photo

Ben Sancho of France surfs a wave during the Air Tahiti Nui/VZ Trials in
Teahupoo, Tahiti April 28, 2005

US - China and the Currency War

From the Financial Times-
'China's currency traded briefly outside its tightly controlled band on
Friday, triggering a renewed wave of speculation that the government was
preparing to allow a long-expected revaluation.

The unexpected price move followed weeks of international pressure on
China to allow the renminbi to appreciate. But the People's Bank of
China, the central bank, said it had made no decision to change its
exchange rate policy.

A spokesman blamed “technical problems”. But some dealers speculated
Beijing had allowed the renminbi to appreciate as a “dry run” to see how
far and fast it might rise.

Traders said the renminbi, pegged to the US dollar for a decade, was
briefly in the market at a rate of Rmb8.2700 to the dollar, outside the
usual band of 8.2760 to 8.2800.'

The background for this news story and the relation between the US and
China vis-a-vis the currency situation- China for the last ten years has
pegged its currency to the US dollar. But over the years the trade
relation between US and China has become severely lop sided in favor of
China. Coupled with this is the fact that the US has had record trade
deficits in the last few years. The Americans believe that if China
allows its currency to float in the free market, then it will revalue
i.e go up in value. This will make American made goods more competitive
and help the balance of trade. Since there is tough trade competition
among countries in East and South East Asia for trading with the US, if
China allows its currency to go up then other countries will also
tolerate stronger currencies. All this will help US claw back on its
trade deficit.

Everybody wishes the answers to world economic problems were this simple
:) Firstly US trade deficit with China is only a small part of their
entire trade deficit. Their problems in this regards are much deeper.
Secondly if the Chinese are pressurised into floating or revaluing their
currency (I am not sure the chinese can be pressurised into anything !)
it is not clear how well they would be able to manage this and what
effect this would have on the world economy. But i guess people in the
US are becoming impatient and there have even been moves towards
protectionism i.e trying to impose tarrifs on Chinese goods. Ofcourse
most of these moves are against WTO regulations and finally how many of
them get passed into action will have to be seen.

Calvin and Hobbes !!

Its difficult to read what the guys are saying to I will transcribe.
Calvin: You'll never get ahead by lying around, you know.
Hobbes: Who are we racing?
Calvin: Obviously, were ... um .. well .. .. uh !
Calvin: I'm too busy to explain this stuff! I've got important work to do! Very important!
Hobbes: Let me know if you win.

How true!

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. My Favorite cartoon strip ! I found
out a litte more background about the strip. Its an excerpt from one of
Bill Watterson's Books. Ofcourse if u want to read more ... Google :D

*Calvin*

Calvin is named for a sixteenth-century theologian who believed in
predestination. Most people assume that Calvin is based on a son of
mine, or based on detailed memories of my own childhood. In fact, I
don't have children, and I was a fairly quiet, obedient kid--almost
Calvin's opposite. One of the reasons that Calvin's character is fun to
write is that I often don't agree with him.

Calvin is autobigraphical in the sense that he thinks about the same
issues that I do, but in this, Calvin reflects my adulthood more than my
childhood. Many of Calvin's struggles are metaphors for my own. I
suspect that most of us get old without growing up, and that inside
every adult (sometimes not very far inside) is a bratty kid who wants
everything his own way. I use Calvin as an outlet for my immaturity, as
a way to keep myself curious about the natural world, as a way to
ridicule my own obsessions, and as a way to comment on human nature. I
wouldn't want Calvin in my house, but on paper, he helps me sort through
my life and understand it.

*Hobbes*

Named after a seventeenth-century philosopher with a dim view of human
nature, Hobbes has the patient dignity and common sense of most animals
I've met. Hobbes was very much inspired by one of our cats, a gray tabby
named Sprite. Sprite not only provided the long body and facial
characteristics for Hobbes, she also was the model for his personality.
She was good-natured, intelligent, friendly, and enthusiastic in a
sneaking-up-and-pouncing sort of way. Sprite suggested the idea of
Hobbes greeting Calvin at the door in midair at high velocity.

With most cartoon animals, the humor comes from thier humanlike
behavior. Hobbes stands upright and talks of course, but I try to
preserve his feline side, both in his physucal demeanor and his
attitude. His reserve and tact seem very catlike to me, along with his
barely contained pride in not being human. Like Calvin, I often prefer
the company of animals to people, and Hobbes is my idea of an ideal friend.

The so-called "gimmick" of my strip--the two versions of Hobbes--is
sometimes misunderstood. I don't think of Hobbes as a doll that
miraculously comes to life when Calvin's around. Niether do I think of
Hobbes as the product of Calvin's imagination. The nature of Hobbes
reality doesn't interest me, and each story goes out of its way to avoid
resolving the issue. Calvin sees Hobbes one way, and everyone else sees
Hobbes another way. I show two versions of reality, and each makes
complete sense to the participant who sees it. I think that's how life
works. None of us sees the world in exactly the same way, and I just
draw that literally in the strip. Hobbes is more about the subjective
nature of reality that about dolls coming to life.

picture of the day

Yongtai nuns and Shaolin monks perform together in a new show "
Lotus&Sword " in Barcelona, Spain, April 26, 2005. The Chinese troupe is
in Barcelona as part in a spectacular show that has made them famous
across the globe. - 26 Apr 2005 REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino

shopping spree !!

Went on a shopping spree today and bought $100,000 worth of imaginary
stocks :D ! So now I am an imaginary owner of some really big companies.
I used the features in yahoo to make my portfolio and it'l be fun
tracking its progress down the road.

The financial world has become so complicated and competetive that it is
impossible for a small investor to make very large returns. The stock
market is still the best bet for getting returns ... but nobody should
expect miracles. The Catch phrase it "You cant beat the market", there
are thousands of analysts in big investment banks and hedge/mutuaul
funds who spend the better part of their day tracking investment
opportunities, so every individual investor should realise that he will
never be able to spot something in the market that'l make him load of
money instantaseously. The fundamentals are 1. Be reasonable with your
expectation, 2. Realise the risks involved and be ready to take hits 3.
Aim at the long term 4. Diversify !

Anyways ... my procedure for choosing stocks was simple- Go for the
really big companies with known track record. Diversify by choosing
companies from different segments. Most of my companies are taken right
out of the S&P500 and DJIA. These include google, microsoft, amazon,
verizon, intel, shell, best buy, wallmart, catterpillar, american
express, dow jones, johnson and johnson, nike, morgan-stanley, MMM,
Hershey. Thats $100,000 right there !! cool.

photograph!

Yet another amazing photograph for the reuters collection. They have the
most amazing photographs ranging from politics, world crisis, sports
etc. Really ... a photo is worth 20 blogs !! ... read this at some blog
site :)

check this out

Anybody with a little free time on their hands check this out
http://crux.baker.edu/cdavis09/roses.html#instructions . Have fun!

tulips ...

There is a bunch of tulips growing across the road from my window where
i sit and study- and they look fabulous when the morn sun falls on them.
Thought I would take a snap before they vanish. Came out pretty nice.

...

mujhe yaad hai woh sab kuch
jo kabhi hua hi nahi ...

sunset from space

gross!

http://www.alchemist.com.au/swf/spawning.htm