The rescue all plan : Print more dollars or what ?

Have been following the US or rather now the global financial crisis closely. To lubricate the financial machinery US central bank and later others seem to have decided to provided the much needed oil, money. Am just wondering how much they think they can pump in and the medium long time effects. USA has the GDP of about a $14 trillion.

A US government decided to put its 'billions of dollars' as per the estimate of its Treasury Secretary on stake to take the risky illiquid assets off the balance sheets of Financial institutions.
The total cost of all the measures in last few weeks is expected to be dollar one trillion.

With a GDP of about $ 14 trillion with deficit of $500 bn which because of these and other measures would increase $650 billion in 2009. The bloomberg article with all the numbers.

I just hope they have a better plan to manage this than buying better and faster printing machines to print more dollars.

Here is funny stuff from the web

Businessweek article on how things would look on the first anniversary of the event with a real innovative idea on what to do about the unsold home inventory, pay people to destroy it for the next shooting Armageddon sequel :)

This shoe site for example has a page on US economy because 'someone has to educate the people in this corporate takeover of media' :)

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PS : Over with the book. Hannibal Lector is a real gentleman

My adventure with the Mumbai Cops

Written sometime in June 2007

Declaration :This comes an educated professional running in her usual in the rat race with no links to crime scene/underworld etc.

Information : This comes six month late, but have moved to Mumbai. Have a car with a Punjab registration which after being damaged in an accident was parked outside my building with me waiting for a weekend to get it repaired, till one morning.

Just one morning while I was running behined schedule a little bit as usual, I saw two cops standing in the street where my car was parked for the last few days. I looked carefully there were cops, but no car. Oh my God! Did someone stole my car or what ? More than anything else I was shocked. Who would steal my car. To be fair it still runs, but nevertheless it is  almost a decade old, badly maintained, not cleaned for two months and at the end of it all, a B segment car in the middle of those newer Sedans.

Shocked at the thief whose standards were so low, I approached the cops . To my surprise the policemen jumped at discovering who the owner was. I was very pleased to hear that they had been looking almost the whole night. How concerned & dutibound, I thought.

I began talking and their questions went something like this

Who owned that car ?
For how many days was it here ?
Why was it there ?
When did it come ?
What was the purpose?
When did I last use it / Did some one else use it / The apparent accident that had happened / When/ Where etc etc?

I was shocked. What was going on ? Why was this policeman acting so weirdly ? The fact that the registration of the car is not in my name (The vehicle belongs to my dad and my parents are based out of Delhi) did not help the case at all.

And then the contours of the dramatic story unfolded.

It seems someone in the neighbouring building had intimated the cops last night of the suscipicious vehicle parked opposite his gate. According to him the vehicle was old, uncleaned, had an accident and, had a Punjab number. Clearly, this had to be bomb. These guys had been there since early morning trying to find the elusive owner & the scary bomb.

What happened thereon is history. I signed some papers (statement) went to the police station explained the case, and promptly gave my car to the nearest workshop for cleaning then & there. Inspite of everything that transpired, my interaction with cops was polite & cordial. I liked the professional treatment.

PS: That was the first time I ever went to the police station. Just recording another step in my growth as a person
Moral of the story : Keep your cars clean & get them repaired as soon as you have an accident.

Cherished Memories - I really miss you

I really do. I miss those long days and sometimes whole nights spend with you. You were always there for you when I needed and you never complained when I didn't give you enough time (which of course you will agree was very rare).

You always seemed to have an answer when I had a question and often mesmerized me the results and wealth of information and the variety of perspective you could provide.

It didn't matter what purpose it was - academic or extra-curricular, business or fun, to have fun in a group of friends with a thriller or comedy or to curl up with a romantic movie - you never complained or resisted, you just went along.

Sometimes when I was really sad and wanted to run away from the world, you were the one to turn to. After all you were never judged me. Whether I wanted to express it with sad songs or pen it in down (for myself or for others), you always had a way, an option, an alternative; a possibility how it could be done.

And when I wanted a gala celebration a grand party with people, food and loud music, you were the one that made it possible. We all had fun because you were there.

I often complained. Insisted on redoing and rearranging stuff, and often left you working through nights and sometimes for days so that I could save my time, finish my work faster

I am human, so left you behind when I thought that was more appropriate. My dear, trust me the memories are still cherished. You have a place in my place in my life which is indisputably yours. You might not be with me but you are still mine.

My dearest Personal Computer with 24 hours broadband connection, you indeed were the one for me. I miss you. I come and try to replicate being with you but this plasma screen monitor and these plush surroundings are hardly a match for the bond we shared.
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What I have been reading lately - Shantaram by Gregory Roberts (Amazing stuff, kind of enlightened me to Mumbai, highly recommended. Warning - Is a huge book)

Kaavya Viswnathan's - HOMGKGWGAL ( Controversy made me buy this. Might be an entertainer for a college kid but no great shakes otherwise)

Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen - have just started.

Life After B-School

The difference in life in a b-school and life after that
a) In a bschool you pay to get educated, after b-school you are paid real world experience.

b) In a bschool you stay up late in the midlle of night to watch movies. After b-school people go out and watch movies in office time or better still spend those normal hours the office cafeteria; and spend late nights working on that presentation because that is the only way your boss will believe you work hard.

c) In a b-school you pay to take a flight and travel. After b-school the company pays for your flight and sometimes even boarding & loading. This happens as long as you get up at groggy ungodly hours of the morning to catch that the flight for some good-for-nothing-meeting & then catch a flight back at the time when should actually be hitting the club to finally reach back home in wee hours of the morning.

This is series one. Will post some more as reflections on my years of work experience.