How to get new leads in a recession

Ok, so there is a recession happening at the moment. Times are tough for many people without doubt, but not for everyone. Some people are thriving despite the recession.

To find out why, we need to ask ourselves a few important questions?

- Where do our customers come from?

- Do we look for them in the same place that we always have or have we evolved with changing times?

- Are we proactive about finding clients?

Many businesses have almost no marketing structure at all, but instead rely upon old fashioned, outdated marketing methods that have “always” worded in the past. Often the drop off in new client acquisition has occurred so slowly that nobody noticed the business contracting until a recession arrives and you get knocked for six.

Once upon a time you could place an advert in Yellow Pages and customers would ring you up. This worked well, because Yellow Pages had a monopoly on services advertising. “Everyone” used them if they wanted to find a tradesman, service, product etc. Over the last ten years or so, that has changed. All of those hot leads that used to find you in Yellow Pages no longer look there. Instead they look ……. on-line.

In particular, over 80% of your potential customers look on Google…….. these are people that are actively looking for the product or service that you sell. A percentage will only be “Window Shopping” but they will be considering a purchase none the less. If your website is positioned to appear in front of these active prospects then you will have a constant stream of highly qualified leads beating a path to your door.

Creating good quality sales leads should be looked at as a multi layered process. Search engine optimization will give you a prominent position in front of high targeted prospects. A “list” building system will allow you to build a relationship with these prospects and to convert them into customers. A PPC campaign will allow you “Instant” access to prospects while your SEO campaign is gathering pace. The use of “Social Media” such as Twitter, Facebook and Myspace will also let you drive traffic to your website.

Your website will need to convert traffic from prospects into paying customers, otherwise, what is the point? Using the correct systems your site should act as an effective sales funnel, driving your prospects to take the action that you desire.

Seen as a combined whole, your internet marketing should perform two functions, firstly it should drive traffic to your site, and then it should allow you to either make a sale or to capture the prospects email address so that you can make a sale to them at a later date.

Learn more Here

Do the math

Don Winstead, Florida’s “stimulus czar” reports that 29,322 jobs have been created due to stimulus spending in Florida. Yay. Donny then goes on to hedge and haw in this widely-reported story. Example from Gainesville Sun.

What Donny fails to mention is that Florida’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment now stands at 11%. So while stimulus may have created 29,322 jobs in Florida, or whatever wild-ass number Donny wants to toss out there, 8 years of looting and pillaging like Vikings left more than 1,000,000 Floridians unemployed.

Brazil confirms the gradual elimination of US dollar in trade operations

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Brazilian Central Bank president Henrique Meirelles said the country is considering the gradual elimination of the US dollar in trade with China, Russia and India, which together with Brazil make up the BRIC group.

The option experienced with BRIC and Mercosur members is the SML, or payment in local currencies. The option experienced with BRIC and Mercosur members is the SML, or payment in local currencies.

Meirelles revealed ongoing talks with all members of BRIC for the implementation of the so called SML, Payment in Local Currencies, which already has been successfully tested with Argentina.

“We are working with the two central banks to facilitate trade with China in local currencies. We’re doing something similar with the central banks from Russia and India”, Meirelles told Folha de Sao Paulo.

Last week the Brazilian Central bank announced that an agreement was reached with Uruguayan economic authorities to apply the so called SML system in bilateral trade operations.

“The system will also help to strengthen economic integration in Mercosur”, said Meirelles who made his comments during the conference “Brazil, overcoming the crisis and retaking growth”

Meirelles said he had been instructed by President Lula da Silva to begin talks with Chinese authorities on the issue of using the Real and the Yuan in bilateral trade transactions.

China has become Brazil’s main trade partner, displacing the US, with bilateral exchange reaching over 36 billion US dollars in 2009. China has become the leading purchaser of commodities from Latinamerica.

President Lula da Silva and his Chinese peer Hu Jintao have talked about abandoning the US dollar, gradually, as the international commerce currency on several occasions this year.

Mercopress,  Thursday, October 29th 2009

Low-cost chapel in Los Junquillos by Claudio Baladron Z. and Diego Grass P.

Today we’re delighted to present you with the project designed by Chilean architects Claudio Baladron Z. and Diego Grass P. for a new  little chapel in Los Junquillos, in the mountain region of Maule, South Chile. The project represent a simple but virtuous example of low res ex novo intervention in a difficult location. The same simple chosen materials allow to achieve a rarefied beauty mostly expressed by the pine wood in the interiors. The stern exterior reminds a depot, an industrial prefabricated. Despite the interiors keep the same essentiality and are definetely far from the european traditional church decorativism, the space releases a real sense of spirituality. The building polyfunctionality is not prejudicial to this warmth: village civil and spiritual activities co-exist in the same space, now public property of Los Junquillos.

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from the Architects:

There are oaks, wind and rain coming from the west. A dusty road is at the east.
Community soccer field is south; bamboo and empty beer cans all over the north.
Now there is also a wooden barn structure over a concrete platform,
with corrugated metal cladding in the outside and pine boards in the inside,
plus 100 chairs, lectern, altar, virgin figure and a cross.
Mass is once a month, community activities every evening. Both happen in the same space.
A new chapel for 100 people in the remote countryside of Southern Chile.

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via Yearbook

Twelve Reasons For A Job Loss Recovery

Twelve Reasons For A Job Loss Recovery

by Michael Shedlock

I have been talking about the Job Loss Recovery for quite some time. Here are a few recent examples.

July 14: Bernanke Sees Chance of Jobless Recovery

Given that the Fed’s first mission is to delay, confuse, hope, and otherwise attempt to buy time while engaging in wishful thinking along the way, that Bernanke is willing to admit this may be a jobless recovery is a sign that things will likely be at least that bad. In other words, prepare for a job loss recovery.

August 3: Thoughts On The “Recoveryless Recovery”

Most know that I am in favor of an “L shaped recession“, but that definition includes a “WW” or even a “WWW” where the economy slips in and out of recession for a decade, as happened in Japan.

August 6: Dismal Unemployment Situation In Chart Form

Job Loss Recovery

The last three recessions are unlike the eight preceding recessions. For numerous reasons described below we are heading for another job loss recovery.

Job Loss Recovery Detail

click on chart for sharper image

If the pattern holds, unemployment will rise until 2011 or beyond.

So while everyone is tooting horns and cheering the end of the end of the recession before it has even ended, those graphs and comments from Bernanke himself will put the pending job loss Recovery into better perspective.

What is bringing this idea to the forefront now is all the enthusiasm over what is destined to be the weakest recovery ever.

Others seem to be catching on.

Rebounding Economy Shedding Jobs

Please consider Experts see rebounding economy shedding jobs.

Forget a jobless recovery. The economy may be entering a recovery with job losses.

Third-quarter estimates this week are expected to show that the economy grew for the first time since the quarter ending in June 2008. Despite the estimated 3 percent expansion and a stock market that has been on a tear since March, hundreds of thousands of people are still being laid off each month.

Eight million jobs have been lost nationwide since the recession began two years ago, and by some measures workers face the worst job market since the Depression. The average laid-off worker has been without a job for 61/2 months, a post-World War II record. Many of those workers will never recover financially.

California’s hole, deepened by a state budget mess and volatile tax system, is far worse: Unemployment is at

12.2 percent, third highest in the nation; and adding discouraged and part-time workers puts it over 20 percent.

“It’s not even a jobless recovery; it’s a recovery with more job losses,” said UCLA economist Lee Ohanian. “The idea of having essentially no net job creation after a remarkably severe recession is a real pathology for the U.S. economy.”

‘Painfully weak’ job growth

Top White House economist Christina Romer of UC Berkeley told Congress on Thursday that employment growth could remain “painfully weak” through next year, and that the largest effect from the $787 billion stimulus enacted in February, mainly aid to states, is past. By mid-2010, she said, the stimulus will no longer contribute to growth.

Alarms are ringing at the White House and in Congress. But with a mind-boggling $1.4 trillion deficit this year, Democrats have used up their bullets. The word stimulus has such a bad connotation that the term has been banished from new efforts to goose the economy and help workers

Employment mystery

Economists are puzzled as to why job growth has slowed, citing everything from higher health care costs, to higher productivity, to Chinese currency manipulation.

“The answer is, we don’t know,” said Tim Bartik, a liberal economist with the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Michigan who is proposing a tax credit for employers who hire new workers.

There Is No Mystery

Of course we know why job growth has slowed. Here are 12 good reasons.

1. We consumed more than we produced for a decade. Consumers are deep in debt and need to take care of their balance sheets.

2. We built enough houses for 15 years in a 5 year window.

3. People thought home prices would rise forever and borrowed against their homes. They are now underwater and cannot sell or move.

4. There is rampant overcapacity everywhere. We do not need any more Walmarts, Pizza huts, nail salons, Targets, Home Depots, Lowes, gas stations, grocery stores, or anything else.

5. Global wage arbitrage and outsourcing.

6. Boomers heading into retirement are scared half to death. They will not be spending or traveling as much as they thought. Indeed they will be attempting to downsize their lifestyle.

7. Attitudes everywhere have changed. People have finally caught on to the idea that home prices do not always go up. Businesses have caught on to the idea that home prices and commercial real estate does not always go up. Thus banks have tightened lending standards and consumers are reluctant to borrow.

8. “Frugality is the New Reality”. Here is a Search for the word “frugality” in this blog.

9. Misguided federal tax policy. The administration plans to raise taxes on the wealthy. On top of that the health care plan is going to be very costly for small businesses. Thus the administration has inadvertently given small businesses two more reasons not to hire. Instead the administration should be slashing corporate tax rates.

10. Government Pension Plans. States are raising property taxes to help fund pension plans that have blown up. This is a drain on the economy. These plans need to be killed. Please see California Treasurer Spanks Legislature Over Pension Reform And Reckless Spending for an interesting rant about the pension mess in California. Most states are in the same boat, although California is the worst of the lot.

11. Stimulus Spending. Japan has already proven that Keynesian and Monetarist solutions cannot and do not work, yet we try anyway. Please see Will Stimulus Take Hold? for details.

12. Deficit spending in general. Spending what you don’t have and cannot afford never solves anything. We can no longer afford to be the word’s policeman but still attempt to do so at enormous cost. Indeed, there are many things we cannot afford and do anyway. As a result, interest on the national debt is soaring, the dollar is weakening, and this is drain on the real economy regardless of what the stock market thinks about it.

Tax Credits And Other Bad Ideas

Giving tax credits for hiring cannot possibly accomplish anything worthwhile. Businesses are not likely to take on needless expense just for a tax credit. They will just hire who they were going to hire anyway.

Of course the might be exceptions. For example: Give me a big tax credit and I will hire my wife. Our pre-tax household income would not change one iota but our after-tax income would change by the amount of the tax credit. While this would be worthwhile to me, it does not seem to be an effective way to stimulate the overall economy.

Returning to the article for another ill-advised solution….

University of Maryland economist Peter Morici said the administration’s efforts to restore growth by directing spending to such things as alternative energy are too expensive for the number of jobs created and ignore larger problems in the economy.

“You can’t grow with a huge trade deficit,” Morici said. “If you don’t revalue the Chinese yuan against the dollar you can’t get out of this mess, and if you don’t do something about oil imports you can’t get out of this mess. Industrial policies won’t fix it.”

Morici is correct about the Obama Administrations misguided energy plan. However he is wrong about the trade deficit.

According to Rothbard “More nonsense has been written about balances of payments than about virtually any other aspect of economics.”

Inquiring minds are reading Does the widening US trade deficit pose a threat to the economy? by Frank Shostak.

Most economists are of the view that the ever-growing US trade deficit and the subsequent expanding foreign debt pose a threat to the well-being of Americans. What is then required, so it is held, is to set in motion policies that will help curtail the widening trade imbalances between the United States and the rest of the world. Focusing on the trade deficit as the supposedly major problem of the US economy only diverts the attention from the real culprit, which is the US central bank.

What matters for the process of wealth formation is the flow of real savings. The balance of payments statement doesn’t provide such information. Consequently, it is not possible to determine the implications of a given state of the current account on the well-being of Americans without information regarding the state of the flow of real savings. Therefore various pessimistic assessments regarding the US economy, which are based on the state of the balance of payments, are likely to be without much foundation.

For a complete rebuttal to the trade deficit myth, please read Shostak’s article in entirety.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Mike “Mish” Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Saving our sanity (and economy) through exceptional customer service

The other day, my partner and I lunched at a local, neighborhood bar and restaurant. What’s nice in Minnesota is lunching at a bar and restaurant without the pungent odor of cigarettes and stale beer wafting across your Juicy Lucy and fries. We’re a no-smoking State, so our lunches and lungs are free of Marlboros and Camel Lights.

But, that’s not the point of this story.

Our neighborhood bar and restaurant was, as usual during the lunch hour: packed. A steady stream of patrons shuttling in and shuttling out with no table empty for longer than it took the next waiting set of diners to descend. So the point is, our neighborhood diner was busy. More astounding – there were only three waitresses running the dining room and bar area.

Sound overwhelming?

Try being one of the waitresses.

We sat down after waiting for close to half an hour. Not bad for a Saturday lunch hour. Like vultures, we hung over the emptying table, barely any time for the last diners to stretch into their coats, take that last swig of soda and leave.

Surprisingly, as we slid into our booth, our waitress, Carrie followed suit within seconds, giving us a warm welcome while simultaneously clearing off our table of soiled dishes.

I’m already impressed.

Within a steady stream of well-calculated minutes, Carrie came to and from our table, maneuvering through the packed restaurant, smiling, carrying food dishes, welcoming new diners.

In a restaurant this busy, the opportunity for error or even rude service is imminent.

Case in point: the “Hang over pork tenderloin sandwich” I ordered came out as a Walleye sandwich. No sooner did I correct Carrie and notify her of the error, did she apologize, inform me of the next steps (“I’ll get your new sandwich right out”), and make reparation by suggesting we sample the fish sandwich. All the while, she never flinched, become defensive or make accusations (she could have easily accused me of being the erroneous order placer).

Rather, with a warm smile, a welcoming “hon” delivered diner style, apology, information (about how she would make the correction), Carrie saved our dining experience.

This is customer service.

Compare this to an experience my partner had at a regional, big box DIY retailer. The weekend flyer for the store advertised a paint special on a particular brand, as long as you purchased 5 gallons of the stuff.

With a home project at hand, my partner sought out this particular brand, ordered the 5 gallons from the paint station and waited patiently for it to be mixed, shaken and sealed for purchase.

At the register, the 5 gallon paint bucket rang in at its regular price: $64.99. The advertisement called for a price of $44.99.

The cashier, unable to explain the discrepancy even after my partner pointed out the flyer ad, called the manager.

The conversation went something like this:

Customer: “Why is ringing up at the regular price? The flyer ad says it’s on sale.”

Manager: “I’m not sure why this is happening. Oh wait, it’s because you purchased the wrong paint.”

Customer: “But, the brand is the same and when I asked the paint rep to mix it, I made sure this was the paint on sale.”

Manager: “Listen lady, we have over 100s of paints. He can’t keep track of every one of them.”

Customer: “But, isn’t his job focused solely on paint?”

Get the point of the conversation?

Rather than the restaurant’s combination of: apology, inform and repair, the manager went into a defensive mode. There was no apology, no information and certainly no reparation.

What could have saved this customer experience and taken it from generally bad to exceptional?

Let’s imagine that Carrie the restaurant server were in this situation, and use her mix of apology, information and reparation to turn this around:

Customer: “Why is this ringing up at the regular price? The flyer ad says it’s on sale.”

Manager: “I’m sorry ma’am. Let me take a look at this for you. It looks like the paint brand differs from the paint brand offered in our ad. Would you like me to take this back for you and have our paint rep re-mix a new batch? It won’t take along and in the meantime, I can have the cashier correct your purchase and have one of our associates help load your car.”

The magic combination:

1) apology, 2) information and 3) repair

Now, there is always the possibility that someone is having a bad day. But, rudeness to customers bringing generating dollars for your employers bottom line just shouldn’t happen. Something tells me this DIY retail manager doesn’t have the right tools for customer service.

And, more often than not, big box stores that rely heavily on low price to drive quantity (number of customer through the door) versus quality of experience, will likely let this customer experience slide under the rug.

Seem wrong?

Absolutely. 

We are a service driven culture. Our economy is evidence of this.  In today’s economy every dollar an organization can eke out counts.  With more consumers spending less, perhaps more Carrie’s in the world will help make spending our own hard earned dollars a little easier to part with.

Customer service is critical and in today’s world, more Carrie’s will make spending our hard earned dollars a little easy to part with.

Subsistence Costs

I was having lunch at a food court in a prominent mall in Singapore yesterday.

I could not fail to notice the cost increases which were getting passed to the ordinary customers. The people you see at a mall are the microcosm of the country itself – mostly average consumer, trying to eat out on a weekend, along with his family. They do a multitude of activities at their chosen mall – ATM transactions, window shopping, getting things fixed, hair cut, real shopping, casual shopping, et al – but the most important thing they execute is having lunch or coffee or dinner. Simply because they do not cook and do not wish to work during the weekend making lunch or dinner, I guess.

The prices of ordinary food articles/items have gone up by over 30 to 40% in Singapore – same is the case in most other places, but here the contrast was remarkable. We all know that subsistence costs are a lower percentage of discretionary expenses in more developed countries, as compared to the “developing” or “emerging” countries. What this means is that, food costs for example, are lower in developed countries (it should be the other way around, if you care to think about it !). However, with incomes falling, employees getting laid off by companies which cannot successfully tackle the economic downturn, zero pay increases, etc., the food costs become a bigger proportion of income/expenses.

That is at constant food prices. If the food prices rise, for whatever reason, you can imagine the impact. I am sure that this factor has had a big impact in the lives of Singaporeans, especially in 2008 – 09.

I noticed the cost that affected me. For a simple lunch of “Yong Tau Fu” which consists of a few selected vegetables/taufu/greens + noodles, cooked in hot water right in front of you, it used to cost around S$ 3.80 in yesteryears. Now, I had to pay S$ 5.30, an increase of 40%. Well, I am not incorrect to say that there has been a significant increase in the cost of food in Singapore.

Well, let us look at the formal restaurants – last evening I went to dine at a classy one in downtown. A dish which should typically cost S$ 16 was priced at S$ 24, an increase of 50% ! May be the upper middle class can bear a little more burden, I guess.

Well, whichever way I looked around, it made me wonder how the average Joe is coping. It should be pretty hard, I think.

I decided to take a walk around the shopping mall, and read the sticker prices of some items on display. I always thought that Mumbai was costlier for almost everything, especially electronic items. Was I shocked ? Yes, I found that the price of iPod Nano in the Apple Store at Singapore was around US$ 15 more as compared to the same model at the Apple Store in Mumbai ! May be the rapidly appreciating Indian Rupee is playing some tricks here, or the relative strength of the S$ vis-a-vis the US$ is having some impact. Don’t know, but it was surprising.

Well, well, Singapore needs to once again re-learn the art of being competitive. It is a country which has constantly re-engineered itself over the past four decades, and I am sure it would do so again.

It was interesting to see the impact, though.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
25th October 2009
Mumbai

Prevalence of Cheating Should Not Affect Extension Of Home Buyer Tax Credit

Recent reports of taxpayers cheating on their tax returns by claiming the Home Buyer Tax Credit should not adversely impact extension of the program.

According to an October 22, 2009 report appearing in Marketwatch, The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), disclosed that there were approximately 90,000  erroneous returns out of 1.2 million processed. That means that about 7.5% of the returns were erroneous.

Some of the problem may be the  weak and confusing language in the law. TIGTA said that 600 filers were under 18, and 19,350 hadn’t yet purchased their homes.

Another 70,000, or about 78% of the possible erroneous returns, already owned a home. But many of these filers may actually be correct, because the law didn’t prohibit someone from owning another home within the previous 3 years, it just prohibited them from owning a “Principal Residence.” See the Marketwatch report in full: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fraud-found-in-home-buyer-tax-credit-claims-2009-10-22

 Also, just because there were “Erroneous” returns, that does not mean the program was bad. It was actually quite effective in eliminating a lot of excess housing inventory so that housing markets can recover and begin contributing to the economic recovery.

AccountingWEB.com has a report on the IRS Oversight Board’s 2008 Taxpayer Attitude Survey. According to the survey, 89% of American taxpayers think it is “Not at all” acceptable to cheat on their tax returns. However, 6% think it is acceptable to cheat “A little here and there.” And 3% thint it  is acceptable to cheat “As much as possible.”

Given these attitudes, the results on the First-Time Home buyers Tax Credit seem to be pretty much in the same ballpark. And you wouldn’t eliminate the income tax just because 3% cheat as much as possible, would you?

To view thwe Accounting WEB article, see http://www.accountingweb.com/item/107041

President Obama

President Obama and many members of congress want this popular and effective program extended and expanded to cover all buyers, not just first-time buyers. That change alone would eliminate 78% of the “Erroneous returns.”

We think it gets extended and expanded because the country needs the jobs it will create, but probably not before the November 30, 2009 expiration date.

500 year old thoughts on investment strategies

I guess many of us wonder, why did all the great advice we received from the investment community serve us so poorly as we struggle through the current recession and observe the massive destruction of wealth.  Perhaps it was our own desires for win win positions which drew us towards a particular type of investment strategy.  Boom and Bust scenarios go back along way and I was particularly struck by some investment advice from Jacob Fugger the Rich.  Jacob Fugger was born 550 years ago on 6th March 1459 and became one of the wealthiest men in the world through trading and merchant banking during his life of 66 years.  When he died he bequeathed to his nephew Anton Fugger assets totaling 2,032,652 guilders.

His investment strategy is interesting and was designed for turbulent times.

“Divide your fortune into four equal parts: stocks, real estate, bonds and gold coins. Be prepared to lose on one of them most of the time. During inflation, you will lose on bonds and win on gold and real estate : during deflation, you lose on real estate and win on bonds, while your stocks will see you through both periods, though in a mixed fashion. Whenever performance differences cause a major imbalance, rebalance your fortunes back to the four equal parts.”

We are clearly in a deflationary period here in Ireland, but we also must accept the chance that Governments globally will attempt to monetize the significant global debt in tandem with providing ongoing stimulus. Therefore we could see a return to inflation. Inflation in fact is probably the only manner in which many householders can eliminate their negative equity.

It would be interesting to know which investment advisers were suggesting a portfolio with the kind of balance that Jacob Fugger suggested and how they have performed through the current recession. What would such a portfolio look like today ?

Number of U.S. failed banks hits 100 this year

NEW YORK, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) — Partners Bank of Naples, Florida was closed on Friday, the 100th bank failure of 2009, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The failed bank was closed by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the FDIC as receiver.

As of Sept. 30, 2009, Partners Bank had total assets of 65.5 million U.S. dollars and total deposits of approximately 64 good credit score.9 million dollars.

Stonegate Bank of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will assume all of the deposits and essentially all the assets of the bank. Partners is the seventh bank to fail in Florida this year. Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

Number of U.S. failed banks hits 100 this year

Jaipur budget Hotels

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Jaipur – The Heritage Pink City

Jaipur – The Heritage Pink City has been the capital of erstwhile Jaipur state since its inception in 1727 AD, it gets the name from its founder Maharaja Jai Singh II. He was not only a great ruler but also a renowned mathematician and astrologer, his various talents are clearly exhibited in the Jaipur city. Vidhyadhar Bhattacharya designed Jaipur as per the Hindu treatise, Shilp Shastra. The Jaipur city was laid with great precision, it could also be called as the first planned city of the country. The roads were divided into rectangular blocks and surrounded by a peripheral wall with huge gates guarding it. The market places were named after the commodity, which as supposed to be predominantly sold or manufactured there.

Jaipur – The Capital City of the state Rajasthan, very nearly exemplifies the character of the state and its people. Surrounded by rugged hills on three sides, each crowned by formidable fort and beautiful palaces, mansions and gardens dotted throughout its precincts.

In 1876 A.D. Jaipur dressed itself in pink to welcome Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria and earned the epitaph ‘PINK CITY’, it is also a home of excellent handicrafts especially known for the exquisite gold jewellery enamelled or inlaid with precious stones, blue pottery, carving on wood, stone & ivory, block print, tie & dye textiles, hand made paper, miniature painting ets.

Jaipur Travel Guide

Our Address

Pushpendra Sharma

Tour Manager

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Jaipur Tours & Travels

Head office: F-41, Mangal Vihar Colony Ram Nagar Ext. Sodala Jaipur( India.) 302019
Tel/Fax : + 91,141-2292440
Mobile : + 91, 9828340000
Email : info@heritageindiatourtravels.com
Website Source : Online Booking

The Christian and Capitalism

I apologize, dear readers in my two(!) month long hiatus from the blog. School has taken up a considerable amount of time, as well as the ever present attempt to try and find work. Living in a small city and having a country at nearly 10% unemployment doesn’t help the situation either.

However a few people have asked me to get back into typing on the blog and so I shall. The topic today begins what I’d like call “The Christian and…” In these posts I will be tackling issues or ideas that Christians face or that the world throws at us. I plan on doing a post on education in the future, but I’d like to tackle the issue of capitalism today.

Why capitalism? People have said to me, “Erik, I don’t know how you can be in support of unbridled capitalism or capitalism in general. Especially since you’re a Christian…capitalism promotes greed, wealth, and of course a love of money. How can you support a system that does that?”

Here’s why: In my opinion, capitalism is the best fit for the world we live in simply because it acknowledges our fallen spiritual state and works within it to produce the best results.

Capitalism knows we are greedy, self serving narcissists who want material wealth. It wouldn’t function without that drive. Even the Bible states we are this way! Due to the fall of mankind (Gen. 3) we (humanity) have become self centered, thinking of no one but ourselves (Phil 2:21). Paul warns that in the end times this will be commonplace (II Tim 3:2). The disciples were self-centered (Mark 10:37) and even the crowds treated Jesus like a vending machine (John 6:26). Paul warned of the love of money and the desire to have wealth. (I Tim 6:6-10) Yet if you read those verses, you have to find the key words: desire…love.

The key word in that whole passage is desire. A desire to be rich. A love for money. Donald Trump is not a sinner because he has a huge amount of money in his bank account. Being rich is not a sin. In fact the Bible states that being rich is an opportunity to bring God glory (II Cor. 9:10-11). On that note, being poor does not mean you are spiritually better off than your next door neighbor with the three car garage. It is the heart that God looks at (I Samuel 16:7), not your wallet.

We live in a world undergoing extreme economic hardship. The market corrects itself over time, governed by a Christian ethos or not. Capitalism is naturally a cyclic process…until the government steps in. When the government sticks its nose in the process this cycle is disrupted. In the name of social justice (and not wanting people to lose jobs which in turn creates public discontent) the government jumps in shelling out cash. As we have seen, this has done nothing but prolong the process. Unless you have had your head in the sand the last few months, you’ll know that the government now runs a large chunk of the auto industry, the banking industry and now has its eyes on healthcare. This is all being done under the premise of “controlling unbridled capitalism” to make it fair for everyone. For example the Obama administration recently spent money it didn’t have on a stimulus package to save jobs. Unemployment has gone up nearly 2% since this package.

Capitalism survives on the concept of self-interest. Before you start screaming how this goes against the Christian credo remember that no one system is perfect. Reread that sentence. I am not advocating that capitalism is perfect. Not having a job sucks. Losing your job is horrible. I know…I am there right now. Every system is flawed to a certain extent since it is derived from fallen individuals. If Wall Street and Main Street were tempered by the actions of Bible believing business men who took God’s Word to heart, then the risks of a financial meltdown are less likely. Economic collapse is still possible because no system is perfect.

But to blame the whole system of capitalism as faulty is ludicrous.

Sri Lanka telco profit recovery delayed by Etisalat entry: Fitch

Fitch Ratings said the entry of Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) into Sri Lanka can further delay any prospects for recovery in the Sri Lankan telecom operators’ profitability.

Millicom International Cellular SA last week sold its fully-owned subsidiary in Sri Lanka, Tigo, to Etisalat in a competitive bidding process.

Tigo is the third-largest mobile telephony operator in Sri Lanka with a market share of around 20 percent and a nationwide network footprint.

“Competition in the mobile space is already highly intense with five operators vying for market share,” Fitch Ratings said in a statement.

“Price competition has led to a rapid deterioration of tariffs over the last four years which has weakened profitability of the operators, especially in the wake of the licensing of India’s Bharti Airtel, which has a ‘BBB-’ rating with a stable outlook, as the fifth mobile operator in 2007.

“There was some hope for consolidation in the market with several local mobile operators interested in Tigo, most notably Bharti Airtel, which Fitch believes would have benefitted most from Tigo’s wide network footprint.”

Etisalat is among the world’s fastest growing telecom companies and has aggressively invested in telecom assets in the Middle-East, Africa and Asia as growth in its home market slowed and competition intensified, the rating agency said.

Etisalat has entered markets late in the race and aggressively challenged established operators, it said.

“If Etisalat’s track record is anything to go by, it is possible that it may invest heavily to acquire more market share in Sri Lanka, which will intensify the challenges facing other operators,” said Buddhika Piyasena, Director of Fitch’s Asia-Pacific Corporates team.

Under Millicom’s ownership, Tigo took a less aggressive approach to competition, although it did respond to tariff cuts initiated by others.

“However, Etisalat’s strong financial position allows it to aggressively challenge the established operators,” Fitch said.

Tigo recently acquired a 3G license, enabling it to offer more advanced communications services.

Under Etisalat’s ownership it can be expected that Tigo will invest in rolling-out 3G capacities, the agency said.

“Apart from lax regulation, a major reason for the heavy price-based competition in the Sri Lankan market is the absence of a framework that requires mobile operators to pay other networks for interconnection,” Fitch said.

“This allowed Bharti Airtel, which has a limited coverage, to challenge other operators resulting in a full scale price war.”

A revision to the interconnection framework is currently on the telecom regulator’s agenda and when implemented in 2010, Fitch said it expects this to ease further pressure on tariffs.

However, the operators may see subscriber acquisition and retention costs – including handset subsidies, subsidised starter packs and increases in selling and marketing cost – increasing with competition intensifying for market share.

“In addition, given Etisalat’s strong international links, operators could see stiff competition on international long distance and roaming services- these segments too have seen heated competition in the last two years resulting in lower tariffs over time,” Fitch Ratings said.

Etisalat’s entry into the Sri Lankan market comes at a time when financial flexibility of the established operators has weakened substantially as a result of heavy price-based competition.

The credit profiles of Fitch rated operators – Sri Lanka Telecom (FC IDR: ‘B+’/Stable; LC IDR: ‘BB-’/Negative; National Long-term: ‘AAA(lka)’/Stable) and Dialog Telekom (’AA(lka)’/ Negative) have been under pressure.

“The weaker balance sheets of established operators may limit their ability to aggressively defend their market shares,” said Piyasena.

Fitch said it is also of the view that a higher level of regulatory oversight over the competitive practices of operators and some intervention on tariffs is required to ensure the financial health of the industry.

Times Are Tough For Renters...

As if times aren’t already tough enough on people, the Better Business Bureau is warning that many prospective renters are getting scammed out of some serious money as they shop around for a new place to call home.

When looking for a place to rent, it is important to understand how landlord scams typically work. Here’s what usually happens: A would-be renter responds to an ad for a rental home. The ads are typically placed on the Internet. The “landlord” says that keys will be sent after the renter wires a large deposit, sometimes as much as $1,400. When the renter asks to see the home first, the landlord says that isn’t possible because he or she is out of the country.

What happens next? The renter goes to move into the rental property, but the home invariably is already occupied. In a lot cases, the home has been up for sale or has been in foreclosure for a while.  As such, there are photographs of the home posted on legitimate real estate and or bank foreclosure auction web sites.  All the scam artist has to do is copy and paste the photos into a new rental ad and post a free ad online.

This does not have to happen to you or the ones you love.  Go to www.landlordinvestigators.com and check out all perspective rental properties before you spend your hard earned money.

Rescued bank's traders scoop £1.8bn bonuses. By Jill Treanor

Via: The Guardian.

Pay-outs at government-backed RBS soar as surviving investment players carve up market

The Royal Bank of Scotland, which was bailed out with government money 12 months ago, has set aside almost £2bn for bonuses and salaries to investment banking staff – a figure that could double by the end of the year.

After a week in which Goldman Sachs admitted it is on track to pay out its biggest ever bonuses, the Edinburgh-based RBS conceded that it too would be likely to offer bonuses to its 20,000 investment bankers this year.

The remuneration bill for the investment bank division at RBS in the first half of 2009 reached £1.8bn – equal to £90,000 a head.

The final total is expected to rise substantially, by the time a decision on bonus payouts is made by the bank at the end of the year.

Unions reacted angrily to the potential sums for RBS investment bankers, particularly as their division sparked the crisis inside the bank. Rob MacGregor, national officer for Unite, said: “These RBS bankers are happy to return to business as usual and line their pockets while thousands of bank staff pay the price for reckless behaviour which almost destroyed the company.

“Already this year thousands have lost their jobs as RBS seeks to reduce costs. Yet somehow the kitty for City bankers is forever growing.”

No decision has yet been made on bonuses and when it does it will have to involve UK Financial Investments, the body set up to look after the government’s 70% stake in RBS and 43% of Lloyds Banking Group. UKFI, which declined to comment, last year forced ground-breaking changes to bonuses at RBS, but while it limited one-off cash payments, a total of £1bn was still distributed in deferred payments and new-style bonds.

Stephen Hester, the chief executive of RBS who has a £9m pay deal, has already defended the need to pay bonuses because of a “damaging but not yet destructive” exodus of its big City players who were poached during the political row over bonuses at the bailed-out bank last year.

The bank has since developed a reputation in the City for aggressive hiring packages in an attempt to entice the highest calibre bankers to its troubled business. A star banker at Merrill Lynch, Antonio Polverino, is among those to have been lured by multi-million pound signing-on fees. Polverino is said to have been paid £7m to join earlier this year.

Hester has warned that he does not expect the rapid pace of growth in the investment bank in the first half of the year to continue, although the figures from Wall Street banks last week show that the sector is still generating large returns. The payouts at RBS, though, are unlikely to match those at Goldman, where remunerations by the end of September had reached $16.7bn – or $527,000 (£323,000) per employee – which City sources say illustrates the problem Hester faces in keeping staff.

While the banking industry was on the brink of collapse a year ago, those banks which have survived have been able to report stellar profits because those still standing are able to command higher fees. They are also benefitting from the billions of pounds’ worth of bonds being issued by governments to pay for their own bailouts, as well as the surging stock market.

The City minister, Lord Myners, has called on banks to consider the “perceived fairness” of their bonuses at a time when many Britons are being forced to take pay cuts. Myners convinced a dozen big financial houses last week to pledge to endorse the G20 principles on pay, which require bonuses to be spread over three years and “clawed back” if profits turn sour. A similar agreement had already been reached at RBS – the first major bank to agree to sweeping bonus reforms last February – and other high street banks.

But opposition parties argue that the G20 principles do not do enough to restrain City pay. Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman, said: “This government has granted a goldmine to a few investment banks. They’ve bailed them out and effectively pulled the plug on the competition, so we must come up with our share of the loot when it comes up the mine shaft.”

An RBS spokesman said: “We have led the way in reforming how we structure our rewards to staff, aligning incentives more effectively to long-term performance.” But Unite’s MacGregor said: “The greedy investment bankers have learnt no lessons from the financial meltdown. The actions of these top bankers brought catastrophe to our economic system, yet they continue to be rewarded generously.”

Energy and environment ministers from the world’s major economies are meeting in London today to try to accelerate crucial negotiations over an international treaty on climate change.

Strong progress has been made in the past few weeks, with Japan, for example, announcing that it will cut its emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 25% by 2020 relative to levels in 1990.

But there are still major obstacles and some doubt whether a strong global deal can be hammered out in time for the United Nations’s conference on climate change in Copenhagen, now just seven weeks away.

Agreement can be reached if governments now focus on the key issue: the required overall reduction in emissions, with rich countries taking the lead through strong, binding targets and financial support for developing countries. Numbers are important to this, so let me explain why.

Global emissions of greenhouse gases in 2010 are likely to be about 47bn tonnes of carbon-dioxide-equivalent (they may have exceeded 50bn tonnes without the global economic slowdown). Countries around the world have been designing programmes that could reduce annual emissions to about 49bn tonnes of carbon-dioxide-equivalent in 2020, compared with 55 to 60bn tonnes under “business as usual”.

However, to have a reasonable chance of cost-effectively limiting a rise in global average temperature to no more than 2˚C, beyond which scientists regard as “dangerous” to go, annual emissions must be reduced to below 44bn tonnes by 2020, well below 35bn tonnes in 2030 and well below 20bn tonnes by 2050.

Put another way, today’s average world emissions per capita are nearly 7 tonnes of carbon-dioxide-equivalent each year, with big variations between countries: for instance, the United States emits about 24 tonnes per head while the figure for India is below 2 tonnes.

By 2050, the global population is projected to rise to 9 billion, so average per head emissions will have to be lower than 2 tonnes per year on average. For rich countries, this will require a cut in annual emissions by at least 80% by 2050.

But given that China’s emissions are 6 tonnes per head and growing, and that today’s developing countries will be home to 8 billion people in 2050, it is clear that they must also be at the heart of the action on climate change.

So we must find a further cut of 5bn tonnes on top of current intentions for 2020. This is achievable. For example, greater efforts on tackling deforestation could reduce emissions cost-effectively by at least another 2.5bn tonnes. International shipping and aviation could further reduce the global total by at least half a billion tonnes.

The rich countries could also reduce the global total by more than a billion tonnes if they implement their conditional “high-ambition” commitments – the European Union, for instance, will increase its cuts by 2020, relative to 1990 levels, from 20% to 30% if there is a strong global deal.

Developing countries could also make a similar contribution through finding improved ways of achieving economic growth while lowering their emissions per unit of output. In both rich and poor countries, there is great potential both from energy efficiency and new low-emissions technologies.

All of this can be achieved in the next decade with carefully designed policies. Indeed, if we set out strongly on this road we will create a new era of prosperity and growth. Innovators are full of ideas and investors see the opportunities. They now need confidence in strong international policy.

Many developing countries have already drawn up detailed plans for making the transition to a low-carbon economy and have taken significant steps forward in the last few weeks.

For instance, Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, announced last month at a United Nations summit in New York that his country will cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product by a “notable margin” by 2020 compared with levels in 2005.

Jairam Ramesh, the Indian environment minister, last weekend outlined a series of important measures that his country intends to take across a wide range of sectors, including the goal of obtaining a fifth of its energy from solar, wind and hydro sources by 2020.

Rich countries must give their backing to these plans by providing developing countries with $100bn a year by the early 2020s, for measures to reduce emissions (much of which could be delivered by the operation of carbon markets), and a further $100bn to help them adapt to the effects of climate change that cannot now be avoided. Developing countries are likely to doubt the credibility of such commitments unless the rich countries also set an intermediate target of $50bn per year by 2015.

These sums must be over and above current commitments on official development assistance. They may appear large, but $200bn represents around 0.5% of the current gross domestic product of the rich countries, and is tiny compared to the risks that can be avoided by an international agreement. And it will not be possible to overcome poverty in poor countries without also tackling the threat of climate change: the global deal must be founded on a clear understanding that these two issues are closely bound together.

An ambitious deal on climate change that is effective, efficient and equitable is within our grasp, but only if our political leaders remain focused on the core common goals and maintain their determination to reach agreement.

Lord Stern is chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and IG Patel professor of economics and government at the London School of Economics and Political Science

We Didn’t Lose 700,000 Jobs a Month

Obama said recently that when he came into office “we lost 700,000 jobs a month.” This is false!

January indeed lost that number, but the average job losses from October 2008 (the first full month of the panic economy) through January of this year when Obama came in, was 599,000, not “700,000 a month.”

Secondly, as I pointed out in my column “the Stimulus’ logging indicator” myth,” the economy in February, meaning before a dime of Stimulus was spent, lost 60,000 less jobs than it did in January. This means that part of the monthly decrease in speed of job losses in the following months happened without the stimulus, too. Therefore it is too early for Obama to tap himself on the back with the seven-month old Stimulus job market, which lost a monthly average of 386,426 jobs (starting in March).

Thirdly, in the last seven months of the “Bush Recession” we lost a monthly average of only 146,714 jobs. Explanation?  The Bush recession lasted until the end of August 2008. From then on, Lehman collapsed, the shtick of Medoff came to light, and candidate/new President Obama scared everyone about the economic peril. These three things were outside much (or any) of Bush’s control, yet pushed the economy to the brink and with it killing the job market. So as long Obama’s Economy does not show average job losses of 146,000, we are not even in the vicinity of the Bush Recession, despite the Stimulus.

Endgame: Blueprint For Global Enslavement - Full Length HQ Video

Alex Jones chronicles the history of the global elite’s bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest wars creating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world’s population, while enabling the “elites” to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker Alex Jones reveals their secret plan for humanity’s extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

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You Want Everything

There is a lot left to do everyday.  I feel as though if we fall we might get back up, missing everything we had on before gravity took its toll.  Gravity takes it all away from us and induces it’s logic onto our perspective and limits us to possibilities measured by them.  They haven’t lived the life we’ve lived, full of mediocrities and social inabilities.  They’ve been without boundaries; obstacles are just a thing of fanning out a couple notes of currency.  What troubled emphasis we place regarding the economy.  If only we took as much time to count as many grammar misusages as we do cases of credit fraud.  If only our goal was to gather experience instead of spending our experiences in the quest to gather.

But not today.  If we would just finished it all off it wouldn’t even matter.  If life’s purpose is to expire, we’ve built this whole infrastructure in order for it all to crumble before us.  However, in fortunate cases, life isn’t stripped away from us suddenly.  The macabre details of the events to have taken place are one of gradual demises and experiments in temperate destruction.  First to leave is dignity, last is the ability to heal over the wounds of man’s terribly misguided existence and term on the planet.  Too often do we think in terms of land and mass and area and forget there is so much more (than) space.

To end a paragraph is one of the most dangerous things one can do.  There are so many things that will not have been said that should have or things that will have become redundant by the time you read this.  And that is if one ever reads it.  Words and characters and punctuation have become too much of a hassle in a world whose pace is rapidly increasing, evermore than before.  It becomes the barrier between what is decipherable and what needs to be said.  I refuse to understand useless abbreviations.  If one should have the common desire to communicate a message to a second party, said messenger should have the forthcoming ability to properly introduce a statement and conclude it.  However, if one had everything he wanted, I would begin to complain about the message itself.  You are never happy; you want everything.

and as for all that there is left to do everyday…

Madoff Goes Global

Here’s an excellent write-up that describes the ways in which we are stealing from future generations to feed ourselves and the parallels between doing so and any other Ponzi scheme.

PONZICONOMY: Our global pyramid scheme

I’ve read Plan B 2.0, an excellent book, and notice that there is a link to a new version Plan B 4.0 by Lester Brown.

Don’t forget, the article doesn’t even mention the fact that not only is the oil at the pump a subsidized and limited resource, so is the oil we pour on our corn as fertilizer.

That’s right, industrial fertilizers are petroleum products. We’re eating oil!! That can’t be good for either our health or our long term prospects in terms of a very large population dependent on a fossil, non-renewable, resource.

Down in Albion

"Worst quality of life in the EU? Nooooo." By William Blake

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold;
Bring me my arrows of desire;
Bring me my spear; O clouds, unfold!

Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land.

"Gin in tea cups and leaves on the lawn; violence in dole queues and a pale thin girl with eyes forlorn." Down in Albion, 87,200 women and girls were arrested for violence last year. Just take a deep breath and think of Denmark...

It’s a good thing William Blake is dead isn’t it? Because the mental fight necessary to build Jerusalem would be bloody knackering; Britain has worst quality of life in Europe, according to a recent study.

And to add to the rosy glow of optimism that hangs over those pleasant pastures, the UN (The Telegraph emphasizes with a certain relish) recently shunted the country out of the list of top 20 most desirable countries in which to live. It’s now only just ahead of Slovenia and Andorra.

Now frankly most of these reports are rubbish; I mean has anyone been to Denmark? One of the best places to live in the world? I think not. Lots of pig farms, lots of windmills; lots of bleak countryside and lots of singularly charmless Danes. Denmark is a fucking dump.

But the news out of England isn’t just bleak because this is the Telegraph reporting it and you know, the Telegraph wished everyone could get back to wearing pith helmets and bayoneting Dizzee Rascal or something like that.*

The Guardian has just been gagged from reporting on Parliament. Now there’s a first.

The Guardian has been prevented from reporting parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds which appear to call into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the 1688 Bill of Rights.

The only fact the Guardian can report is that the case involves the London solicitors Carter-Ruck, who specialise in suing the media for clients, who include individuals or global corporations.

(So if anyone feels like calling or emailing the above and telling them what a bunch of twats they are, they can be found here: 6 St Andrew Street, London EC4A 3AE. Tel: +44 (0)20 7353 5005. Fax: +44 (0)20 7353 5553)

* Under a story on the rapper in the Torygraph a commentator writes furiously that “if it wasn’t for Political Correctness and positive discrimination this guy would still be looking for work.”

Because you know, consumers are forced by government diktat to buy his music and go to his shows, aren’t they… Ye Gods. I think that comment sums up the IQ of the paper’s readers pretty well.

Record Lows In Idaho Threaten Seed Potato Crops

I just thought that this article was something that everyone should read. What ever happened to Global Warming? I’m sorry, I forgot, they have changed it to Global Climate Change.  Truth of the matter is for the past decade the Earth has actually been in a cooling stage. According to Phil Brennan on NewsMax.com, “The planet is not warming. Hasn’t warmed since around 1998. Instead, it’s cooling, and scientists say that it’s going to continue to cool for at least the next 20 or 30 years.” As stated in his article, “It’s getting cooler and has been since around the year 2000.” I don’t know about you, but that sure sounds like to me that we might be heading for a new mini-ice age.  Do yourself a favor and read the article on Idaho seed potato crops being threatened by, no not warm weather, but instead extreme cold temperatures. It makes one think twice about why the liberals and progressives are still pushing the Cap and Slave and other “environmentally necessary” programs despite the abundant evidence against warming. Money? I think that is probably the only remaining reason. It will only lay a huge financial burden on the countries trying to implement it. Is this a wise decision during the economic state of the United States of America? Unfortunately, time will tell.  May God help us all.

Reference:

http://www.missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_c1c13d5e-b6a4-11de-a09c-001cc4c002e0.html

http://www.newsmax.com/brennan/obama_global_warming/2009/09/23/263810.html

Obama's Test: Democracy or Chaos in Latin America. By Ramzy Baroud

Via: The Palestine Chronicle.

Latin America stands at the threshold of a new era: one that promises a return to political uncertainty, violence and chaos or one of political stability and economic prosperity. Honduras is a crucial indicator.

The possible outcomes of the Honduran crisis are likely to define the coming era for Latin America and the US future role in that hemisphere, and, in fact, beyond it. Indeed, the story is much more elaborate than a daring president holed up in a foreign embassy in his own country.

In her second visit to Asia as US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton declared on July 21 in Bangkok, “The US is back.” The declaration was disconcerting to many Asian countries, despite Clinton’s indistinct qualifications afterwards. Asian countries, exploring regional unity and economic cooperation are well aware of the subtle meaning of the term. However, it’s unlikely that politically stable and economically prospering Asia countries would allow for unwarranted outside interferences, especially with the growing Chinese regional influence and the election of Yukio Hatoyama the prime minister of Japan.

But how would Latin America feel about the US interference? The outcome of the Honduran coup should sufficiently answer this question.

Since the introduction of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the politics and economic structures of Latin American countries subsisted as a component of US foreign policies, regardless of who presided in the White House. The region’s economies seemed, at times, a laboratory for economic theories hatched at various US academic institutions. Many Latin American countries existed, and a meager existence at that, between US interventions, self-seeking local oligarchy and wilderness and chaos wrought by military dictatorships. In many instances, these three components were intrinsically linked.

But US influence in that region, as in the rest of the world, began to fade. The neoconservative wars in the Middle East and South Asia were but desperate, now failed attempts at salvaging some of the dwindling influence.

The former Bush Administration left Latin America to its own devises as US military adventures elsewhere took a toll on the country, militarily, economically and politically, at home and abroad. But as Clinton promised a return to Asia, the Obama administration attempted a return to Latin America as well, a region that is significantly different from yesteryear, as a new form of popular socialism was taking hold (in Venezuela, Bolivia, and elsewhere) without wholly disturbing the economic patterns that long governed these countries. While many didn’t welcome President Hugo Chavez’s outspokenness, few in Latin America, except for a few remaining US allies, considered him a threat. To the contrary, the new age has promised greater cooperation among all economic sectors between Latin American countries than any other period in the past. A new Latin America was making its debut, more equitable than before, politically stable, and economically promising, if not, in some cases, prosperous.

Indeed, the US returned to a different reality, a return that, at first was welcomed, even by Chavez himself. Obama spoke a language that soothed much fears and fostered a sense of promise.

“At times we sought to dictate our terms. But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations; there is simply engagement based on mutual respect and common interests and shared values,” declared Obama on April 19, at the Summit of the Americas, to the pleasure and relief of his audience.

Did that mean no more coups, military interventions, economic sanctions, political intimidation and all forms of coercion that defined much of the two hemispheres’ relationship of many years? Certainly, Latin American leaders, or most of them, hoped so.

But then, the democratically elected President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya was overthrown on June 28. It was a classic Latin American junta move. The popular leader was escorted in his pajamas and deported to another country. The coup leader, Roberto Micheletti lead a series of draconian measures, starting with the installation of a new government of allies and cronies – with the blessing of the local oligarchy – and ending with the declaration of emergency decree limiting civil liberties. After several attempts and many dramatic episodes, Zelaya returned to his country and was holed up in the Brazilian embassy, in Tegucigalpa, surrounded by a military that merely represent the very poor country’s very rich rulers: the oligarchs and the generals.

In some way, the coup in Honduras helped highlight the new order in the continent, as displayed in the unity of many Latin American countries, the steadfastness of its regional organizations, and the growing influence of the democratically elected governments. But it also highlighted the precarious position of the US administration: condemning the coup on one hand (as did President Obama, and clearly so) and condemning Zelaya’s courageous action (as did Hillary Clinton, and clearly so.) Clinton described Zelaya’s action as “reckless.” She was not alone, of course as the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States, Lewis Amselem said Zelaya’s return was “irresponsible and foolish.” Zelaya should stop “acting as though he were starring in an old movie,” he counseled. Worse, US Republicans, who see the coup leaders as trusty allies reminiscent of their allies of the past, are flocking to the Honduran capital in dangerous attempts at validating the coup leaders as legitimate statesmen.

Between Obama’s anti-coup stance, and his own Department of State’s anti-Zelaya rhetoric (and Republican giddiness over the prospects of their country’s ‘return’ to Latin America), the US position lacks clarity, a dangerous notion at a time when Latin America expected a clear US divorce from the past, and “engagement based on mutual respect and common interests and shared values.” President Obama may be sincere, but he must ensure that he acts upon his promises, not for Latin America’s sake, but for his own country’s future relationship with that part of the world. As for Latin America itself, the repercussions of the Brazilian embassy’s siege, and the future of democracy in Honduras will either set a terrible precedent in an age of hope, or serve as further proof that the ghosts of the past will no longer haunt Latin America, no matter how much the reviled generals toil.

- Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in many newspapers, journals and anthologies around the world. His latest book is, “The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People’s Struggle” (Pluto Press, London), and his forthcoming book is, “My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story” (Pluto Press, London), now available for pre-orders on Amazon.com.

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How Teens Can Survive the Backseat on a Family Road Trip

Tips to stay calm and cool, and the fight against FamilyMany Avoid With Your teenager is waiting impatiently for months for the freedom of school vacation brings. A break from school means time to hang out with friends, or simply watch TV and eat pizza. Unfortunately, when a break from school for young people in the house coincides with a break from work for mom and dad, the result is often a road trip for the family, which means that your expected week pizza on the couch can be transformed into a made-no thank you battle to survive the back seat. Fortunately, if you plan ahead, you can survive the backseat of your next family road trip with a minimum of suffering. In fact, with the right attitude and preparation easier, you can do more than survive the back seat: you might even enjoy it.Spending much time with people you love can be one of the greatest pleasures of life, but even the most peaceful family will start to chatter to each other if one has time or space for themselves online accounting courses.One of the most stressful aspects of a road trip the family is the lack of privacy. Even if you during a day on the road without any tension, once you're finally out of the car, you will probably end up sharing a hotel room with at least one brother or sister, or perhaps your whole clan, and that the hours passed without interruption from the other, things could start to get a little intense. If you go a few weeks of being together in a small space, find tactics to settle the occasion of your family so you can enjoy a little solitude is the best thing you can do. Fortunately, there are many ways you can create a mental oasis in the middle of your road trip for the family….

Read full article: How Teens Can Survive the Backseat on a Family Road Trip

President Obama’s Saturday Youtube Address 10/10/09

WhiteHouse.gov—In his weekly address, President Barack Obama praised past and current political leaders from across the spectrum who have come forward to support reform. Doctors, nurses, hospitals, and drug companies have already expressed their support. In the past several days Governor Schwarzenegger, Mayor Bloomberg, former Senate Major Leader Bob Dole, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, among others, have all come forward to say that the status quo is unsustainable and that now is the time to reform the system. They see that this is a not a Democratic or a Republican problem, but an American one in need of a solution.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
October 10, 2009

The historic movement to bring real, meaningful health insurance reform to the American people gathered momentum this week as we approach the final days of this debate. Having worked on this issue for the better part of a year, the Senate Finance Committee is finishing deliberations on their version of a health insurance reform bill that will soon be merged with other reform bills produced by other Congressional committees.

After evaluating the Finance Committee’s bill, the Congressional Budget Office – an office that provides independent, nonpartisan analysis – concluded that the legislation would make coverage affordable for millions of Americans who don’t have it today. It will bring greater security to Americans who have coverage, with new insurance protections. And, by attacking waste and fraud within the system, it will slow the growth in health care costs, without adding a dime to our deficits.

This is another milestone on what has been a long, hard road toward health insurance reform. In recent months, we’ve heard every side of every argument from both sides of the aisle. And rightly so – health insurance reform is a complex and critical issue that deserves a vigorous national debate, and we’ve had one. The approach that is emerging includes the best ideas from Republicans and Democrats, and people across the political spectrum.

In fact, what’s remarkable is not that we’ve had a spirited debate about health insurance reform, but the unprecedented consensus that has come together behind it. This consensus encompasses everyone from doctors and nurses to hospitals and drug manufacturers.

And earlier this week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg came out in support of reform, joining two former Republican Senate Majority Leaders: Bob Dole and Dr. Bill Frist, himself a cardiac surgeon. Dr. Louis Sullivan, Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George H.W. Bush, supports reform. As does Republican Tommy Thompson, a former Wisconsin governor and Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush. These distinguished leaders understand that health insurance reform isn’t a Democratic issue or a Republican issue, but an American issue that demands a solution.

Still, there are some in Washington today who seem determined to play the same old partisan politics, working to score political points, even if it means burdening this country with an unsustainable status quo. A status quo of rising health care costs that are crushing our families, our businesses, and our government. A status quo of diminishing coverage that is denying millions of hardworking Americans the insurance they need. A status quo that gives big insurance companies the power to make arbitrary decisions about your health care. That is a status quo I reject. And that is a status quo the American people reject.

The distinguished former Congressional leaders who urged us to act on health insurance reform spoke of the historic moment at hand and reminded us that this moment will not soon come again. They called on members of both parties seize this opportunity to finally confront a problem that has plagued us for far too long.

That is what we are called to do at this moment. That is the spirit of national purpose that we must summon right now. Now is the time to rise above the politics of the moment. Now is the time to come together as Americans. Now is the time to meet our responsibilities to ourselves and to our children, and secure a better, healthier future for generations to come. That future is within our grasp. So, let’s go finish the job.

Consumer confidence levels rise in UK

Consumer confidence levels rise in UK – Warc News – Warc.

Whilst we (in the UK) remain at historically low levels in terms of consumer confidence, an Aug/Sept consumer survey by TNS (on behalf of Nationwide) has seen the confidence index rise six points in the last month.

The proportion of the sample who believed the current economic situation was “bad” also fell by 3%, to 69%, compared with the high of 86% recorded in February this year.

Some 39% of the panel argued the financial climate would improve in the next six months, up by 22% on the total who agreed with this statement at the start of this year.
Mark Saddleton, head of economic and market analysis at Nationwide, said “the substantial rise in positive sentiment seen … reflects widespread reports from various industry commentators recently suggesting that the worst of the recession is over.

Credits to Entice Companies to Hire

President Obama recently met with democratic leaders in Congress to discuss the lagging economy and increasing unemployment.  They’re considering many options to help the nearly 10% of Americans out of work and entice companies to hire.  One idea that I fully support are tax credits for companies adding staff.  If you’re unemployed weigh in, tell your congressman you need help and need action now.  Find your congressman at https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml and tell them to act now to get people back to work!

Holiday Retail Sales To Be Battered

Retail sales dropped 3% or more during the 2008 holiday period. Same-store sales at a number of large chains were down much more than that. The trend was so bad that thousand of store locations where closed early in 2009 and tens of thousand of people in the industry lost their jobs.

The 2010 holiday sales season may be nearly as bad as last year’s. The National Retail Federation expects a hard winter.

The NRF reports thatit expects “holiday retail industry sales to decline one percent this year to $437.6 billion.”  The number falls significantly below the ten-year average of 3.39 percent holiday season growth.

The news may be bad for the entire industry but is will be particularly troubling for retailer chains that have already had difficult years. Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF), American Apparel (NYSE:AAP),  Saks (NYSE:SKS) and Zumiez (NASDAQ:ZMUZ) are among the companies that need strong holidays to make up for extremely poor sales in the first three quarters of 2009.

The holiday season may be important to a number of retailers, but it is more important to the economy in general. Consumer spending still represents 70% of GDP by most estimates. The rise in unemployment and tight credit will likely keep retail activity down beyond the end of this year. That will cause more lay-offs in the industry and in turn push increased national joblessness.

Economists have to recalibrate their growth projections for the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2010. A jobless recovery is one thing. A “salesless” recovery is another.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Michigan: Give Me My Damn Money

I am really pissed off right now.

Back in Junior year of high school I took a test called the Michigan Merit Exam along with every other Junior in a public high school in Michigan.  And I did very well.  My scores qualified me for what is known as the Michigan Merit Scholarship, or the Michigan Promise Scholarship.  What this means is the state of Michigan gives me $1000 a year for the first two years of college and then, at the end of sophomore year, they give me another $2000 to put toward the rest of my education.

Well, this is the beginning of my first semester of Sophomore year.  They’ve given me $500 toward this semester’s tuition.  But something terrible has happened.

Michigan is breaking their promise.

Yes, the state of Michigan has the worst economy in the United States and in order to keep the state from going bankrupt, they’re doing away with the Michigan Promise Scholarship.  And not only am I not going to get the $500 for next semester, or the $2000 at the end of this year…

But I have to give BACK the money they already gave me this semester.

Yep.  I owe the state of Michigan $500.  And not only the $500 from the Michigan “Promise” Scholarship (isn’t that the most ironic name EVER?) but also the FAFSA money they gave me.  My financial aid money.

I can’t do this.  My parents paid my tuition and I pay them back in installments.  This weekend I plan to give them the final payment of this semester’s original tuition and then start saving up for next semester’s.  Well, now I owe them another $500.  I don’t have that kind of money.  I only work 11 hours a week.  I can barely pay the bills.  I’m seriously screwed over.

I don’t understand why Michigan thinks it’s a good idea to cut costs on education.  They obviously don’t want an educated workforce.  It’s not like we can quit school and go work in the factories because the damn state government gave companies subsidies to ship the factories overseas eliminating thousands of jobs.  We’re in a state of economic collapse and I really wish that someone would bail us out of it.

Bailout, you say?  Didn’t the government already spend 700 BILLION DOLLARS on a bailout last year?

Why, yes they did.  And who did they give it to?  The BIG CORPORATIONS.  That’s right.  Big corporations who use the money to save their asses so they can keep making shit that we all can’t afford because we DON’T HAVE MONEY.  Maybe if the government had given US the money instead of the big corporations then we could use that money to buy their products and restart the whole production/consumption cycle.  But no, that would be SOCIALISM.

Ugh.  I swear to God I am leaving this state as soon as I graduate.  I have to go find a place where I can live and get a steady job.  I don’t want to leave Michigan – my family is here – but really, when you look at it, what other options do I have?  I’ve got another two and a half years of school left.  I just hope I can afford it.

Here’s to you, Michigan.  Because of you, hundreds of college students in Michigan will likely drop out of school.  You’re really doing yourself a big favor.

Cameron on Marr

It would be silly to expect fireworks from DC on the eve of the Conservative Conference, so it’s hardly surprising that Marr’s interview felt a bit flat.

On Europe, Cameron stuck resolutely to the line that the Conservatives have been taking for months – that if Lisbon is ratified, different circumstances will necessarily mean that policies on the EU will have to be reconsidered.  For me, though, I fear Cameron didn’t do quite enough to pacify the hardline Eurosceptics who are almost guaranteed to throw numerous spanners in the works this week.  A little clarity – if only a hint – about what Britain’s relationship with the EU would be like under the Conservatives would have been welcome.

Marr’s interview with Gordon Brown attracted controversy thanks to its prying into the PM’s personal health.  Substitute health for wealth this week.  What bearing does David Cameron’s wealth have on his suitability for high office?  Nothing whatever.  The ‘Tory Toffs’ line was given a resounding defeat in the streets of Crewe & Nantwitch last year, so I really don’t know what Marr thought he’d gain by resurrecting it.

I think Cameron was at his strongest on welfare.  This is an issue that really, really does annoy people – and rightly so.  I don’t think anyone has any quarrel with people in genuine need claiming welfare, but not enough is done at the moment to help them back into work.  Less still is being done to deal with the considerable number of people who are content to remain on welfare thanks to the Government’s ridiculous policies that make welfare pay more than work at the lower end of the earning scale – a problem that Fraser Nelson pointed out in an excellent Spectator article some weeks ago.  Labour has built a social underclass of welfare-dependent people; that’s not fair on those caught in the welfare trap, nor is it fair on those of us who have to pay the bill.  I think we can look forward to a week of clear-thinking on this issue – compassion and conservatism linked by a desire to reduce the size of Labour’s welfare army.

All in all, an okay-ish interview, albeit a bit dull compared with last week.  Marr came across as shrill and rude, and for the most part Cameron dealt with that rather well.  Europe, however, is not going to go away just yet.

Jews and Arabs in a Negev rally: "Stop the land robbery, stop the denial of flowing water, stop the discrimination!"

Via: Gush Shalom.

Hundreds of Negev residents, Jews and Arabs, as well as friends and supporters from all over the country, gathered Saturday afternoon in the lands of el-Malichi el-Arakib, near the Lehavim-Rahat junction in the Negev.

They have gathered to support the struggle of el-Turi, el-Ukbi, el-Talalka and other Bedouin tribes – with the support of the el-Arakib Land Defence Committee and the Recognition Forum – against the government of Israel and the Jewish National Fund, which seek by force and deceit to take over the Bedouin land in the Negev.

In the past year, the Jewish National Fund has started to cultivate the el-Arakib area lands, despite the fact that Bedouin residents are in the midst of a judicial process, aimed at proving their ownership of the land.

The JNF is creating a fait accompli, aiming to turn the judicial process meaningless by taking over the land and planting trees.

The big demonstration started with a water convoy, comprising water tankers, cars, tractors, and horsemen, moving in parallel with the Tel-Aviv–Be’er-Sheva highway, between the Lehavim junction and the Goral junction. The water convoy was aimed at protesting the deprival of many citizens in the Negev from the right to have flowing water in their homes. Afterwards a mass protest rally was held, attended also by Knesset Members Dov Khanin, Hannah Sweid and Taleh Bassana. Khanin said: “The struggle of the Bedouins in the Negev is a struggle for the most basic things: the right to a home, the right to water, the right to land, and the right to justice. This is the a struggle for the character of the Israeli society which must be supported by all people of conscience. Only a just and egalitarian society can have a real future.”

Yusuf Abu-Zeid, of the Al-Arakib Committee, said: “What happened two weeks ago on this land is totally unacceptable. They bring in an enormous number of police, together with the JNF people, and taking over the land. We had people wounded, we had people detained, we have to pay enormous fines and it is all because people want to protect their land. We call upon the Jewish public to join us in the just struggle for the future of all of us. They want to close us in a narrow cage where you can’t live. Stop the detentions, stop stealing the land from its owners!”

Chaia Noach, of the Negev Coexistence Forum, said: “We are here to call upon the JNF to stop immediately all their activity in Al-Arakib, until a definite ruling has been made about the ownership claim of the Bedouins here and in the Negev in general. The whole attempt of the JNF that they are just a sub-contractor doing work on behalf of others is an unconvincing fig-leaf over the nakedness of ethnocracy. People who donate to the JNF should be aware of what is being done with their money, and decide whether they want to have part in it. They need to know that this forest which is planted by the JNF in the middle of the desert is not an innocent forest but a means of stealing the little bit of land which the Bedouins have left. It is a forest aimed at stealing life, stealing away of life, stealing a tradition, stealing dignity and livelihood, stealing the land of the Bedouins of the Negev!”

Dr Awad Abu-Freih, of the Al-Arakib Land Defence Committee: “We have waited 61 years for justice and we saw that justice does not arrive. Instead of justice we see a facts created on the ground by the JNF land robbery and therefore the time has come to move on to new levels of struggle. We will absolutely not accept the present situation and we will do everything needed to prevent the JNF from taking over our land.” All speakers emphasized that it is vital to have close cooperation between Jews and Arabs in the struggle which touches upon the future of everybody.

After the demonstration, the members of the Recognition Forum went on for a solidarity visit to the protest tent of the al-Karnawi tribe near Kibbutz Mishmar HaNegev. Land which has been taken from the el-Karnawi tribe was cultivated by the Mishmar Hanegev kibbutzniks, with the consent of the el-Karnawi Bedouins. However, now this agricultural land is earmarked to become an exclusive neighborhood of villas. The land for the villa of half a dunam will be marketed at the price of 300,000 Shekels, while the Bedouins were offered a “compensation” of 2,800 Shekels for a whole dunam. This “compromise” is totally unacceptable to the Bedouins. Talal el-Karnawi, former mayor of Rahat, said: “Rahat and Mishmar Hanegev had until now excellent neighborly relations. Now, because of their real estate deals, they are willing to put these relations in jeopardy.

Recognition Forum, P.O. Box 130, Omer 84965, Israel Phone: 050-7701118/9 E-mail: info@dukium.org Web: www.dukium.org Association of the Forty, ph: 04-8362381, fax 04-362361, assoc40@assoc40.org, www.assoc40.org

Participating organizations: Association of the Forty, Bustan, Gush Shalom, Association for the Defence of Bedouins Rights in Israel, Alternative Information Center, Yesh Gvul, Committee Against House Demolitions, Negev Coexistence Forum, New Profile, Women’s Coalition for Peace, Rabbis for Human Rights, Ta’ayush.

Obama Strikes-Out In Game He Shouldn't Play

President Barack Obama must be quite grateful to David Letterman for taking the spotlight in this week-end’s news round-up. The President went to Copenhagen to lobby the International Olympic Committee for a Chicago Olympics in 2012. The IOC turned him down, flat, and somewhat rudely. You can’t blame them. I’m sure they have enough imagination to foresee the huge Tea Party that will congregate at any event Obama brokers, and they already have enough headaches with drug-fueled athletes and corrupt judges.

The real issue is, what the hell was Obama thinking? Since when is the President of the United States a sports promoter? Well, probably since unemployment hit almost ten percent, the economic recovery stalled, he got his brains beat out over health care reform, and he caught sight of that alluring yellow sack the Mrs. wore to Copenhagen. The White House staff must have smelled a week worth of bad news around Monday – two weeks ago. Looking for an easy win, the President took his Chicago Olympics show on the road. And it was a huge mistake. It’s always a huge mistake when a President pulls this kind of grandstand play: remember Bush on the deck of that aircraft carrier?

The Obamas in Copenhagen

Obviously Obama inherited a mess, and there’s no way to clean that mess up in a few short months. But is he even trying? So far the administration’s answer to the recalcitrant recovery is “throw more money at it”. And that’s just not going to work. There’s more to it that just the money. This country is in a slump because the disheartened citizenry is looking into a bleak future, and everyone is either tired of the constant urination contest in Washington, or actively participating in it. It takes more than the government’s deep pockets to fight societal ennui- it takes leadership. One good speech by Franklin Roosevelt was probably worth a billion bucks in “stimulus”. Obama is a great speaker, but he isn’t coming-off as a sincere speaker, as a leader who has the reins firmly in hand and has a real plan and is sticking to it. He looks like a a deer trapped in some awful big headlights.

There is a decided lack of authority emanating from the most powerful person on Earth. That’s bad – for everyone. And playing these silly attention-getting games like lobbying the IOC for your home town aren’t helping. Especially when it pulls the Olympics off the sports page and puts it on the politics page. The man has to stand up and start yelling, and get people in line behind him.

2 October 09 (pm)

Workout notes 2000 yard swim; slow 500 free, 10 x (25 side, 25 free), 5 x 100 fly on the 2:15 (zoomers), 5 x (50 free, 50 paddle)

Last night: my behind the knee area killed me. I expected to see this after the marathon; it was evidently a delayed reaction.

more about "", posted with vodpod

A cool rant by, who else, Pat Condell

Evolution Here is Jerry Coyne’s take on the newly announced results on a homonoid fossil:

It’s a big day for the evolution of our species! Tomorrow’s issue of Science contains 11 – yes eleven – papers describing the fossil skeleton of Ardipithecus ramidus, a hominid from 4.4 million years ago – the oldest such fossil ever found. As I write, the articles aren’t on line yet (and will probably require a subscription to read them completely), but the BBC and The Guardian both have substantial pieces on the discovery.

Briefly, a partial skeleton has been found of one female, together with bits and bobs of another 30 or so individuals,in Ethiopia. “Ardi”, as the female has been called, was about the same size and weight as a modern chimpanzee, but looked very different – many components (such as its hand) are more primitive than that of a chimpanzee,. This shows that the modern chimp hand is not the ancestral condition, but rather a highly evolved form.

Politics

Rep. Grayson on the Ed Show:

Of course minority leader Rep. Boehner says that he hasn’t met anyone who isn’t a member of Congress who favors the public option.

That made me think of this picture:

Sarah Palin: former McCain manager says that her nomination in 2012 would result in a disaster. I disagree! Please nominate her!

Economy: Robert Reich points out that the government should be spending now:

So why is unemployment and underemployment so high, and why is it likely to remain high for some time? Because, as noted, people who are worried about their jobs or have no jobs, and who are also trying to get out from under a pile of debt, are not going do a lot of shopping. And businesses that don’t have customers aren’t going do a lot of new investing. And foreign nations also suffering high unemployment aren’t going to buy a lot of our goods and services.

And without customers, companies won’t hire. They’ll cut payrolls instead.

Which brings us to the obvious question: Who’s going to buy the stuff we make or the services we provide, and therefore bring jobs back? There’s only one buyer left: The government.

Let me say this as clearly and forcefully as I can: The federal government should be spending even more than it already is on roads and bridges and schools and parks and everything else we need. It should make up for cutbacks at the state level, and then some. This is the only way to put Americans back to work. We did it during the Depression. It was called the WPA.

Yes, I know. Our government is already deep in debt. But let me tell you something: When one out of six Americans is unemployed or underemployed, this is no time to worry about the debt.

WEEKLY MARKET OUTLOOK & NEWS CAPSULES :)

WEEKLY MARKET OUTLOOK

Market Outlook & News Round Up for the Week Gone By !

The trend of most world markets remains up.

However in coming days, domestic markets are likely to remain sideways with mostly a positive bias and its trajectory will hinge on FII inflows, external environment and also on the announcement made by G20 ministers that stimulus measures would continue until recovery is secured.

Moreover Q2 results are just round the corner and there is optimism for results as advance tax collections registered a positive growth in the second quarter after witnessing a negative growth in the first quarter.

The US Dollar index movement last week kept all asset classes very volatile.

Nifty has support between 4750-4640 and Sensex between 16000-15500 levels.

As the markets are going higher, expect the volatility to increase.

News Round Up

Economy

·Inflation further rose to 0.37 per cent for the week ended September 12, from 0.12 per cent in the previous week due to increasing prices of essential food items.

The wholesale price-based inflation stood at 12.42 per cent during the corresponding week a year ago.

Capital Goods

·BHEL has bagged a Rs 365 crore order from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited for supply of four steam generators for India’s second 700 MWe nuclear power station, being set up at Rajasthan Atomic Power Project, Kota.

Automobile

·Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), India’s largest tractor maker, is planning to consolidate its stake in Swaraj Engines, as part of a plan to expand the diesel engine business.

·Bajaj Auto Ltd is all set to launch the Kawasaki Ninja 250R motorcycle in India on October 5.

The Ninja 250R is considered to be an entry-level sports bike manufactured by Japanese two-wheeler maker Kawasaki.

The bike would be priced between Rs 1.50 lakh and Rs 2 lakh.

Oil & Gas

·ONGC plans to invest nearly Rs 5,000 crore in appraisal of its oil and gas fields off the country’s east coast, where production is likely to start from mid-2010.

-Tata Power, which is implementing the 4000 MW Mundra ultra mega power project, has said it will exceed the 2012 target by 800 MW.

Retail

Future Group chief Kishore Biyani is looking to hive off hypermarket chain Big Bazaar and list it to unlock value as part of ambitious restructuring and growth plans to become a Rs 25,000-crore group in four years.

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