Status Quo Plus One in MCA

Well the much awaited CC meeting in MCA has come and gone. As the President continues to lick his wounds of defeat, Vice President Liow ascended to deputyship, albeit by a simple majority vote. I guess, he may just be a temporary seat warmer.

Whatever happened to the guts of Kho Cho Ha is anybody's guess. Poor chap. He was seen as a potential take-over candidate. He seems to have given up.

So the status? No one is out of the woods as far MCA is concerned. The battle drags on.

After 5 hours of indecision at the CC Meeting, Ong Tee Keat had to invoke his presidential powers to call for another extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to decide whether the party should hold fresh elections.

These five hours of horsetrading showed a new pattern of support emerging. It appears that there are clearly three groups in the central committee. One, the Ong loyalists, then a splinter group of Ong's faction led by Liow Tiong Lai and finally Dr Chua's supporters.

As an imminent EGM looms, the party becomes more fractured than ever.

These may be early hours but Dr. Chua's group is not waiting to lose lead time. They have dug their heels in to ready themselves for this new EGM, much to the dismay of those who wanted to distribute the 'spoils of war' even before Tee Kiat can get out of his chair honourably.

Things may not be looking too good for Liow as he has been seen to be too impatient to move up from his current Vice Presidentship. His coterie of supporters are also seen as a treacherous lot!

The initiated knows that nothing new is going to come out of the new EGM. It will again be a stalemate of sorts as both Ong Tee Kiat and Dr. Chua cross swords again. It will be a Pyrrhic victory for whosoever wins as half the party will never be with him, heart and soul.

Desertion is on the cards as DAP and PKR awaits the eventual fall-out. It is theirs to gain and MCA, to lose big time.

Financialization...What a Word!

This is a very cynical article from James Pinkerton of Foxnews. It is about the bailout of Corporate America. It was written on the coat-tail of the Dow rising above the psychological 10,000 mark on 14 October 2009.

I append:

"So the Dow hits 10,000--great! President Obama should get some credit. But I suspect that others could have done the same thing, by following the same formula. For example, if I had borrowed,printed or otherwise conjured up more than $12 trillion, and pumped it mostly into the financial sector, I could have made something happen. What would happen? Most likely, Wall Street would start, uh, bubbling again, even as unemployment rose and the rest of the country languished.

Of course, as I sought to make my Wall Street medicine go down, smoothly, I would have to overlook a scandalously upward redistribution of income. Exhibit A in that upward wealth transfer: The nine biggest banks receiving $175 billion in bailout money, nevertheless paid their employees $32 billion in bonuses last year. That’s our money, into their pockets. Neither a muckraker, nor a Marxist, could ever find a purer example of the government serving as a tool of the ruling class.

But if the bailouts have their critics, they also have their defenders. Most of the political-intellectual establishment, which may or may not like Obama, nonetheless accepts the Bob Rubin-ite argument that “financialization” is inevitable and desirable--what’s good for Wall Street is good for America.

Well, we’re testing that proposition now, aren’t we?"

Bailouts speak for themselves. The effects however can be bitter!

Hitting the Magic 10,000

It finally did it! The Dow finally breached the psychological 10,000 points.

Associated Press contributed to the report below:

The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 10,000 on Wednesday (14 Oct), a testament to the stock market's powerful rebound from last year's financial crisis but also to a lost decade that has left many individual investors worse off than they were 10 years ago.

Strong third-quarter earnings from bellwether companies such as JP Morgan Chase and Co and Intel Corp, powered the powered the blue-chip index up 144.80 points, or 1.5 percent, to 10,015.86, the capstone to a furious seven-month rally driven by hope that the punishing global recession is slowly giving way.

The retaking of the 10,000 level marks an improbable turnaround from a brutal bear market, when the Dow plunged 54 percent from October 2007 through early March in the wake of a meltdown in the home-mortgage market, a crash in housing prices and the worst downturn since the Great Depression.

The recovery has been paced by aggressive government activity that alleviated fears of a global financial collapse and resulted in largely improving economic data. The speed and intensity of the rally has spurred fear that stocks are outrunning the still-weak economy and could fall hard again if the economy succumbs to a double-dip recession.

Others point out that the market has consistently defied naysayers and can hold its gains. "There's still room to keep going," said Phil Roth, a market analyst at brokerage house Miller Tabak & Co. "You have be careful how you play the rally, but it would be a bigger mistake to fight it."

Still, reclaiming 10,000 highlights the deep scars that many individual investors have suffered over the last decade and underscores the sharp divide today between the renewed prosperity of Wall Street and the still-deep struggles of Main Street.

The Dow first crossed 10,000 in March 1999 before the popping of the Internet-stock bubble prompted a bruising bear market early this decade.

The Dow is up a spectacular 53 percent from the 12-year low it reached in March, but it must rise 41 percent from its current level just to match its October 2007 record high.

"In 1999, we thought this was the beginning of a rocket ship riding to Dow 20,000," said Art Hogan of Jefferies & Co. "This time around, we're hitting it because we've moved away from the edge of the abyss."

Now, Wall Street giants such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs Group Inc are notching blockbuster profits.

Yet consumers are still grappling with rising unemployment, shattered home values and decimated 401(k) retirement accounts.

The economic recovery could be slower and generate fewer jobs than previous recoveries have, producing an even more pronounced gap between economic haves and have-nots, said economist Allen Sinai.

"There's a dramatic night-and-day juxtaposition of a booming stock market and rich financial firms, and jobless Americans," Sinai said. "Part of the prosperity we're seeing on Wall Street is because of massive job losses, which preserve profits" of American companies.

What a paradox- a preservation of profits at the expense of massive job losses.

Is this the new American Dream?

Can We forgive this Man?

The pre-Independence years was such a tumultuous time.

The good guys who fought the Japanese somehow became the bad guys because they continue to fight against British colonialism. They were called terrorists as they were on the other side. Even though they were inclined towards Communist China, its hard to pin them down to that ideology.

On the political front, even far sighted Onn Jaafar lost the proverbial crown to the Tunku and had to turn his liberal beliefs on its head by setting up the much failed Independence Malaya Party.

Ong Boon Hua, more commonly known as Chin Peng, was one of the three top freedom fighters of the MPAJA during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya. He is now old and weary and wants to come home to die in his hometown of Sitiawan, Perak.

He was a hero and his exploits against the Japanese are the stuff of legends. However, to many, he was an anti-hero and traitor. After the Insurgency, he was outlawed to somewhere in Thailand. He was also seen in Australia.

Chin Peng has fought all the levels and rungs in the Judiciary system in an attempt to come home to die in his home town. All his efforts have failed.

The current government in power intends to remain in a populist mode; and will not forgive this old man. As far as they are concerned, he is a traitor and is forever banned from coming home.

He celebrated his 85th birthday early this year. It was a surprise party hosted by friends, oddly at a Japanese restaurant.

The former secretary-general of the outlawed Communist Party of Malaya was actually born on the 21st day of the ninth lunar month in 1924, according to the Chinese calendar. By his family’s reckoning, the date is equivalent to Oct 19. So, the celebration is 4 days too soon.

Ong grew up in a large working-class family which did not believe in celebrating birthdays, let alone having cake. Surprisingly, Malaysia’s former Public Enemy No.1 has a sweet tooth.

He received a box of Godiva chocolates and was treated to a fruit meringue cake, which he heartily devoured.

Asked about the strange choice of restaurant, the anti-colonialist who also waged guerrilla attacks against the Japanese during World War Two, said: “This is not my first time eating Japanese food. I can eat both Asian and European.”

The way things are, the government will unlikely grant a reprieve for Chin Peng to come home alive. Perhaps, his remains may some day find its way home to Sitiawan.

How sad!

Life is like a Mayonaisse Jar

When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
And had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things - family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions –
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' He continued,
'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

'Take care of the golf balls first --
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled..
'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

Can You See It?

Can you see it?

Scrutinize and lo and behold, you will SEE it!

More Solid figures for China Trade

China is obviously doing something right. Their trade figures demonstrates convincingly that global demand for goods has increased.

This Reuters report tells the story.

"BEIJING, Oct 14 — China reported surprisingly strong trade figures on Wednesday, providing fresh evidence that the world’s third-largest economy is firmly on a recovery track and that global demand is improving too.

Exports in September fell 15.2 per cent from a year earlier, beating forecasts of a 21 per cent fall, while imports fell just 3.5 per cent — well short of expectations of a 15.3 per cent decline, the General Administration of Customs said.

Brian Jackson, an economist at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong, said the slower pace of decline was good news for China’s recovery because growth this year has depended too much on the government’s 4 trillion yuan (RM1.98 trillion) stimulus package.

Indeed, after adjustments to take account of the number of working days in each month, exports rose 6.3 per cent in September from August and imports rose 8.3 per cent, Customs said.

“Stronger external demand will provide an alternative source of support for growth and provide scope for Beijing to start tightening policy gradually from early 2010,” Jackson said.

With imports showing strength, China’s trade surplus fell to US$12.9 billion (RM43.5 billion) last month from US$15.7 billion in August. Markets had expected a figure of US$17.0 billion.

Economists expect the year-on-year readings in exports to keep improving. Trade slumped after a shock to confidence from the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008, creating an increasingly favourable statistical base of comparison as 2009 wears on.

Nomura said it expected the year-on-year change in exports to turn positive by December. Barclays Capital said it could be as early as November.

“Overall, export performance will be much better in the months to come. I think it’s going to be sustainable and it’s going to accelerate. There are some rush orders coming to China for Christmas, so I expect probably a pretty strong rebound in November and December,” said Dong Tao, chief China economist for Credit Suisse in Hong Kong.

Yu Song and Helen Qiao at Goldman Sachs said calendar quirks — there were more working days last month than in September 2008 — were not the only explanation for the relatively robust data.

“We believe the underlying growth momentum of exports and imports has been improving, on the back of continued strength in the domestic economy as well as the increasingly visible signs of recovery in external demand,” they said in a note to clients.

Mingchun Sun with Nomura in Hong Kong agreed. He said China was busy buying more investment goods, to implement the infrastructure-centred stimulus package, as well as consumer goods following an unexpected spending boom lately in China.

Commodities were a driving force behind the sharp improvement in imports. China bought a record 64.55 million tonnes of iron ore in September, up 30 per cent from August; imports of copper rose 23 per cent, propelling Shanghai’s benchmark copper futures contract to a 0.5 per cent gain at 0640 GMT.

“The Chinese economy is obviously strong and that has created demand for copper,” said David Moore, a commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Annual economic growth probably accelerated to 8.9 per cent in the third quarter, from 7.9 per cent in the second, according to economists polled by Reuters. The figures are due on Oct. 22.

The Shanghai stock market halved its gains to end up 1.17 per cent, a four-week closing high, while currency traders started building in expectations of renewed appreciation in the yuan.

China halted the currency’s three-year climb against the dollar in July 2008 to protect the country’s vast export sector.

But economists say that Beijing will eventually want to let the yuan resume its rise to boost domestic demand and so help rebalance both the Chinese and the global economies — a key aim of the Group of 20 forum, where Beijing is an influential voice.

Seems China's trade figures are good enough to continue to fuel its industry and growth as Christmas draws nearer.