THE BYSTANDER

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INVESTMENT GUIDE PART - II (For young buddies)

In the first part I discussed why I thought of writing this article. The current generations, many with their thick pay packet know not how to spend or invest prudently. Their working conditions will hardly permit them to continue till superannuation. Most of them are likely to take early retirement form their professional life (but not from life). So what harvest they will have depends upon how they reap now. First of all budgeting is most important factor in young professional’s life. Unless you do that you wonder where your money goes! Writing a budget shows actually how do spend and shows the area and how you can control them. You can identify the area needs to be controlled. Never forget to add the expenses you do on shopping and entertainment and include your savings too. Keep a track on your utility bills and keep comparing them. Mind you the plastic money or credit cards are major boosters to spending. Not that they do not have any role to play. At an odd hours, god forbid, ...

INVESTMENT GUIDE PART ONE (FOR THE YOUNG BUDDIES)

I have a son, last year he grabbed his B.Tech degree and a job with a coveted company. Like any father I was happy to see my son being successful in getting degree as well as a job with software industry. Knowing nothing; about the software industry. It was ok, till I saw his job offer letter. I was surprised to find the amount of initial remuneration as a trainee with that company. After serving for no less than 37 years in a nationalize organization, which was reputed as one of the best pay master when I joined; what I get now, my son is likely to get little less than that amount. His mother was too happy finding her only son starting with such a thick pay packet. I thought what goes so high that falls with more acceleration and may get crushed! Naturally I started enquiring about the industry where he found a berth. My enquiry with my contemporaries did not yield much. After all, at the time when they joined the industry, then the software industries was never heard off! However, f...

The Computer Woes

Excess everything is bad…thus goes the old adage. Last century saw the emergence of deadly HIV virus as a result of free-sex; now it is one of the great threats to humanity. This century is taking the toll on our young generations, especially in the developed and developing countries. They are stripped off their capacity to scribe legibly! Obviously this is due to their overexposure to computers. The present generations are introduced to e-culture. They usually communicate more through SMS, e-mail or use likes MS Words to write anything they need to. A recent report suggests that thousands of teenagers are seeking `scribes’ to help them write their A-level and GCSE paper because they are incapable of answering questions in longhand themselves, a study has revealed. The number of people, in UK seeking `ghost writers’ to help do exams rose from 28324 in 2005 to 40215 in last year. The number of students asking to use a word processor or computer also soared by more than 50 per cent, to 2...

Saving earth by Geo-engineering

Geo-engineering is subject what is least discussed about. In fact recently when I came across an article on environmental issues where geo-engineering was mentioned; I remotely remembered having heard the term earlier Nothing much I knew about it. As the name suggests; later I came to know it has to do with the climate changing technique or technology with scientific knowhow. Obviously, since it concerns the global climate control, the size and enormity of project is beyond our imagination. Steve Connor of The Independent, London reported the recent proposed activities related to geo-engineering. Fears that not enough is being done to cut carbon dioxide emissions have caused a lot of concern and scientific community are considering to “to think the unthinkable”. They are toying with an idea to alter global climate artificially with mega-engineering projects. Royal Society, later this year, will launch a study aimed at reviewing the possibility of saving the planet by “geo-engineering” ...

FREE TRADE REGIME - A TRAP

Free trade regime – what is advocated by the developed countries in WTO; the developing nations are not agreed to that for several reasons. However, let us see how the worked for other countries in the globe who accepted it to the letters. Let us take very recent example of Ghana. Ghana implemented the “liberalized economic system” in the early 8s, at least 10 years before India. The country was projected by the World Bank and the IMF as success story of Africa. But the reality was exactly otherwise. The liberalized economy in Ghana has ruined its agriculture and at the same time failed to boost any substantial manufacturing industries. The mantra of consumerism has failed there too. The poor consumers in Ghana were denied the price stability and pushed to further predicament. The free trade meant lack of price stability for the people of Ghana, since the government has bowed out of price-setting to make way for the market. Likewise the poor producers face highly uncertain prices, they...

POOR INDIA; POORER WORLD !

Everyday those of us belong to third world or developing countries like India, Pakistan, China, Brazil, Russia or any countries in the continent of Africa come across of poor. In many of these countries they are found, living in shanties, ghettos either sitting idle with a vacant look or working hard to keep their soul with body. Since this I write for my blog, presumably the readers do have access to internet, so for all of us it is difficult to imagine how it is to earn only $1 or $1.25 per day or how to live with that paltry sum of money! Believe it, as per a recent World Bank report no less than 723 million people are just pulling on with that kind of earning, there are more who even do not earn that amount! Their plight is unimaginable. There have been big successes I the fight to overcoming extreme poverty but economic estimates show that there are now more poor people around the world than it was thought previously, the World Bank said in study recently. The revised estimates s...

STOCK MARKET TREND

Indian stock market after its long journey through bull phase, according to some experts, is entering its tryst with bears with mid to long term association. “We are likely to see a sideways movement for the next one year at least” says Edelweiss Capital Chairman and managing director Rashesh Shah, adding that the next 3-4 months could be tough. “There are no positive triggers in sight. Inflation and crude oil prices are still not under control, and corporate earnings are set to plateau over the next couple of quarters” he added. Bears seem to be tightening their grip over the stock prices, as evident in the recent trend and technical analysis of stock indices, and they are forwarding in for the kill. The micro as well as macro condition are in their favor. On the macro front inflation escalated to a new 16-years high to 12.63%, creating expectation that the interest rate is due for a further hike. The global situation is more gloomy since the experts feel that worst of sub-prime crisi...