A lot of people are losing jobs. And as more people are losing jobs, there are others who are lining up to take advantage of these people by scamming them while offering "work from home" deals. All sorts of things are promised! From stuffing envelopes to mystery shopping etc. And these things are made to look exotic. Well, most of all this is just scam. Read more
All these years when the Emperor (Economy) was not wearing clothes, we were pretending as if it were in a designer outfit. Well, according to Warren Buffett, it was worse! The Emperor was not even wearing an underwear! And we STILL missed the whole spectacle! It was like some kids saying the emperor has no clothes, and then after he says that, he says now that the emperor doesn't have any underwear either I was listening to NPR, where this was the discussion. How come journalists, who had anticipated so many issues - major ones.. including the disaster like Katrina (the New Orleans paper ran a special for several days a few years before Katrina on exactly that scenario) - just completely missed such a big bear sitting right in everyone's bedroom? I guess there is no easy answer to this. World basically lives in the averages. No one is programmed to think in the margins. Specially in margins which intersect. And when margins become the highways of the day, all hell breaks loose! Taleb's Black Swan is about this phenomenon. Unprecedented changes really happen in the margins. Read more
Some interesting quotes on the state of stock market in the US today: Every time the market pros tell us to stay calm, I get very nervous. - Joe Queenan When General Electric is selling for less than the cost of a light bulb, that's an opportunity. - Anonymous "Are you ready for Dow 20,000?" a headline in a March 24, 2008 article in Barron The idea that China can grow strongly as the world unravels is a fantasy. - William Pesek in Bloomberg Read more
Nifty slips below 2600; BPCL, HUL, TCS down (ET) The Sensex opened 67 points lower at 8,259. The index is at almost the day's low, down 111 points at 8,215. Hindustan Unilever has plunged 3% to Rs 217. Jaiprakash Associates has shed 2.5% at Rs 68. Sterlite, Reliance and TCS have dropped over 2% each to Rs 244, Rs 1,145 and Rs 470, respectively. Wipro, ITC and Sun Pharma have shed 2% each at Rs 209, Rs 162 and Rs 1,002, respectively. Bharti Airtel, Reliance Infrastructure and Infosys have slipped nearly 2% each to Rs 591, Rs 444 and Rs 1,198, respectively. Tata Power, Hindalco, ACC and Reliance Communications have declined around 1.5% each to Rs 629, Rs 39, Rs 524 and Rs 136, respectively.(BS) Read more
Results of LS polls would be the second most important driver - after the global market trends - for Indian stocks, says a Morgan Stanley study. (ET) A day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut its key interest rates, two public sector banks – Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Union Bank of India – cut their benchmark prime lending rates (BPLRs) by 50 basis points to 12 per cent.(BS) State Bank of India (SBI) today said it would charge 8 per cent interest on new loans for home buyers and small and medium enterprises for a year. The loans disbursed till the end of April will be eligible for this rate. As part of the package from public sector banks, announced last month, SBI was offering new home loans up to Rs 5 lakh at 8.5 per cent, while it was charging 9.25 per cent for those between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 20 lakh. Outside the package, for loans above Rs 20 lakh, the minimum interest rate charged was 9.75 per cent under the floating rate scheme, while under the fixed rate scheme the rate on offer was between 11.25 and 12.25 per cent.(BS) Read more
From the outside looking in, you can’t understand it. From the inside looking out, you can’t explain it. Read more
Their country is breaking apart, but the two star cricketers are still bent upon one-up-manship and displaying their bruised egos. First Imran Khan came out saying that the Lahore Attacks were to "damage the state of Pakistan and end cricket here". And interesting he added that he was shocked that "there was so little security for the players".[2] Now, Chris Broad, the Australian cricketer who was caught in the cross-fire, had made the same comment. He said that they were promised "Presidential Security", but there was no police seen around the bus when the attacks happened. Well, some police men did die.. but were they near the bus? When you see the video, you hardly see any security. If the driver had not sped the bus up and taken it out of danger then it could have been "Game Over" for most Sri Lankan players... forever! But wait, who does Imran Khan blame? India, Afghanistan, the Tamil Tigers. Now, when a Pakistani.. specially a politician blames Afghanistan.. it really sickens me. Pakistan in connivance with CIA and on its own after the 1980s has completely screwed that place up in the name of strategic depth. It has made life hell for Afghanis and in order to maintain a continuous supply of fighters it has promoted radical Islam which it has used profitably. And now, people like Imran Khan turn back and blame them?? Read more
Happy Holi to you All! If you have not registered at Drishtikone, please register as a member. If you find this newsletter useful, please do share with your friends as well. If you haven't visited DrishtikoneForums as yet, please do engage in the discussion there. You can subscribe to the RSS feeds of Drishtikone From this week onwards, we will share a newsletter from Drishtikone. Some of you are already registered on the site or are dear friends and visit regularly and some had registered but have not had a chance to engage with the blog as regularly. I hope that we can share things that are as useful and engaging as hopefullly drishtikone itself is. As you would have noticed, we recently added audios and have been sharing various songs and poems as well. Such new content will continue. To ensure a consistent quality of the content, the publishing has, until now, not been opened up to everyone. But I wanted to open up a special writing area where all the members can share their thoughts as well. Question for the week In Recent weeks, the US Dollar has gone up because the world has flocked to US thinking its a "safe haven". Do you think that this is going to last? Share your thoughts Check out all the questions and answers. ============================== Quote for the week For money you can have everything it is said. No that is not true. You can buy food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; soft beds, but not sleep; knowledge but not intelligence; glitter, but not comfort; fun,but not pleasure; acquaintances, but not friendship; servants, but not faithfulness; grey hair, but not honor; quiet days, but not peace. The shell of all things you can get for money. But not the kernel. That cannot be had for money. - Arne Garborg, writer (1851-1924) Check out all the Quotes. Read more
It is a very significant statement, so I wanted to make sure I capture it. Former Fed Chairman has said... NOW.. that the current global recession will "surely be the longest and deepest" since the 1930s. Huh! It must take a lot from a guy who CREATED this mess to come out and speak like that?!!! He further said: "To stabilize the American banking system and restore normal lending, additional TARP funds will be required," And then said that the housing recovery is central to ending the crisis. Now, I am not a Neo-Con Republican who just pretend they live in a Capitalist society and NOT in a democracy.. for democracy has its own pressures. I do believe that the input of money into the economy is necessary to save the world and economy from complete social collapse. The social cost of letting, say AIG fail or even GM fail is HUGE! Read more
The Sufi Saints of the past centuries - even as early as in 1500's were greatly influenced by Yogic and Sanskrit texts of India. In fact little known to many, an ancient Yogic scripture - Amritakunda - which no longer survives was translated into Arabic and called Bahr al-hayat (Ocean of Life) and has been copied from an earlier Arabic version. In fact these books also include drawings of poses of the asanas along with text. Here is what I found out about this - a professor at UNC, Carl Ernst, gave a presentation which this small piece refers to.. worth a read! Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Drishtikone
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In