Some key quotes from the article. Probably I need to research on where MAS stands in our monetary policy. From what I see on the surface so far, they are doing a pretty decent job.
“Indian banks are not levered like American banks. Capital ratios are 12 and 13 percent, instead of 7 or 8 percent. All those exotic structures like C.D.O. and securitizations are a very tiny part of our banking system. So a lot of the temptations didn’t exist.”
“A lot of Indians, when you push them, will say that if you spend more than you earn you will get in trouble. Americans spent more than they earned.”
“Savings are important. Joint families exist. When one son moves out, the family helps them. So you don’t borrow so much from the bank.”
Seventy percent of the banking system in India is nationalized, so a strong regulator is critical, since any banking scandal amounts to a national political scandal as well.
Was reading through this article and it crystallized what I felt back in university. While reading my texts, I felt that there was too much “financial” and “money” magic in this industry. This article did a better job at describing what I should also have questioned during that time.
Probably I would have been attracted to the industry if there was not such a distinct differences on the prestige between the front-office, middle-office and back-office.
With the severity of this recession/depression, it will be weird for finance students to study and extrapolate the equity market trends and returns over the next few years. Chances are, finance students will have to study the market all over again.
That being said, I still believe in the fundamental value that the banking system provides to the economy – In terms of identifying the lemon companies, and also to provide a basis for valuing the company.
The fundamental flaw with equity market theories, or with any public companies, is the increasing pressure to deliver year-on-year profit growth. The underlying cause of this flaw can be attributed to capitalism, which states that the welfare of an economy can be measured by tangible and material consumption of the people in the economy.
The emphasis on consumerism to sustain a market based on capitalism is not feasible, and increasingly what I witness is a market trend towards a “buy more, buy more! Consume more, consume more!” mentality that is pretty retarded. People move away from their inner sense of peace and tried to seek comfort in the pursuit of material consumption.
The movie “Fight Club” summarized it well when it quoted that people have evolved to “work in jobs that they hate, to buy things that they don’t need, to impress people that they don’t like.”
I think one of the things that most people fail to consider when getting a new apartment is how they want to furnish the lightings on their homes. Very often, you think about the type and kind of furniture that you want, the colors of the walls, and the different accessories that you want to install in your home.
While surfing around, I found a site that sells light fixtures online. I didn’t realize the variety of home lighting fixtures that are online – such as pendants, chandeliers, and wall scounces etc.
Probably I can get a chandelier for my future home?
From the lack of activity on my blog – You can sense that I have been somewhat held up with other stuff in my life. Career Planning, Job Searches, Job Interviews, Training, switching web hosts, and catching up with my friends. 2008 was a year full of FUD. I didn’t expect this to happen to me, but I think I went through a mini quarter-life crisis. Thanks to Yili, Kenneth and Alvin for being with me through this rough patch.
Some of you might have already known that I made the switch a few weeks back from Macintosh to Windows Vista. I went to the PC show with my girlfriend, and we purchased a pair of laptops together – We each purchased the NEC Versa E6300 14” laptop together for S$1199.
-Windows Vista Home Basic
-Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7250 @ 2.0 Ghz
-3GB DDR2 Ram ; 160GB Storage Space
-6-in-1 card reader, with Bluetooth
-A 2.0 Megapixel Integrated Web Camera
What I was using
I was using an iBook 12” PPC running OS X 10.4 for the past 4 years, and my girlfriend was looking out for a desktop since she don’t think she will be bringing her computer around. It was an odd choice for me because I had always been on the look-out for another Macintosh replacement, and had reservations about switching back to Windows, remembering the horrible user experience I had with Windows ME (my last OS before I purchased my iBook).
What prompted me to switch
-NEC’s claim that they are the best in Japan. I thought any company who was that confident to claim that should have some form of backing for what they mentioned. I trusted them, and till now they have not disappointed me. I know I have just fallen as a sucker for marketing campaigns I guess.
-I believed the purchase was value-for-money (I’m not the only one). I always thought the cheapest laptop I can get will be at S$1500, and I will rather top up $100-$300 for a MacBook with equivalent value. However, the cheapest Macbook I could see then was around S$1700. Sadly, the $500 makes a difference because I’m broke, and I badly want a new laptop. I spent 80% of my non-sleeping time at home with my computer, and I bring them around wherever I go.
-I witnessed for myself how running XP on Parallels and VMWare on the Intel Macintosh does not work well with my Windows mobile 6.0 phone. I needed a compatible system to synchronize files, photos and contacts with my HTC Touch.
-I thought it will be pretty cool to have the same laptop with my girlfriend together. It might just “synchronize” us together.
-Apple releases new versions of their OS too fast for my liking – Leopard (10.5) does not impress me.The only outstanding feature Leopard I see that’s different from Tiger (10.4) was Time Machine, and I seriously cannot imagine myself using that application.
I have written down a list of my Vista experiences after the switch, and will update more on it soon! Hopefully, it will be helpful for anyone who’s considering switching operating systems (either way).
It is true. You search and sniff out information that is most relevant to you. As someone who’s going to graduate soon – I thought this article brought in an alternate view point to my life.
The question I have is – Isn’t it difficult to get jobs that you are neutral in? How many of us “acted as if we were interested” just to get the job that they want?
My personal preference goes for Python rather than Rails.
Ruby was too… magical for me to understand at times; and it was too magical for me to comprehend how they worked at the back. I missed the database schema migration on Rails though. Unit testing was done easier.
Django is written in Python, which for the most part is comprehensible to me, except for certain introspection and meta-programming involved when I tried to write form modules on Django.
Last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you’re entering the country. They can take your computer and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days. Customs and Border Patrol has not published any rules regarding this practice, and I and others have written a letter to Congress urging it to investigate and regulate this practice.
Based in Singapore, I sell enterprise technology (hardware, software and services) to clients since 2008. In my personal life, I am interested in manga and the philosophy of Taoism.
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