Thank God we have sensible people like you and Ratus on these boards. I wrote a blog a few months back about Free Market Captilism and why its great, i'll post it here (remember this was in march )
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There has been a lot of outcry from Wall Street against Geithners economic plan and the amount of regulation that is supposedly being put into place by the White House and the Treasury department. Now it is understandable that many people are ticked of on how Wall Street has performed over the years with greed, bad capitalism and irresponsibility due to which now people are asking for more regulation, but lets hold on a second and go back twenty years and see how the US and the World in general have performed under free market capitalism.
Global trade and globalization in general has helped more than 350-400 million people get out of poverty line where a lot of the contribution has been made by the technology industry but we wont hear that from the so called progressive leaders. Living standards have drastically been increased especially in places like India, Panama, Columbia and many developing countries around the world. Humanitarian conditions have drastically improved over the years and more people are now becoming responsible with regards to labour relations, better working conditions and with the use of technology provided by the United States not only helped developing countries grow but allowed for many US companies to grow as well, the last 20 years are proof of that.
Now its understandable that when economic turmoil hits people and countries tend to look inwards but its up to Obama to overcome that and look more towards global trade because that itself will help the United States in the long run. I suggest people watch the documentary called Bombay Calling which is a documentary about telemarketers in Mumbai India and how globalization has effected them, for the better that is.
I personally think that pumping trillions of dollars in to the money supply would only allow for companies who have performed so terribly stay in tact and make the same mistakes that put the economy in this mess in the first place, while at the same time allowing them, under the so called contractual obligations to pay their CEOs and executives tremendous amounts of bonuses which would more or less come from tax payers bailout money. If you make a mistake, you pay for that mistake, and thats how things work naturally. You cant wake up the next morning and say hey we just went through a terrible time, but lets just forget about it and start new. It does not work that way and you have to pay for the mistakes you have made and at the same time take the pain for being a complete bunch of irresponsible hacks.
Some banks are not even selling foreclosed homes simply because they want to show a higher number of toxic assets on their balance sheets for more government bailout funds. Why not bail out Vivid as well so we can have Briana banks in High definition Bluray, after all **** is a 32 billion dollar industry which happily pays taxes.
The argument that the White house makes is that Banks need capital so they can lend out money to other businesses which is understandable and is a very important concern, but the fact of the matter is all major banks in the US as of now are Bankrupt and are overvaluing their assets above the current market value, why not just sell these assets at subsidized prices or allow the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to allow the existing bondholders to help them clean up.
Heres why globalization and free market needs to exist. When major companies around the world in emerging markets and developing countries do well and need the technological expertise and ideas they will ask the US for help and with millions and millions of people around the world who start getting jobs in their home countries they would than require their government for stability and a better economic environment and thus resolve political conflicts in a much more sophisticated step by step procedure which will allow for more self empowerment, new democratic ideas. A simple example is how Photoshop has redefined the graphic industry around the world and allowed people to open many small businesses for themselves, remember small businesses is what makes and breaks a country and where 90% of the commerce activity takes place unless and of course you live in a communist country.
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Obama did the exact opposite of what i had in mind at that time and although- the stimulus package passed seems to be doing ok for the time being I would like to see what its long term effects are. At the same time he's pushing for Universal Health Care (which i like btw even though i am a free market capitalisit i do believe healthcare is something that everyone everywhere should have) but realistically speaking i don't think the Americans are in a position to afford Universal Healthcare but lets hope for the best, there is a solution to every problem and i wish they get their Universal Healthcare its a great system.
Also i would like to add that Despite all this one still can not deny the military spending. There is no shadow of a doubt that its quiet a substantial amount. To be able to hold and maintain 737 military bases in more than a 130 countries does require some dough... I am sure cutting back on military spending and reducing the number of bases around the world they can definately put that money towards more constructive things like healthcare, lands, roads, bridges, better community colleges etc.
Capital economy failed many times ,better Islamic finance system shall be promoted instead of intrest based capital economy .
Islamic Finance Not Immune to Economic Crisis, Says IDC Financial Insights Asia/Pacific
Singapore and Hong Kong July 8, 2009 Leading independent research and advisory firm IDC Financial Insights today announced the release of a new report that examines the performance of the Islamic financial system during this period of global economic crisis. Though numerous shariah scholars and economists initially believed that Islamic finance had fared significantly better in the crisis due to its rigorous risk management practices and its adherence to shariah law, IDCs Financial Insights Asia/Pacific latest report entitled Islamic Finance Update Weathering the Crisis (Doc #FIN218657, June 2009) finds otherwise. While the Islamic financial system may have been spared the direct impact of the subprime fallout, the indirect impact clearly affected the performance of shariah financial products and services as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
Abhishek Kumar, Senior Research Analyst, Asia/Pacific Banking Advisory Service, states, The true durability test of any financial system is to see how it performs in an economic crisis. The current unstable financial environment provides the perfect opportunity to gauge the effectiveness of Islamic finance as a viable alternate to conventional system. Initial statements by shariah scholars and economists stating that Islamic finance has fared significantly better during this current economic turmoil have been proven to be premature for Asia/Pacific.
Kumar continues by stressing that despite lower performance, Islamic market indices still performed better than the overall market. In addition, Islamic finance in Asia/Pacific continues to grow at a rapid rate with countries such as Indonesia and Pakistan working diligently to nurture Islamic financial assets and replicate the success seen in countries such as Malaysia.
Kumar concludes, The Islamic financial system has an extremely bright future but it is on a long road to maturity. Even though Islamic finance is considered an alternative financial system, it still operates within the global economy, and is ultimately bound by the same constraints as its conventional counterpart. It would therefore be unwise to frame Islamic Finance as a completely separate system from conventional finance, as it could alienate and even disillusion potential clients and investors."
For more information on obtaining this report, "Islamic Finance Update Weathering the Crisis" (Doc #FIN218657), please contact
sales@financial-insights.com. To set up an interview with Abhishek Kumar, please contact Lay-Fang Tan at
lftan@idc.com.
About IDC Financial Insights
IDC Financial Insight is the regions leading research and advisory firm, helping banks, insurers and financial institutions choose or short-list vendors, assess their IT master plan and devise business and operational best-practices. IDC Financial Insights is one of the only research firm with a significant on-ground presence in Asia. Their access to decision-makers from both business and IT divisions enables them to accurately depict and document trends, best-practices and industry benchmarks in the region. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading IT Venture capital, technology media and events company. For more information, visit
Financial Insights: - Strategic Financial Technology Research and Analysis
For more information, please contact:
Abhishek Kumar
abhikumar@financial-insights.com
+65-6829-7739
Lay-Fang Tan
lftan@idc.com
+65-6829-7731