At infinity any public company will become a bank

At infinity (or maybe just a couple of centuries later), any successful publicly listed company will willingly or unwillingly turn into a bank.

If you give any board of directors of a publicly listed company ample time, they will eventually open a bank if not turning that very company into a bank.

Simply because this is what we love to do (create wealth) and a bank is the pinnacle of a 'money-based' world. Here, on planet Earth, Money is the common denominator and practically anything can be described in money terms.

Don't get me wrong, doing all sorts of business is fun but in the business of making money, there is no better place than a bank. It's quite effortless compared to other businesses. Basically all you have to do is to borrow money on some terms and lend that same money on some other terms favorable enough for you to profit on the spread between the 2 terms.

In doing so, the first commandment of every business, the profit motive, can perpetuate.. until the day you hit the fate of the Dodo or even worse Lehman Brothers (1850-2008).

Strange world, isn't it?

The Dictator Buster

Who would have thought that social media could play a vital role in toppling over a dictatorship of over 30 years? Even the founders of social network sites haven't seen that coming. After Tunisia, Egypt and now Libya, people have been using social media as a means to voice their concerns and coordinate their efforts in bringing democracy to their country.

Social networks sites like Twitter, facebook and youtube have now become the latest tools in bringing power back to the people. Governments in both developed and under-developed countries are not used to that kind of silent coordination and collaboration of their people. With the magnifying effect that these sites have on people public gathering and protests, law enforcement agencies are more often overwhelmed and powerless against its own people.

Is Wikileaks the Weapon of Mass Destruction of the Information age?

After the 9/11 terror attacks, we were all prepared at least psychologically to face terrorism in almost any form including hijacked airplanes, nuclear weapons, biochemical weapons, car bombs and mail bombs but none ever suspected that confidential information.. quarter of a million of them in the form of cable leaks released little by little over a week period by Wikileaks could have a much worse impact than an act of terrorism itself.

Although there is no loss of lives, nobody really knows what the real impact of this leak would be on our lives in the future, now that a huge amount of backroom diplomacy practices and opinions have been revealed and that's only Day 2 of a whole week of expected releases.

This will be like playing a strategy game as a team while the opposing team know all your strategies and future moves and you know nothing about theirs. Tough! This is no petty game. This is all about politics and foreign policy.

BP rig massive oil leak in Gulf of Mexico

I'm not worried at all about the massive oil leak in the gulf of Mexico because everyone is going to win in this disaster except the earth and the local fishermen.

From what I know, BP alone can deal with 50 such oil leaks given the fact he made huge profits year over year, even record profits until 2 years ago in 2008. Oil companies like Bp, Exxon Mobil and Shell make millions of dollars per second! That's why I'm not worried for them.

President Obama recently extend the atlantic-side oil drill-able area. That's why it's in BP best interest to fully finance the repercussions of this massive oil leak else he won't get privileged access to the new drillable area and his competitors will.

Furthermore, millions of dollars are already being spent every year to find new oil reserves in difficult areas. What we have now in the gulf of Mexico is an active reserve spurting thousand of barrels a day which is so apparent that we can see it from space and is just waiting to be exploited. It's out of question to just block the leak in an unexploitable way by means of nukes etc. Whatever the time it takes to get control over the leaks is justifiable because there are loads of money to make. So its just a question of time and time alone, these oil companies know best in situation like this. They have the resources it takes and have the best engineers in this field. They are the expert and we just have to wait and see how they transform such a chaotic situation into a profitable one.

As for the massive oil spills over the sea, this will give life to small entrepreneurs who will recycle the oil slicks and restore the disturbed fauna and flora over 10 or so years. End of story.

Web surfing at work can be productive

"Dr Brent Coker, professor of Department of Management and Marketing at Melbourne University, says employees who surf the internet for leisure during working hours are more productive than those who don't. A study of 300 office workers found 70 percent of people who use the internet at work engage in Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing (WILB). 'People who do surf the internet for fun at work — within a reasonable limit of less than 20 per cent of their total time in the office — are more productive by about nine per cent than those who don't,' said Coker. 'People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration. Think back to when you were in class listening to a lecture — after about 20 minutes your concentration probably went right down, yet after a break your concentration was restored. It's the same in the workplace.' However, Coker warns that excessive time spent surfing the internet could have the reverse effect."


Source: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/workplace-web-bludging-good-for-productivity-20090402-9ktm.html

Yes i confirm, i do it everyday at work and it works for me. I'm more productive, always meet deadlines and feel more confident in what i'm doing.

Ownership of Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) changes hands to Dubai's Aabar Investment

DUBAI - A company owned by the government of Abu Dhabi has pumped an additional $1.41 billion into Aabar Investment PJSC, giving the emirate majority control in the investment firm set to become Daimler's biggest shareholder.

The announcement yesterday came a day after Abu Dhabi-based Aabar - an investment vehicle set up by the Persian Gulf sheikdom - said it would pay nearly 2 billion euros ($2.72 billion) for a 9.1 percent stake in the German automaker best known for its Mercedes-Benz brand.

Aabar differs from many of the oil-rich Persian Gulf's sovereign wealth funds in that some of its shares are publicly traded. That arrangement is expected to continue, although the government will now have a clear controlling interest in Aabar. In a statement yesterday, Aabar said Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co. has finished buying 5.18 billion dirhams ($1.41 billion) in Aabar bonds that will be converted into ordinary shares. IPIC is fully owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, the largest of the seven semiautonomous city-states comprising the UAE and holder of most of the Persian Gulf country's vast oil wealth. Abu Dhabi is the federation's capital.

Yesterday’s announcement follows a similar cash injection worth about $408 million by IPIC last month. Once the latest stock conversion is complete, IPIC will own 71 percent of Aabar, up from about 36 percent now.

IPIC is chaired by Sheik Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a prominent member of Abu Dhabi's ruling family, which controls the United Arab Emirates presidency. He led the takeover of English football team Manchester City and joined Qatari investors in pumping billions of dollars into British bank Barclays PLC last year.

The Daimler deal appears to be Aabar's biggest overseas investment yet. In December, Aabar agreed to buy American International Group's Swiss-based wealth management arm AIG Private Bank. According to its annual report, Aabar paid 307 million Swiss francs ($273 million) for the bank and assumed about 100 million Swiss francs worth of debt.Aabar will become Daimler's largest shareholder. The automaker's second-largest owner is Kuwait's primary sovereign wealth fund, which has a 6.9 percent stake.


Source: http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/finance/11272849.asp

Surviving the economic crisis

Companies that are still performing good despite the unprecedented economic recession includes Walmart, McDonalds, Citigroup and some IT services companies that have never been influenced by the crisis at all. Also the mobile phone business - e.g RIM (Research in Motion), makers of Blackberry is doing very well.

US and Canada must quit Iraq and Afghanistan

One of the measures that IMHO can surely boost economic recovery is that the US and Canada should set a definite calendar for their withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan ASAP.

Dow at 9000 points in May

IMHO The economy will recover much much faster than it was thought it would.

Reasons:-

1. Summer is coming.., remember the crisis was acknowledged just before winter! And the summer is known to boost sales in all sector of activity.

2. House prices start stabilising . Maximum number of houses changing hands in February - March

3. Companies are still investing huge sum of money despite record losses over the past year

4. Citigroup announced profit for 2009, Madoff in prison, Obama plans show signs of progress

Some good signs for the economy

Stocks markets have been up 4 days in a row this week.... and the Dow is as high as in november 2008 News that citigroup will make a profit in 2009, madoff finally in prison.. etc .. help the markets to increase..

But in fact this week has been my worst week ever professionally! I've got an unprecedented 4 sleepless nights in a row!!