The CRASH !!!


Well if it all was just the beginning, the crumps and pieces of the financial turmoil are spattering on the entire fiscal setup. Following the Dubai debacle Japan Airlines (JAL) has become one of the biggest corporate defaults after filing for bankruptcy just two days back.

Owing to non money making luxurious flights since past two decades the company has been running huge losses ever since and has sought the Japanese government’s intervention through a bailout program nearly four times till now. However with the credit crunch in all major markets around the world this time the situation is much more gruesome. The largest aviation company of Asia is no longer going to be in business the same as it was before.

Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) and the Japanese government have taken over the work of restructuring of the airlines in conjugation with Delta airways.

Asia is going to be the prize for the delta airways whose Sky team alliance is going to enter the Asian market in an entire new way with the exit of OneWorld alliance of which JAL was a part previously.

JAL the largest aviation carrier in the Asia once used to be a part of OneWorld with member airlines like-- American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, LAN, Malev, Mexicana, Qantas and Royal Jordanian – who had offered JAL all possible support through this difficult period and support however in light of recent market destabilisation and the restructuring being done by the Japanese government they have gone out of the picture. With such huge debt they were not able to generate apt income to sustain the alliance.

Under the government-supported rescue plan, creditors will be asked to forgive Y730bn ($8bn) in debt, the airline will withdraw from 31 unprofitable routes and dispose of non-core subsidiaries and other assets.

In perhaps the most symbolic divestment, JAL will retire its entire fleet of Boeing 747-400 wide-body jets, ageing and fuel-thirsty aircraft that have become too expensive to fly. This is going to cost a huge load on the aircraft.

Added to these troubles the airline is going to cut nearly 15000 jobs and the existent workers will feel the heat or their allowances and pension funds as the restructuring takes place.

Tokyo however promised an infusion of new capital and credit lines to keep Asia's largest carrier by revenues operating until it completes a radical three-year restructuring.

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The Spirit, The Sulk and The Saviour...

This winter has something different, we can all sense its outlandish attire. People reading this would actually believe me on this one , its not just the chill. Different people have different tastes but certainly winter is not for me. It brings a sense of mental depression with that ugly gloom, wonder how people in UK live with this deadness all through the year. But I am happy for one thing, I dont have to stop playing my beautiful game for this ugly weather. Everyone is not that lucky though. This season every premiership team's medical staff would be doing overtime, clubs in england are feeling the pain as we see the winter take its toll on the players, even the very best of them are not being spared. It seems that this winter transfer window will see more panic trade than any other we have seen for some years. One team which has suffered more than any other this season are the merseyside giants, liverpool. The gloom over anfield is getting darker and darker and no-one knows what is going to come the very next day. The team that was challenging for the title last season is fighting for a champions league spot, yes the same team. To be very clear, I dont believe that Alonso's departure is the right justification for the recent clog the club has faced. the team has not performed upto the level it should have done, as simple as that.
Knocked out of this, knocked out of that, and blah blah blah....everyone knows what has happened to us for past 5 months. But how does that change? Most faithful of liverpool supporters would say that we are in this position because of the yanks. the ever growing debt and the new stadium underway, pressure is huge, and is telling on them. If Gillete and Hicks do not have the money or any plan to pull the club out of this turmoil then they should find some alternative, either a new investment or may be new owners for the sake of the club, One thing that may happen in the coming season is that we might see someone else pulling the strings on the field, if not off the field. It may be not imminent but one thing is for sure, rafa is nearing slowly and slowly towards the exit door. I am not a big fan of the gaffer. But that doesnt matter, he has a big fanbase. Rafa says that we have moved a few steps upwards in these 5 years. Yes, he is a great tactician no doubt in that, but his very own "dont want to lose, dont want to concede" attitude has made that final step almost indomitable, and we are still on the ladder, waiting for our chance. But one thing that you cant deny is that he has made liverpool a great european force once again and its true that he has taken the club some steps closer to the 19th. Once the players cross the white line there’s little more he can do and as far as I’m concerned some of the players have badly let him down, especially Kuyt, our Mr. Duracell, who was being touted as the player of the season last term. No-one can doubt his commitment, his desire to keep fighting, high energy levels and all. but this season has been entirely different for him, completely out of sorts. But you cant blame just one person for these desperate times. Gerrard and Torres, the two stalwarts of this never so desperate liverpool side, have been found either injured or sulking during the games through out this season. you cannot match for what StevieG has done for this club, but i think the time has come for the club to return in favour. This player has been the lifeline of the club for some years but the time has come to let him choose what he wants. Some people still think that the club without Steven Gerrard will not do well. but they do forget the fact that the club is always bigger than the player. He is already thirty and we have to find a replacement for him as soon as possible, we have to get out of our cocoon of emotions and start thinking beyond Steven Gerrard.
We are in a situation, and only we know how to get out of it. Whatever happens the next day, we will have to keep fighting this club represents something more than just football, the undefinable something that we cant possibly explain. it represents a family of people woven together with love, by history, shared grief, shared elation, shared anger. We have no alternative but to fight on till the last minute. May be people think its over, we are finished. No no no...big mistake..you cant catch the spirit...WE ARE IMMORTAL

YNWA



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WHAT A buffoonery - LALIT MODI!!!

The exclusion of Pakistani players from IPL3 has caused a major setback in meliorating the ties between the two countries. The whole blame goes to MODI for plying cabal against Pakistani players. India has always wanted to appease Pakistan. Our media and other societies are trying their level best to improve the relations with them. This decision has caused great acrimony amongst both the countries and has caused pandemonium in the world of cricket.

Pakistan sports minister condemned the decision. This act was done even when the Pakistani players had no problems in acquiring visas. The current situation is that such puerile acts can give a spark to a conflagration in ties of neighbours.

PCB accused Modi for besmirching of Pakistani players. The list of 11 Pakistani players were to be auctioned to the teams but none of them were bided upon. The teams were told not to go for them by asinine M r MODI.

This act will give a bad impression of our nation in the world of sports. Sports should never be mixed with politics. Cricket is considered to be the main tool for propitiating the ties with Pakistan.
I think some action should be taken against Modi. He has also been associated in foiling the career of CRIS CAIRNS by accusing him of match fixing. For him to circulate such a falsehood around the world is outrageous.

Modi did not allow Cairns to participate in IPL3.  Mr Modi's allegation has caused a  predicament for blackcap superstar and might even end his career in acrimony. MODI should think pragmatically before taking any decision.
I think time has come when BCCI should sack Modi and make some astute person the chairman of IPL so  that India’s reputations as a respectable cricketing nation should survive.













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An Insight !!








An article appeared in the New York Times regarding the "China Could Learn From Henry Ford" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/world/asia/20iht-letter.html?ref=world) as being a symbol of the tiresome paradoxical situation that the Chinese economy is facing now. For the past few decades Chinese government have been able to sustain themselves by keeping the prices of goods they produce very low and taken over the entire foreign export market.

Very soon China is going to overtake the German economy in the race of being the number one exporter. However as widely discussed it steps have come up with a clause of keeping its Renminbi prices stable across the world standard that is the dollar. China has kept this constant to fuel and refuel its production units by providing the same low prices it has been providing foreign communities since ever. This situation has predisposed the Chinese economy and worsened the situations of the people living in them.

Henry Ford employed some of the millions of East European immigrants who poured into the United States a century ago, as well as migrants from the South and Midwest lured by high wages. China's leaders must deal with hundreds of millions of rural laborers coming to cities, who put downward pressure on salaries. "Unskilled workers are condemned for generations to low wages," Mr. Xiao said. Even a skilled worker like Gong — who also asked that his full name not be used — said he makes only 6 renminbi an hour as a welder at Ford's Chongqing plant, 9 renminbi an hour for overtime. "I have a dream of someday buying a car," said Gong, 29, as he walked home in the rain after a 10-hour shift. "I guess it will take six years of saving."

If Google and Baidu are not the abstract examples then what more do we need! In race for the ultimate supremacy Chinese government has compensated with the creation of the middle class. It is only the elite group and the commoners who reside within its premises. Most of the people still remain underpaid to supplant the low prices that the government has fixed. This has much to do with the world in general ass the third largest economy is still not sufficient to pay all its bearers. But the complication arises when the underpaid workers start to buy they would convert this export driven economy to an import driven entity.

Thus it results in risking the low value of Renminbi that the Chinese government has tried to maintain since years. Thus creation of the middle class would destroy the old China however might lead it to the creation of a fair and much more communist capitalist state with clichés

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Obama's- Health Care -A History?






Obama only unprecedented and commemorating victory now faces jeopardy as Republican Scott Brown has stunned Massachusetts based Democrat Martha Coakley, to fill the Senate seat of the late Edward Kennedy. Well what is prophetic is that now the Obama’s policies especially the health bill is going to be the scapegoat of politic pretensions. With the health care bill under the senate and nearly passed entitling every American born to social security through medical facility from the side of the government stands at a disrupting juncture. 
Previously 60 senate votes to Obama gave him the three fifth majorities required to control any further filibuster or pervading talks on the matter. This sudden change is going to cause his certain entanglement and loss. Republican will keep the heated discussion and prevent any passage of the health care bill.

It is just all around the same feeling last year in January when the Minnesota when Democrat Al Franken beat Republican incumbent Norm Coleman to win the U.S. Senate seat from Minnesota, and after conducting a final recount outcome found Franken edged Coleman by 225 votes out of nearly 2.9 million votes cast, but Coleman's lawyers complained the recount was conducted unfairly and promised a court contest that could take weeks to resolve.
Thus previously it was these meagre 225 votes that had controlled the filibuster from happening however the government of Obama stands highly vulnerable to any shock and much of its policies are going to feel the heat of the day.
"If Scott Brown wins, it'll kill the health bill," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

Democrats control 60 votes in the Senate, enough to thwart a Republican filibuster of Obama's near-complete health care plan. If Coakley wins, she has said, she will vote, as Kennedy did, with the 57 other Democrats and two independents who side with them. Brown has made clear he would vote against the health plan, which all other Republicans oppose; giving Senate Republicans the 41st vote they need to block the legislation.

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Yuan faces 'Liquidity Correction'


It seems a lot that the Chinese Yuan is now facing the heat of excessive liquidity. With so much stimulus and easy lending the economy is at a juncture of possible downturn hence more contractive measures are being taken to reverse the process. China’s Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday said China will manage the pace of credit growth and the nation’s chief banking regulator, Liu Mingkang, said in an interview today that some banks were asked to reduce lending after they failed to meet capital requirements.
“We have a number of regulatory requirements to ensure prudent supervision,” Liu said. “For those that failed to meet these standards, we told them to limit lending.”
Chinese banks extended a record 9.59 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) in new loans last year to help finance the nation’s 4 trillion yuan stimulus package, stoking concerns of asset bubbles and worsening credit quality.
“In terms of monetary policy, China’s overall trend is heading for tightening this year to keep economic bubbles from bursting, but officials are also trying to sustain and expand the economic growth with budgetary tools,” said Kyohei Morita, chief economist at Barclays Capital in Tokyo. “That’s a difficult and narrow path to walk through.”
However the slated rules still predict this as a possible asset bubble that can burst any time. With the record spending in the past year maybe a slight correcting might derail if something unlikely is to happen.
China is still trying to keep its pace with respect to the dollar nearly equal to the paramount number of 6.83 per dollar since 2008 however recently there has been a huge change of 21 percent of the same, henceforth the credit is being tightened for any form of financial shock if Chinese economy decided to appreciate to its original standards wiping many of its indigenous economies.

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Haiti in disaster


Troubled events still stand as fear in Haiti as little is being able done to cope with the disastrous quake that has shaken its premises. The airport that stands midway between the rescue operations and the sufferers still stand under partial amendment after being disturbed by the same. Haiti one of the poorest countries in the world stands in ruin as world over people from all strata gather to pull it out.
The two former American presidents in hands with Obama announced the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to help raise money for Haitians suffering from the devastating earthquake that struck Jan. 12. A Web site to collect donations is at www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.
“At the request of President Obama, we are partnering to help the Haitian people reclaim their country and build back not only their infrastructure but also their unwavering spirit,” a message on the Web site says. “Right now, we must act immediately to save as many lives as possible.”

The site suggests donations ranging from $25 to $1,000 or more. The two ex-presidents said 100 percent of all donations will go toward relief and recovery efforts in Haiti.
Twitter and Facebook have won the game in mass mobilisation with mere 8 million dollars through continuous texting. There has been a follow up of almost 35 million dollars with much more to come through these social community sites.
This is by far the worst quake ever. Haitian President Rene Preval is imploring the international community to better coordinate the massive aid effort for his country and not to squabble over how to provide it.
Preval says it is “an extremely difficult situation. We must keep our cool to do coordination and not to throw accusations at each other.” Preval spoke to The Associated Press on Saturday after a French minister complained that US controllers had turned two French relief flights away from Haiti’s clogged and damaged main airport.
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