The Poverty of Nations

What started off as yet another random conversation about the system we live in ended up in arousing an interest in me to actually work for the World Bank and somehow eradicate unbalanced growth in today’s global economy…. Someday…..

The gist of the conversation I had with a haut Muslim blogger starts off like this….

Based on this movie, where it questions the current banking system which lends money to burrowers and expects an interest on the capital we can effectively say that if an amount X is injected into the system an amount X+ Interest is demanded back from it, (Think circular flow of money) meaning if the global economy is looked at in its entirety an amount is demanded back from it which previously did not exist. From where does the extra money come from??

You guessed it; the only way is for individual burrowers or beneficiaries of this financial system to pay back Capital plus interest is to take from the others to pay off their own debt. This system guarantees that some will default, foreclosures are a given and the players who know to play the system best wins. The rules of the game are created in the form of economic policy where one country maneuvers its way to prosperity at the cost of another. How well you know to play this system called capitalism will determine how rich you become. This is why continental Africa will almost never prosper, the current world order does not see itself benefitting by helping the continent boom. Instead it ravages its resources in such a way that maximum benefits are bestowed upon its own economies.

The bottom line is, some will be better at this game than others. This creates what the World Bank calls ‘’Unbalanced Growth’’. They even try to eradicate it I’ve learnt. As sad it seems entities like the World Bank and the IMF play a huge role in shaping the global economic landscape. Maybe there will be room for couple more economists who want to work towards the betterment of LDC’s.

From a macro level, economic policy and implementation will determine the injections and leakages of each individual country and the structure of it, either benefitting the country or being detrimental to it. At a micro level it gets even more interesting, corporations reap profits at the cost of consumers driven by greed who default on their mortgage payments or credit card bills. Is this not a system, capitalism…. Which ensures some will succeed and others will surely fail??

While my fellow blogger was more intent on finding a solution to this system and creating a better world, I have to admit I was more interested in mastering the system in its current form. However, working towards eradicating the inefficiencies of this system as a World Bank or IMF employee globe trotting across exotic countries does appeal to me…. Hhmm…

British Hooligans

You have got to admit it! The Average British Hooligan is the most admired of its kind. I mean think about it. A Sri Lankan or Indian version of this would be shunned away from society and forget about making movies about them and giving then the kinda coverage on tele. They are so much cooler!
It’s not the same when you hear an Indian say ‘’Hee is a furrking cunt’’ about an Aussie…. But that good ol British accent combining with eccentric facial expressions and sheer hatred towards anything better than they are at anything saying ‘’You F***ing CUNT!!’’ is amazing,

Hanging out long enough at locations like The Cricket Club or Cheers watching England being bowled out for 51, you are most likely to catch a glimpse of a whole bunch of these hooligans, educated ones at that!! Met a guy working at the British council once, doctorate in English???? WTF? His doctorate was put to sword as he blurted out an array of words that made him the ideal Hooligan similar to those found in grounds across Europe on away matches with the English football team on show. Enjoyed it though!!

Snatch!! Why do people love snatch??? The language….. The slang…..
Can’t wait for the day to join with a bunch of these guys and sing ‘’F*** OFF, Ashley Cole, he’s an F***ing asshole… repeat repeat…. ‘’

The Evil that men do

Daylight dawned upon existence
Only to light up the world to sin
Misguided right to freedom
Was choice a gift or a curse?

Concealing shame and birth in pain
Will we ever be the same again?
The creation of God, struck down by man
Had you not envisioned this destiny beforehand?

Littered skies, fallen angels
The upper ether a highway to earth
Engulfing man with carnal desire
A broken bridge, a relationship

Death and destruction
Rage, impure passion
The light of day, no longer hide
A withering creation gasping for life

Scores of souls, damned forever
The pits of hell a flourishing empire
A beast besieged by peace and love
The prince of earth as well as hell

The prince of peace and of love
A chord of steel across the bridge
The evil that men do shall not prevail
A kingdom foretold, a prince to come

In fond remembrance of better times!

Arsenal, SLR and Nadal

Not having blogged for sometime and feeling good about the missing hangover which I was destined to have, thought its time to type away the significant happenings that made my micro environment the least bit interesting or depressing the past couple of weeks,

The death of Arsenal
The very existence of Arsenal was exemplified by free flowing, creative football. The past 4 years have been especially tough for me as a Gunners fan having not won anything since the 2004 FA cup. But the past couple of weeks have really pierced my soul. The flair which was apparent even as we didn’t manage to win anything for the past 4 years was missing. For the first time in my life I was bored to watch Arsenal play. Pride lost as we drew 3 games in 1 week, to lowly Cardiff, resurgent Everton and West ham. Let the leg breaking spirits of English football haunt Ninian Park, The Mersey side and Upton Park.

Rupee Overvaluation
How on earth does this constitute my Micro environment? Well I’m pro export and pro ‘’lets makes this economy work’’ hence the disgust at how the SLR is been pegged against the US$ amidst falling foreign reserves as the central bank compromises our reserves position to defend the rupee. My dad rang me up the other day and he tells me that his Chinese suppliers offered him 20-30% discounts on most products since the Yuan has been depreciated and they wanted to help business boom. Wish we had a similar position on the rupee which will help exporters. The rationale that we need to keep the rupee pegged against the US$ to ensure inflation is controlled is a pretty short term thinking strategy, the damage done to exporters in the form of factory closures, lost customers etc. will not be recoverable and will adversely affect our BOP position in the future. 2 of my best buddies are now unemployed due to bad policies which have resulted in manufacturing job losses.

Rafael Nadal
For once I’m with the crowd favorite. Nope, it was not the French open winning rafa that impressed me. Rather it was the Wimbledon runner up Rafa on 2 consecutive years that impressed me. The manner in which he continued to challenge the King of grass was amazing and his 5th set loss to Federer in 2007 was heart breaking after missing multiple break points in the final set. But he came back; on top of a 4th French open title to finally win Wimbledon in the longest game in Wimbledon history with a 5th set that seemed to go on forever. (Since 5th set games do not go onto a tie breaker, but continues until someone breaks serve). And now he has the Aussie open!! The US open is the last frontier of what is now a fast contracting federer empire.

The exams and assignments which have taken up much of my time during the past weeks are too painful to bring up and hence would be avoided!