roobaroo

SlumDog Millionaire- a movie portraying (a rags to riches story) from the slums of Corporate Powerhouse of the nation , Mumbai ,has brought India to the world's Notice. I saw many such reports being published in Indian Newspapers, magazines by reviewers, columnists and critics. Indeed India, The Dharavi slums of Mumbai, India are on a global front, And Yes, People across the world have taken notice, But might i ask the ones who are busy celebrating the nominations of the movie in the American award functions viz. The Golden Globe and the Oscars what exactly has India Got to relate in this Movie. Besides applaudes for a Music Director of Indian Origin who has actually derived all his knowledge of Music from London Music College and the Obscure adult and child starcast of this movie , an otherwise essential requirement for the plot of the slum based movie, What India has provided to this Movie is the Plot!! The Slums, The living conditions, The Open toilets, communal riots, Mumbai mafia, Human trafficking, Male dominance in society with a mixup with the million dollar formula of bollywood that has actually befooled Indian Masses for years, A determined Hero striving hard to find his lady terror-stricken and crisis-laden. But the Hollywood Bread to the indian curry is the indian version of "Who wants to be a millionaire". That for the golden touch.

Besides India is also being Noticed by the stats for its economic progress but I want to question the relevance of that. Mr. Chidambram the Intellectual Economist in the Indian Cabinet ministry mentioned Slumdog to be a portrayal of many Business Ideas that exist in the slums of India. But Mr. minister, for a nation with HUman Development Index ranking of 138 behind countries like El salvador, Uruguay and even palestine Ruled States among the various nations of the world has much bigger issues to be solved in such areas besides looking for business ideas. slumDog millionaire reveals the sorry state of the Indian citizen deprived from basic social amenities and a confirmation for the WHO statistics. So, I believe a reportrayal of Q&M, again a english author based novel with changed facts to replace Muslims inplace of Hindu characters is a word of celebration for the crew of the movie but not us the Indians. India is no more a nation of poor and starving people and when we can display that to the globe, that day will be a day of celebration for us on the stage of not a american award function but on a much bigger arena.

So what are the plans of the 43rd US president after retirement from the most powerful office of the world. Well, my suggestions for him would be playing golf, making post-dinner speeches and sitting on a beach. A leading daily published the intercepts from his comments on the same in a recent press conference at the white house " I just can’t envision myself, you know, with the big straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt, sitting on some beach.”

With the kind of lifestyle Mr. President has enjoyed till now , the answer to this question becomes all the more interesting to lookout for. He doesn't need to earn more for realizing his plans actually. He has earned millions as also mentioned in the article by various initiatives like selling the baseball team of Chicago. But also taking into account the low acceptance ratings of Mr. Bush, it seems logical for him to be around the lecture circuit or is expected to write about his tenure in the white house in a book as the former president Mr. Clinton. Oh yes there will be lot to talk about, 9/11, establishment of 'democracy' in Iraq and Afghanistan, US financial crisis all too far beyond to happen in a presidents' tenure. Happy Holidays Mr. President.

Okay, so what are Indian Firms Doing in the time when Global economic slowdown is on the charts. Well, we will find our own ways of messing up things indeed we are not involved in the crisis directly. Indeed, a big movement in Indian IT industry in these testing recession times.

So, the Maytas deal was to cover up for the fake inflated results as shown in the balance sheets. Brave and intelligent Move but with satyam shares proving to be a major holding in any share market dealers’ stacks of stocks. Rightly still, in this time when IT firms are moving towards drastic cost cutting and defensive approach to markets, shareholders suspicions made raju and his fellows to refrain from sealing the deal and then prevented them to get away clean with it. Worse still was the untimely banning of the World Bank to work for it on charges of corruption and unethical use of financial services.

This has now resulted in the tumbling down of Satyam Market shares from 170 to mere 70 now. Great!! Please correct me if I am wrong, the wrong stats in balance sheets were projected to avoid any merger situation and show that satyam is fairing well. It was a bluff projected to its shareholders. Now see where has it landed the company operating in 66 countries with about 150 Fortune 500 Companies.

So new question could be any takers for the 4th largest software exporter of the nation? IT majors don’t seem interested. I don’t have any friends there. Is Crisis heading India’s way? Is it a time for Panic among IT companies and share market people? Is it enough stuff to catch Indian Medias’ attention to divert from the India-Pak-US talk triangle? These are some questions that will be answered in the time to come.

" It didnt end there, i had to resort to marijuana and later on opium also to relieve myself of the stress i faced." I raised my voice. " I used to beat my wife for not handing over her wages which she see earned working as a domestic help. I made her work extra hours for that even. One day my boy got sick and i still got the money from her. He died of TB and i am a murderer now. One day she also left me unnoticed and i was left with no sources to finance me. My neighbourers left me to suffer in solitude. I used to have sleepless nights. I was left here on my own.. Suffering, dying and with no one.. oh god..... buuuhhhuuu sob!! sob!! This continued on and is still that way. But you guys wont care, we, the poor are left to suffer and suffocate out of our miseries to death." I finished at a pitch which had quadrupled from the one at started this dialogue. I saw in the eyes of many of them to see if i was able to catch their attention. It had worked. they were watching with utmost concentration as if it was a bolly fick. i was beginning to get the feeling of a bollywood star!! may be mithun.. Naaahhh.. I threw out my fancy thoughts and refreshed myself for the preach part to start..

" Son, All this has nothing to do with society imposing anything on you. Its all by choice. Its you who chooses what to prefer, I know the authorities are not keeping up for completely eradicate the distribution of these drugs in our society but its also very difficult, you must realize. so in this situation its you who should be responsible." The focus shifted to the audience watching now. " Its you who makes life difficult for yourself. If you want to change something it should start with yourself. Remove the "had to resort to" part from your lives. Depending on drugs is not the end of your miseries. No it wont ever be. It will be the the start of many more. No matter how hard it gets DRUGS are never a solution ." i saw some 4-5 moving out. Not bad, we could continue. so did we "There are many counseling and drug deaddiction centres in our cities that can help you if fail to take the right decision even though." We wrapped with some more educating stuff we worked out by googling. "Thanks a lot and remember prevention is better than cure"

We headed to the lake after that. Well, not exactly lake but a place called Kaimvala. for faging and spending some good time. Thats how we work.

Prakash: That was some good hot cup of tea!!

Suresh: ok!! lets continue, Now as the interest rates rise, EMIs being variable also increased. Since most of them couldnot afford to pay them back at revised rates, they began to default. The losses of the same were passed onto the financial Institutions who bought the "financial securities" as converted by the brokers. But these losses were not detrimental enough to disturb the US economy initially in times of American economy doing well and soaring housing prices. More and More financial institutions jumped into the Mortgage Market in their zeal to make quick money. This was a arena trading to the tunes of trillions in US markets by 2007 end.

Prakash: The problem started when the Mortgage banking Bubble burst. A slowing US economy, high interest rates, unrealistic real estate prices, high inflation and rising oil tags together led to a fall in stock markets, growth stagnation, job losses, lack of consumer spending, a virtual halt to new jobs, foreclosures and defaults.
Now with defaults stacking up financial institutions relying on them for payback of loans lost their liquidity status. The Securities lost their worth because of a devaluation of real estate prices as most of money was invested in that.

Suresh: Vicious cycle!!

Prakash: Indeed, the firms lost the credibilty to handle the risk. Because of this, the consumer spending further decreased leading to a hurdling of funds with no spending and thus a crumbling of these firms with their backs broken and no funds to cover the risk thus generated.

Prakash: hey Suresh, can u please summarise it for me?

Suresh: the whole crux lies in that a financial asset invented by Mortgage Brokers/Institutional Investors for which money was taken from large banks were repaid out of the securitisation of the same by converting them into financial securities thus hitting them back again. So it was these banks who lost the money with investors trading on it and making profits out of it. The Norms were relaxed down to earth because the investors didnt have to worry about the repayment of loans. So a bad financial system which actually became very popular for its bulk returns had to burst when overinflated. It has been a total systemic failure that has its roots in the US real estate and the sub-prime loan market.

Prakash: Thanks Prakash, it was really nice to be informed by you on this.

In the United States, half a million jobs evaporated last month. Businesses are closing down every day. Banks are afraid to lend, credit market continues to be tight. Consumer confidence is dwindling. Every expert and non-expert has declared that the US economy is in the worst recession since the 1929 Great Depression. But the US dollar is unfazed; it continues to enjoy strong confidence in a world economy shaken by financial turmoil. The greenback is getting stronger every day just as the US economy is plunging deeper into recession. Actually this is the whole point of mystery that remains unsolved. Dollar’s resurgence is a puzzle when compared with how currencies of other countries collapsed in national or regional financial crises in the past two decades. It has happened in argentina in 1999-2002 and with mexico in 1994. Financial crises in these countries not only caused substantial depreciations of their currencies, but also flight of foreign, and sometimes even domestic, capital. So far there is no shine off the value of the dollar, nor any major flight of foreign capital from American shores.

What’s with the greenback? Against all odds, how has it regained in the past four months what it lost against most currencies in the previous three years? Clearly, the dollar has benefited from the fact that it continues to be the international currency of exchange, trade and reserve. The strengthening of the dollar is also helped by the fact that Japan and the economies of the euro zone are as deeply sunk in recession as is the American economy and growth in China and India is projected to be lower than it had been in the previous few years.

Most of all, fright in world financial markets has sent investors running away from risky assets towards the US dollar and US treasury bonds. In the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the dollar has regained almost half of what it lost in the past six years. Consequently, American businesses are becoming less competitive as compared to foreign businesses. This will dampen demand for American exports and increase its imports. American multinational corporations will also find that returns to their investments abroad decline, when expressed in dollars. american investors who have suffered decline in purchasing value shall benefit from strengthening of dollar.

While the world economy is looking towards Asia, in particular China and India, for economic growth in the coming five years, Asian economies in turn depend heavily on US consumers. The recent depreciation of the Chinese yuan, said to be triggered by the slackening of export orders, is an indicator. A weak Chinese currency is expected to keep US demand for Chinese goods buoyant, while the recession in the US would dampen it. However, if the US economy remains in a prolonged recession, it would be foolish to expect that somehow the US would continue to increase its purchase of goods from the rest of the world to keep the world economy going, and it would be foolish and even dangerous to keep financing American imports through debt. China can keep its economy growing at double digits by using its $2 trillion reserves. The Chinese government has announced a $600-billion initiative to boost its economy over the next two years. The boost can help China maintain its potential economic growth even with slackening of US imports. It is clear that world economic growth in the next two to three years would heavily depend on Asian economies.

Asian economies have to creatively invest their resources in productive activities instead of parking them in US treasuries. That’s the only way Asia can bring the world economy out of recession.