Money Mantras….(12)

Here are the wise quotes from the Masters. Please read and enjoy.

1) The market, like the Lord, helps those who help themselves. But unlike the Lord, the market does not forgive those who know not what they do. – Warren Buffet

2) I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.  -Mark Twain

3) Money, if it does not bring you happiness, will at least help you be miserable in comfort. – Helen Gurley Brown

4) The unchecked striving for more, for endless growth, is a dysfunction and a disease. It is the same dysfunction the cancerous cell manifests, whose only goal is to multiply itself, unaware that it is bringing about its own destruction by destroying the organism of which it is a part. – Eckhart Tolle

5) You can’t get rid of poverty by giving people money.- P.J. O’Rourke

6) The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time.  -Willem de Kooning

7) There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.  -Mahatma Gandhi

Who goeth a borrowing, Goeth a sorrowing.-Thomas Tusser

9) Creditors have better memories than debtors.  -Benjamin Franklin

10) I think you have to learn that there’s a company behind every stock, and that there’s only one real reason why stocks go up. Companies go from doing poorly to doing well or small companies grow to large companies.” – Peter Lynch

Incomes in India Increase

The Congress-led UPA coalition, which started its second term after a landslide victory might have something more to cheer about, something that may well lead them to believe that their efforts at pushing for inclusive growth has wrought some positive changes – by putting more money in the pockets of Indians.

The efforts of the government in terms of economic reforms and high growth rate of around 9 per cent for the last three years has shown tremendous results.

Making history of sorts, the monthly income of an average Indian for the first time has crossed the Rs.3,000-mark. If one goes by the advance estimate for national income released by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) recently, the per capita income, which is a measure of the average income of a citizen, notched up a gain of 12.2 per cent, amounting to Rs 37,490 per annum during 2008-09.

One look at the 2007-08 data shows that the per capita income was Rs.33,283 per annum, and if that was not enough, the per capita income at constant (1999-2000) prices also registered a growth rate of 4.9 per cent.

However, were it not for the global financial crisis, the per capita income would have been even higher. Due to this reason, the country’s economic growth was pulled down to 6.7 per cent during 2008-09 in comparison to the 9 percent during the previous fiscal. Similarly, national income also went up during the year and showed a 14.2 per cent rise with figures of Rs 43.26 lakh crores.

The growth indicated by the CSO in various sectors might have helped the present UPA government secure a second term with thumping majority.

The advance estimates of national income for the year 2008-09 were released by the CSO in February earlier this year but the estimates have now been revised incorporating latest estimates of agricultural production, index of industrial production and performance of key sectors like, railways, transport other than railways, communication, banking and insurance and government expenditure.

The CSO data further reveals the National Net Product (NNP) at factor cost at current prices is now estimated at Rs. 43,26,384 crore during 2008-09, as compared to Rs. 37,87,597 crore during 2007-08. This in turn shows a sharp rise of 14.2 per cent than last year.

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his team already started working on the 100-day agenda in his second innings, all eyes would are set on what the future holds.

 (Courtesy:Valueresearch)

What is Good for GM is Good for America!

What’s good for GM is good for America,” said Charlie Wilson, the former Chairman of the US auto major General Motors (GM), once among the largest employers in the world and now battling for survival. From becoming the first American corporation to pay taxes of over US$ 1 billion 53 years back, to filing for bankruptcy now, GM has indeed covered a rugged path to self created doom.

Whether what Wilson said was exactly what he meant or not, it certainly stood for the way most GM top executives have been thinking for the past five decades. During this period, the world’s greatest automobile company has frittered away its reputation and market share with an unending string of flawed management decisions and arrogance towards customers and the government that would be hard to make up.

And to compound the problem, the company invested too often foolishly as well as agreed to outrageous labour agreements and compensation packages for top executives.

Given these misadventures, its product superiority disappeared steadily over the years, and so began its decline that continues still today. The company’s market cap, which at its peak in 2000 was nearly US$ 50 billion, now stands at less than US$ 500 million! How it is possible that such an industrial giant could not find a competent management team in 50 years and turn things around is a question that will continue to worry management gurus and strategic thinkers for years to come.

And if what was good for GM was also good for America, the question that might legitimately be raised is that if bankruptcy is the cure for GM, would bankruptcy also be in order for the US. Remember, like GM, even the US has seen declining manufacturing supremacy over the past many decades, and whacky splurging by governments and consumers. Borrowing to invest may still make sense, but borrowing to consume is what the Americans have been used to for so many years now. Isn’t that the fast track to doom…bankruptcy in the case of GM and possibly for America as well? In fact, President Obama, in a recent interview with the leading American cable television network CSPAN, said that the US is already in deep problem now. “We’re out of money”, said Obama. He added, “This is a consequence of the crisis that we’ve seen and in fact our failure to make some good decisions on health care over the last several decades.”

Well, whatever may happen after the company files for bankruptcy, we hope that the end of an old GM lays the ground for the birth of a new one, for anything else would lead to a cascading impact on the US economy given that the mass layoffs at GM will considerably add to the unemployment burden that the country is already facing.

As for the bankruptcy’s impact on India, there are though some reasons to cheer. As reported in The Economic Times, GM India’s officials believe that the company’s global restructuring could throw up substantial opportunities for Indian component companies shopping for cheap overseas assets. Furthermore, there are hopes that the company will now get a ‘good’ management at helm that will lead to better times for the employees and customers in the future. We also hope so!

(Courtesy:Equitymaster)