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Have you Got any Civic Sense !?…then go Vote in the Civic Elections in Mumbai today !…I did

Mumbai Votes today in Civic Elections to elect it’s Municipal Councillors

These days I don’t hear the Greek Definition of an Idiot as someone who did not Vote ! …I suppose this has everything to do with an other stronger Greek Definition emerging that defines an Idiot as a Greek who let his Country go bankrupt !

Have you Got any Civic Sense !?…then go Vote in the Civic Elections in Mumbai today !…I did

….Voting began early at 7.30 am…What is this Love Affair between Senior Citizens and Voting !….my father In law called me precisely at 8 am this morning to inquire if I have voted !…he had just returned from being one of the early birds to vote !

….and by 11 am,when I did vote later in the morning, there was a short queue of a few definitely 75+ aged citizens….one was graciously allowed even though he did not carry any identification…he was recognised by another….and one elderly Parsi gentleman,who I recognised said “Sahibji….we must cast our vote hoping the successful candidate  will do some good,otherwise a wrong candidate may get elected ….that is the only power we have as a citizen in a democracy ” ….I added ” we must vote regardless of whether the elected candidate actually goes on to do any good for the constituency,community and city !”  

Till I had voted,Just 40 odd voters in the three and a half hours before me had cast their vote in Booth No 27 at Greenlawns School in South Mumbai…work out the hourly average….. turnout was sad really

…I read that in the past three civic elections the turnout has been below 50% and in fact candidates that had polled even below 10% of the votes had been declared elected !

….there were eleven candidates in my constituency of which nine were women…so who did I vote for…candidate or party ?…well,all these years my wife and I have voted for different parties and their candidates…I have a theory that this was one of many extremes that kept our marriage wondorously alive and lively !…… this time we voted for the same party !…now ! now ! don’t read too much into this !….as we moved in to vote,she asked me who the candidate for that party was !…I told her it was a woman named….and she has made a host of promises …”ya,right!” she mumbled and grumbled

…so would our vote count !?….think of the tied one day cricket international between India and Sri Lanka the other day in the tri series in Australia if you want the answer !…every ball and every run counts !…the Umpire called a five ball over when India was batting…the media is going over town to say we would have won if the umpire had a good memory and simple and basic mathematical skills to count upto six ! read more

Greece is Bigger than Greece!…Go For Gold !

Greece is bigger than Greece !…..it’s not a liquidity issue…it’s a big solvency problem!…and no amount of stimulus can solve a solvency problem !

The debt and deficit figures of several countries indicate doomsday scenarios across Europe…PIGS nations are in HUGE trouble…Portugal,Ireland,Italy,Iceland,Greece and Spain…are facing a doomsday scenario

GROSS EXTERNAL DEBT (GED) AS A MULTIPLE OF GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP) ( In US $ Billions)

(Base Figures Sourced from IMF and reworked on for current estimates)

 

PIGS in Europe

Estimated GED in 2010

Projectedd GDP in 2010

GED over GDP

Portugal

600

226

2.65

Iceland

125

12.5

10

Ireland

2400

216

11

Italy

1400

2121

0.66

Greece

600

325

1.85

Spain

3000

1424

2.11

In Comparison

INDIA

 

251

 

1500

 

0.17

Seems only Italy,among the PIGS has External Debt at lower levels than it’s GDP….debts of others are horrifyingly several times over their GDP and they have poor Fx reserves too….India,on the other hand,is growing at 7% +,has US $ 280 billion Fx Reserves and the GED/GDP is very comfortable at 0.17 

Greece has to implement severe austerity measures to cut down it’s deficit to 3% of GDP inside two years if they want to receive the US $ 146 billion bailout package over the next three years announced by the IMF  with major support from Germany…all PIGS nations have deficits running over 10% of GDP….this would mean drastic cut down in Government Expenditure and absolutely no chance of any Stimulus package….+ an increase in taxes…..the chances of Greece actually complying with this are very slim….It’s citizens have started to actually riot !…for decades the Greeks were assured by the Government that the economy was alright and they would continue to print currency and borrow to fund spending and create and assure Jobs….when the creditors began tightening their calls in September last year,the real tough situation in Greece began to reveal itself and the nakedness became apparent…The Greeks are going to get poorer literally overnight and this traumatic situation is manifesting in Violence…… I’m inclined to agree with Paul Krugman,the Nobel Prize Winner for Economics in 2008 that the only solution is that Greece move away from the Euro to it’s own currency and begin an Export led Stimulus to Recovery….Problem is that the moment they announce this there will be a major run on the banks !   

Many European nations are facing doomsday scenario….and I fear UK and USA seem to have merely deferred their troubles…their statistics are even more deafening on scale 

Therefore I reiterate GO FOR GOLD…Read all my blogs in the category of Gold and Silver…I have been strongly advocating strong and increasing allocation for the past few years to GOLD right when it was @ US $ 650 /oz levels….The first scenario painted by me was US $ 1000/oz…we hit this in 2009….Then Beginning 2010 I had said Gold will cross US $ 1200/oz this year…it already has!…believe me,Gold will cross US $ 2500 in the next few years and even move towards US $ 5000/oz read more

When queried ” What is the Secret of Success?”, Greek Philosopher,Socrates actually demonstrated it !

A young man asked Socrates the secret of Success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met.

Socrates asked the young man to walk with him towards the river.

When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The man struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until he started turning blue.

The young man struggled hard and finally managed to get out and the first thing he did was to gasp and take deep breath.

Socrates asked ‘What you wanted the most when you were there?’ The man replied ‘Air’. Socrates said ‘that’s the secret to success. When you want success as badly as you wanted air, you will get it. There is no other secret.
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