Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
NEO ECONOMICS by Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati
The Japanese save a lot. They do not spend much. Also Japan exports far more than it imports.Has an annual trade surplus of over $100 billion, yet Japanese economy is considered weak, even collapsing.
Americans spend, save little. Also US import more than it exports.Has an annual trade deficit of over $400 billion. Yet, the American economy is considered strong and trusted to get stronger. But where from do Americans get money to spend?
They borrow from Japan , China , and even India .Virtually others save for the US to spend. Global savings are mostly invested in US, in dollars. India itself keeps its foreign currency assets of over $50 billions in US securities. China has sunk over $160 billion in US securities. Japan 's stakes in US securities is in trillions.
Result : The US has taken over $5 trillion from the world.So, as the world saves for the US , Americans spend freely. Today, to keep the US consumption going, that is for the US economy to work, the countries have to remit $180 billion every quarter that is $2 billion a day to the US !Otherwise the US economy would go for a sick. So will the global economy. The result will be no different if US consumers begin consuming less.
A Chinese economist asked a neat question. Who has invested more, US in China , or China in US? The US has invested in China less than half of what China has invested in US. The same is the case with India . We have invested in US over $50 billion. But the US has invested less than $20 billion in India .
Why the world is after US? The secret lies in the American spending, that they hardly save. In fact they use their credit cards to spend their future income. That the US spends is what makes it attractive to export to the US . So US imports more than what it exports year after year.
The result: The world is dependent on US consumption for its growth. By its deepening culture of consumption, the US has habituated the world to feed on US consumption. But as the US needs money to finance its consumption, the world provides the money. It's like a shopkeeper providing the money to a customer so that the customer keeps buying from his shop. The customer will not buy; the shop won't have business, unless the shopkeeper funds him. The US is like the lucky customer. And the world is like the helpless shopkeeper financier.
The result: The world is dependent on US consumption for its growth. By its deepening culture of consumption, the US has habituated the world to feed on US consumption. But as the US needs money to finance its consumption, the world provides the money. It's like a shopkeeper providing the money to a customer so that the customer keeps buying from his shop. The customer will not buy; the shop won't have business, unless the shopkeeper funds him. The US is like the lucky customer. And the world is like the helpless shopkeeper financier.
Who is America 's biggest shopkeeper financer? Japan of course. Yet it's Japan which is regarded as weak. Modern economists complain that Japanese do not spend, so they do not Grow. To force the Japanese to spend, the Japanese government exerted itself. Reduced the savings rates, even charged the savers Even then the Japanese did not spend (habits don't change, even with taxes, do they?). Their traditional postal savings alone is over $1.2 trillions, about three times the Indian GDP. Thus, savings, far from being the strength of Japan , has become its pain. Hence, what is the lesson? A nation cannot grow unless the people spend, not save. Not just spend, but borrow and spend.
Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati, the famous Indian-born economist in the US , told that don't wastefully save. Start spending, on imported cars and, seriously, even on cosmetics! This will put all nations on a growth curve.'
Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati, the famous Indian-born economist in the US , told that don't wastefully save. Start spending, on imported cars and, seriously, even on cosmetics! This will put all nations on a growth curve.'
Saving is sin, and spending is virtue.'
Before you follow this neo economics, get some fools to save so that you can borrow from them and spend. This is what US has successfully done in last few decades.
Written by Dr Jagdish Bhagwati an economist - share your thought
Originality and Creativity.....Perspectives!
Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architechture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadow. Select only those things to steal that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery- celebrate it if you feel like.
In any case always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said, "Its not where you take things from- Its where you take them to."
- Jim Jarmusch
- Edward De Bono
Man’s mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
People should think things out fresh and not just accept conventional terms and the conventional way of doing things.
- Buckminster Fuller
Monday, January 26, 2009
NEVER FORGET
Are you one of those who feel stonewalled, unable to do their bit for the country ,who are raring to go but did not know where, here is a good spot to start from.
Do not forget to register!
Do not forget to register!
Just a Few Questions!
I was just sifting some of my old mails and found this short exchange:
"CAT: 'I do not wish to intrude but this is gnawing into me......Axxxx on her 18th birthday appeared so full of spirits ,why within days was there a despondency. For a person who usually appeared so animated, chirpy this seemed unnatural. If you do care to share, I would be grateful......as it would a catharsis for all the dark feelings I have been experiencing since I heard about her hospitalization and death. If you cannot, I will understand. '
KS: 'Axxxx was a person who was loved by all. She was the type of person who could not be rejected by anyone who was close to her. A few days after her birthday, she found out that she was adopted. However she did not break down, she continued her fight to find her real parents. But I guess when she found the truth of why her parents left her and the events that followed their meeting hurt her. She was wounded on the inside and did not let anyone see it. Only a few people know what happened to her. ' "
Why is the human psyche so fragile? What makes the past paramount and negate all that is terrific in the present? Does nurture always lose out to nature? What is the right age to tell a child that he/she is adopted? Are there several adoption stories with unsavory detours? Why do some couples prefer remaining childless rather than adopt? Why am I stuck in a groove :-( ???
"CAT: 'I do not wish to intrude but this is gnawing into me......Axxxx on her 18th birthday appeared so full of spirits ,why within days was there a despondency. For a person who usually appeared so animated, chirpy this seemed unnatural. If you do care to share, I would be grateful......as it would a catharsis for all the dark feelings I have been experiencing since I heard about her hospitalization and death. If you cannot, I will understand. '
KS: 'Axxxx was a person who was loved by all. She was the type of person who could not be rejected by anyone who was close to her. A few days after her birthday, she found out that she was adopted. However she did not break down, she continued her fight to find her real parents. But I guess when she found the truth of why her parents left her and the events that followed their meeting hurt her. She was wounded on the inside and did not let anyone see it. Only a few people know what happened to her. ' "
Why is the human psyche so fragile? What makes the past paramount and negate all that is terrific in the present? Does nurture always lose out to nature? What is the right age to tell a child that he/she is adopted? Are there several adoption stories with unsavory detours? Why do some couples prefer remaining childless rather than adopt? Why am I stuck in a groove :-( ???
ALL SAID I DO NOT WANT THIS TO SEEM LIKE A QUESTION MARK OVER THE MERITS OF ADOPTION. I KNOW OF A FEW FAMILIES UP CLOSE WHO HAVE ADOPTED 2 KIDS EACH AND ARE ONE OF THE MOST LOVING WELL ADJUSTED FAMILIES I HAVE COME ACROSS! IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO ATTITUDE AND WISDOM.
AND IF ADOPTION IS ON YOUR MINDS GO FOR IT....WITHOUT INHIBITIONS,WITHOUT BIAS. GENES ALONE ARE NOT GUARANTORS OF PARENTAL FULFILLMENT /GRATIFICATION!!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
A Comedy of Errors !
This is a short story written by Dr Kishore Shah....he is a gynaecologist in Pune and a very gifted writer....enjoy this funny story.
"My wife is an ENT Surgeon while I am a Gynaecologist. This can lead to some complications, as I recently learned to my anguish. A General Practitioner called me up and told me that she is sending a patient of hers for an abortion. Unknown to me, she had also referred a female with earwax for removal of the wax to my wife. I duly informed the receptionist to send the patient right in as she was expected (and expecting!)
As Murphy lays down the laws of our hospital, it was but natural that the patient who wanted the wax removed from her ear, landed up with me. This is the conversation that I had with the patient. "Please come in. Be seated." I said with a big smile. I always have a big smile, when I am going to earn some money. The patient gave a feeble smile and sat hesitantly on the edge of the chair. "Relax." "Doctor, will this hurt a lot?" "Not at all." The patient relaxed visibly. "You know something, Doctor, we tried removing it at home, but failed." I was shocked. "Thank God. Trying this at home can cause serious complications. " "I first tried to remove it by jumping up and down, but it just wouldn't budge." I smiled and said, "If it were that easy, who would need doctors?" She gave a cute smile and said, "Yeah! My neighbour tried to remove it with his finger, but the hole is so small that he used a hair pin." "Oh my God!" "Yes! My mother even tried a matchstick." My blood pressure was shooting skywards. I just sputtered without uttering a word.
"Tell me, doctor, how do I avoid getting this dirt inside me?" I knew that it was an unwanted pregnancy, but calling it dirt was too much. I replied a bit angrily, "There are tablets which can prevent this happening. Or you could use protection at night." Now it was the patient's turn to be confused, "You mean to say that it happens only at night?" I saw her point. "No! No! I meant anytime of the day, whenever you are in the mood, you should use protection." She was even more confused, "It depends on my moods?" Again I saw her point. "My mistake. You need not be in any sort of mood. It just happens."
"My neighbour advised me to go to one of those chaps who sit by the roadside." "You mean that pin man?" "Yeah!" This neighbour of hers seemed to be a very dangerous man. Besides using pins, he was sending her to such quacks. The only safety he knew was among the pins. "You were wise not to heed his advice." "But I tried his other advice. He told me to put warm oil inside and wait. However, that also did not work."
This was getting more and more bizarre. Her neighbour deserved to be locked up either in a padded cell or a barred one. "But have you taken your husband's permission?" Now the patient looked confused. "Do I have to take my husband's permission? Because if you need his sign, he is working in Dubai. We were not able to meet for the last one year." It was my turn to be shocked. I gave a sly smirk. It was one of 'those' cases. The pin-wielding neighbour seemed to me the usual suspect. I reassured her. "No! No! The husband's sign is not at all needed." "However, I did inform him on phone."
Her husband seemed to me a very broad-minded fellow. I didn't know whether to congratulate her or to commiserate with her. So I hastily turned to other aspects. "Its good that you came a bit early." "Actually I wanted to come early in the morning, but I had some other work." "Oh! I did not mean early today. I meant that if you had delayed this removal, it would have started moving. Then it would have developed a heartbeat."
The patient was staring at me wide eyed as if watching a horror movie. Looking at her face, I decided that she was not fit to listen to the grotesque details. I decided to relieve her a bit. I said, "You will bleed a bit, but only for a few days." By now, the poor patient was trembling, "how-H-How much bleeding?" "Oh, only slightly more than your menstrual period, and it will continue only for a week or so." By now the patient was clutching her hair in her fingers and staring at me wide-eyed. I asked her soothingly, "Why don't you lie down on the examination table? This was the final straw. She didn't even wish me goodbye. I saw just a blur of motion leaving my consulting room at top speed. "
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
A Simple Fish Story
The Japanese have always loved fresh fish.
But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades.
So to feed the Japanese population
Fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever
The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish.
If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh.
The Japanese did not like the taste
To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats
They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea.
Freezers allowed theboats to go farther and stay longer
However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish
The frozen fish brought a lower price .
So fishing companies installed fish tanks.
They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin
After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving
They were tired and dull, but alive.
Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference
Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste
The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish
So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem?
How do theyget fresh-tasting fish to Japan?
If you were consulting the fish industry, what would you recommend?
Scroll down for answer :..................
Here is How Japanese Fish Stay Fresh:
To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks
But now they add a small shark to each tank.
The shark eats a few fish,but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state.
The fish are challenged
Have you realized that some of us are also living in a pond but most ofthe time tired & dull
So we need a Shark in our life to keep us awake and moving?
Basically in our lives Sharks are new challenges to keep us active and lively
But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades.
So to feed the Japanese population
Fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever
The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish.
If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh.
The Japanese did not like the taste
To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats
They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea.
Freezers allowed theboats to go farther and stay longer
However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish
The frozen fish brought a lower price .
So fishing companies installed fish tanks.
They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin
After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving
They were tired and dull, but alive.
Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference
Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste
The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish
So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem?
How do theyget fresh-tasting fish to Japan?
If you were consulting the fish industry, what would you recommend?
Scroll down for answer :..................
Here is How Japanese Fish Stay Fresh:
To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks
But now they add a small shark to each tank.
The shark eats a few fish,but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state.
The fish are challenged
Have you realized that some of us are also living in a pond but most ofthe time tired & dull
So we need a Shark in our life to keep us awake and moving?
Basically in our lives Sharks are new challenges to keep us active and lively
Friday, January 9, 2009
Music for the Soul
Layla - Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton VERSUS Layla- Eric Clapton
It's a Mans World-James Brown & Luciano Pavarotti VERSUS It's a Mans World- Seal
Bill Withers-Ain't no Sunshine VERSUS Sting- Ain't no Sunshine VERSUS Freddie King-Ain`t No Sunshine VERSUS Jose Feliciano - Ain't No Sunshine
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody No Compare!
It's a Mans World-James Brown & Luciano Pavarotti VERSUS It's a Mans World- Seal
Bill Withers-Ain't no Sunshine VERSUS Sting- Ain't no Sunshine VERSUS Freddie King-Ain`t No Sunshine VERSUS Jose Feliciano - Ain't No Sunshine
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody No Compare!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Destruction without a Cause or is there?
In an attempt to clear some of the murkiness in my mind, around the ongoing Israel/Hamas stand off, I have been reading and trying to crystallize my own amongst the vistas floating around the virtual space.
Am sharing this and this and this and this which were the latest reads in my endeavour to clear the smokescreen (not the white phosphorus one though)
Am sharing this and this and this and this which were the latest reads in my endeavour to clear the smokescreen (not the white phosphorus one though)
Forget the bungalow, retire to Mars
With every part of earth rife with conflicts ,abjectedness ,busts, stagnations, crimes, destitution, disease- the whole nine yards, it is deliverence and palliation of sorts to read about such extraterrestial ventures (Call me an Escapist!!)
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
A Point of View
The Global Islamic population is approximately 1,200,000,000 ONE BILLION TWO HUNDRED MILLION or 20% of the world's population.
They have received the following Nobel Prizes:
Literature:
1988 - Najib Mahfooz
Literature:
1988 - Najib Mahfooz
Peace:
1978 - Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat
1978 - Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat
1994 - Yaser Arafat:
1999 - Ahmed Zewai
2003 - Shirin Ebadi
2005 - Mohamed El Baradei
2006 - Muhamed Yunus
Economics: (zero)
Physics
1979 - Abdus Salam
Medicine:
1960 - Peter Brian Medawar
1998 - Ferid Mourad
TOTAL: 10 TEN
_________________________________________________________
The Global Jewish population is approximately 14,000,000 FOURTEEN MILLION Or about 0.02% of the world's population.
They have received the following Nobel Prizes:
Literature:
1910 - Paul Heyse
The Global Jewish population is approximately 14,000,000 FOURTEEN MILLION Or about 0.02% of the world's population.
They have received the following Nobel Prizes:
Literature:
1910 - Paul Heyse
1927 - Henri Bergson
1958 - Boris Pasternak
1966 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon
1966 - Nelly Sachs
1976 - Saul Bellow
1978 - Isaac Bashevis Singer
1981 - Elias Canetti
1987 - Joseph Brodsky
1991 - Nadine Gordimer World
Peace:
1911 - Alfred Fried
Peace:
1911 - Alfred Fried
1911 - Tobias Michael Carel Asser
1968 - Rene Cassin
1973 - Henry Kissinger
1978 - Menachem Begin
1986 - Elie Wiesel
1994 - Shimon Peres
1994 - Yitzhak Rabin
Physics:
1905 - Adolph Von Baeyer
Physics:
1905 - Adolph Von Baeyer
1906 - Henri Moissan
1907 - Albert Abraham Michelson
1908 - Gabriel Lippmann
1910 - Otto Wallach
1915 - Richard Willstaetter
1918 - Fritz Haber
1921 - Albert Einstein
1922 - Niels Bohr
1925 - James Franck
1925 - Gustav Hertz
1943 - Gustav Stern
1943 - George Charles de Hevesy
1944 - Isidor Issac Rabi
1952 - Felix Bloch
1954 - Max Born
1958 - Igor Tamm
1959 - Emilio Segre
1960 - Donald A. Glaser
1961 - Robert Hofstadter
1961 - Melvin Calvin
1962 - Lev Davidovich Landau
1962 - Max Ferdinand Perutz
1965 - Richard Phillips Feynman
1965 - Julian Schwinger
1969 - Murray Gell-Mann
1971 - Dennis Gabor
1972 - William Howard Stein
1973 - Brian David Josephson
1975 - Benjamin Mottleson
1976 - Burton Richter
1977 - Ilya Prigogine
1978 - Arno Allan Penzias
1978 - Peter L Kapitza
1979 - Stephen Weinberg
1979 - Sheldon Glashow
1979 - Herbert Charle S Brown
1980 - Paul Berg
1980 - Walter Gilbert
1981 - Roald Hoffmann
1982 - Aaron Klug
1985 - Albert A. Hauptman
1985 - Jerome Karle
1986 - Dudley R. Herschbach
1988 - Robert Huber
1988 - Leon Lederman
1988 - Melvin Schwartz
1988 - Jack Steinberger
1989 - Sidney Altman
1990 - Jerome Friedman
1992 - Rudolph Marcus
1995 - Martin Perl
2000 - Alan J. Heeger
Economics:
1970 - Paul Anthony Samuelson
Economics:
1970 - Paul Anthony Samuelson
1971 - Simon Kuznets
1972 - Kenneth Joseph Arrow
1975 - Leonid Kantorovich
1976 - Milton Friedman
1978 - Herbert A. Simon
1980 - Lawrence Robert Klein
1985 - Franco Modigliani
1987 - Robert M. Solow
1990 - Harry Markowitz
1990 - Merton Miller
1992 - Gary Becker
1993 - Robert Fogel
Medicine:
1908 - Eli e Metchnikoff
Medicine:
1908 - Eli e Metchnikoff
1908 - Paul Erlich
1914 - Robert Barany
1922 - Otto Meyerhof
1930 - Karl Landsteiner
1931 - Otto Warburg
1936 - Otto Loewi
1944 - Joseph Erlanger
1944 - Herbert Spencer Gasser
1945 - Ernst Boris Chain
1946 - Hermann Joseph Muller
1950 - Tadeus Reichstein
1952 - Selman Abra ham Waksman
1953 - Hans Krebs
1953 - Fritz Albert Lipmann
1958 - Joshua Lederberg
1959 - Arthur Kornberg
1964 - Konrad Bloch
1965 - Francois Jacob
1965 - Andre Lwoff
1967 - George Wald
1968 - Marshall W. Nirenberg
1969 - Salvador Luria
1970 - Julius Axelrod
1970 - Sir Bernard Katz
1972 - Gerald Maurice Edelman
1975 - Howard Martin Temin
1976 - Baruch S. Blumberg
1977 - Roselyn Sussman Yalow
1978 - Daniel Nathans
1980 - Baruj Benacerraf
1984 - Cesar Milstein
1985 - Michael Stuart Brown
1985 - Joseph L. Goldstein
1986 - Stanley Cohen [& Rita Levi-Montalcini]
1988 - Gertrude Elion
198 9 - H arold Varmus
1991 - Erwin Neher
1991 - Bert Sakmann
1993 - Richard J. Roberts
1993 - Phillip Sharp
1994 - Alfred Gilman
1995 - Edward B. Lewis
TOTAL: 129,ONE HUNDRED & TWENTY NINE ! (perhaps an incomplete list)
The Jews are not promoting brain washing the children in military training camps, teaching them how to blow themselves up and cause maximum deaths of non Muslims!
The Jews don't hijack planes, nor kill athletes at the Olympics or blow themselves up in German restaurants. There is not a single Jew that has destroyed a church. There is not a single Jew that protests by killing people.The Jews don't traffic slaves, nor have leaders calling for Jihad and death to all the Infidels.
Perhaps the world's Muslims should consider investing more in standard education and less in blaming the Jews for all their problems.
Regardless of your feelings about the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab neighbors, even if you believe there is more culpability on Israel 's part, the following two sentences really say it all: 'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel' -Benjamin Netanyahu
Ashwin Modi
Advocate High Court
Thursday, January 1, 2009
An Onion of another kind!
I accidently discovered the onion today and unlayered this satirical pastiche of the year that was and our dumb world . Enjoy!
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