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

Sympathy only for the devil!

Resorting to the Homeowners & Bank Protection Act, 2007 the US government now has brought about a total moratorium on foreclosures by lending institutions of home owners who have been diligent in repayment of their home loans. This shows the political will behind straining out the actual bad debts incurred by lenders due to speculative lending and actual defaulters who have been severely hit by the economic downturn.

India on the other hand continues to harbor and promote speculative lending and investment by allowing unrestricted FDI inflow (without an regard to nascent demand creation by way of employment generation), total ignorance towards sustainable energy generation (by concentrating only on social fallout driven nuclear power), allowing F&O in many sensitive commodities such as Essential Commodities (wheat, sugar, etc. as scheduled under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955), F&O and derivatives of currency, especially the $-Rs. and without forcing private banks to bring down interest rates that are still 3-5% higher than the rates of 2006 - early 2007, still allowing corporate tax evasion through tax haven jurisdiction (when what the Indian exchequer needs is liquidity for social spending); just to name a few. Besides fuel prices as of now can further be reduced, except only when the government wants to pull an ace up its sleeve just before the Parliamentary elections.

R&D on fuel cell can not be furthered and there have been no tax incentives for manufacturers such as Honda and Reva to roll out cheap yet effective electric/hybrid vehicles so as to reduce out flow of $ and also to generate employment at home (not to mention the need for cleaner than CNG public transport, namely, electric buses!). Our energy independence would not only serve for economic insulation, but would also ensure real and actual growth in scientific, manufacturing and various other related sectors.

Indian government seems to have sympathy only for the devil!


References:

Obama pumps in $75 billion to save US homeowners

Jan. 30, 2009 HPI Daily Wire

Stand ... for what you believe.

We all carry the cross and speak what we're taught
Lies and money become the white man's god
We've burned all our bridges one too many times
The time has come now to draw the line

You know you've got to
Stand, stand, stand for what you believe
You know you've got to
Stand, stand, stand for what you believe
You got to...Stand for what you believe

You got to listen now...
Express yourself in the face of change
Repress yourself, you surely seal your fate
You got to look inside, the answer lies in wait
Resurrect before it's too late

Somebody rescue me, come down and rescue me
I know the soul of a good man has got to be free
When you stand, stand for what you believe

-- Stand, Native Tongue, Poison

Below are a few accounts from the St. Valentine's Day and the previous eve. Imagine what would happen if we all become the change we always wanted. The world would definitely be a better place. What is lacking is conviction in our actions. I look into the eyes of today's youth and I see no fire as used to be there 2 decades ago. We are caught up in selfishness to the extent of decadence.

It is rightly said that it is "best to have a wiser enemy than an idiot for a friend". It is thus also true to be a believer in things one wants to achieve. One look at Osama bin Laden's photograph as we all have seen in the newspapers so many times would tell you of a look that holds belief, conviction and selfless determination towards a cause that the man wholeheartedly believes in. Today if we have half that conviction injected in the youth, it would do wonders to make a change for the better of society.

We need to stick for what is right, and against wrong, oppression, injustice, cruelty, economic duress, economic hegemony, employers' deceit, political attrocities, political connivance, together with our colleagues, friends, neighbors as well as total strangers co-situated. M.K. Gandhi would not have achieved all that he did, just by walking half naked across the country had he not sought the camaradre of all he came across.



References:

Sene office flooded with panties

Kapil Dev lashes out at BCCI

Gandhi’s meagre musuem pieces

Democrats muscle huge stimulus through Congress

An Economy based on Tradition!

It has been rightly said:

... if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles ...

- Sun Tzu

It is encouraging that Ayurvedic, Uniani and Siddha formulations are being recorded by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) into what they call a Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL). Now at least with the European Patent Office the TKDL database would be available for establishing prior art.

Then why is it that we have failed to establish our economic growth on traditional knowledge. We should not only guarantee healthcare but also formulate an insurance coverage on such systems of medicine so as to encourage people to adopt these systems and help the economy grow. Yet these systems are considered to be "unproven systems" under all the insurance coverages that we come across today. Besides even stem cell research based cure is excluded from such coverage!



Reference:

India logs over 2 lakh traditional medical formulations

Pink is the color of ... pppppprotest!!!

Innovative and courageous, yet irresponsible to call themselves "A Consortium of Pub-going and Forward Women". Let the one who sinnest not throw the first stone. Do the Sri Ram Sena followers not drink and smoke? Are they above all sin and vice? Then let them throw the first stone and let the mayhem continue.

OR

Let us understand where we all went wrong. Pub culture is not a good thing, nor is it something we need to ape from the west. Pubbing is not a symbol of modernity. There were pubs in the west even before the first Women's Suffrage of France in the 18th Century.

Creation of an opposition to pubbing in violent ways would only make pubbing a symbol of modernity. We definitely do not want to do that in the face of increasing heart ailments, obesity, alcoholism, etc. We need to make the youth aware of what is good, healthy and modern.





References:

Pink underwear for the Sri Ram Sena

Pink campaign for Sri Ram Sena on V-day

Moral policing: Youth brigades take up cudgels for Valentine’s Day

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

Idiots ... hit the floor!

And if they want more, pay them in stock non-alienable until the Government is paid back the debt.



References:

Obama caps executive pay tied to bailout money

Obama’s cap on CEO pay strives to end era of excess

Obama Caps Compensation at TARP Companies at $500000

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

So why does it still live ... let it die?!

There is now a need for an International or Trans-National Regulatory Authority or Initiative to regulate auditors of a non-governmental nature that indulge in promotion of private profiteering and investor and employee jeopardy.


References:

Don't rely on our Satyam audits: Price Waterhouse

Price Waterhouse admits goof-up in Satyam audit

Crumblin' Down ...

Need there be said anything. Crumbling continues, and what is interesting is that both east and west are affecting each other.

References:

Citi plans to shrink itself by one-third

Nortel Networks files for US bankruptcy

Banks told to disclose if they have hired Price Waterhouse (Citi has an exposure of about $70 million (Rs340 crore today) to Satyam)

Auditor, Audited, Auditing, more ...

When the system checks the devious, the devious check themselves. When the checkers of the devious goof up, the system should check the devious and the devious checkers. Hope this results in a proper checking of the devious checkers, because it is not the first time these devious checkers have failed to check.

Below are reference lists of follies including the very recent Madoff and Satyam fiasco. The buck has to stop somewhere, doesn't it?


References:

The men who certified Satyam's fudged account?

PwC may be asked to re-state accounts of Satyam: P Jain

Sebi team reaches Satyam complex and PwC office in H'bad

PwC faces axe from major clients after Satyam fiasco

PwC has a chequered past with taxmen

Bringing Satyam auditor PwC to book may not be easy

----------

Australian cos in disarray over IT export to India

US law firms file ‘class-action’ suits against Satyam

Satyam slapped with 2 class action suits in US

We will prosecute Raju if US laws violated: Vianale

Don't buy, Satyam may go bankrupt: India Infoline

-----------

Fannie Mae sues KPMG over accounting flaws

KPMG to Admit Role in Tax Shelters; No Criminal Charges Expected

KPMG Trying to Cut Deal on Liabilities, Filing...

Spies, Lies & KPMG

Accounting giant KPMG to pay $10 million over Gemstar audit

Madoff Wreckage Bangs Feeder Funds, Auditors

Accounting firms drawn in to Madoff scandal

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