Pramod Thomas » US

Goldman Fraud!!

Pramod Thomas — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:32:39 +0000

After the global financial crisis now it is the turn of Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs is the major financial services company in the world. But the common people in US do not like the company (I came to know about this from Michael Moore’s documentary ‘Capitalism: A love story’). During the days of recession the senators in the US congress also blamed Goldman Sachs. A minority called US congress as the director board of Goldman Sachs. It is evident that big companies play a very big role in the US in it’s day to day politics. Some former treasury secretaries were ex-employees of this global major. Recent fraud charges in a way will make someone happy for sure.
US securities and Exchange commission (SEC) sued Goldman Sachs for giving improper facts. The 141 year old financial services major denied it. In it’s official statement in the website the company says they had lost $90 million in that particular deal. They reiterated that their products are not designed to make losses for the investors. But the heat is on and the global indices are tanked heavily.
Two things are clear now. One, something is fishing some where. Two, the very incident questions the credibility of the financial institutions across the globe. Stocks and commodities prices plunged after the news. Normal investors are panic now. In India also sell off happened. Goldman Sachs is facing probes in U.K and Germany. German chancellor herself made statement against the company.
Goldman has investments in almost all the major economies. It is obvious that the impact of the news will be much bigger than it is expected to have. In India alone it has investment worth Rs.2000Cr, and has stakes in 27 Indian companies. After the global financial crisis Goldman Sachs crisis will be the major one. This crisis points out the need for proper reforms in the financial services sector. Something should be done to control the panic investors, if not, another major crisis is awaiting!!!

Some facts about Goldman Sachs (Source Wikipedia)
Type                Public (NYSE: GS)
Industry    Financial Services
Founded        1869
Founder(s)    Marcus Goldman
Headquarters    New York City
Area served    Worldwide
Key people       Lloyd C. Blankfein (Chairman) & (CEO)
Products :    Investment banking, Prime brokerage, Investment management
Commercial banking, Commodities
Revenue                        US$ 45.173 billion (2009)
Operating income    US$ 2.34 billion (2008)[dated info]
Net income    US$ 13.39 billion (2009)
Total assets                   US$ 849 billion (2009)
Total equity                    US$ 64.369 billion (2008)
Employees                         32,500 (December 2009)
Website                            GS.com

The Hurt Locker: Heart didn’t lock

Pramod Thomas — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:03:16 +0000

Women are more stronger than men. Their emotional level is some what pretty high. Women film makers around the world are very bold. They deal with uncommon themes. They have got the nerve to question almost everything. Now a days more and more women are attracted towards films. This is a good sign since film is a universal medium. For the first time in history a lady got Oscar award too. Kathryn Bigelow showed the women film makers around the world that nothing is impossible.
Oscar is not a criteria to determine the quality of a movie. But because of the popularity It is indeed an attention puller. Rarely good films get Oscars. Last year also the Oscar winning movie was not a good one. Slumdog Millionaire was not a great movie. It’s was an imitation of old Bollywood movies. Yet it swapped the Oscars. At last it concludes on the same old line “everything is written”. Danny Boyle is a good director, his craft is well accomplished. But Slumdog Millionaire was not his best movie. There is a belief that Oscars will be given to movies which favors the US. The Hurt Locker proves that this belief is true in a sense.
In one line one can easily say that the movie The Hurt Locker didn’t lock your heart. There are no scenes in that movie which is good enough to go straight into your mind. More than a movie it is a documentary. The mine blasting scenes are the only ones which have got any specialty. In one scene the soldiers give water to the captures. So many such scenes are fabricated in the movie to please the US audience. As all the people around the world know the politics behind Iraq war, the movies do not touch it. So it can be of human sufferings, grief, relations. But nothing is shown well there. Sometimes tries, but ends up in big failure.
The Hurt Locker is written by Mark Boal. The selection of the theme is good. Apart from that no credentials can be claimed. The screen play is like a news story with out any human touch. (Only close up shots do not give human touch to a movie). The Hurt locker is a movie made to win only awards not the hearts of the people. It is a peripheral documentary. But not a good one. My heart didn’t lock!. Once again it is proved that Oscars usually gives to movies which please US audience audience as a whole.

Sweden is the most innovative economy in the world

Pramod Thomas — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:32:41 +0000

In a study done by London business school it is found out that Sweden is the most innovative driven economy in the world. Sweden has ousted US from the throne. The top five economies are Sweden, Japan,US, Finland and Singapore. Countries are selected in terms of technological skills and usage of communication technology. The study observed that Sweden has got the “finest distribution” system and also “excellent internal and external communications”. It has also got a very good skilled labor force too. The study also took into consideration the work done in order to overcome the recent financial meltdown.
Japan ranks second in the list. Japan showed an extra ordinary recovery over a span of 65 years. Mainly because of the upper hand in technology. On a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis Japan is the third largest economy in the world after US and China. Their fiscal deficit and the aging population are the major worries of this nation.
The US is the most technologically powerful economy in the world, the study realized. Almost all the technological developments happen in US for the first time. They are at their summit of communication revolution. But the recent global financial meltdown left some blow on the US economy. The rescue package proved to be very helpful but the US lost it’s first place as the most innovative economy around the globe.
London business school survey called Finland and Singapore as decent economies. They are the most correction free economies around the globe. Finland and it’s service brand Nokia took the communication revolution to next level at least in third world countries. The per capita income of Finland at par with France,Germany and Italy. Which makes the economy much stronger. Both Finland and Singapore are best examples of free market economy. Singapore GDP growth rate was 7 percent upto 2007, but due to recession 2008 growth figure came down to 1.2 percent.