meek-investor

I don't know what to make of this story. An economics soap opera ? How the most unexpected things can happen  ? How sometimes prosperity can hit you from the strangest of directions ? Read on - judge for yourself. The story starts in a very boring manner. Everybody knows Americans guzzle gas. With the Sheikhs turning the screws, Americans are feeling the pinch. Ouch - the price of oil is hurting. Drill baby drill , is fine, but oil is, alas, not to be found. Need new forms of cheap energy so that Americans can continue to guzzle away. Suddenly they discovered a new "source" - Shale gas .  Apparently natural gas is  found in rocks called shales. And apparently shale gas is rather plentiful in the US. Wonder of wonders, use of shale gas even releases lower greenhouse gases than evil Oil.. Voila, the new gold rush is on.  All very good. What's new. This sort of thing happens all the time. The real interesting bit is that, in order to extract this gas, you have to do ...

The Business has been Chris-less for some time now. NOT THIS WEEK! We’ve got not just one, but TWO! Both Garcia and Thayer have been in the land of dreams (and in LA) but they’re back and better than ever and they’re gonna be at the Business this week! Also, Alex has returned from being a road warrior Max Rockatansky-style and will be back in his business saddle again. That means all the regulars are assembling, forming a Voltron-esqe defender of the humorverse! Chris, Chris, Sean, Alex, Bucky, Caitlin and Mike have made room for only one guest this week. Luckily, he’s a doozy. “Jarrod Harris‘ act is an oddly comfortable mix of trailer-park filth, comic angst and hipster irony. While his style may fit into several categories along the comedy spectrum, his clever writing only fits into one: funny.” Noah Gardenswartz – Creative Loafing. Over 20 million people have seen Jarrod’s popular Action Figure Therapy characters and most recently the series was named LA We...

Sometimes, rarely, you read something that resonates  so much that you nod your head right through and maybe even develop a crick in the neck. Such was the piece I read today under the somewhat hyperbolic title " How to stop hospitals from killing us ".  I opt to offer it to you without comment,  with only a strong recommendation. I just chose a less fanciful title that simply means - First do no harm. Perhaps an appropriate title, for, this is a mini landmark post - my 500th.  Even for writers, this is a useful tenet to follow. Never thought I would reach this figure when I started blogging one winter's day in Guangzhou 3 years ago . How much life has changed in this short while. Thank you, dear readers, for the support, the encouragement, your comments and points of view. My life has been immeasurably enriched by you and, for that, a big, big, big, heartfelt thank you.

Mitt Romney is in a  soup over his 47% remark . In some remarks he made at a private meeting he said that 47% of Americans do not pay income tax (fact) and implied that these were scroungers (rubbish). But he was factually accurate in that 47% of Americans do indeed not pay income tax - although to be fair about that half of that lot do pay payroll taxes which is a form of income tax meant for funding social security and Medicare. The purpose of this post is not to wade into the political controversy. But simply to point out the fact that if Romney were in India, he would say 97% of the population does not pay income tax. That's right - only 2.8% of Indians pay any income tax . That's not to say 97% of the population does not pay any tax at all. Indirect taxes like VAT, Sales Tax, Octroi and a whole host of devilish taxes are levied on everything. Even a beggar buying beedis is paying all these taxes. But income tax, the largest revenue earning component of the budget is paid b...

This week at The Business, Our Gang is welcoming a few Lil Rascals to San Francisco. Cameron Buchholtz is a stand up comedian based in Austin, TX. He is a regular at comedy clubs across the country, has done theater shows with the likes of Doug Benson and Todd Barry, rock clubs with Michael Ian Black and Neil Hamburger, and festivals such as FunFunFunFest and the Norman Music Festival. He is also the host of the laid back interview podcast 'CB Radio', where every week he sits down with some of the biggest names in comedy and pop culture. He is proudly from Oklahoma. He is SO totally an Alfalfa. Dave Child started his career as a senior officer of Emerson College's acclaimed sketch troupe: Chocolate Cake City. Dave co-wrote the screenplay: Will Triumph Fights Alone, which won the Film Artist Network’s Boston Screenplay Competition, was represented at The Cannes Film Festival and was later adapted into a comic book, illustrated by Death of Superman artist: Jon Bogd...

Newspapers are falling over themselves in trying to figure out what happened to Manmohan Singh. What has suddenly prompted the slew of economic announcements. And what has made him so brave after all the dithering for so long. While there has been much speculation, I am afraid all the pundits have got it wrong For, you see, in order to understand the behaviour of all our leaders over the last two days, you have to look no further than what they ate. Firstly Madam Gursharan Kaur has been making Dum(b) Aloo (PJ courtesy Chotu ) all this while. She switched two days ago to Makki ki roti and Sarson ka Saag. It is well known that the said food, when washed down with copious amount of buttermilk rather emboldens a certain group of people at 12.00 noon. If you notice, all the policy pronouncements have come out at 12.05 over the last two days. At the other corner of the country, you may have noticed that there has been no comment from a certain portly lady. For she normally has Thayir sadam o...

New Business Logo courtesy of Dr. Foxmeat Last week’s Members Only show was great fun, but it’s time we got some guests back in the Business. This week we have two of our favorites with their funnies. Dr. Foxmeat began his comedy career with a soaring howl under a full moon. He has the sharp jokes of a seasoned comedian, and a furry beard that looks like it may contain fallen seasonings. He looks like he knows the value of a set of human teeth on an unsettled prairie, but also looks like he could roll you a doobie without using his thumbs. He has wandered down to SF from the wilds of Humboldt County for your entertainment. He is a doctor, he is a fox, he is meat. Erin Judge began her career at the Comedy Studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and now she lives in New York and performs all over the world. Erin's first stand-up album, So Many Choices, was released by Rooftop Comedy in 2012. She travels with the Pink Collar Comedy Tour and co-produces The Afterl...

Here's a completely political piece, which I wrote as a guest post on my good friend Sriram's blog. I normally don't stray into the political arena, but couldn't resist this one ! What say you ? If you like, leave a comment on his blog.

Somebody has to say this. Like the kid from the proverbial Hans Christian Andersen's tale , who exclaims that the emperor is actually naked, I will go ahead and say it. Stock markets have become a weapon of mass destruction. The original purpose of stock markets was to become efficient allocators of capital. Capital was always scarce and economics needed a mechanism where capital would be pooled from investors and allocated to the most efficient users of capital. Voila, the stock market was born. It is important to remember why this mechanism was created in the first place. One of the most important benefits that stock markets provided was liquidity. Investors needed liquidity to be able to withdraw their investment without affecting the company that they invested in. Contrast this with property markets which are not very liquid - try selling a property, especially in India. Liquidity was , and is, provided in stock markets by speculators. They performed the useful function of ensu...

Meet Jean-Claude Moreau. Brussels' answer to Ramamritham.  It is well known that Homo Sapiens Ramamrithamitis is thriving beautifully in Brussels  under the umbrella of the European Commission. Monsieur Moreau has excelled himself in a number of fields and he is keeping with this tradition in trying to bring legislation that women should have a quota of 40% on the Boards of European companies. We in India, know all about quotas and reservations. But surely Europe has better sense. Apparently not. M Moreau noted, after years of diligent research, that women only constitute 13.7% of directors in large listed companies in Europe. Given that women certainly constitute 50% of the population, and apparently 45% of the workforce, this was considered totally unacceptable.The Solution ? Legislate a quota. Wow. Only a Jean-Claude Moreau can think of that. It would be hard to think of a dumber idea. There is no doubt at all that women in the workplace are discriminated against by culture...

This week, the Business has called a private meeting of our Board of Directors. It’s all regulars this week, including our latest, greatest hire, Mike Drucker. Sean Keane has the mind of a genius and the face of a newborn. His cheeks are like tea leaves, stare into them deeply and you will know your future. You’ll love him so much you will want to take his jokes home in your pocket, but don’t! They’re his. Alex Koll is Awesome. The Awesome. Air Guitar HERO. And an impossibly talented filmmaker. And a top notch writer. And a member of the legendary sketch group Boomtime, which means he can be appropriately described as the Bomb. Caitlin Gill will make your dreams come true. Especially if you dream of really funny stand-up comedy. Or if you dream of homemade Twinkies. She can do that too. Bucky Sinister is an irrepressible talent. A poet, author, and comedian who can also swing, snatch, clean, and jerk a kettlebell that weighs more than you do. Even though his ...

If it wasn't so sad, it would have been a classic case study where everybody was at fault. The Marikana miners strike in South Africa is a disaster where every party - the miners, the company, the unions, the police and the government deserve censure for the way they have conducted themselves. Here is what happened. One of the platinum mines belonging to the mining giant Lonmin is in the Marikana area in South Africa. In early August there was a flash strike over pay demands. The situation escalated badly and resulted in a violent incident on 16th August when police firing resulted in 34 miners being  killed and 78 injured. Prior to this 2 police officers had also been killed. Since the infamous Sharpeville massacre in 1960, this was the worst violence in South Africa, and certainly the blackest day in the post apartheid era. The company Lonmin deserves some of the blame. Its workers are poor and live in shantytowns without any decent housing. Since 2001, the price of platinum ha...