Dearth of A Leader ...

Fiction gives us hints and examples, if not history. Darth Vader showed that the Galaxy needed a leader of substance who could be followed, good or bad, it did not matter, so long as squabbling over petty parochialisms and corruption ceased - thus bringing balance to the force. Thus, Democracy is not the answer like oligarchy isn't; the answer is a Leader to Lead by example.

As for History, Chanakya did indeed replace a corrupt rudimentary democracy (janapadas) by a King, who was virtuous, just, honourable and who led by example, to productively channel the masses in the direction beyond parochialism, towards just and all inclusive development.

As I have always maintained, Julian Assange is an American agent, responsible for the downfall of the Oligarchies of the Middle East & Mediterranean in the name of democracy and transparency, but the true intent being freedom of OIL - by toppling of OILgarchys ... eh!!!

But seriously, what are the masses fighting for, a new regime called democracy, like India, to fall back into the abyss whence it came; be it Colonialism, or Autocracy, a move to Democracy is always good, at least more can reap the fruits of corruption.

Employee Control sees new Depth!!!

I have always wondered whether this would stop at an extreme point on the scale from 1 to 10; but always find that Employee Control redefines the 10th limit each time, to push it further into the 11th, 12th and 13th degree of absolutism and insanity. The only thing that could be said here is ... "GET A LIFE, you freaking controller of lives"!!!





Reference:

Is playable Pac-Man getting Google's home page banned?

Our Rise is How We Fall ...

If we're one of the living, we got to walk a thousand miles ... but if we keep on exploiting, we shall not survive more than a while ...

Sustainable development is the only way forward, but India seems to be the last to even coming closer to realizing that. All it realizes is commonwealth games and cutting more trees!!! Sadly so, the economy too failed to collapse just as all other failures, be it tiger preservation, rain forest preservation, Delhi Ridge preservation, sunderbans preservation, coral reef and coastal preservation, river eco-system preservation, and the list goes on ... We do however preserve poverty, unemployment, corrupt systems, inflation, diesel car sales, and the like ...

Choice is ours, to rise towards and leap out to our doom!!!


Reference:

CO2 emissions can be stabilized only with collapse of economy

Divesting wrong assets!!!

An age old question again needs to be re-looked at. Why should the government only divest its stake in profitable government ventures and leave out Air India type of loss making establishments.



References:

Air India seeks employees' help in 'fight for survival'

Air India asks senior staff to forego July pay to cut costs

CIL disinvestment likely by end of 2009-10: Coal Minister

Govt looking at proposal to divest 10% in BHEL

Coercion: New Industrial Disease Part 2

Denial of job unless accepting restrictive terms, more so the amount of remuneration is now the norm. Call it ironical, but a while ago overvaluation of workforce only had led to the cash crunch!!! Guess we all are to blame.



References:

Coercion robs workers of $20 bn annually, says ILO report

IIP slumps 2.3% in March

Microsoft may cut more jobs if economy worsens

US shouldn't kill hi-tech talent: Steve Ballmer

SEBI gone EXOTIC!!!

SEBI = Speculative Endeavors Broadening Initiative



Reference:

Now, exotic derivatives in the works

Second straw ...

Harder times push for harder crime zeal and the aspirations to become richer faster. Offshoring required just this additional jolt to shake the western faith in Indian credibility. As it is we have no data security law. And now this, immediately after U.S. protectionism, this seems the apt follow up on the road to doom!!!



References:

Credit card fraudster confronted

Credit card details on sale in India: Report

Indian call centre credit card 'scam' exposed

Make your pick: AIG Nero or Marie-Therese AIG!!!

& this happens each day in India and no one regulates, least of all even mentions it in the news!!!! Satyam is the mere tip of the iceberg. So complacent are we regarding our "plenty" that it would soon become scarce.


References:

Obama angered by AIG bonuses

AIG Faces Rising Tide of Public Anger Over Bonuses

The world is not enough? ... or is it?

I say it is more than enough. What have we actually done for this earth that we now aim to head elsewhere at astronomical expenditures that could well be used for earth's betterment environmentally as well as socially. Otis - Gandhi belongings auction has shown this shameless dichotomy of thought and actions as no other event in history has ever spat in the face of so called torch bearers of progress. Governments are ready to spend crores of their currency on procuring what symbolizes progress and honor but actually is nothing more than vanity and in vain.

Gandhi would not have approved of such high price purchase of his belongings by the country he lived and died for when we see blatant socio-economic deprivation on the other side of the story. It is ANTI-GANDHIAN to purchase his belongings at an auction even by the richest Indian, the belongings of a man who lived simply and without wealth in a country that still is poor, no matter what its GDP or rate of growth is.

On the other hand NASA thinks it is doing good by spending trillions while US citizens suffer in the face of unemployment and burst of their economic powder-cake.

How different are we from the dark ages when Kings and Temples/Churches amassed wealth while the poor remained static. They too were the golden ages of their times as described by those rulers. Shame on us all who think we are progressing.



References:

Otis offers to donate more Gandhi items

Moon not high enough: India aims for the sun

Nasa probe to seek planets supporting life

US sheds 6,51000 jobs in Feb; jobless rate touch 25-yr high

US unemployment rate hits 8.1 percent

ISRO sun mission Aditya in 2012, to cost Rs 500 million

India should still see growth at near 7%: Kamath

When the going gets tough ... vultures gather!!!

Employee vulnerability, speculative growth, fair-weather Johnson investors, et. al. are the order of the day; in these testing times of distress when we see our true selves, who we really are, who is with us and who against.

On November 13, 2008 I had written:

Live with a man forty years, share his house, his meals, speak on every subject. Then tie him up and hold him over the volcano's edge and on that day, you will finally meet the man.

- Modu Shanyu

We sure need to do the same with these corporations, or once in a while by the cause of recession these corporations would reveal their true selves to both its customers and employees.

I would not like to add anything else at all. Sit back and watch the game!!!



References:

Worries galore at Subhiksha

Subhiksha lashes out at fair-weather investors

PF office may query ICICI Venture on dues

operation successful ... patient died ... how Idiotic!!!

Idiotic it sure is ... well unless a retrospective cap is not on the table, there is no use of devising a plan without teeth that can bite. All private sector remunerations need to be regulated, under and by a Remuneration Regulation Commission in public interest.



Reference:

Goldman, JPMorgan Won’t Feel Effects of Executive-Salary Caps

Of Pink Houses and move towards Gandhian village economy ...

Sustainability of growth has to begin at home. What will the American work on the production of if all that the US does is import. Starting from agriculture, US needs to strengthen its vines and agro produce, thereafter its auto followed by consumer durables and FMCG sectors. Unless the Americans are employed soon enough, they will be no demand for what the keep on importing. It would be selfish on the part of the EU and Canada to want the US to import at such a time.

Not so long ago, M.K. Gandhi called for making village as the unit of an economy. It would automatically, among other things, create employment and facilitate domestic production, specialization and consumption.

After all, there is a limit to offshoring, you see!!


References:

Canada warns US over protectionism 'contagion'

US House's Hoyer:"Buy American" worries justified

Europe and Canada warn US over 'Buy America' clause

Tit for tat ... should it not be so?

A lesson from the Bar Council of India ("BCI") is a must in such situations. Irrespective of whether the IBM employees who are being offered jobs in India after being declared redundant overseas, are Indian or foreigners, Indians domicile in India and equally qualified should first be given preference over those sought to be shifted to India. The first reason being that NRIs left India towards better prospects abroad. However, the ones equally qualified in India should be rewarded for staying in India as they forewent either/both an NRI status or/and huge forex advantages. Secondly, why should we as a nation allow the brunt of unemployment in the US and other countries have a spiral effect on your employment equation. Our unemployed should be preferred over their unemployed personnel that are sought to be shifted to India. The Indian Government needs to actively enact legislation in this regard.

After all, the Indian Constitution assures equal opportunity to its citizens and citizens only, especially in times of crises, and today's scenario does qualify as one; an exact sentiment being reflected by politicians such as Grassley in the US as well. The BCI rightly so, insists upon reciprocity. It is imperative to have a quid pro quo.



References:

Rep. Chuck Grassley: Fire Foreign Workers First | KXNet.com North ...

Senator asks US companies to fire foreign workers first

IBM offers jobs in India to redundant staff

... and what about Dalal St. Idiots?

There sure needs to be rationalization of pays across the board. There should be government set norms for pay scales common to both private and public sector companies, institutions and organizations. A license raj in salary structure should be the key to a more egalitarian distribution of accumulation of wealth by both public and private corporations. Am I making sense or has Obama lost it?

It would then mark an end to:

1. fat salaries for IIM graduates;
2. fat offers to IIT graduates;
3. fat proposals for NLS-spawn graduates;
4. CXOs being traded;
5. mainstream efforts, profiteering and indulgence of the education system ...

... and our education system would then focus on creative, diverse and constructive channels of learning, not driven by vampiric accumulation of personal profit, but would be a real creator of value that would then flow into the commercial domain.



References:

Obama getting tough on 'Wall Street idiots'

Democratic Senator for pay cap on Wall Street 'idiots'

Senators propose pay caps on executive bonuses

McCaskill on corporate executives' pay: 'These people are idiots'

Obama Ally Introduces Bill to Cap Salaries of CEOS from TARP ...

Citigroup drops $50M plan to buy company jet

Citigroup cancels corporate jet

One man's meat ...

As we celebrated our Republic Day, I also glanced at the world wherein many people were not so fortunate.

Reference:

Over 80000 jobs lost in a single day

Put the money down ...

When a sinking ship goes down, and all are jumping off only the insane (or Captain Jack Sparrow) jump on it. But our money is not going to be returned by the Kragon from the netherworld. So why invest? The logic fails me totally. Its a volcano that has burst and is now cooling down; far from spewing out any returns, its a station to where a train don't come. Speculative investment is and should not even be considered an investment but merely a wager or gamble with public money. At least PSUs need not gamble with public money, now at this time of crisis when we need to play our cards close to ourselves.



References:

LIC to pump in Rs 4K cr more in stock market by March

LIC policyholders likely to see their bonuses diminish

I say tuh-mey-toh (tomato), you say tuh-mah-toh (tomato) ...

It is interesting to wait and watch till when will the Indian government consider this "temporary decline in economic activity", accompanied by "widespread decline in the GDP, employment, trade, industrial production, and real income," NOT to be a RECESSION, BUT merely an "economic slowdown" that has now lasted for nearly 4 months!!??



Reference:

Chidambaram bats for more economic stimulus

Bailout not for the rich!

There is nothing surprising if this is not what is also running through the minds of Indians when each time the government announces a bailout and the next week nothing happens in real terms to uplift the employment situation. We too need a change!!!



Reference:

House angry at bailout; Obama team makes pledges

Castles into the sand whereforth they rose ...

So the cracks have begun to show. Hope what would Montek say about this. Is it 7% growth story in 2009 or is it just a slower slowdown or a gradual and sluggish movement towards eventual doom?!


References:

Bharat Forge slips into the red...

Ranbaxy reports net loss of Rs 806 cr

Reliance Q3 net profit down 9.8%

Refining margins pull RIL down

Reliance Infra Q3 net dips 16.71 pc at Rs 251 cr

Future secure, present unsure ...

Short term profitability at the cost of long and medium term instability is inversely proportional to both consumer and employee interest, that we all know. There is also no need to rev up the insurance industry right now when there is need to reduce exposure of customers of ULIP schemes to market instabilities. Has there been not enough onslaught in the name of fictitious speculation ...?


References:

IRDA eases solvency margins for Ulips

IRDA cuts solvency margin for ULIPs by 20%

ULIPs likely to be cheaper by 10-15 pc