Buy beer and spend on trulls: Says Eliot Spitzer

The federal government is sending each and every one of us a $600 rebate.

- If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money will go to China .

- If we spend it on gasoline it will go to the Arabs,

- if we purchase a computer it will go to India,

- if we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala,

- if we purchase a good car it will go to Japan,

- if we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and,

- none of it will help the American economy.

The only way to keep that money here at home is to buy prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in the US.

by Eliot Spitzer, ex-Governor of the New York Fed.

Use your rights fellow country men/women !!

http://pgportal.gov.in/

This is an Online Public Grievance Lodging and Monitoring System, wherein one can lodge a complaint against any government department, i.e. right from our BMC to the State Government or even MTNL for that matter.

The system also offers a way to monitor the status of the complaint.

Lest we all try, these things will never work. So go ahead, use your rights. Make the machinery Work !

Au revoir

My new job restricts me from discussing stocks and stock ideas on a public platform. So its adios for now.

If u've been, thanks for reading and sharing your views.

Titagarh Wagons IPO - Subscribe

theIPOguru has a new issue analysis note on Titagarh Wagons. theIPOguru's recommendation is:

"Overall, the positives far outweigh the negatives. The company at its higher band is available at a price multiple of less than 20 times and market cap to sales of less than 4 times. A brief comparison with its listed peer suggests that the company is available at attractive valuations. Given that its future prospects appear encouraging, discerning investors could consider investment in the shares of TWL with a long-term view."

The full article can be accessed here.

The Union Railway Budget for 2008-09 had a host of announcements for the wagons manufacturing industry. Some of the excerpts from the Railway Minister's Budget speech are as follows:

• Modernization of Rolling Stock

While in 2003-04, 6,300 wagons were manufactured whereas in 2007-08, 15,000 wagons are expected to be manufactured. In 2008-09, manufacture of 20,000 wagons is planned which would be the highest level of wagon productions so far. Similarly, in 2008-09, 250 diesel and 220 electric locomotives will be manufactured which would be a record in itself. Production of new generation diesel and electric locomotives will also be stepped up substantially.

• Manufacture of new design wagons by wagon manufacturers

Till now, wagon manufacturers have been manufacturing wagons in accordance with standard designs prescribed by RDSO. As a result most of the wagons in use on Railways are of the design of 70s and 80s. We have formulated a new policy to promote induction of wagons with modern and new designs in the Railways. This policy makes adequate provision for simplifying the process of certifying and accepting the new wagon designs and protecting the intellectual property rights of the companies. Wagon manufacturers will now also be able to import technology from abroad to bring modern designs into the Indian Railways. This policy will facilitate continuous upgradation in the wagon technology.

• New Wagon Leasing Policy

In order to develop the wagon leasing market, we have prepared a new wagon leasing policy under which, rail customers and container operators will be able to take wagons on lease. For getting registered under the scheme, wagon leasing companies should have a minimum net worth of Rs. 250 cr and will have to deposit Rs. 5 cr as registration fee. Registration will be valid for 20 years and will be renewable for another 10 years on rendering satisfactory services. Leasing companies have been given full rights to choose or change their lessees. These companies will lease out special purpose wagons, high capacity wagons and container wagons.

• New Wagon Investment Scheme

The Wagon Investment Scheme announced in the year 2005-06 has been extremely popular amongs iron-ore customers. During the last three years, approval has been accorded for an investment of over Rs. 1,500 cr for procurement of 138 rakes. Against this, 42 rakes have been received so far at a cost of around Rs. 500 cr.The old Wagon Investment Scheme has not been popular with other than iron-ore customers. Therefore a new liberalized Wagon Investment Scheme has been prepared. Under this scheme, investments can be made for procurement or leasing of special purpose and high capacity wagons. Freight discounts at prescribed rates will be granted for investment in special purpose wagons and high capacity wagons.

• Container Business-Mission 100 MT

In the last three years, 15 operators have been given licenses for running container trains. Presently, 146 trains of Container Corporation and 44 container trains of other container operators are running. The number of trains run by other operators is expected to increase to 50-55 by the end of this year. The total container traffic is expected to be 26 million tonnes in 2007-08 including 2 million tonnes contributed by new operators. Presently 60 container depots are operational including three constructed by private parties. It is expected that eight container depots by Container Corporation and 40 by other operators would be developed in the coming years.

Each of the aforesaid announcements are expected to boost demand for wagons substantially over the next few years.

Partying like It's 1929, says Paul Krugman

According to Paul Krugman the US is currently going through what it witnessed in 1929-30-31, i.e. Great Depression.

His article "Partying like It's 1929" can be read here.

A brief excerpt from the article ...

If Ben Bernanke manages to save the financial system from collapse, he will — rightly — be praised for his heroic efforts.

But what we should be asking is: How did we get here? Why does the financial system need salvation? Why do mild-mannered economists have to become superheroes? The answer, at a fundamental level, is that we’re paying the price for willful amnesia. We chose to forget what happened in the 1930s — and having refused to learn from history, we’re repeating it.

Contrary to popular belief, the stock market crash of 1929 wasn’t the defining moment of the Great Depression. What turned an ordinary recession into a civilization-threatening slump was the wave of bank runs that swept across America in 1930 and 1931. This banking crisis of the 1930s showed that unregulated, unsupervised financial markets can all too easily suffer catastrophic failure.

As the decades passed, however, that lesson was forgotten — and now we’re relearning it, the hard way.