Irrational Exuberance..

Markets in past few weeks are in a confused state...they over recovered since lows made in march..as an economist was mentioning...people suffer from "Traumatic stress syndrome" and its effects are people forget how bad things were.seems perfect,evryone really forgot that this recession was compared to The Great Depression,the firms which stood tall for over a century,the firms which could make profits at time of world wars,even they failed..and it was supposed to bring the financial system to a halt.And now,just 8-10 months down the line,those memories are fading away.Its commonly said,stock markets are leading indicators,i.e they recover 6 months in advance than economy recovering but even if everything goes on well,economy doesnt seem to be growing atleast for an year to come.
In past few days,i realised these economists and analysts are as confused as a common man is....Most of them speak bullshit just coz they are asked to..its just that they have better way or technical jargon for explaining whatever is happening in market.
What i believe is,let this be an opportunity to cleanse the system,or what Alan greenspan calls "CREATIVE DESTRUCTION".What stimulus packages can do is prevent firms to file bankruptcy but hardly helps in cleansing the system.Let the credit card bubble burst now,rather than an year or two later...
Now chinese markets giving first clue of weakness and fake bull rally.The bull rally was supported by recovery in china and a report reveals that the kind of money which china pumped into its banking system in past 6-8 months,its almost twice of the money pumped by all indian banks since their existence.In other words,the money pumped by china into its system was enough to create two indian banking system..such reckless money comes to stock markets and gives a false image of everything is fine.Though the worst mite be already behind us,even if credit card bubble bursts soon,but a big correction is due,technically and fundamentally both..
M hell bearish about the markets..but as always,commenting is free of cost,investing is not...:-)

WalMart's Hegemony

I read about this big retail giant for first time while reading The world is flat.Thomas friedman went all ga ga over how walmart has revolutionised retailing,how it manages to sell stuff at prices which no other retailer can even come closer to.The major reason as he pointed out was its excellent supply chain management and i was left wondering,how can solely a good supply chain management makes one a leader in retailing.Its beyond doubt that Wal-mart has one of the most sophisticated and well managed supply chain but thats just one side of the story.
When looking at an organisation for what it does for society,there are two things to be considered.They are what the organisation gives to the society,and whats the cost(for society) involved.There was lot of hype at time when concept of Retail chain came to india, with endless debates about how it will improve living standards and fate of mom & pop stores.Till now,the model has been quite successful and even mom & pop stores survived,infact,they became more efficient.But,Retail stores in india were no Wal-marts.
The retail giant is good for customers,but not for its employees.It serves products to customers at cheapest prices,but at the cost of meagre salaries which arent even enough for a decent living.
Lets see what impact Walmart stores had on society and individuals.
The good part,all i can see is one,goods at cheaper prices,many of which are made by workers working in china and bangladesh at wages as low as 17 cents an hour,14 hrs a day,7 days a week.
Now about the bad effects..thats where the meat lies..
When walmart came to U.S,many of the stores,which were serving consumers for over 4 decades,were forced to shut down.It seems its not just the walmart's agressive business strategy but support by various state goverments which made it happen.Millions of dollars were given in subsidies for walmart stores,along with land at subsidised prices.Competition brings the best in both parties till the time its fair but these subsidies gave walmart an unfair advantage and left other stores no option than to shut down.If we get into mathematics,even if wal mart works like a normal retail chain and pays back to society,or at worst,just manages to run its business at no gain,those cash and land subsidies are not a bad business proposal.So,U.S govt had a role to play.
Secondly,walmart has over 1.8 million employees in U.S...its almost half of New zealand's population.The employees are paid minimal wages,they arent provided any medical insurance/aid(Goverment is supposed to take care of them from taxpayer's money) and dey are not paid for overtime as Walmart flaunts abt its no overtime policy.The store managers are given special training to how to make employees work for more than 40hrs a week and all such tactics are put to use regularly.
The Walmart has been involved in litigations regarding causing damage to enviroment and Walmart's parking lot are famous crime destinations.
The five members of walton family,walmart's owners,make it to the top wealthiest ppl in united states,with total wealth over 110 billion $ which is equivalent to whole Dubai's GDP...so a walton family is a dubai in itself :) .And the walmart family donated 1% of it for social cause.Ironically,the richest man in world,Bill gates donated over 50% of his wealth.
To me,it seems a case of making whole america poorer at the name of cheaper prices to make one family rich.
Walmart's Hegemony in U.S is just the same as U.S hegemony in the world.May be,in time to come,both will end :)

Just see how bored one can get!!!

1.If the Leaning Tower of Pisa leans at 13 degrees to the vertical, why is Zee Cafe not included in the Big TV Southern Delight package?

2.If Samsung, then why was he not heard?

3.Explain in 37 words what you would get on Fourier transforming a cat.

4.Why didn't the chicken cross the road?

5.Its not you, its me. Explain

6.Determine the frictional force needed to overcome the anger you have for yourself?

7.Why are you angry with yourself?

8.In what ways does a remote control?

9.War, what is it good for?

10.Do Australians call rest of the world UP OVER?

11.Do you love me?

12.If your neighbour tells you that your door transmorgifies at night into a balloon, does that mean the apple yard now needs more alcohol?

13.5 Point Someone....How?

14.Using Schroedinger's theory, prove that you are reading this and also not reading this at the same time.

15.Why do you have to seal a leakage...... Why not crab it?

16.Why are you?

17. Seriously, why are you?

18.A man ran around a tree 43 times and then took a bath. Why?

19.Using a shrapnel and a t-shirt, how long will it take to restore peace in Malaysia?

20.What is the adivantic equivalent of a semi-nivadic glanmesting schiropatic?

21.Scooby Doo, where are you?

22.Write the 6th state of matter after Solid, Liquid, Gas, Plasma, Anti-Matter and Matter of Fact.

23.Without the use of scale, measure Schawazwarchild radius of Schawazwarchild.

24. Find out who Eric Cantona is. Is he not?

25.Ten leaves crashed a wedding. Why?