Its indeed sad that …

Image Copyright - Ravi

2012 - What is this fuss all about ?

Several experts, both scientific and spiritual have predicted that the world will end in 2012. The reason could be a man made disaster or a natural one that could sweep the human life on the earth.
Here are some of the reasons why this was predicted with such great certainity, and a few reasons why that cannot happen.

Reason 1: Meyan Calendar
The first to predict the doomsday were the Meyans. They built highly accurate astronomical equipments out of stone. Their prediction is considered credible because they accurately predicted the length of the lunar year moon. By deductive reasoning, the other prediction will also be true.
Reason 2: Sunstorms
Studies suggest that the activity of sunstorms will be so violent that it will destroy all life on earth.
Reason 3: The bible
According to the bible, the date of Armeggedon is set in 2012
Reason 4: Super Volcano
Studies show that the dormant volcano at Yellostone National Park, which is the world’s most powerful volcano is most likely to erupt in 2012 which will emit enough dust to cover the entire world’s atmosphere.
Reason 5: Magnetic Pole Shift
Studies have shown that the magnetic pole shift is happening at a faster pace than ever before. The poles are shifting apart at the rate of 25-30 kms per year which is faster than ever, which shows that a pole shift is underway. This shift will cause a free entry of UV rays into earth which will destroy all forms of life.

Now, the myth busters:

Can we really trust the Mayens?

Moreover, have faith in our superhero …

Wish you a very Happy Diwali … Celebrate it your way

Celebrating

The return of Ram, Sita, and Lakshmana to Ayodhya,

                                                                        The killing of the evil demon Narakasura

Lord Mahavira’s attainment of Moksha,
                                                                        The end of the harvest season … …
And, the festival of Lights

Who moved my insects ?

A small phenomenon that I observed around in my hostel room reminds me of the famous message conveyed in the book “Who moved my cheese?

A couple of days ago, there seemed to have been a pest control drive in the ground floors of our college, due to which(or maybe due to some other reason) a storm of insects  flew into the rooms of the higher floors. The intensity of the “attack” was so much that after we shut our windows, we could hear the insects banging against the opposite side of the window, desperately trying to enter the room. This was the perfect setting of a good night’s dinner for all the lizards present there. They sprung into action immediately and kept relishing the meal all through the night.  By the next night, I could virtually see their bellys bulging out after having happily enjoyed the meal.

This story continued for a couple of days. The insects kept coming, the lizards kept becoming happier and fatter day after day. By the third day, the insects disappreared. We could now open the windows without having to worry much about the insect menace. However that day too, the lizards were all there on time. They kept waiting all night for their dinner to arrive. But the insects never came.

So, “Who moved my insects? ”

The book talks mainly about how one should expect and be prepared with changes in life.

“Change Happens: They Keep Moving The Cheese

Anticipate Change: Get Ready For The Cheese To Move

Monitor Change:Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old

Adapt To Change Quickly: The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese

Change: Move With The Cheese

Enjoy Change!:Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!

Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again & Again:They Keep Moving The Cheese.”

It’s a lesson for the lizards, and all of us to anticipate any changes in life, and be proactive in handling it.

Economics lessons for Non-MBAs - Part 2

<Continued from http://blog.raviunravels.com/?p=65 >

Impact of Union Policies:

We often hear about Unions demanding better wages. The persistent notion is that the interests of a nation’s workers are identical with each other, and that an increase in wages for one union in some obscure way helps all other workers.

Is there anything wrong ?

It is at least possible for unions to make their gains in the short run at the expense of employers and investors. The investors once had liquid funds. But they have put them, say, into the railroad business. The railway unions may force them to accept smaller returns on this capital already invested. The investors will not put a cent more into railroads. Thus the exploitation of capital by labor can at best he merely temporary.

Impact of “Minimum Wage” laws:

Minimum wage laws are considered to protect the labour community of being exploited by the industry.

Is there anything wrong ?

By a minimum wage of, say, $2.65 an hour, we have forbidden anyone to work forty hours in a week for less than $106. Suppose, now, we offer only $70 a week on relief. This means that we have forbidden a man to be usefully employed at, say, $90 a week, in order that we may support him at $70 a week in idleness. We have deprived society of the value of his services.
If the relief is $106 a week, for example, workers offered a wage of $2.75 an hour, or $110 a week, are in fact, as they see it, being asked to work for only $4 a week—for they can get the rest without doing anything.

The best way to raise wages, therefore, is to raise marginal labor productivity. This can be done by many methods: by an increase in capital accumulation — i.e., by an increase in the machines with which the workers are aided; by new inventions and improvements.

Economics lessons for Non-MBAs

I came across a book “Economics in One lesson” a long time ago, much before I even started knowing about business and finance. That book was really instrumental in making me look at things differently. Below is a compilation of some selective hypothetical examples of certain policies that governments adopt and why they might be right or wrong.

Impact of Import duties:

A sweater is produced in America at $30 each. But English manufacturers could produce and sell their sweaters of the same quality for $25. A duty of $5 is imposed by US government to keep the Americans in business.

Is there anything wrong ?

Consumers could have bought the same quality of sweater for less money. And they have $5 left over. With the $5 left over they could help employment in any number of other industries in the United States.

By buying English sweaters they furnish the English with dollars to buy American goods here. Tariff helps the protected producers at the expense of all other American producers, and particularly of those who have a comparatively large potential export market.

Impact of Industry Subsidies:

An important argument for saving the X industry—that if it is allowed to shrink in size or perish through the forces of free competition it will pull down the general economy with it, and that if it is artificially kept alive it will help everybody else.

Is there anything wrong ?
By these restrictive policies wages and capital returns might indeed be kept higher than otherwise within the X industry itself; but wages and capital returns in other industries would be forced down lower than otherwise. The X industry would benefit only at the expense of the A, B and C industries.

Moreover if subsidies are provided, the result is also that capital and labor are driven out of industries in which they are more efficiently employed to be diverted to an industry in which they are less efficiently employed. Less wealth is created. The average standard of living is lowered compared with what it would have been.

Impact of housing rent subsidies:

It is contended, the government, by forbidding increases in rents, protects tenants from extortion and exploitation without doing any real harm to landlords and without discouraging new construction.

Is there anything wrong ?

Rent control, encourages wasteful use of space. New housing is not built because there is no incentive to build it. If, as often happens, the government finally recognizes this and exempts new housing from rent control, rents for new housing might be ten or twenty times as high as rent in equivalent space in the old. Landlords will not trouble to remodel apartments.
A common next step is to take rent controls off “luxury” apartments while keeping them on low or middle-grade apartments. Effect? The builders and owners of luxury apartments are encouraged and rewarded; the builders and owners of the more needed low-rent housing are discouraged and penalized. There is no incentive to build new low-income housing, or even to keep existing low-income housing in good repair.It may reach a point where many landlords not only cease to make any profit but are faced with mounting and compulsory losses. They may find that they cannot even give their property away. They may actually abandon their property and disappear. The tenants are compelled to abandon their apartments.
So the government launches on a gigantic housing program — at the taxpayers’ expense.
The politicians—remembering that tenants have more votes than landlords—cynically continue their rent control long after they have been forced to give up general price controls.

<To be continued>

US-China disputes … and India.

With the recent reports about the dwindling Chinese economy(refer link) and the trade disputes between US and China(refer link), is it really the perfect time for India to start catching the flying paratroopers ?

I’ve tried to capute the thought via this cartoon.

Comments are welcome !

A year Away … Since the trestle gave way

Exactly a year ago on September 15,2008, the Lehman Brothers saw the worst turn of events in a single day. The CEO, Dick Fuld insisted that it was brought down by illegal rumours and naked short selling. The SEC has yet to announce the results of any investigation. A lot is still being written, a few facts and a lot of fiction about what went wrong and who is responsible.

But a year after the disaster, what are it’s repurcussions ? Everyone eventually finds his own way to a new beginning.

Even I did. Infact, the last year has been one of the most eventful years in my life - From being a Lehman Brother’s employee to Nomura’s and to becoming a student pursuing Management Studies.

The only concern is whether or not we have become more mature in making decisions after experiencing such events.

Here is a writing through which I’ve tried to capture the essence.

A year away
Since the trestle gave way

A trestle built for carrying
Dollars and gold
Riches and fame
for the worldly minded

It promised to take you
To Monte Carlo and Bellagio
And promised to make you
A prodigal millionaire

A trestle so mighty
like the Titanic
that it was titled
A ship that just cannot sink

Until the traffic gained
Unprecedented speed and carriers
And to support it,
The trestle grew multilevel

Until they started putting
Their gold, their money
Their wives, And other’s lives
To milk the old trestle

Until they looked to get
teleported instead of transported
from Wall Street to The God Street
in the old trestle

As it is said,
All good things must come to an end

A ship just could just could not sink
It went all deep under, in just a blink
And with it their gold, and other’s gold
Their lives, and other’s lives

It is also said,
Every end has a new beginning

A year away
Since the trestle gave way

They hope to have realized
What the trestle was built for
That they finally make their way
Towards happiness and joy.

Swine Flu …

Made a cartoon of a random thought that came to my head …

2 months into an MBA course …

2 months into an MBA course, and this is how it changes the way you think.  Some instances to quote -

1. An unusually free weekend makes you think …
   “The lull before a storm”
2. The rising sun reminds me that i need to get some sleep before the class begins.
3. The college is my asset. (Our prof said that any advance payment is an asset - We pay the fees for the college before the course begins. So the college is my debtor)
4. Any experience nowadays makes me think in terms of what is called Double Entry in Accounting lingo
   Eg: You enter the class at 9.02 am, and are not allowed inside. So you return back to the hostel.

   Another 1.5 hours of sleep - Dr
   Attendance - Cr

   When a lecture gets over and another one begins

   Prof B - Dr
   Prof A - Cr

   However, there are certain transactions where there is a Double Entry, but on the same side

   Eg: Attend project meetings
   2 hours - Cr
   A movie/ other lost utility - Cr

   After 2 months staying in a hostel, you get used to the menu so much that

   Cash(prepaid mess charges) - Cr
   Cash (paid at Dadu’s to have Maggi,sandwich etc) - Cr

   There are a few cases which have a one sided triple entry too:

   We had an MCQ quiz with negative marking scheme. It was so tough that invariably, many people ended         up in the negative territory.

   Marks(forget scoring, whatever marks were scored earlier were also taken away) - Cr
   Time and Sleep (spent in preparation) - Cr
   Motivation - Cr
   …      …

5. There are certain days when our mess provides curry in small dessert sized plates instead of placing it in the normal buffet counter.  And, I never found any difference between the one served in plates and a similar dish served ordinarily on another day in the buffet counter.It makes me think of the possible strategies behind it, which I would not have thought of 3 months ago:
   - Brands represent how the companies want the products to be perceived by us. So, in order to project the same ordinary dish as something special, the mess serves it in separate plates.
   - There was shortage of that dish on that particular day. If it is served in plates, they can accordingly adjust the quantity of the dish in each plate, which increases the chances of serving the entire crowd.
6. When I buy a bottle of water, it makes me think of the entire supply chain before the product came into my hand.

And many more !

Recent posts

Its indeed sad that …
May 29, 2010

2012 - What is this fuss all about ?
November 15, 2009

Wish you a very Happy Diwali … Celebrate it your way
October 16, 2009

Who moved my insects ?
October 10, 2009

Recent Comments

Ravi: ok. Thats a contrasting view that i'm hearing for the first ...

Ishita Roy: Rajni Rocks! btw for the record, magnetic pole shifts are...

Ravi: I had read this book a very long time back during Engineerin...

Varun Madan: Were you reading the book simultaneously when you "saw" or "...

Blogroll