Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Reflecting on the futility of our barren existence on this beautiful planet


Before coming here where did I eagerly frequent ?
When the time comes for exit where will I float and land.
Freed from the constraints of the body,
Will there be any immense possibility to flow like water
 Whisper like a wind and rise like  A  mountain.

Fully aware, there is no return ticket to come back to earth and
Not knowing of many whys and How’s and also when and where
the soul will rest , on its journey after abandoning  the body
I exist here for a while as a traveler/ and as a tourist ,

Engaging myself in endless arguments and debates
Meaningless and sterile conversations with fools about this and that
Foolishly or wisely ,with clarity or all the vagueness under the sun
And finally come out of the mess fully confused and bewildered
Fully conscious  of  the futility and emptiness of the very barren existence here.
And the irresponsible rulers, compounding the chaos, by abusing the power.


Sunday, May 10, 2020

Have you heard about the short film , 638 ways to kill Castro ?



Fiedal Castro is a legend in the literature on Revolutionary struggle. The standard criticism against him was that he was bulldozing democracy ,but  I must hasten to add  and answer his critics  that his government was people centric and hence people friendly; under his regime all the basic facilities inclusive of education and health care for the poor were  in  adequate measure ; he established more medical colleges that percapita availability of doctors  was  the lowest one and that Cuba was always ready to export doctors in case of emergency anywhere in the world ; and to his credit  no street was named after him nor was there any of his statue erected anywhere in cuba.

The escalating open war between him and the US was well known. Russia  stood  by him and was ready to extend all possible help. Scared by the Russian shadow in her soil, the U S cancelled  the import of 70 lakh tones of sugar from Cuba and Castro retaliated by nationalizing the US assets worth $850 million.

The U S realized  at one stage that more than  killing Cuba’s economy  what was imperative was to eliminate the leader himself. All possible routes were explored to kill him and based on that a short film was taken later.
Having realized that he was a lover of Havana suruttu(cigarattte),a bomb was concealed into it. It did not click. At one stage  more than thousand people were armed to kill him, but he escaped. Poison was mixed in his food and medicine, not to  speak of spraying dangerous virus into his scuba diving suit.
Once his former lover, Marito Lorence  met him and told:”We will celebrate our union by tasting the ice cream.”He smelled the rat .
“Why do you take so much pain, my dear..you can very well shoot me straight and finish me,”said Castro handing over the gun to her ,with all smile.
The lady was shocked and she fell at his feet and surrendered.
When his health deteriorated, the news leaked out that he would take complete rest..That was also ridiculed by the US president George Bush. He thanked the good God by saying that He will remove him from the world soon.
Castro had abundant sense of humor and retorted thus: I think Bush has forgotten that the very same God has saved me 638 times from his enemy…
Protest movement and people’s struggles everywhere are undermined and the voice of dissent is treated as anti national activity..The rulers intoxicated with the arrogance of power like drunken monkeys resort to all sorts of oppression to terrorize and intimidate the poor denying their rights and entitlement..
They should not be disheartened. He began with 82 soldiers to start with and told later that it was just sufficient to have 10 or 15 people to win the struggle. Eventually the incredible belief in oneself combined with good attitudes and actions would determine the outcome and victory…




Monday, May 4, 2020

The stock Market is not the Economy

In the previous post following Paul Krugman we made a pertinent observation that stock market performance, the rise and fall of stock prices do not actually represent the real state of the real economy.
The relationship is spurious,and at times, simply nonexistent.How could one forget the quote of Paul Samuelson made way back in 1960 that market had predicted nine of, the past five recessions

The question of strong stock prices in the face of weak economy should not baffle anyone.Because as in 2008 crisis ,this time too,expansionary policy of the Fed depressed interest rate.
This was the reflection of weak economy and even with weak dollar,either investment or exports have responded.
Indeed the weak conomy created a fertile climate for surge in stock prices,as low interest rate made other avenues less lucrative.

This does not imply that the upward trend will continue.In an unstable and unpredictable economy selective havest is being done and by the time the market capitalization has reached beyond sustainable level,the scenoria mig,ht change
One thing is clear now as it was known earlier, that stock market is not economy and that in a loose monetary environment crashing economy ,the weak economy do support strong stock prices

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Paul Krugman revelation on the recent jump in stock prices

Ever since the corana virus invaded the humans the real economy has got the beating . Individual  national economies have lost their fat and weight and GDP figures are driven down.The jobless have gone up in almost all countries.while the real economy is crashing, the stock market which does not always reflect the real state of the Economy, mostly driven by greed and avarice, more like a gambler's den is now on song.

Paul Krugman recently has given more insight as to why the stock prices are on the rise when the real economy is weak.

Although on the heels of Covid the stock market fell it has bounced back now to pre corona level.This disconnect wil be surprising.Krugman tells the deeper reasons.

Despite the economy as a whole is weak, there are stocks which are strong.So investors having no other greener pasture grab those stocks.Result. Stock market is on song

Kugman says that the interst rate on 10year old government bonds is only0.6 percent down from 3% in late 2018.Adjuted for inflation return from bond is nagative.

I have triggered your curiosity to read more international financ
For long I have not written in blog.I will resume my blog writing