Humpty Dumpty

The recent performance of equity markets worldwide brings back memories of the nursery rhyme--Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall.

It goes something like this

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the King's horses and all the King's men,
Couldn't put Humpty back together again.

Now just substitute select words with the following:

Humpty Dumpty = Capital Markets
King = Fed
His Horses = CEOs, CIOs, CxO's
His Men = Bernanke
Wall = Wall Street

How much ever our CEOs, CIOs and CxO's try... I cannot see them putting back this Humpty Dumpty (capital markets) back together again in the next 3-4 years (which is a lifetime in the financial arena).

Today the Indian Humpty Dumpty fell around 875 points. Yesterday it fell by 1408 or so. Mr. Chidambaram called a protocol meeting (finally) and told the retail investors not to worry.

Many people would advise this is the right time to buy, hence the market shall rise again. I feel the market might dip more based on more US recession news/data. Who knows--I may be wrong, I am not a Warren Buffet or a Harry Potter.

When I had landed in B'bay in mid-april '07, Sensex was trading at a "paltry" 13,000 pts. Didn't pay much attention to the news ticker which runs at the bottom of the TV screen as I was more interested in the Abhi-Aish wedding bash. How time flies.... My ex-VP has been investing in the markets ever since it was in its mid-2,000's way back in the early 1990's.

The main question here is... can our markets sustain the 20k+ limit? Are our stocks overvalued? Is Reliance the culprit? Is our market still immature? Can I turn back time to when my ex-VP had invested his first salary in the markets?

I throw the floor open to you.

Still trying...

As you would have noticed--I am still trying to perfect Accidental Economist's layout, template and formatting. So, don't be surprised to see something totally new every now and then. :)

Btw, this picture ... i got it from google images.. I think it was from an Economist Ad (that would explain all the red) seeking fresh hires. Wish I got that job.

Here are a few jobs which I am interested in:

(1) Economist World Bank
(2) Economist IMF
(3) Economist ADB
(4) Toothbrush Salesman

In case you are in knowledge of openings in Jobs (1), (2) and (3)--do let me know. Job (4) can wait as its not toothbrush season, and the attrition rates among toothbrush salesmen is not high at the moment.

Je suis Légende

Dear reader, by now you probably must've guessed what this post is about. Yes, its about Mr. Will Smith's new movie "I am Legend." I saw this movie yesterday and it got me thinking--what it would be like if tomorrow I wake up and discover that everything living has been turned into a zombie and I am the only survivor in Kottivakkam? (Obviously, as I am not fortunate enough to live in New York--yet).

Back to the eerie topic--I figured that I would be shit scared for one and secondly it wouldn't make much of a difference as Kottivakkam is quite a dead place anyway. Yeah, I know it is famous for the Tidel Park, IT Parks, etc but aren't we BPO/KPO/IT/ITES employees walking zombies anyway? The graveyard shifts, dog tags (which they have heartlessly rechristined as ID tags), half dead colleagues, etc. all these translate to zombie-ville.

Anyways, I have strayed away from the topic (again). Mr. Smith had the good fortune of having several guns by his side (always). The only weapon I have access to is a rubberband and few pieces of chalk and crumpled paper.

So, with all the guns that he had, he embarked everyday to hunt for wild animals (mostly deer)--was wondering if the filmmakers ever thought of renaming the film as "Good Will Hunting." Sorry PJ.

I like the scene where Good Will enters a zombie "hive" and the floor is scattered with 100 dollar bills. The sheer uselessness of money at that point of time--shown very well.

Well, the whole virus outbreak theory--is quite scary according to me. There's this other movie you can watch if you are interested-- its called "28 Days Later" -- same story but much more well made. No fancy weapons or animals. Just humans who have gotten affected by a Rage virus. Now that's scary.

I have two more scary DVD's to devour--"30 Days of Nights" and "1408". Will let you know what I think of them.

Till then...

b'bye.

Blogman Begins

Well, here I am... I have finally jumped on to the blogging bandwagon after much delay (thanks to my pal Baidik who coaxed me into it). 

I have absolutely no idea as to what i would be filling up here and if it would be a regular practice at all. This blog has no rhyme or reason for its survival. It should be shot buried and forgotten about. This is a "blog without a cause".

Now the very reason I chose the heading "Accidental Economist", is becoz thats what I am. By pure accident, I ended up graduating with a Masters degree in Economics. How disgusting. It has its plus points though.... I like it when people look all wide eyed and say "Economics?!? No way! Man, its such a boring subject. You must be really smart... yada yada yada." Then comes the tough part: "Hey my cousin/distant relative is planning to study economics. Any tips? What would his/her career path be like? etc etc etc." Now u know why its such a big accident. Poor souls. Like the joke goes -- 

Q: "What do u call an economist with a prediction?"
A: "Wrong."


Anyhoo... talking about all things wrong... welcome to my blog. Hope u enjoy it and don't crib about it's imperfections / shortcomings; and just pray that I come up with something worth reading (by my standards) to keep it updated every now and then.

Ciao.