- take time to write down everything you want or dream about having
- describe in words the person you want to become
- collect pictures of things that inspire you
- gather together all the music that uplift you
- read of all the books you can get hold of
- make notes to stick on your mirror or wall
- carry them in your purse
- put them in your dashboard
- Etc..etc..
- in other words surround yourself with reminders of positive things that inspire you to do something!
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Sunday, November 30, 2008
You Are What You Think About....
If you are anything like me you probably spend most of your day worrying or thinking about negative things in your life now.It's human condition that we concern about things that have gone wrong.We all know about positive thinking but still we struggle.Then how to control your thoughts?
Thursday, November 27, 2008
“Governance Reform in Asia: Cultural Perspectives” Part 2
31. Inflow of foreign funds must also be overseen. One of the problems faced by unregulated investment in stock market is the massive and sudden dumping of shares when things look bad or are expected to become bad. The sudden outflow of funds will have a deleterious effect on a country’s economy.
32. Foreign holdings in any local company should be limited. This is especially so for banks and insurance companies.
33. Governments must be prepared to regulate free trade. Where necessary import duties and excise duties should be used to protect local industries.
34. Exchange rates need to be realistic. Free floats needs to be looked at with caution. Where possible fixed exchange rates may be adopted and currency trading be made illegal.
35. Whatever the policy adopted to cope with this worldwide economic crisis, reforms of governance must still be made to provide for efficient Government i.e. efficient bureaucracy. Efficient bureaucracy must mean minimal bureaucratic procedures.
36. Corruption is the bane of all countries. It cannot be totally eliminated. But it can be reduced if bureaucratic procedures are minimal and take the shortest time possible. Any delay must suggest corruption and investigations must be carried out.
37. Government requirements in order to gain approval of anything must be very clear and must be made known to the public. Where compliance is full there should be no delay in approvals.
38. Being business-friendly is necessary in order to maximise private sector contribution towards economic development. It is the duty of Governments to find out what complaints the private sector has and to remedy them.
39. Some of what has been mentioned regarding reforms of governance are not really reforms. And some of the others would be too late to prevent the effects of the financial crisis of America and Europe from hitting Asian countries. But they are necessary nevertheless. They may be able to reduce the impact and perhaps enable earlier recovery.
40. The countries of Asia will have very different problems depending on the stages of their development, their resources and how much they are hitched to the global financial systems. Those which have depended on foreign credit or have been involved in investments in foreign funds would suffer most.
41. On the other had those with large reserves in foreign currencies or have big savings may be able to reduce somewhat the impact of the crisis.
42. Whatever may be the impact of the financial crisis the judicious measures in the governance of the economy will still prove helpful. The important thing is to ignore old habits of imitating everything the rich western countries does. Asian countries must in fact initiate changes, including those to the monetary and financial systems.
43. Asians have always believed in the role of Government in regulating institutions. The world is about to view Asian practices and systems more positively. Asian countries must therefore make their voices heard. And this includes the small developing economies as well. It would be fatal for them if they allow, as in the past the rich and the powerful to devise the systems by which they must all function. In particular the banking system and practices need to be looked at from the Asian developing economies point of view and interest.
44. Governance is defined as the act, process or power of governing, As the situation surrounding government changes, there must also be changes to governance to cope with the new situation or surrounding.
45. What needs to be done may constitute reforms of governance.
46. But reforms are often constrained by the culture of the people involved. There is no doubt that Asians subscribe to different values even among themselves but more so between them and the Europeans.
47. In a Eurocentric world Asians tend to accept everything that came from the West i.e. from the Europeans as right and proper. It is difficult for Asians to reject what originates from the Europeans.
48. But that culture, that blind acceptance of the systems and ways of the Europeans must be modified, if not discarded.
49. What we are seeing today is the collapse of a very fundamental European institution, that of money and banking.
50. It is not enough to just tweak our present system of governance. It seems that we must be prepared for radical change. And Asian ideas must find a place in the development of these changes.
51. As the saying goes we have to go back to the drawing board. We have to question the system we have used for centuries. We have to consider redefining them, introduce new rules and regulations and provide for greater governance.
52. We may have to throw out the system altogether and devise a new one.
53. All these are not in our culture. But our culture must not stand in the way of necessary reforms, if it means saving our economies and our states.
“Governance Reform in Asia: Cultural Perspectives”
SPEECH BY
TUN DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
AT THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE:
2ND ANNUAL TOP EXECUTIVE FORUM ON GOVERNANCE
IN BALI, INDONESIA
ON 28 NOVEMBER 2008
--------------------
“Governance Reform in Asia: Cultural Perspectives”
1. When I accepted this invitation to speak on “Governance Reform in Asia: Cultural Perspectives”, the financial problem in the United States i.e. the sub-prime loans by United States banks seemed to be an American problem which had nothing to do with the rest of the world, and certainly not with Asia.
2. The international community was still talking about Globalisation, a borderless world and a free market. Countries, especially developing countries were being urged to change their ideas about political, economic and social management and policies so as to cater to the global village where trade and capital flows should be free and unrestricted, where foreign involvement in local affairs should not be considered as being against the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of independent nations.
3. Asians are culturally conservative and orthodox. They prefer to do things the way they had done in the past. But Asians also have an inferiority complex and believe that the Europeans are superior people with brilliant ideas and ways of doing things. The Asians subscribe to the Eurocentric world and would always try to emulate the Europeans.
4. Since the first contacts with Europeans some 600 years ago Asians had become accustomed to adopting European ideas about politics, economics and social systems almost without question. This has become a part of the Asian culture.
5. So when the Europeans came with ideas about globalisation, borderless world and free trade, the general tendency was to accept
and to adapt to these ideas despite Asian countries having achieved independence. Reforms of governance must be made so as to accommodate the new vision of the world as a global village, to make possible the free flows of capital and the sanctity of the unregulated markets.
6. But even as these things were being initiated the world came to realize that the American financial crisis was not going to be confined to America alone but would engulf the whole world. All the systems of the west seem to be crumbling. Not only are they not delivering the expected benefits that they seem to have done to the world’s economy in the past but they seem about to destroy it.
7. Since globalisation and a borderless world would actually give better access of the American system and practices to all countries, including those in Asia, the question arises as to whether we should carry out reforms which would facilitate America’s and the West’s financial and economic crisis spreading to our countries.
8. I do not think Asians would want to be dragged down by an economic and financial crisis not of their own making. If we do not want this can we slow down the reforms including reforms in governance so as to minimise the fallout from the crisis in the rich Western countries. Can we in fact introduce reforms which can protect us more effectively than whatever practices that we have in place now?
9. In other words should we be carrying out reforms of governance to facilitate globalisation and free trade as we had planned or have been urged to carry out?
10. We need to rethink. If we are going to initiate reforms in whatever field we need to know what is happening to the world today in these fields. In particular we need to understand banking and finance better. The understanding may help us avoid changes and reforms which may have been the cause of the financial crisis.
11. There is evidently something wrong with the world’s monetary system. The Bretton Woods agreement provided for gold to back currencies. But the rich countries decided to go off the gold standard. Only faith determines the value of currencies including the US Dollar which was designated the reserve currency.
12. Without gold the US Dollar has no backing at all. It is basically a useless piece of paper. Only the demand for the US Dollar to settle trade payments keeps the value of the US Dollar up.
13. It is doubtful if the United States knows how much US Dollar is in circulation in the world. Its very poor security feature also makes it easy to forge.
14. If the United States manages it finances well the faith in the US Dollar would be justified. But the United States owes the world an estimated 14 trillion dollars, an amount which it can never hope to pay. For years the United States suffers from twin deficits. And everyday the United States Government has to borrow 1 ½ billion dollars to finance its administration.
15. On the top of this the United States banks had not been prudent. Without caring about their assets and resources they have lent huge amounts of money to high risk borrowers, particularly for the purchase of houses. The earnings of the banks were based on the expected interest on these loans.
16. To securitize the loans they were bundled up and offered to insurance companies. It was thought that the risk would be taken care of by the insurance companies. The mortgage companies also acquired these loans.
17. What brought down the banks, insurance companies and the mortgage companies was the huge total amount of the loans. They run into hundreds of billions. When the risky non-performing loans became bigger than the good ones and the collaterals have no buyers the banks could not recover the loans. The insurance companies were also unable to pay the banks because of the huge sums involved. Neither could the mortgage companies.
18. The main reason why all these things happen to the United States is because the introduction of numerous high return financial instruments had diverted investments from the real business of producing goods and services to investments in these financial instruments, which include risky loans, secured debts, collateral debt obligations, swaps, derivatives etc etc. Most people don’t even know what they are.
19. The free market also contributed much to the financial crisis. The theory is that markets can regulate themselves. When prices go down because of oversupply, production would be reduced and prices would recover. Governments should leave the markets alone.
20. But markets are about making money, maximising profits. The greedy soon found that shortages and oversupplies can be artificially created and manipulated. By creating an artificial shortage the prices would go up and the seller can make a high profit. When an oversupply situation is created by repeated selling, prices would fall. At that stage the goods could be bought and delivered to the buyers when prices were high, through yet another artificially created shortage.
21. That was what happened when currencies were traded.
22. Seeing what has happened to the United States and Europe should we carry out reforms of governance to enable all the systems and practices in those countries to be freely applied in our countries, in Asia. Although traditionally Asia would follow Europe, should we stick to this tradition, the Asian culture even though if may bring disaster to us.
23. I think we should think very carefully. Opening borders can result in the crisis of the United States and Europe assailing our countries. Yet we still need to deal with these powerful economies.
24. I am not competent to suggest the reforms needed in the circumstances. Asian countries have a need to make adjustments to the realities of the globalised world. We cannot isolate ourselves. In fact our growth had depended on the wealth of the Americans and the Europeans providing us with good markets.
25. If we allow them to go under or we do something that would destroy the economies of these countries we would lose the lucrative market. And we would also lose a source of capital.
26. We cannot simply shut our countries to these collapsing countries in order to protect ourselves. But we can be selective in how we accommodate them based upon the role we play in relation to them and on the basis of our economy.
27. The countries of Asia which have been most affected are those which succumbed to the easy money offered by the many financial instruments created by the brilliant minds in the financial industry in America.
28. On the other hand those which are too poor to invest in these high return instruments via the hedge funds or directly are not much affected.
29. The reforms of governance needed must therefore be selective in character. Whatever may be the reforms, there can be no doubt that Governments must come back to regulate and to supervise. It will make the free market less free perhaps, but that is a small sacrifice to make in order to minimise the effect of this unprecedented economic meltdown.
30. Bailouts must be regulated so that they adhere to legitimate banking practice. Insurance companies and other funds, including pension funds, must be subjected to Government initiated rules and supervision so as to reduce exposure to high risk investments.
TUN DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
AT THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE:
2ND ANNUAL TOP EXECUTIVE FORUM ON GOVERNANCE
IN BALI, INDONESIA
ON 28 NOVEMBER 2008
--------------------
“Governance Reform in Asia: Cultural Perspectives”
1. When I accepted this invitation to speak on “Governance Reform in Asia: Cultural Perspectives”, the financial problem in the United States i.e. the sub-prime loans by United States banks seemed to be an American problem which had nothing to do with the rest of the world, and certainly not with Asia.
2. The international community was still talking about Globalisation, a borderless world and a free market. Countries, especially developing countries were being urged to change their ideas about political, economic and social management and policies so as to cater to the global village where trade and capital flows should be free and unrestricted, where foreign involvement in local affairs should not be considered as being against the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of independent nations.
3. Asians are culturally conservative and orthodox. They prefer to do things the way they had done in the past. But Asians also have an inferiority complex and believe that the Europeans are superior people with brilliant ideas and ways of doing things. The Asians subscribe to the Eurocentric world and would always try to emulate the Europeans.
4. Since the first contacts with Europeans some 600 years ago Asians had become accustomed to adopting European ideas about politics, economics and social systems almost without question. This has become a part of the Asian culture.
5. So when the Europeans came with ideas about globalisation, borderless world and free trade, the general tendency was to accept
and to adapt to these ideas despite Asian countries having achieved independence. Reforms of governance must be made so as to accommodate the new vision of the world as a global village, to make possible the free flows of capital and the sanctity of the unregulated markets.
6. But even as these things were being initiated the world came to realize that the American financial crisis was not going to be confined to America alone but would engulf the whole world. All the systems of the west seem to be crumbling. Not only are they not delivering the expected benefits that they seem to have done to the world’s economy in the past but they seem about to destroy it.
7. Since globalisation and a borderless world would actually give better access of the American system and practices to all countries, including those in Asia, the question arises as to whether we should carry out reforms which would facilitate America’s and the West’s financial and economic crisis spreading to our countries.
8. I do not think Asians would want to be dragged down by an economic and financial crisis not of their own making. If we do not want this can we slow down the reforms including reforms in governance so as to minimise the fallout from the crisis in the rich Western countries. Can we in fact introduce reforms which can protect us more effectively than whatever practices that we have in place now?
9. In other words should we be carrying out reforms of governance to facilitate globalisation and free trade as we had planned or have been urged to carry out?
10. We need to rethink. If we are going to initiate reforms in whatever field we need to know what is happening to the world today in these fields. In particular we need to understand banking and finance better. The understanding may help us avoid changes and reforms which may have been the cause of the financial crisis.
11. There is evidently something wrong with the world’s monetary system. The Bretton Woods agreement provided for gold to back currencies. But the rich countries decided to go off the gold standard. Only faith determines the value of currencies including the US Dollar which was designated the reserve currency.
12. Without gold the US Dollar has no backing at all. It is basically a useless piece of paper. Only the demand for the US Dollar to settle trade payments keeps the value of the US Dollar up.
13. It is doubtful if the United States knows how much US Dollar is in circulation in the world. Its very poor security feature also makes it easy to forge.
14. If the United States manages it finances well the faith in the US Dollar would be justified. But the United States owes the world an estimated 14 trillion dollars, an amount which it can never hope to pay. For years the United States suffers from twin deficits. And everyday the United States Government has to borrow 1 ½ billion dollars to finance its administration.
15. On the top of this the United States banks had not been prudent. Without caring about their assets and resources they have lent huge amounts of money to high risk borrowers, particularly for the purchase of houses. The earnings of the banks were based on the expected interest on these loans.
16. To securitize the loans they were bundled up and offered to insurance companies. It was thought that the risk would be taken care of by the insurance companies. The mortgage companies also acquired these loans.
17. What brought down the banks, insurance companies and the mortgage companies was the huge total amount of the loans. They run into hundreds of billions. When the risky non-performing loans became bigger than the good ones and the collaterals have no buyers the banks could not recover the loans. The insurance companies were also unable to pay the banks because of the huge sums involved. Neither could the mortgage companies.
18. The main reason why all these things happen to the United States is because the introduction of numerous high return financial instruments had diverted investments from the real business of producing goods and services to investments in these financial instruments, which include risky loans, secured debts, collateral debt obligations, swaps, derivatives etc etc. Most people don’t even know what they are.
19. The free market also contributed much to the financial crisis. The theory is that markets can regulate themselves. When prices go down because of oversupply, production would be reduced and prices would recover. Governments should leave the markets alone.
20. But markets are about making money, maximising profits. The greedy soon found that shortages and oversupplies can be artificially created and manipulated. By creating an artificial shortage the prices would go up and the seller can make a high profit. When an oversupply situation is created by repeated selling, prices would fall. At that stage the goods could be bought and delivered to the buyers when prices were high, through yet another artificially created shortage.
21. That was what happened when currencies were traded.
22. Seeing what has happened to the United States and Europe should we carry out reforms of governance to enable all the systems and practices in those countries to be freely applied in our countries, in Asia. Although traditionally Asia would follow Europe, should we stick to this tradition, the Asian culture even though if may bring disaster to us.
23. I think we should think very carefully. Opening borders can result in the crisis of the United States and Europe assailing our countries. Yet we still need to deal with these powerful economies.
24. I am not competent to suggest the reforms needed in the circumstances. Asian countries have a need to make adjustments to the realities of the globalised world. We cannot isolate ourselves. In fact our growth had depended on the wealth of the Americans and the Europeans providing us with good markets.
25. If we allow them to go under or we do something that would destroy the economies of these countries we would lose the lucrative market. And we would also lose a source of capital.
26. We cannot simply shut our countries to these collapsing countries in order to protect ourselves. But we can be selective in how we accommodate them based upon the role we play in relation to them and on the basis of our economy.
27. The countries of Asia which have been most affected are those which succumbed to the easy money offered by the many financial instruments created by the brilliant minds in the financial industry in America.
28. On the other hand those which are too poor to invest in these high return instruments via the hedge funds or directly are not much affected.
29. The reforms of governance needed must therefore be selective in character. Whatever may be the reforms, there can be no doubt that Governments must come back to regulate and to supervise. It will make the free market less free perhaps, but that is a small sacrifice to make in order to minimise the effect of this unprecedented economic meltdown.
30. Bailouts must be regulated so that they adhere to legitimate banking practice. Insurance companies and other funds, including pension funds, must be subjected to Government initiated rules and supervision so as to reduce exposure to high risk investments.
Happy Banker's Month
Historical Facts
1. The first Malaysian coin and currency note was issued by Central Bank of
Click here to read more.
2. The first modern bank was founded in
Click here to read more.
3. The name bank derives from the Italian word banco "desk/bench", used during the Renaissance by Florentine bankers who used to make their transactions on a desk covered by a green tablecloth.
Click here to read more.
4. Monte dei Paschi di Siena 1472 - presently, the oldest surviving bank in the world. Founded in 1472 by the Magistrate of the city state of
Click here to read more.
5. The concept of banking was introduced in the 18th century BC. In
Click here to read more
6. Famous bankers or famous people that have contributed to the banking industry:
- Alexander Hamilton ( January 11, 1755 or 1757 - July 12, 1804 )
- John Pierpont Morgan ( April 17, 1837 - March 31, 1913 )
Interesting Facts
1. The gemstone Morganite was named in John Pierpont Morgan's (JP Morgan: April 17, 1837 - March 31, 1913) honour. He was an American banker who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time.
Click here to read more.
2. Which colonial government issued its currency in our country,
Click here to read more.
P/S-This is email i got from jobstreet.Banker's month?never heard before.Are bankers should celebrate in this month?Certainly not now because many banks are hit by financial turmoil that created by themselves.Should bank be bailed out? i like the slogan "bailout people not bank!!"
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Straits Settlements 1 Cent Coin
Currently,in my collection i have a coin from British Straits Settlement.This coin is in very good condition.This is a 88 years old coin from the colonial era in Malaya.This coin is minted in 1920.The Straits Settlement is a settlement in the Straits of Malacca which included Penang,Malacca and Singapore.
Head:STRAITS SETTLEMENTS 1920 1 CENT
Tail :GEORGE V KING AND EMPEROR OF INDIA
Head:STRAITS SETTLEMENTS 1920 1 CENT
Tail :GEORGE V KING AND EMPEROR OF INDIA
I intended to sell this coin for around 50 ringgit Malaysia(RM 50) including posting cost.I prefer a Malaysian buyer.All who interested can comment here.
Free Web Tools From Jeff Alderson and Charles Kirkland
I have just found this cool site.It is cool and I knew you would want to see it too. There's nothing like some serious SEO to juice your sites and experts Jeff Alderson and Charles Kirkland have created software for you to do just that. It's even free. You can download free software from this site to boost your SEO ranking.You can get :
Blog Link Finder to:
- Identifies Wordpress blogs with the 'nofollow' tag in the comments field in ANY niche you choose
- Saves you time and effort from searching for blogs manually to leave comments on and building backlinks
- Shows you the Page Rank of each of the individual blog posts itself and home page of the blogs
- Displays the Alexa ranking of each blog (so you know what's the amount of traffic the blog receives)
- Tells you if you have left a comment previously on the blog so you can track your link building efforts with much ease.
- Allows you to save your findings and results for more effective tracking/analysis in the future.
Affiliate Promo Page Generator to:
- Creates your affiliate promotional pages just by following some step-by-step instructions.
- Includes templates for the following promotional tools: Text links, Email Ads, Signature Ads, PopUp Ads, Image Ads, Articles & PPC Ads.
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- Display Page Rank & Alexa rankings for hundreds of sites you enter.
- Reveal number of backlinks for each websites from 6 different sources including Google, Yahoo, Ask, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, Alexa.
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7 Essential Skills To Wealth Creation
I stumble upon this from one's of Adam Khoo landing page for his products:
Adam Khoo said:
Adam Khoo said:
These are seven essential steps, each one representing a wealth creating skill that all self-made millionaires possess and practice...
- Step 1: Adopt the Million-Dollar Mindset
Millionaires see learning experiences, where Mister Ordinary sees failure. The moment you adopt the beliefs and habits of a millionaire, your perception of the world will change completely and you will realize that there are money-making opportunities everywhere and everyday around you.
Amazingly, these are opportunities that you were once quite blind to!
- Step 2: Set Clear Financial Goals
Wealth never happens by chance. It always begins with a clear goal in mind. At one point of time in their life, millionaires always make a decision to become rich. However, whenever I ask most people what their financial goals are, I often get a blank stare. This is a major reason why they will never achieve any level of wealth because they have no clue what it is. Unless you have a specific figure to focus on, you will never be able to develop a strategy to achieve it.
- Step 3: Create A Financial Plan
Once you have set specific financial targets of how much you want to earn and how much money you want to accumulate, you can then develop an effective plan to achieve it. Goals by themselves are nothing but pipe dreams. Only when you create a plan, have you made your goal a possibility. The moment you start taking action on your plan, your dream becomes a reality.
- Step 4: Massively Increase Your Income
After developing their financial plan, most people tend to become initially disheartened. They look at their plan and realize that with the amount they are earning and saving right now, it will be decades before they see any big money.
It is therefore important that you learn how to accelerate and turbo-charge your financial plan by taking steps to massively increasing your income.
- Step 5: Manage Your Money & Reduce Expenses
Many people think that by increasing their income, their wealth will automatically increase. Unfortunately, increasing income is only one side of the wealth equation. After all, there are people who earn $2,000 a month who are broke and there are those who earn $20,000 who are still broke. The reason is because when we don’t manage the money we earn, our expenses will always rise to our level of income, wiping out any surplus we have!
- Step 6: Grow Your Money at Millionaire Returns
By increasing your income and reducing your expenses, you will find that you will be able to accumulate a surplus of funds that you can use to help you build your fortune. You need to do this because, no matter how hard you work and save, you will never be able to create phenomenal wealth unless you learn how to put your money to work for you. Through the power of compounding, you will be able to take small sums of money and build it into huge returns over time.
- Step 7: Protect Your Fortune
There is no use working hard to build your personal fortune only to see it all taken away from you. There are many people who have taken decades to build their fortune only to see it wiped out by an accident, unforeseen illness or through an unexpected lawsuit.
Self-made millionaires engage professionals like insurance advisors, lawyers and accountants to help them build a financial fortress so their wealth is protected from potential creditors, plaintiffs looking to sue and the government who may take away a big chunk of your wealth through a whole range of taxes that you may not have even heard about.
Extracted from http://www.secretsofself-mademillionaires.com/
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