The Correct Turn What good is giving books to girls when their faces are going to be etched via acid? US should be bombing these animals as well as giving books. Not one or the other! Delusional as arjun says!

The Correct Turn Kaal, let tahmed get the answer from his favorite bloodstained coat hanger. :-)

The Correct Turn wait..pakistan has a navy????

G-8: RIP? Lets take Neembu for example. For all the brow beating and randi rona about corporates and wall street etc, her pension fund still allocates towards Alternatives and open market positions as part of running a balanced portfolio. over 90% of americans are vested in someway,directly or indirectly in the stock market. Now compare that to how many americans are invested in the auto industry, eithe directly or indirectly.

On a global basis, if you look at large emerging markets like India and china, domestic flows constitute the bulk of the investments in the capital markets. FII flows while significant over time are becoming less and less as percentage of the total. And these markets are highly regulated, no shorting, strict rules on derivative trading, lack of rating prowess for corporates etc etc...yet when the markets here sneezed, both countries caught the flu. Russia had to shut down the exchange for two days.

so going to back to DM's point about death of the G8, I think the demise is a bit premature. And unilke the postulates provided by Romair, which come form a world is flat perspective, and offer really no tangible evidence of what the world will look like other than chinkoos and muslims and indians will be mroe in number...the reality of global leadership is firmly placed in the hands of the US for decades upon decades to come.

G-8: RIP? Kaal, who would be doing this?

As far as the second point...gains are always made based on asymmetric information....so I don't see how that is relevant. Individual greed is not a bad thing. People can ofcourse argue about that.

G-8: RIP? No no no kaal, it is not about beating the house....the metaphor of the casino was merely a way to show that the system for wealth creation is going to change from human intervention in production of goods and services to trading of ideas where values can be assigned to those ideas. Unlike a casino where the house always wins...in this scenario the equity owners of the casinos are people themselves....it has already started....people investing in exotics through pension funds...was the beginning...stock exchanges themselves going public allows for greater participation for folks in this paradigm.

This recent correction in asset values calls for a deeper review of risk not abolishing of the instruments.

G-8: RIP? Ok..so here is my view on what will humans do. We will either trade those things made by machines, who made us redundant as part of the production cycle, or we will trade the derivatives of those the things we trade. The fastest growing segment of the global GDP is....drumroll...financial services!!! innovation is not just limited to tangible items but also to esoteria like derivative products.

We have gone through a massive correction brought about by one type of derivative instrument.but we are still trading weather derivates, futures contracts in commodoties and currencies, options on equities, clos, heck I just saw a structured note by BNP with the underlying corporate debt of AAA rated companies at quite a significant yield.

The world is heading towards being a casino...and those who can bet correctly will win. It has nothing to do with how many people a country has.

Someone posted an article by Bhagwati below...his kaleidoscope of comparative growth theory is much much better than the world if flat mantra espoused by friedman types who think numbers matter.

G-8: RIP? DM sahib, it is not just the manner in which learning is offered. Take a look at Indian entreprenuers in America for example. It is also a systemic push towards capitalization and monetization of ideas. access to capital, legal protection of ideas, and avenues in which to monetize your innovation is what makes US like no other place in the world. No one even comes close and won't for a very very long time.

Hail Obama Look, it is really simple. A man who sits down when he pees cannot be respected. it's like a rule or something.

G-8: RIP? Actually, not really romario...India even at it's height of having a quater of global trade was not a wealthy country. India was rich, but Indians were poor. Same goes for China.

actually, I don;t agree that one needs people to survive. It is not that some people have started to disappear, it is that they are becoming diluted. The largest growing segment of population in amreeka and the west is not indian or chinese or arab....it is the MUTTS. The MUTTS shall inherit the earth.


Middle ages is a poor example because the standard of living of the avgt person in europe was not much different from that of one in arabia or india or china. In the modern times there has been tremendous disparity between the west and the east or north and the south.

It still doesn't answer what will humans do. Say in 50 years, robots and mahines produce everything we need, computers make service jobs obsolete, automation makes us redundant. What will you do?

I will give you a hint...look at the growth in the share of the Financial Services industry over the last 50 years then think Vegas.

The Muslim Protagonist and the Past Three Years I don;t think so adnan.

The Muslim Protagonist and the Past Three Years Who hates Indian muslims, adnan? I think everyone hates the jihadi types....as they should.

G-8: RIP? Romario, Growth and more importantly wealth creation is not just about manpower.if that was the case, you would have india and china growing at 2% a year and be wealthy countries with indonesia, egypt, pakistan holding up the rear.

It is about innovation. Human intervention in production is getting less and less as we innovate. From products to services (that's why IT consultants stay in budget hotels and not the waldorf astoria anymore) innovation I.e. Automation has reduced human intervention....in this paradigm, having a lot of manpower is not actually a benefit but a liability.
So the question for you...is...what will human do to create wealth when automation makes them obsolete? I have some ideas...but eagerly await the intellectuals to offer up their views.

Sonal Shah to Help Divide Obama\'s Victory Spoils Oye Obama was on 60 mins last night...and steve croft didn't bring up Sonal Shah, once. Can you believe that? Doesn't the mainstream media care about what is important for pakistanis?

Hail Obama Let GM go bankrupt...the US gov't should take part in the restructuring process.

Hail Obama but you can use coat hangers to keep those slave chicks in line..you so you standrardbearer of islam