Here I Go Again #2

Am currently writing this in the train on the way to King's Cross. I didn't know all East Coast trains had free WiFi on them, although a little slower. But it makes the 5 hours a lot more enjoyable, haha. I'll be in King's Cross in under 2 hours time. Till then~

Here I Go Again

I'm off to London in about an hour's time. Then it's a night at Paul's place and then KL!! Whoop!

Feel's good to be home~ it always does.
Song of the Moment: The Kinks - This Time Tomorrow

Hypocrisy

Here we have dozens of opposition figures, being detained without proof of court order, and ex-PM Anwar claims to be held for a while by Immigration officers. I foresee a sequel of the 1987 hit under the PM's predecessor.

A couple of questionable press statements were made in recent days, but it all began with the now-famous line Saya Pantang Dicabar. Then we became more hostile in foreign relations, telling people to 'lay off', and that these are 'internal affairs'. Hmm I guess the same psychological mindsets can be used against one, like... how 'bout laying off Myanmar for instance, .. and laying off Palestine, laying off Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Venezuela, Russia, Taiwan, etc?

Governments of the world nowadays I tell you, are always trying to hump the other country when no one's looking, damn busybody wan.

Ok now, 31 people are charged for attempted murder filed by the AG himself, and the hearing's next year. Hmm, I guess he means that the poor guy got whacked hard by the 31 accused. Yes, like a Rambo scenario, 1 on 31. Well I'd agree to that if that's the case, but .. fat chance.

Or maybe it wasn't about the poor chap, but the officers in general. Harm probably would be a better term to use, without any malicious intent. It's exaggeration by calling it attempted murder. Say, if I happen to be an innocent bystander, and you lob tear gas into my face, shoot water at me, then rough me up with batons and shields, I'd be blowing the whole thing out of proportion and risk losing my case if I decide to sue and call it attempted murder. See what I'm trying to get at?

So, back to the original topic, when one wielding power feels threatened by the fear of losing it, one silences his opposition. Ah, the classics. But we'll have to be glad as well lah, I mean imagine if it was under the Tun's patriarchal rule, even bloggers will be detained with ISA nowadays lol. Then I'd be afraid. Heh. Remember the AUKU(Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti), that was a mean one.

The author decided that he'll probably let out a wee bit of steam from exam preparation and there'll be a few more rants because he's in the mood to do so. Heh. Don't blame him, blame accounting.

Accountancy Sucks

With an accounting exam this Friday, I'm still struggling with the basics because of myself missing out lectures. That, and also because I hate accounting.

Why lah have to study accounting. You're probably asking now, why is this sohai fella studying something he doesn't like. Because.. I need it, it complements finance. Sigh.

So, I've compiled 5 reasons why I hate accounting.
#1 It's boring. There's no doubt about that.

#2 Churning the same numbers over and over again.. sucks. Not only that, I have to create 20+ accounts and cross reference them here and there and close them all again. Sien.

#3 Being an idiot, 30% of the time my balance sheets don't balance.

#4 Not only does my balance sheet not balance, my trial balance doesn't balance sometimes.

#5 Accountants are boring fat chums sitting behind desks dressed in short ties and boyish haircuts churning numbers all day long, only to leave at 5pm driving their Proton Wira back home to their rented apartment, to their fat wife and fat kids, watching Astro WahLaiToi at night.

Ok that last part after leaving work .. is completely unnecessary. All made up hahaha.. and that completes my rant this time around. kthxbai.

Today's Topic

Since there's an economics exam tomorrow, today's topic will be on economics!

Boooo... sau pei lah, so free until blog about economics? Sien douu..talk about something else la tiuu..

I admit it's a desperate and stale topic, but it'll be educational! =P

Ok, to show everyone the power of failing to understand the basics of economics, please turn over to look at Zimbabwe, once dubbed the the Kitchen of Africa (or something along those lines). President Robert Mugabe (a graduate of the same university I'm at, eek!) and his version of Mugabenomics has created a typical textbook version of hyperinflation which is a good study for any economist, and in the process, made everyone in the country unwilling millionaires. The gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire will surely be condemned in this situation.

It all started when his government seized control of commercial farms, controlling all food output. That put workers out of jobs, and pretty much destroyed the agricultural industry. Then what happens, is a recession, followed by inflation.

US$50 makes u half a millionaire in Zimbabwe.

So, as each day passes during the inflation period, the government's coffers are getting emptied, so, unable to pay for the high prices of stuff, the Central Bank prints more money to finance it's expenditures. Beeep, wrong move. Effectively, as of now, the government is probably bankrupted, but it still prints money to finance it's expenditures.

Official inflation rate is at 7500%, but unofficial ones predict above 15000%. Official exchange rate is at 250ZW$ per US$ but black market rates push past 120,000ZW$ (120,000,000 in old currencies) per US$. Golfers prefer to buy drinks before they tee-off because by the time they come back they won't be able to afford the drinks.

That's gone too.

Being the master of his own version of economics, President Mugabe ordered inflation to be illegal, banks do not allow more than $10000 to be withdrawn in a day, and in order to buy support from his allies, has promised to triple current salaries to $33m a month, and printing even more money to flood his close circle of allies with.

So we all know that the theory in Mugabenomics is doing everything contrary to the economic dogma practised everywhere. One should cease printing money because printing money isn't gonna work, it only makes the current amount of money even more worthless. One should also not continue spending, but the government cannot afford to cut it's expenditure (to maintain support), and are using draconian policies to stem money growth. Price controls and economy regulation exacerbate the situation. But President Mugabe did it anyway, and even forced a legislation to say that prices are to be cut by 50%.

This corrodes confidence in both the government, and the money. So people will move back to the stone ages where barter trade is used. Once, money was stored in the bank, now money is stored as bread. The newest currency is $20million in plastic bag of $500 notes. (The $500 note cannot be used to even buy one ply of tissue paper.)

The latest currency is bags of money.

For the people, a majority of whom depend on remittances in US$, or earn in South African rands, are coping well with the situation. But poor souls who are trapped have to suffer and rely on aid organisations distributing food.

At this point, if you're still failing to grasp the theory of hyperinflation. Take your bank balance, let's say $100 push it back by 5/6 zeros, then try to buy a 30 cents loaf of bread with that. Kind of tough isn't it. That's if you were unlucky enough to have your money in a bank when that happens. Ok, enough for today, I feel smarter already typing through all this.

The author would like to clarify that he's not a boring person with no life but studying economics and talking about politics. Nononono, that's not true. He's in fact an ah-beng who slacks around, plays DotA, talks crap, and listens to trance, techno, dance, electronic, n house. He also lives most of his life on Facebook, and MSN. =P