FIRST OF ALL MY RESPECTS TO ALL BRAVE, SERVING, AND MARTYRED AMERICANS!
On the anniversary of 9/11, to gauge world opinion I have been reading articles and essays by purported experts on America & Americans in foreign publications trying to describe the psyche of Americans and their government. It has been painful reading them give advice to us, which I consider nothing but stupid or short of senseless drivel. Their articles and essays may appeal to the less aware people who get swayed by even a light populist breeze, however I have to inform them their analysis is dead wrong! You cannot spend 4 years in an isolated environment of an academic institution in America and let that make you and expert on American psyche! That's doing no better than the terrorists hijackers of 9/11.
I can tell you as a person who grew up here and has now spent half my adult life in this country their "analysis" is way off the mark. One doesn't become an expert on America living in a closed environment like they did.
As much as I am saddened and humbled by the events of 9/11, and bow my head to the Heroes. I dearly wish from the bottom of my heart for the sake of the ones who lost their lives, their near and dear ones, my own children, family, friends and myself the events of the day would have never happened!
Without being an apologist for anyone, have some people in American government and corporate houses made mistakes along the way I'm sure they have. Tell me a nation or corporation that has not bungled along the way? Do you then go out and try to destroy them completely unless there intentions were clearly maleficent? Being a follower of history I can find less than a handful of such instances. America the government and America the corporate has never done anything close to that. Jokes aside, there is no arrogant and loudmouth America. This notion that America the big brother is trying to control the world as the single evil entity is nothing short of poppy seed ingested hallucinations that I can attribute to!
There is only ONE AMERICA, the warm loving, caring, & sharing ONE! The America these people will never know because of their inbuilt and deeply ingrained subconscious prejudices. If America and Americans are so bad why come here? Why not stay in the comfort of your cold dusty cave, or pest filled tropical jungle, or hot, dry arid desert, or wherever else you are coming from? I have yet to see people immigrating to Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, China, Mexico, or even Japan and Europe, in droves like they make a bee-line for America even now!
For the last 3 years the country has been in a recession, bottoming housing market, high unemployment, and various other issues, yet the American people or the American government and business has not turned their on backs on anyone anywhere whether it be helping the earthquake victims in Haiti or Japan, rescue trapped miners in Chile (YES, American Technology at it's BEST!), trying to contain the financial meltdown in Europe (would have never guessed it, right?).
Does the world standby Americans when a natural calamity befalls us? Thank goodness we don't have half the problems they rest of the world has or we would be left up the creek to dry...
It confuses me that the rest of the world thinks that Americans have unlimited patience to keep on accepting the hurls and abuse it constantly throw at us yet we keep turning the other cheek! Has 9/11 changed Americans? It didn't immediately, but the procession of subsequent events is surely bringing about a slow and marked change in the thinking of "American" people.
Let me tell you what the event of 9/11/2001 has done, it has made the majority of simple minded, loving, and trusting Americans realize the world is a much deadlier and vengeful place than they can even imagine. That it is not all about "do unto others as you would have others do unto you"! There are people, countries, and ideologies that want to hold you(Americans) responsible & destroy you for the real and imaginary grievances which are inflicted on them by their own people!
Here's a thought if the Saudi hijackers were so upset at their monarchy why didn't they do something in their own country? Because they knew they would have faced a certain and mind you horrible death if their government had even got a whiff of their plans. So they come to America abuse our hospitality, take advantage of our law enforcement mechanism (innocent until proven guilty of an actual crime), prey on the tolerance of American society (had it been any other country they would have been marked men), to kill our people! If once was not enough we have another guy try to do the same almost a decade later by trying to use a SUV as an IED in New York - AGAIN! Yet it was not the first or second time that New York was made a target. In 1993 the WTC was the target of the first of many attempts to kill thousands of Americans by blowing up a truck filled with explosives in its' basement parking lot. So these were and are not isolated one off aberrations, but a series of well thought out deadly projects to inflict harm on the United States of America and it's citizens!
The American people are the ones that ALLOW their representatives to spend billions if not trillions of dollars on foreign aid helping other people. It is the American people who have ALLOWED their C-suite executives to export millions of jobs outside of the country to places like India & China. Yes, there is a business motive to it, but don't forget we could have done sent those jobs anywhere else had we wanted. Don't forget companies like Dell, HP, and others have shut down operations in India and elsewhere before and moved them elsewhere. America, could become a closed and protected economy like China, India, and dozens of other countries. America could also start imposing high tariffs on foreign imports like Europe, Japan, and others. Yet, we don't do it, at-least not yet; and don't tempt us into doing it! The tide is turning as 9/11 has started to make common Americans more aware of what has been and is going on in the rest of the world. Instead of trying to become equals the rest of the world does not think of rising up to the level of America, so what does it do try to do drag it down to their level!
Americans and myself included, because I am an AMERICAN and a PROUD one, are coming to the realization we need to take of our country and people first! We are getting sick of hearing there was a tsunami, earthquake, genocide in a certain part of the globe so we need to send billions of dollars of aid there and put our peoples' lives at risk! We don't care if people are starving in certain countries so we need to send jobs there to help them out. Why? Because look what 50 years of do gooding did to America, more than 3,000 killed in New York City!
For the last 200 years America took care of itself and the world when no-one was there to be a role model, now I think the time has come for America and Americans to once again take care of themselves, but let the rest of the world step-up it's own game!
Am I upset? YES, I am UPSET! Upset as an AMERICAN! Upset as a parent of couple of great ALL AMERICAN kids! UPSET AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN WHO HAS HAD ENOUGH!
On behalf of most(see we still have freedom of choice!) AMERICANS I'm giving the rest of the world notice don't take us for granted, at-least not anymore!
WE WILL NEVER FORGET!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
9/11 Anniversary - My reactions
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Follow-up: More Facts About $35.00 Indian Tablet
A NDTV report with Indian Union Minister of HRD Mr.Kapil Sibal with a working prototype of the $35.00 Tablet computer.
Gadget Guru - NDTV LINK
See a video from a few other Indian Tech wizards from a company called AllGo Systems at Trade show in Florida, USA.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Evaluating the $35 Indian Computer
After reading a comment by Ajay Vaishnav, from the Times of India about the low cost tablet computer developed in India and just announced this week, I could not help myself in responding to it. For his take on it, please click on his name.
Sometimes we become victims in the desire to create a perfect world, where we fail to realize that while things may not always be perfect there is usually an opportunity to make an incremental or even marginal difference which over a period of time will gather enough momentum to create a self sustaining cycle.
How else due you think India has become the back office of the world without having the necessary infrastructure to support it, in terms of human and other resources? If it was only about a quality vs. cost the mega-corporations would have found another place by now...wouldn't they?
Yes, there are large tracts of poverty and under developed infrastructure in the country, but there are also extremely large tracts of developed and affluent areas in India that would shame any progressive western economy. That development did not happen overnight by being transplanted from somewhere else, it gradually evolved due to small efforts over time that coalesced to create the current vibrant economy. You can see the opposite of that happening in the US with the minor, but steady erosion of the education system, the numbing down of the work-force, and decay of built up infrastructure with no investments being made to maintain or create anything of new or lasting value. Just as every business has a life-cycle, every nation has its glory days till things start to wane and then the cycle of re-building and creating new systems and values begins anew!
I’d like to mention that companies like Infosys, Wipro, TCS, etc. did not suddenly make a big splash on the world stage in the latter part of the '90s when personal computers and the internet started becoming ubiquitous first in the US then the world over. Yes, the general awareness of these organizations was greatly amplified, along-with the newly discovered capabilities of the Indian workforce. Those visionaries kept toiling away quietly without any hope of impending fame and fortune. Just imagine a group of engineers from India trying to convince C-level executives of large corporations in Europe and US to let them do their back office work and handle phone calls for them in India in the mid-'80's, when there was hardly a reliable telephone network or any other similar infrastructural network in the in the country to handle local calls let alone international calls and a regular uninterrupted supply of electricity, even in the so called developed metros. There was no way they could have met the agreed upon SLAs based on the available facts!
If they had looked at the reality of the situation they should have come to the conclusion that the situation was bleak and the hurdles insurmountable, so they should have given up on it...? Tenacity and the will to forge ahead in spite of formidable odds are what create larger than life inspirations and role models; while naysayers keep repeating the same old tales of doom and gloom, without thinking even once that they have the opportunity to do so because of the efforts of those that they are belittling! Had someone not have planted the tiny seeds of the technological revolution in India years ago I wonder how Ajay Vaishnav would have found a way to voice his reservations that can be heard the world over? I doubt he would have taken a megaphone in hand and marched the world over holding a placard in the other to let everyone know his thoughts... or maybe he would have.... When you're talking about the human spirit anything is possible!
The pilgrims that arrived on the shores of America over 300 years ago not only survived and prospered, they reinforced to individuals across the world the concept of what we now term the "American Dream". Like Alexander, the Vikings, or even the Britisher's before them (let's not get into the politics of it) they were pioneers. That same indomitable will and passion for innovation and continuous urge to better oneself and move on ahead is present in each and every one of us the world over.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Business and Politics
Did you ever stop to consider that Business and Politics are almost identical! Except, that businesses have no multi-party system, which kind of makes business similar to the communist party where anyone can reach the top, but everyone has to toe the party line!- RaviD
The above has to the above ultimate irony for a capitalist business from an ideology point of view.
Some more nuggets -
Monopoly - Monarchy
Big Business - Oligarchy
Board of Directors - Senators / Congressmen / Member of Parliament
Chairman Emeritus - Queen of England / King of Spain / etc.
Institutional Shareholders - Power brokers
Individual Shareholders - Voters
Venture Capitalists - Lobbyists
Transnational Corporations - World Domination
Mergers and Acquisitions - European Union
Corporate De-merger - Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
Corporate Cartels - NATO
By the way did you notice there is no mention of democracy here. Democracy is about promoting equality which is a supposed need (disguised wants), business thrives when there is inequality, which promotes wants. So essentially in a thriving economy or business environment there is not need for a democracy...???!??!? Comments...?
Some more analogies -
Walmart - China
Conglomerates - Ex-Soviet Union
Google - India
GE - USA
Goldman Sachs - Switzerland
Microsoft - Japan
Exxon-Mobile - Saudi Arabia
SAP - Germany
Yahoo - England
Ask.com - France
Apple - Canada
Patent Trolls - Al Qaeda
Bear Stearns - Greece
Lehman Bros. - Iceland
Cisco - South Korea
NAFTA - United Nations
Friday, May 21, 2010
PIGS in the Euro-Zone
On Feb.25th of this year I had blogged about the coming global financial meltdown that would be precipitated due to turmoil caused by the financial profligacy of the European Union member states in the last decade. The Euro-Zone has even joined a visually enticing acronym for the countries most likely to default now - PIGS = Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain. Friends if you have any doubts please go back an look up the stats on my blog that I refer to, Greece was the country with the least amount of issues. Just imagine what will happen if Portugal, Ireland, Spain implode or explode depending on what word you would like to describe the event as. All I can say is Europe will be knee deep in - PIS!!!
A fact that had been staring us in the face for anyone who cared to look, but not one major economist or financial guru was willing to admit to. So folks how does it feel to be lighter in the pocket? Invest in currency & commodities - Euro, metals, and energy? Gee whiz crude is down 15%, the Euro is down 15%, Gold is down from it's high, so friends what is going on.... ? Stay tuned...
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Politics... taking the plunge!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Are the economic experts reallly that stupid...?!?!?!
In the last quarter of 2009 there was great deal of optimism that the global economy was on the verge of turning around, but the US economy was doomed to complete annihilation, which was the reason gold was having such a great run up.
Now I'm not an economist or an expert on the subject, but I have studied it a little and do read a bit, more than anything I like to look at facts before making any kind of predictions.
Anyone who claims to be an economist even as a passing dilettante on the subject usually has reams and gobs of paper pass under their nose that would show factually where the fault lines are in the global economy. Yet, there is either a global conspiracy to suppress the evidence or the academics who teach the subject have no idea what they are talking about these days, or even in the past when were proven dead wrong(!); and still fail to admit that the academic theories they have grown up studying and teaching are fundamentally flawed in this new age of instant global inter-connectedness!
Let's get to the real issue - a great global meltdown is staring at us in the face yet nobody sees - EUROPE!!! All everyone can report about is the failures of the American economy, which are miniscule compared to what has already happened in Europe, is now happening, and will unfold in the coming months!!!
Greece is just the very "tiny" tip of the financial meltdown volcano that will erupt if people these so called economic experts do not take their heads out of places where the sun don't shine, and start initiating more sound economic polices rather than blow air as they did at the WEF recently!
Anyway, to satisfy my own curiosity and see how and why my hypothesis may just be right I created the following tables to analyze and draw my own conclusions. The information is as of 2008, so still current.
| Rank | Country | GDP in Billions | % Debt. Of GDP | External Debt. in Billions | Per Capita Debt | Per Capita GDP |
| 20 | United States | $14,260.00 | 94.35% | $13,454.00 | $43,793.00 | $47,440.00 |
| 19 | Hungary | $196.60 | 105.76% | $207.92 | $20,936.64 | $19,553.00 |
| 18 | Australia | $800.20 | 111.38% | $891.26 | $42,426.18 | $36,918.00 |
| 17 | Italy | $1,823.00 | 126.71% | $2,310.00 | $39,741.00 | $30,631.00 |
| 16 | Greece | $343.00 | 161.17% | $552.80 | $51,483.00 | $30,681.00 |
| 15 | Spain | $1,403.00 | 171.70% | $2,409.00 | $59,457.00 | $30,589.00 |
| 14 | Germany | $2,918.00 | 178.48% | $5,208.00 | $63,263.00 | $36,320.00 |
| 13 | Finland | $193.50 | 188.55% | $364.85 | $69,491.00 | $36,320.00 |
| 12 | Sweden | $344.30 | 194.34% | $669.10 | $73,854.00 | $37,334.00 |
| 11 | Norway | $275.40 | 199.02% | $548.10 | $117,604.00 | $53,738.00 |
| 10 | Hong Kong | $306.60 | 205.85% | $631.13 | $89,457.00 | $43,847.00 |
| 9 | Portugal | $236.50 | 214.38% | $507.00 | $47,348.00 | $22,232.00 |
| 8 | France | $2,128.00 | 235.95% | $5,021.00 | $78,387.00 | $34,205.00 |
| 7 | Austria | $329.50 | 252.63% | $832.42 | $101,387.00 | $39,887.00 |
| 6 | Denmark | $203.60 | 298.32% | $607.38 | $110,422.00 | $37,304.00 |
| 5 | Belgium | $389.00 | 320.31% | $1,246.00 | $119,681.00 | $36,416.00 |
| 4 | Netherlands | $672.00 | 364.88% | $2,452.00 | $146,703.00 | $40,558.00 |
| 3 | United Kingdom | $2,226.00 | 408.22% | $9,087.00 | $148,702.00 | $36,358.00 |
| 2 | Switzerland | $316.70 | 422.48% | $1,338.00 | $176,045.00 | $43,196.00 |
| 1 | Ireland | $188.40 | 1266.45% | $2,386.00 | $576,805.00 | $42,110.00 |
I have highlighted the US and six largest economies in Europe.
Just look at the per capita debt per person vs the per capita GDP and draw your own conclusions from the comparisons. By the way the population of US is approx. 311 million, while the population of European Union for those wanting to do more analysis is approx. 500 million.
Besides the teetering economies that we are already aware of Iceland and Greece, there are greater underlying problems in Europe specially in the realm of politics and it's proximity to Russia and the turbulence that arises from the Middle-East. Let's not factor out geo-politics when it comes to the occurrence, division, and allocation of natural resources, and ethnic tensions in the region.
If anyone of the readers was a betting person and was aware of the geo-political-economic world order which country would you place your bets on... to successfully emerge intact with the least amount of collateral damage from the current economic crisis?
So in the end it's ... hard to like what you are afraid of, which is why I believe politics is despised so much.