Congress Hearings

I have watched segments of the media coverage of the congressional hearings (Bank CEO's and Auto makers recently)and found them to be really a show that they put on for the American people assuming that people are stupid. I have found them to ask any intelligent questions that pertain to their business, instead focusing on petty things like corporate jet and throwing abuses at the people on the other end. Here is a link to a funny Dilbert piece.

Some questions that I would like to ask anyone who is willing to listen.

- I have heard Rick Wagoner of GM boasting about his company working 10 hybrid models that would be ready for rollout in the next few year. Why in the hell would you work on 10 at the same time when they do not even have 1 hybrid that people really want?
- I hear Congressman telling Banks to lend the money they received from TARP. How in the hell are they even keeping track of it? if the Bank executive said they are doing that, congress will believe it?
- What is the measure of credit flowing again? It's certainly not interest rates or LIBOR (since there is no volume info with LIBOR)
- Why does not anyone like falling real estate prices. I did not hear anyone including congress complain when they were rising.
- Who is holding congress accountable? theoritically it is the people - At this time, I don't see anyone holding them accountable for their actions
- Why is congress complaining about TARP oversight? They passed the bill without oversight requirement, what are they bitching about?
- Why is Nancy Pelosi always flashing her irritating smile of accomplishment? Does anyone know what she has accomplished other than becoming the speaker of the house?

There are a lot more if someone wants to listen :)

Self sufficient living

Is there something like self sufficient living? My definition of self sufficient would be living without any dependency for food, shelter and energy.

There are a few books on self sufficient living, not sure if they are purely theoritical or practical. Here are some books on the topic self sufficiency on Amaozn

I don't believe self sufficiency is a topic that attracts a lot of people's attention as most people are either happy being part of the corporate world or too afraid to lose the perceived security of the corporate world. May be the current recession will may people rethink? if that happens I would think it is a good thing and we would probably see a hue drop in personal consumption and a surge in wellness.

My dream has always been to live on a farm being semi self sufficient, that dream seems miles away at this time considering the runup in prices for farm land.

Investment ideas in the new economy

It has been a while since I posted anything on the blog. I have thinking about how to play the new economic situation and have some thoughts on asset allocation. The fundamental assumption is that the economy will not recover until the end of 2010 and the risk of devaluation of the dollar is high. My first take of asset allocation is below

- Gold and Foreign Currency - 20%
- Domestic Stocks (that you are willing to hold until 2015) - 25%
- Foreign stocks (weighted more towards stabler emerging markets) - 25%
- $$$ - 20%
- Alternate investments - 10% (this could include real estate, private equity, etc.)

Credit Crunch

I read and hear a lot about the credit crunch these days. It seems like people want easy credit, forgiveness for not paying up, higher interest rate on their deposits, 20% yearly appreciation on their houses so that they can continue to tap it as an ATM - sounds a lot like my desire to get my paycheck for the rest of my life without having to work :).

Everyone loves easy money and better if it free - why not? I would take it if there are no consequences. I believe the phenomenon (asking for easy money) we are seeing is a consequence of some of the evils of modern day society - essentially living to satisfy someone else rather than your inner self, buying a house because you want to look good in front of others, thinking owning a home is a status symbol, driving expensive cars is a self confidence thing, the list goes on. I believe that this is all going to end soon in a bad way OR the other possibility is that United States becomes a poor country over the next 20 years or so. Where is the reward and value of savings - savings is for losers :), right?

My prediction is for the following sequence of events
- Bernanke will cut rates by 0.25 basis pts in Sept 07. May be another cut before the end of the year
- Markets recover a bit and hit 14K again by the end of the year
- Inflation starts heating up early 2008 forcing rate hikes
- Housing declines further, ATM resets are higher in 2008 causing foreclosures to soike up
- Benrnanke is a silent spectator to the mayhem as inflation forces him to keep rates steady
- Dollar appreciates, stock market tanks to 8K
- Democrats win the election, blame President Bush for the problem
- Markets continue to decline/steady for the next couple of years before starting to come back up in 2011/2012
- Housing back to the old days of 2.5% appreciation. Real estate agent is an old fashioned job and not a hot commodity anymore
- Zillow.com goes out of business in 2010
- Refin becomes the way to buy and sell homes
- Renting becomes the smart thing

Books Links

Here are links to a couple of good books

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Skinny Bitch

Monetizing free time

There have been instances (not in the recent past though) in the past where I had plenty of free time on weekends or in some cases weekday evenings. Looking back, it would have been nice if there was a way to monetize that time instead of wasting that time drinking beer or watching TV (not all the time, if I had the option I would have used it a few times). Some people would say there were always options blah blah blah and you wasted it. but ignoring those people for the time being, here are some unique requirements that I see for this idea to work
- The work needs to be stateless (I.e you don't take it back with you or think about it when you are done with unlike an office job) - a good example of such a job would be a cashier at a shop or working in someone's garden under instructions
- The work needs to be accompishable or your work needs to be effectively usable in small chunks of time (an hour being the minimum seems reasonable)
- Does not require a lot of planning or lead time to get in and work (i.e you should be able to get up at 8AM on a Sunday morning and decide that you want to work for 3 hours that afternoon)

I have not found any place (other than volunteer work) or website that would satisfy the above requirements

Would be cool if I could go to a website and view what is available near by in the next 8 hours and pick something

Weekend thought

It is just another one of those rainy summer weekend's in Seattle - so much for a desirable place to live - it is not what I say, however I hear that a lot at my workplace. Most people seem to like the place they live in. Is it because they want to feel good about living in a desirable place or is it because they genuinely like it or may be it is because they have never lived anyplace else or some other reason. In general tending to like the place you live in, I believe is a good thing - i think it makes us live naturally. There are always things that people will not like in any place like the traffic, overcrowding, lack of infrastructure, lack of people sometime, etc, the key is deciding which one is important for you and then making a conscisous decision about where to live.

Personally speaking, if I had not got used to some of the modern day conveniences and if I did not have an economic dependency on a job, I would live in the country growing enough to be self-sufficient where I decide my own schedule. May be some day, it will happen..

Meanwhile enjoy a recipe for
Mixed Vegetables Curry