If I owe my bank $10,000 it's definitely my problem but if I can't pay my bank back $2 billion I owe them, is it my problem or is it theirs? There's this saying that small is beautiful, but what's so beautiful if I am a small business owner who can't renegotiate the terms of a loan because it's my problem to come up with the money? Banks are the institutions who suck up to you when you owe a lot but expect you to suck up to them when you owe a little. So unfair and yet so true.
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Showing posts with label finance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label finance. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Let casino CEOs run banks!
A friend of mine who used to work for a bank that doesn't exist anymore used to tell me that a banker's real job is actually very very boring. Take deposits, give loans, call on borrowers to ask them to pay etc etc Yes really boring stuff. So when a banker is really bored he dreams of being in exotic places doing exotic things and then allows his in-house trader to design exotic trades and instruments for him. He used to say the only way to add spice to his job was to let bankers gamble selling it as 'financial innovation' which they did and here we are. So I wonder why not let casino CEOs run the remaining banks that are left? They're good at what they do, aren't they? When you go to a casino you always end up losing your money up to your pain point but the point is that the house Never goes bankrupt!! That's way better for the rest of us who are not gamblers, isn't it?
http://www.thinkaloo.com
http://www.thinkaloo.com
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Do you think that China can save the global economy?
If you ask the Chinese themselves they are very reluctant to even think they can by themselves act as a global leader to pull everyone out of this. It is not because their size as a country and as an economic powerhouse doesn't allow them to do that but because they either don't want to or they don't have the expertise to play that role.
A shift of economic power is happening right now as Western economies are bleeding but that does not guarantee that the power to lead and save the world is also changing hands. Europe and the US still have the infrastructure and talent to recover and keep growing again.
Actually I have to agree that to the extent China is dependent for its export-led economic growth on the West, unless it works on fixing its own problems, it will slow down too.
Notice one more thing. I am not an economist but this observation puzzles me. The world economy is doing well on the surface and the US dollar is very weak. The world plunges into a crisis and the US dollar strengthens because suddenly the world has less faith in other economies pulling this through better than the US.
Stock markets are down because they operate short-term. If you are interested in where people keep their faith in the ability of national economies to pull this through looking at exchange rates is more insightful I think.
Anyone checked the value of the Russian Rouble or those of other emerging economies? It's on a free-fall...
http://www.thinkaloo.com
A shift of economic power is happening right now as Western economies are bleeding but that does not guarantee that the power to lead and save the world is also changing hands. Europe and the US still have the infrastructure and talent to recover and keep growing again.
Actually I have to agree that to the extent China is dependent for its export-led economic growth on the West, unless it works on fixing its own problems, it will slow down too.
Notice one more thing. I am not an economist but this observation puzzles me. The world economy is doing well on the surface and the US dollar is very weak. The world plunges into a crisis and the US dollar strengthens because suddenly the world has less faith in other economies pulling this through better than the US.
Stock markets are down because they operate short-term. If you are interested in where people keep their faith in the ability of national economies to pull this through looking at exchange rates is more insightful I think.
Anyone checked the value of the Russian Rouble or those of other emerging economies? It's on a free-fall...
http://www.thinkaloo.com
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Does starting a new bank make sense?
My reasoning for starting a new bank is that creditworthy customers would rather trust that their money is held with a bank that is 100% free of toxic assets and that it won't go bust. People tell me I must be crazy to want to start a new bank because a) no one trusts banks any more and b) no one has money any more. I don't think b is true and a happens because existing banks have a lot of bad loans/investments in their books. A new bank that has none of it can earn the trust of creditworthy customers. It seems good business to me to want to start a new bank despite the turmoil in global finance.
http://www.thinkaloo.com
http://www.thinkaloo.com
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The GIA Bill of Regulations
How about we name the new laws that will be drafted to regulate the financial system in the US as the GIA Bill of Regulations? GIA will be the reverse of AIG's initials. The innovation in the acronym will be its dual use and multiple i-substitutes. How you read out GIA will depend on how effective the new laws will be in containing future greed and irresponsibility. If the GIA Bill of Regulations fails to restrain gambling and irresponsible risk, people can refer to it as Grow Irresponsibly America. The adverb 'Irresponsibly' can be substituted by any such words as illegitimately, illegally, insanely, inscrutably, incomprehensibly, idiotically, inattentively, ill-advisedly etc.
On the other hand, if the bill produces a stable, well-regulated financial system, people can refer to it as Grow Intelligently America with such i-substitutes as intelligently, insightfully, ideally, indefatigably, impressively etc. The name of the agency that will supervise the laws will be called, what else, Greed Intelligence Agency.
www.thinkaloo.com
On the other hand, if the bill produces a stable, well-regulated financial system, people can refer to it as Grow Intelligently America with such i-substitutes as intelligently, insightfully, ideally, indefatigably, impressively etc. The name of the agency that will supervise the laws will be called, what else, Greed Intelligence Agency.
www.thinkaloo.com
How to raise money for the Olympic Games
Olympic Games cost a lot of money and often leave cities and countries in large debt. Here's an idea to raise money for them. It's based on user hanagasa's thought about fireworks advertising.
For a very small charge (few cents) send a short personal text message from the mobile phone that will appear along with your name in the fireworks of the opening/closing ceremony. Only 1 lucky message gets displayed. The lucky sender gets refunded and his message read by everyone around the world watching the games. The hundreds of millions of people whose sent messages won't appear will raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the organizers.
www.thinkaloo.com
For a very small charge (few cents) send a short personal text message from the mobile phone that will appear along with your name in the fireworks of the opening/closing ceremony. Only 1 lucky message gets displayed. The lucky sender gets refunded and his message read by everyone around the world watching the games. The hundreds of millions of people whose sent messages won't appear will raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the organizers.
www.thinkaloo.com
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
IPO for College Students
This thought was posted on Thinkaloo on 2 March 2008 by member gt6643d
Visit www.thinkaloo.com, our new online community where you can share your thoughts and knowledge, discuss your ideas, ask questions and meet smart people
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With the rising costs of student loans, how about investing in someone's education, similar to buying stocks: Analogous to an Initial Public Offering (IPO) for a company, a student could circulate his/her resume among investors to raise money for college. Report cards are treated like quarterly earnings reports. Upon graduation, the student would then share a certain fraction of his/her salary with the share holders. The student has the option of buying back the shares from the investors (essentially repaying the loan).
Visit www.thinkaloo.com, our new online community where you can share your thoughts and knowledge, discuss your ideas, ask questions and meet smart people
---
With the rising costs of student loans, how about investing in someone's education, similar to buying stocks: Analogous to an Initial Public Offering (IPO) for a company, a student could circulate his/her resume among investors to raise money for college. Report cards are treated like quarterly earnings reports. Upon graduation, the student would then share a certain fraction of his/her salary with the share holders. The student has the option of buying back the shares from the investors (essentially repaying the loan).
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