Thought for the day
"Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government."
- Aristotle (Greek, 384-322BC)
Word for the day
Syzygy (n)
An alignment of three celestial objects, as the sun, the earth, and either the moon or a planet
This is the only word in English language with 3 y's in it.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Malice towards none
Why "suit-boot" is derogatory?
Should I celebrate!
India's wholesale prices fell at a faster-than-expected annual rate
of 2.65 percent in April, their sixth straight fall, mainly on the back of
plunging oil prices, government data showed on Thursday.
The data compared with a 2.30 percent year-on-year fall forecast
by economists in a Reuters poll and a provisional 2.33 percent annual decline
in March.
One of the most important piece of statistics, producer prices
index (WPI) lost its glory last year to Dr. Raghuram Rajan's preference for
consumer prices as primary policy consideration.
As a common man, I fail to understand how something that has
been a critical input in economic decision making for decades suddenly become
irrelevant.
The people who used to wait for the weekly (later monthly) WPI
data with abated breadth do not even register it. Business channels also do not
waste much time discussing this out of favor child any longer.
Nevertheless, I see some merit in discussing it.
From monetary policy standpoint, it might have become less
important, but from economic assessment viewpoint it remains a critical input.
A persistent negative reading, highlights to me one or more of
the following:
(a) Lack of pricing
power amongst producers;
(b) Poor demand
environment;
(c) Poor capacity
utilization; and/or
(d) Stronger currency
that makes imports cheaper.
I do not see any reason for celebration here.
Sadly, contrary to popular belief, I feel rate cut of 25-50bps
may not help the situation in any material portion.
Please help me if you could!
Alarmed at the poor linguistics skills of her eighth standard
students, my daughter's Hindi teacher advised the class to read a Hindi
newspaper daily.
Being a Hindi enthusiast myself, I was thrilled to hear the
idea. But within three days I am scared and afraid of confronting the girl who
has just stepped in her teens.
She wonders why we should be living at a place where crime is
the way of life. People are angry - with themselves, with their neighbors, and
with the system. Women, old and children do not feel safe even in their homes.
Heinous and unforgivable crimes like rape of children and murder of old parents
is considered mundane. An otherwise brave girl, she was feeling scared even in
going to school yesterday.
I do not know where the lies the fault line.
*
Whether the system has grossly mismanaged
society by raking up their aspirations far beyond the ability to service them?
and/or
*
Is the society as whole is getting increasingly
frustrated by the system and people have decided take the matter in their own
hand? and/or
*
Were we always like this and it is just that
these instances of crime are being highlighted now? and/or
*
Media is unduly focusing more on the negative
energy within the society, playing with the fear psychosis for short term
commercial gains? and/or
*
Is our economic system focusing too much on
quantitative aspects of growth, leaving behind the qualitative aspects for a
later day? and/or
To make my daughter little comfortable, I took her to a senior
police officer. From his counsel, I get a sense that in system's eyes perhaps
crime against women, children and old is not even a real problem. It is mostly
an illusion created by motivated groups like political parties, rival
communities or even religious sects to settle some old scores!
After listening the senior cop, my daughter's anxiety has been
somewhat relieved. But, I am struggling to incorporate the fear of my daughter
into my investment model.
I strongly believe that widespread social anguish and
frustration must reflect on the economy in some way or the other.
Low productivity, frequent disruptions, worker-management
mistrust, lower predictability are some obvious implications.
Stretching it little further may help conclusions like maverick
political experimentations by people (like AAP in Delhi).
But still, I am intrigued as to how to build all this into an
investment model and profit from that.
Please help me if you could!
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