THE BYSTANDER

The recent tsunami what has devastated the economy of the United States and with it many other west European economies and finally more or less the global economy as whole. It started from the sub-prime crises. That relates to housing finance in US. In fact we all by now know that. But what is a sub-prime crisis! It is the loan offered at an interest rate which is lower than the prime lending rate, fixed by the central bank. In India, Reserve Bank of India, review and fix it in every quarter. So, when the loans offered at a sub-prime rate of interest went bad (not paid back), that created the crisis. But how come that happened, is bit difficult to understand for them who are only exposed to prudential banking norm as it is in India. We know when we approach for housing loan to any banks or housing loan finance companies, as a security they take the housing unit as a collateral or hypothecation for the same loan. In case the loan going bad, the housing unit is sold off, the money real...

Here I give underneath the discussion took place with Bill Moyers with investment guru George Soros; this will give you the idea how global financial crisis is perceived the by him; October 10, 2008 BILL MOYERS:Welcome to the Journal. You are not alone if you are worried about the financial melt down. So is my guest George Soros, one of the world's best known and successful investors, making billions in times of boom or bust. He's been warning for years of a financial melt down fueled by easy credit and sleepy regulation. Now he's out with this timely book, "The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means." In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I served three years on the board of George Soros' foundation, the Open Society Institute, dealing with such issues as a free press, the rule of law, and human rights. But I've had no involvement in his political activities and nothing to do, with his business i...

Here was a chat, arranged by WIPRO for its employees, with Dr.Devi Shetty, Narayana Hrudayalaya (Heart Specialist) Bangalore. The transcript of the chat is given below. Useful for everyone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Qn: What are the five thumb rules for a layman to take care of his heart? Ans: 1. Diet - Less of carbohydrate, more of protein, less oil 2. Exercise - Half an hour's walk, at least five days a week; avoid lifts and avoid sitting for a longtime 3. Quit smoking 4. Control weight 5. Control blood pressure and sugar Qn: Is eating non-veg food (fish) good for the heart? Ans: No Qn: It's still a grave shock to hear that some apparently healthy person gets a cardiac arrest. How do we understand it in perspective? Ans: This is called silent attack; that is why we recommend everyone past the age of 30 to undergo routine health checkups. Qn: Are heart diseases hereditary? Ans: Yes Qn: What are the ways in which the heart ...

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, ...

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...

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...