Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Mew @ Mezannine, SF
Mew rocked my world with their incredible live show in Mezannine (terrific sound system), San Fran on the night of 13th December, 2009. I always thought of them as a great studio band until that day, when I understood how superior they are live. All in all, Mew blew me off...
Some great renditions from the setlist:
Some great renditions from the setlist:
- Circuitry of the Wolf
- Chinaberry Tree
- Special
- Zookeeper
- Introducing Palace Players
- Sometimes Life Isn't Easy
- Repeaterbeater
- Beach
- Am I Wry? No
- 156
- Encore: Louise Louisa (Still ringing in my ears after 2 weeks)
Saturday, June 27, 2009
R.I.P Michael Jackson
RIP Michael, the King of Pop and an immortal musical genius (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Fall of the Consumer
When people in Asia looked at the sprawling malls, arrant consumerism and 'various goods that flow like platelets in the blood circulatory system, they felt that this was the way to live. Traditional Asian societies consumed less and saved more from their incomes. They followed the classic linear regression example that consumption should follow income and not the other way round. But in the West, people had other ideas. They binged on $5000 watches and spurge on $500 wines at dinners. There was a thin red line between needs and wants. Such consumer driven growth in the United States seems to have come to a stop or least a long halt for now.
Why blame Wall St., which lives on the principle that "there is a sucker born every minute", for the mess we are in today when people do not understand the reality gap between needs and wants? Why this sudden backlash on bonuses when we knew all along about Agency Problems in Public Limited Companies? Even during the eighties and nineties CEOs of loss-making public companies took stratospheric remunerations. This is not new. Wall St., is not rewarding its Ivy Educated bankers for creating these weapons of mass destruction (CDO and other acronyms that are just deadly financial bets no different to horse races) since yesterday. Its been happening for many decades now. If the consumers on Main Street do not change their appetite for flipping houses and trying to make a quick buck, Wall St., will not change its diet of derivatives. The bankers will always be happy to push down expensive houses to consumers in the shady promise that home equity will keep rising and so does wealth tied to it. The result is people who have nothing to do with this mess are paying the price along with millions of others across the World.
Consumerism as happened in the United States since the baby boom generation has increased consumption unprecedentedly. The mad consumerism in the West drives corporations to lie, cheat and fight without ethics to increase market share. Consequently Wall St., to have great expectations on quarterly performances.
We are all responsible for these draconian times. The fight to understand the culpable parties for this downturn has led to questioning capitalism itself. Adam West famously said that the market will take care of itself cause it knows the best. But the famous Invisible Hand is now pointing its middle finger at us.
Why aren't derivatives recorded on books? How come Hedge Funds are not regulated? They can take their profits with them but we all need to pay for their losses. This recession has given birth to the ultimate debate. Is Capitalism the best way to get more people out of poverty? Is the deadly combination of Capitalism and Democracy the best form of a Republic? Can only Democracy bring justice, harmony and a better quality of life to people? The strains of this recession are felt from the Eastern Bloc in Europe to recently industrialized towns in China, from Peru to Greece.
Since Reagan times there has been deregulation. A democrat like Clinton repealed Glass-Steagal Act. Every one from Adam Smith to Sandy Weil should be blamed for this mess. But mostly, its you and me, the consumer is us who should take the most blame. Flipping house will not create wealth, neither does betting in ludicrous derivatives. Only innovation and new technology can create wealth and lift us out of this mess. Where is the next Google when we need it the most? Until such innovation comes out of the garage and lifts us up, divided we stand but together we fall.
Why blame Wall St., which lives on the principle that "there is a sucker born every minute", for the mess we are in today when people do not understand the reality gap between needs and wants? Why this sudden backlash on bonuses when we knew all along about Agency Problems in Public Limited Companies? Even during the eighties and nineties CEOs of loss-making public companies took stratospheric remunerations. This is not new. Wall St., is not rewarding its Ivy Educated bankers for creating these weapons of mass destruction (CDO and other acronyms that are just deadly financial bets no different to horse races) since yesterday. Its been happening for many decades now. If the consumers on Main Street do not change their appetite for flipping houses and trying to make a quick buck, Wall St., will not change its diet of derivatives. The bankers will always be happy to push down expensive houses to consumers in the shady promise that home equity will keep rising and so does wealth tied to it. The result is people who have nothing to do with this mess are paying the price along with millions of others across the World.
Consumerism as happened in the United States since the baby boom generation has increased consumption unprecedentedly. The mad consumerism in the West drives corporations to lie, cheat and fight without ethics to increase market share. Consequently Wall St., to have great expectations on quarterly performances.
We are all responsible for these draconian times. The fight to understand the culpable parties for this downturn has led to questioning capitalism itself. Adam West famously said that the market will take care of itself cause it knows the best. But the famous Invisible Hand is now pointing its middle finger at us.
Why aren't derivatives recorded on books? How come Hedge Funds are not regulated? They can take their profits with them but we all need to pay for their losses. This recession has given birth to the ultimate debate. Is Capitalism the best way to get more people out of poverty? Is the deadly combination of Capitalism and Democracy the best form of a Republic? Can only Democracy bring justice, harmony and a better quality of life to people? The strains of this recession are felt from the Eastern Bloc in Europe to recently industrialized towns in China, from Peru to Greece.
Since Reagan times there has been deregulation. A democrat like Clinton repealed Glass-Steagal Act. Every one from Adam Smith to Sandy Weil should be blamed for this mess. But mostly, its you and me, the consumer is us who should take the most blame. Flipping house will not create wealth, neither does betting in ludicrous derivatives. Only innovation and new technology can create wealth and lift us out of this mess. Where is the next Google when we need it the most? Until such innovation comes out of the garage and lifts us up, divided we stand but together we fall.
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