenue visibility for the medium term. Clients are back on the discussion table. And they are loosening their purse strings to spend more on IT offshoring.



Now, while all this sounds hunky dory for the IT sector and its companies, there is one concern that seems to be raising its head. We are talking about employee attrition. Given the improved business scenario and the fact that IT companies across the board are back to hiring again, IT employees are suddenly finding themselves with a plethora of job options. And this has started giving sleepless nights to the HR managers at IT companies. Even a company like Infosys is not spared. There are reports that the company is seeing higher attrition as employees are looking out for other options. But this should not be a serious worry for the company given the good amount of bench strength it has. The problem really lies for the mid and small size IT companies that nether have the bench nor the financial strength to retain key employees. In fact, we see employee costs rising for the broader IT sector, and margins coming under some pressure as companies try to retain their assets - their people.

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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The dollar is under no threat. Really?

The US dollar has received a lot of bashing in recent times. And why not? The US economy is in the doldrums, unemployment is soaring and the deficit has widened all of which has put immense pressure on its currency. So much so that there have been voices in many quarters questioning the dollar's status as the world's reserve currency. China has been at the forefront suggesting that the US dollar should be replaced with another reserve currency.



However, the MD of International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn has said that confidence in the dollar isn't under threat despite the fact that the debt on US' books has bloated.

And his view is endorsed by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who also believes in the strength of the dollar. Infact, the PM opines that the current setback in the US is 'temporary' and that there is no substitute to the US dollar for replacement as the global reserve currency. What is more, he expressed confidence that the country would bounce back from the slump that it is in now.

 We believe that Strauss-Kahn and Manmohan Singh (whom I beleive to be an US agent to impose American econmic, diplomatic and defense strategies on Inida ) may be right in suggesting that despite the various ills afflicting the US economy, the dollar is not in a serious threat. The reason for the same is simple. Other developed nations are stuck in a recession as well and their situation is no better than the US that would warrant a change in the reserve currency, in the near future atleast. But we are also of the opinion that the dollar cannot rest on its laurels. Emerging nations such as China are increasingly displaying their might in the global arena. So, while in the medium term, the dollar's position stands secure, if the US does not find a solution to correct its deficit problem, one cannot be sure of the dollar's supremacy some years down the line

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

There may be not 1 but 2 US economies

Few days back I posted and raised my doubt about the fake US economic growth and now few economists are also joining the chorus.

Renowned economist Nouriel Roubini has an interesting take on the US economy. He is of the view that the official figures that point towards a slow recovery in the US are completely misleading to say the least. Infact, he prefers calling it two economies instead of one. The first one is the picture of the US economy as is painted by the official government figures. The second is the one that is still languishing in recession.



The reasons for this divergence are many. For example, official measures of GDP may grossly overstate growth in the economy. This is because they don't capture the fact that business sentiment among small firms is abysmal. As also the fact that their output is still falling sharply. The country's third quarter GDP growth if corrected for these factors may have been 2% rather than 3.5% opines Roubini. America's official unemployment rate is 10.2%. Now add in discouraged workers and partially employed workers. This figure will jump to a whopping 17.5%. Even this is excluding many other factors. Cuts in working hours, temporary forced leaves and lower wages being the key. All this and more adds to the depression in the economy that the official figures do a very bad job of capturing.

I strongly believe US economic has still the worst to witness, so what are we supposed to do in such scenario....yes....BUY GOLD!!!!!

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Small US banks may have Chinese owners

Life has indeed come a full circle for the Chinese. It was only a few years back that they were snubbed by the US authorities when its home grown oil giant CNOOC made a bold US$ 19 bn bid to acquire the California based US oil giant Unocal. But that was 2005 and this is 2009. While four years may not appear too much, a lot has indeed happened on the global financial landscape. The Empire of debt that was the US has seen its power erode considerably and at the same time, China, the largest holder of its debt has gone from strength to strength.





Also, with voices getting louder in the US to stop forking out any more taxpayers' money to bail out ailing banks, it only makes sense that they get acquired by bigger entities. But since most US financial institutions in the US are not in the best of health themselves, the cash rich Chinese banks obviously seem as one of the best fit. Thus, a pact is being negotiated between the Chinese and US regulators whereby Chinese financial institutions will be given the permission to buy into small and medium sized banks in the United States.



By inviting China, the US authorities are trying to kill two birds with one stone. Helping turnaround the sick banks and at the same time sending out the message to the communists that they are indeed not averse to see a red flag fluttering at the headquarters of few of their financial institutions. After all, now is not the time to peeve one of your biggest lenders.

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Monday, October 12, 2009

Central banks losing faith in the US dollar

A report by Barclays has shown that governments across the world boosted their foreign currency holdings by a huge US$ 413 bn during the September quarter. Needless to say that lending to the US government accounted for the majority of it. However, here comes the shocker! A full 63% of the new money that has come in has been invested into Euro and Yen denominated assets, thus setting a new record. Well, this potentially means that central banks are losing faith in the US dollar and want to diversify their holdings. However, there’s a problem here. If they diversify too fast, they risk depreciating the dollar to unreasonable levels, a scenario which is not too ideal for their export driven economies. Hence, the process will have to be gradual. But one thing cannot be denied. As things stand today, the dollar is headed towards a continued long-term decline

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Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Crude oil may no longer be priced in US dollars

So many senior economists of the world have been predicting that if the crude oil  is traded in the currency other than US$, that might be the cause for devaluating the dollar or even collapse of the US$.



There is little doubt that the global financial meltdown has changed the world financial order. The latest development that supports this view is the attempt of gulf oil producers to move away from pricing crude oil in terms of the US dollar to a basket of currencies instead. This move also has the support of countries like China, Russia, Japan and France. As per The Independent, these countries have already held secret meetings to discuss the same. Apparently, Brazil and India also approve of this move.





In my view, given the importance of crude oil transactions in world trade, this will dent the US dollar's role as the world's reserve currency. Other currencies, including the Chinese Yuan and gold will jointly take up that space. It means that the demand for gold will also climb.



As for the Americans, they are not going to take this development lying down. After all, it prevented the UK from joining the Euro and invaded Iraq when it moved its crude oil prices away from the US dollar. I expect a lot of muscle flexing over this issue in the days ahead.

 

POSSESS GOLD and SILVER, STAY AWAY FROM US $.

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Oooops it collapsed!

!Do not worry nothing has collapsed, just imagining : This was to draw your attention



This is human tendency to predict, good for self and worst for all: nothing is collapsed do not worry!



Almost none of us have ever witnessed the situation which is known as economic collapse in our life span, in this article I will present the picture or the scenario how the things become in case of economic collapse of any country. I will try to keep my language as simple as possible. S





So let’s see step by step how things start changing:



It starts with the rumours around like few stockists in some part of country are no longer accepting the currency notes in exchange of the stuff.



Such rumours spread very rapidly and drastically and the currency loses the value drastically, as few optimistic traders still hope the things to go better and they still accept the currency, but as their risk is too high they will definitely ask for more money (currency), say they may ask 1000 Rs. for a bread worth 10 Rs. That causes the very high inflation rate and very soon currency notes disappear from the market.



People are left only with the assets they possess and that is blessing in disguise for the stockists especially for the food and grain stockists, as food being the most essential item to live people are now forced to sell their valuable assets in exchange of some food. Emergency is declared in the country and media rights are withdrawn.



Suddenly within a few weeks people are left with nothing in their houses except the house itself and/or jewellery.



Government encourage the public to donate their gold/silver (being the essential commodity) and this is related with the spirit of patriotism, more you donate more patriotic you are.(You must have noticed such circumstances in the case of war).



Properties values decline drastically even up to 90% in few cases.



Ultimately public end up with their houses and jewellery sold or donated.



That is the beginning of social reformation



Democracy ends to form a new social structure “SOCIALISM”.



In this condition value of all the companies is evaluated (against gold) and those who have saved their gold somehow are asked to invest (not donate) their gold in the companies and will be the share holder of the company and they receive the healthy proportion of the profit made (as most of the people have lost their everything, foreigners are invited to invest), those who don’t possess gold or silver are asked to work as an employee (depending upon the qualification). Those who had very less gold may act as both the partner and the worker of the company.



Currency notes are reprinted against the gold reserve and once again currency is accepted in the market for exchanging the goods.



Though such situation is not likely to happen in India in near future, but many so called super powers like USA and economic powers like Japan are on the verge of bankruptcy, it’s up to you now how you can take advantage out of this.



POSSESS GOLD AND SILVER (the universal currency,not Dollar).

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Insurance: Hunter of Greedy

18th Century, Scotland, the most pessimistic country in the world, king is deeply hurt seeing the plight of the widows of the priests of the church. He decides to help the widows and discusses with the economists. A new invention called “welfare state” comes in to existence. Idea is to collect the money from the public for some period and promise to return the received money at the end of the tenure. Money is invested in the trades and businesses and the money earned is distributed among the widows. And those who were paying the money acquire a special status in the society as being responsible for the welfare of the society, hence, both are benefitted the widows and the payers.



Second decade of 20th century, Japan, turned in to a similar welfare state. Idea is to help the unemployed, jobs in army is provided to all these unemployed and are helped by the money of the public. Life style is improved and people are becoming richer and richer, govt. earning healthy amount from the premiums accumulated. Now idea is to expand the boundaries, USA is the enemy, soldiers are killed, and money is finished.



After second world war, Japan, people are scared of sudden economic collapses, idea is to ensure you for your life(not from death but from life) and property, pension plans, social structure is improved people are living healthy and peaceful life, all businesses are growing, money earned from the premiums is gone in the infrastructure and big players of the stock markets are playing with the money with the hedged funds, but health is improved drastically, they are living by the age of 100, how to give them the pensions up till this age as thge ratio of working people with the pensioners has reached to the very serious level.



Currently, Japan, All insurance companies are on the verge of bankruptcy.



Recently, USA, many tornados like Katrina have destroyed many parts of the country, insurance companies refused to settle the claims (providing the policy documents and showing many hidden clauses which state that tornados were not in list, signed by the insured one’s), government is with the insurance companies. Money is lost paying the debts of 115 countries),Residential of New Orleans can not live in their city because their property can not be insured in that city because it is so prone to tornados, AIG declared bankruptcy but is provided the handsome bail-out package(can somebody tell me please what does “bail-out package means”) by the Govt. of USA, later people come to know 25 other companies could lead to bankruptcy in case of their debts with AIG go bad. Well, AIG was not running in loss due to the claim settlements (they didn’t settle any), but because they have sold the derivatives in the stock market.



Yesterday, Vijaynagar, India, never witnessed flood in the history, flooded badly claiming many lives and property. People mustn’t have seen the policy documents (I guess in this city they have forgotten to add “flood” in the clause), hence the claims of flood victims will not be settled, now I want to see the faces of the authorities managing the dam associated. Is there some thing wrong?



Do we want to follow or need to follow USA or Japan................. I guess...........No we don't)...............Stay Away from the insurance companies.



Insurance is like the excretory system os the whole financial system from where the fiat money is excreted



Who is the director of IRDA?.............well good question, I do not know the answer.



Well, I can smell something wrong, if you can’t, read the topic again.

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Friday, October 2, 2009

Today's investing mantra

"Thousands of experts study overbought indicators, oversold indicators, head-and-shoulder patterns, put-call ratios, the Fed's policy on money supply, foreign investment, the movement of the constellations through the heavens, and the moss on oak trees, and they can't predict markets with any useful consistency, any more than the gizzard squeezers could tell the Roman emperors when the Huns would attack."

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Why are land prices so high in India?

If you are associated with one of India's leading housing finance institutions for more than three decades now and have been its Chairman for virtually half that tenure, you surely know a thing or two about the state of the Indian real estate market. Hence when I came across an interview of Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC, in a leading business daily, I read it with much interest.





In this interview, Mr. Parekh has reiterated his view of having a regulator for the real estate industry, something akin to regulators for the petroleum and civil aviation industries. And the reason why Mr. Parekh believes real estate must have a regulator is to control greed that got companies and investors in this sector into big trouble in 2008.



Mr. Parekh has also blamed faulty land policy and politicians for having created artificial land scarcity in the country, which has led to unjustifiably high land prices . As he says, “A lot of politics is also involved. The lengthy approval process is another key reason why land prices remain so high. Multiplicity of approvals creates scarcity of supply, keeping prices elevated. Quick approvals will increase supply manifold, leading to lower prices. Land transactions have been made complicated to ensure that supply remains constrained and prices remain high.”

Read more »

Why are land prices so high in India?

If you are associated with one of India's leading housing finance institutions for more than three decades now and have been its Chairman for virtually half that tenure, you surely know a thing or two about the state of the Indian real estate market. Hence when I came across an interview of Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC, in a leading business daily, I read it with much interest.





In this interview, Mr. Parekh has reiterated his view of having a regulator for the real estate industry, something akin to regulators for the petroleum and civil aviation industries. And the reason why Mr. Parekh believes real estate must have a regulator is to control greed that got companies and investors in this sector into big trouble in 2008.



Mr. Parekh has also blamed faulty land policy and politicians for having created artificial land scarcity in the country, which has led to unjustifiably high land prices . As he says, “A lot of politics is also involved. The lengthy approval process is another key reason why land prices remain so high. Multiplicity of approvals creates scarcity of supply, keeping prices elevated. Quick approvals will increase supply manifold, leading to lower prices. Land transactions have been made complicated to ensure that supply remains constrained and prices remain high.”

Read more »

Zoellick predicts the decline of the dollar

Expert after expert has been writing obituaries on the decline of the US dollar. Robert Zoellick, the World Bank president is latest to join the chorus. And he has argued rather vehemently on the dollar's place in the global scheme of things. Zoellick is of the opinion that the US dollar would lose its favored position as the Euro and the Chinese Renminbi gain in influence. “The greenback's fortunes will depend heavily on U.S. choices. Will the United States resolve its debt problems without a resort to inflation? Can America establish long-term discipline over spending and its budget deficit?” is how Mr. Zoellick chose to put it across.





With the US Government hell bent on turning on its printing presses at full throttle, its balance sheet has started resembling that of a banana republic and such countries are quite likely to default on their interest payments, thus making the holders of the US dollar extremely nervous. Little wonder Zoellick feels that investors in the US dollar might switch to stronger currencies like the Euro and the Chinese Renminbi, thus increasing their influence and vastly reducing that of the US dollar.

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Zoellick predicts the decline of the dollar

Expert after expert has been writing obituaries on the decline of the US dollar. Robert Zoellick, the World Bank president is latest to join the chorus. And he has argued rather vehemently on the dollar's place in the global scheme of things. Zoellick is of the opinion that the US dollar would lose its favored position as the Euro and the Chinese Renminbi gain in influence. “The greenback's fortunes will depend heavily on U.S. choices. Will the United States resolve its debt problems without a resort to inflation? Can America establish long-term discipline over spending and its budget deficit?” is how Mr. Zoellick chose to put it across.





With the US Government hell bent on turning on its printing presses at full throttle, its balance sheet has started resembling that of a banana republic and such countries are quite likely to default on their interest payments, thus making the holders of the US dollar extremely nervous. Little wonder Zoellick feels that investors in the US dollar might switch to stronger currencies like the Euro and the Chinese Renminbi, thus increasing their influence and vastly reducing that of the US dollar.

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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Are The Current Market Conditions Indicating A Bigger Bubble Formation?

I really wonder how can the world forget the plight of "Enron", it's investors and shareholders so early. It's not so long when the whole governing and financial system of USA was manipulating the share prices of Enron. That formed the bubble in the share markets of many countries and that bubble eventually bursted when Enron filed for bankruptcy. That was an example of big accounting error created very deliberately by the top managemet of Enron with the help of many top government officials of USA like Satyam did in India.

Once again markets are showing the bullish trend, reason being lot of liquidity in equity and commodity market which entered through the bail out packages declared in recent times to overcome deep recession, .Global markets have been on a tear since the start of March 2009. While emerging markets are up anywhere between 50% and 120%, western markets like the US have also raked in robust gains - all this on the basis of rising investor expectation that the world economy is finally moving towards safety and growth.

Amidst all this, gold remains an anomaly given that the metal generally has an inverse relationship with the stockmarkets. When stocks are on a downward slope, gold gains strength and when stocks are going great guns, the metal isn't in much demand.



But this time it seems different. As you can see from the chart below that indicates the stocks to gold ratio (i.e., number of units of the US Dow Jones index each ounce of gold can buy), it hasn't moved much since the rally began in March this year.







                               *Stocks are representative of the US Dow Jones Industrial Index



So is there some hidden danger that investors seem to fear (as they seem to be buying the safe haven gold) even when they are buying equities lock stock and barrel? There is one, at least if one were to believe Alice Schroeder, the author of "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life" and a senior adviser to Morgan Stanley.

Ms. Schroeder expects the danger of a sudden currency (read, the US dollar) depreciation lurking around the corner, which can lead to a mega-inflation. And this is what she believes will keep gold prices strong. As she writes on Bloomberg, "Right now, the American economy is worth less than the value implied by the market value of its obligations. How much less, no one knows. But gold bugs will tell you, privately, that this is why they are buyers. Might as well stock up, they say, before gold becomes a controlled substance. I haven't, so far, but the temptation is rising by the day."

 

Moreover, The Chinese authorities have had enough of it perhaps. In what could be called a potentially game changing event, a leading news portal has reported that the Chinese Government has made an announcement that further investment in industries such as steel, aluminium, cement and other industries be stopped with immediate effect. Apparently, the Chinese government seems to be concerned with the reports floating around that the ongoing investment boom in the Chinese manufacturing sector is leading to capacity glut and price wars and if allowed to go unchecked, it could set the stage for a potentially nasty outcome.



It should be noted that in order to support growth in the aftermath of the financial crisis, the Chinese Government had asked its banks to lend freely to the manufacturing sector. But the move was starting to have unintended consequences in the form of excessive investment and hence, the decision to rein in expansion in certain industries. Indeed, if the Chinese do get it right, one potential bubble that was threatening to derail global economic recovery would have been nipped in the bud.

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Are The Current Market Conditions Indicating A Bigger Bubble Formation?

I really wonder how can the world forget the plight of "Enron", it's investors and shareholders so early. It's not so long when the whole governing and financial system of USA was manipulating the share prices of Enron. That formed the bubble in the share markets of many countries and that bubble eventually bursted when Enron filed for bankruptcy. That was an example of big accounting error created very deliberately by the top managemet of Enron with the help of many top government officials of USA like Satyam did in India.

Once again markets are showing the bullish trend, reason being lot of liquidity in equity and commodity market which entered through the bail out packages declared in recent times to overcome deep recession, .Global markets have been on a tear since the start of March 2009. While emerging markets are up anywhere between 50% and 120%, western markets like the US have also raked in robust gains - all this on the basis of rising investor expectation that the world economy is finally moving towards safety and growth.

Amidst all this, gold remains an anomaly given that the metal generally has an inverse relationship with the stockmarkets. When stocks are on a downward slope, gold gains strength and when stocks are going great guns, the metal isn't in much demand.



But this time it seems different. As you can see from the chart below that indicates the stocks to gold ratio (i.e., number of units of the US Dow Jones index each ounce of gold can buy), it hasn't moved much since the rally began in March this year.







                               *Stocks are representative of the US Dow Jones Industrial Index



So is there some hidden danger that investors seem to fear (as they seem to be buying the safe haven gold) even when they are buying equities lock stock and barrel? There is one, at least if one were to believe Alice Schroeder, the author of "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life" and a senior adviser to Morgan Stanley.

Ms. Schroeder expects the danger of a sudden currency (read, the US dollar) depreciation lurking around the corner, which can lead to a mega-inflation. And this is what she believes will keep gold prices strong. As she writes on Bloomberg, "Right now, the American economy is worth less than the value implied by the market value of its obligations. How much less, no one knows. But gold bugs will tell you, privately, that this is why they are buyers. Might as well stock up, they say, before gold becomes a controlled substance. I haven't, so far, but the temptation is rising by the day."

 

Moreover, The Chinese authorities have had enough of it perhaps. In what could be called a potentially game changing event, a leading news portal has reported that the Chinese Government has made an announcement that further investment in industries such as steel, aluminium, cement and other industries be stopped with immediate effect. Apparently, the Chinese government seems to be concerned with the reports floating around that the ongoing investment boom in the Chinese manufacturing sector is leading to capacity glut and price wars and if allowed to go unchecked, it could set the stage for a potentially nasty outcome.



It should be noted that in order to support growth in the aftermath of the financial crisis, the Chinese Government had asked its banks to lend freely to the manufacturing sector. But the move was starting to have unintended consequences in the form of excessive investment and hence, the decision to rein in expansion in certain industries. Indeed, if the Chinese do get it right, one potential bubble that was threatening to derail global economic recovery would have been nipped in the bud.

Read more »

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Oil Bonds' Fraud

Media, especially the printed media has been screaming for a long times that all our oil companies are making huge losses and can be forced to or compelled to shut down their business if not compensated by the government. No doubt oil companies are selling the petrol, diesel etc. At unviable prices as the international prices of the crude oil have climbed very high. So these company constantly keep on demanding the compensation from the government, and our Finance Minister keep on assuring them for the compensation. He has various ways which are rejected outright which are:



a. He can allow the oil companies to increase their prices to match the prices of cost of the products. Unfortunately this is more than likely to result in the defeat of his government in the next elections.



b. . He can remove all taxes and duties on the import, processing and sale of oil and its derivatives. However, this will reduce the government’s revenue and increase the fiscal deficit, which will show up in the National Budget. Moreover, some of the taxes are imposed by states and they may not agree to eliminate these.



c. He can print extra money and give it to the oil companies. This immediately increases the money supply and, as a consequence, reduces the value of money in our hands through inflation. This, too, is likely to result in the defeat of his government in the next elections.



d. He can ‘loan’ them the money, perhaps at zero interest rates, but this will skew their own balance sheets and is likely to have the same inflationary effect on the economy as printing new notes.



e. He can reduce the expenditure of the government under other heads and transfer the savings to the oil companies. Unfortunately, the expenditure under other heads has increased dramatically during his tenure. The salaries and perks of the Members of Parliament have gone up, the expenditure on VIP Security is out of control and so on. The sixth pay commission payout is imminent. It takes much more courage than the Prime Minister and Finance Minister have to wield the axe on the expenditure side and the political will to do so is lacking, too.



f. He can impose a fresh tax and pass on the proceeds to the Oil Companies. However, to meet the ballooning expenditure of his government, the Finance Minister has already imposed all taxes that he thinks the tax-payer can take without thinking about his vote in the next elections. Any more taxation may have a negative effect for his party in the next elections



None of the above ways of providing compensation and liquidity to the oil companies is acceptable to the Finance Minister or his Prime Minister. However, he is a clever person and knows his way around the back alleys of economics. “Aha”, he thinks. “I have done this ten years back and can do so again. I can assist the oil companies and make others pay for the sins of our government and none will be the wiser. It helps that these others being asked to pay are infants now and they cannot object to this expenditure being loaded on them when they start earning. By the time they are old enough to vote, who knows where I will be.” Accordingly, he gives the following directive:



Print some paper marked “Oil Bonds” and give this to the long-suffering Oil Marketing Companies. We can promise to pay, say, 7.5% interest on these Oil Bonds. If this interest is not adequate for them to tide over their liquidity problems, they can borrow against these bonds or sell them in the open market or even sell them back to the Reserve Bank of India . These Oil Bonds are extra-Budget and will not show up in the Government’s accounts. In any case our government is not obliged to publish a balance sheet.”…..wow …..our Finance Minister is a genius undoubtedly.





“The Bonds will mature at some future time, say, 25 years from now. Who knows who will be in Power then, and, whoever it is can issue more bonds to cover these bonds and postpone the problem another 25 years.”





Hence, Oil companies are partly compensated for their losses at virtually no risk to his government.



Once again I am using the prophecy of Thomas Jefferson, he said :



“It is a wise rule never to borrow a dollar without laying a tax at the same instant for paying the interest annually and the principal within a given term. ….We shall consider ourselves unauthorized to saddle posterity with our debts, and morally bound to pay them ourselves.



The earth belongs to the living, not the dead…We may consider each generation as a distinct nation with a right to bind…themselves, but not the succeeding generation.



The modern theory of perpetuation of debt has drenched the earth with blood and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating.”



Unfortunately our Fm or PM haven’t listened to him, as a result, your children and mine will have to redeem these Oil Bonds much after most members in the present government have retired from the government and, some, perhaps from this earthly existence. We have burdened our next generation without their consent, so that our present government does not pay the price of its profligacy. It is as if the Finance Minister has committed financial murder and has blamed it on our children and their children, so that the punishment visits them instead of his Party. This is very cynical and downright unethical.



The common man must be made aware of this for the sums involved are not a pittance. – The total oil bonds issued till 2007-08 were worth Rs. 66,967 Crores. Then in 2008-09, the Finance Minister issued another Rs 94,000 crore or so worth of Oil Bonds. This is almost equal to the Central Government’s entire non-tax revenue for the year and it comes to a whopping 1.8% of India ’s GDP.



In addition to the Oil Bonds given to the Oil Marketing companies as subsidy, the fertilizer companies are also given such bonds. One wonders what is next – perhaps the government will issue Sixth Pay Commission Bonds. In an election year, anything is possible, especially as our leaders appear to be head and shoulders below a statesman like Thomas Jefferson. This is India ’s tragedy and our coming generations will pay for the venality of our leaders and for our shortsightedness in continuing to elect them.

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