KO

• President Obama
  The following comments from Reddit sum up the world's feelings: Dear Rest of The World We didn't fuck it up Signed, America The reply: Dear America, Congrats! Regards, Rest of the World
• Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine
  This book is a must read for countries like Pakistan, which have already gone through multiple rounds of "shock therapy" at the hands of the IMF, and are just about to sign on the dotted line for yet another one. The book doesn't rail against capitalism, rather it rails against the extreme right-wing ideologues who wormed their way into economic seats of power in the US, and into the IMF and the World Bank. The problem with neoconservatives is that they live in a bubble full of right wing fantasies, and never condensed to step out into the real world and see how far their neo-liberal fantasies had diverged from the real world. What looks good on paper often pans out different in the real world, especially in corrupt societies like Pakistan - and this is one factor which the IMF never seems to account for properly. In a poor country like Pakistan, regressive taxes like Central Excise Duty on services and sales tax on everything (even drinking water!) are highly regressive, and with Pakistan's highly corrupt taxation system just give more of an incentive to people to stay further out of the tax net. It's a vicious cycle... but read the book for criticisms of the IMF and their achievements in the developing world. In THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, Naomi Klein explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Exposing the thinking, the money trail and the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how America's "free market" policies have come to dominate the world-- through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries. # Pakistan is about to make a deal with the IMF..
• The great Pakistani stock broker bailout
  The Karachi stock exchange crashed all the way from 16000 to 9000 - and in the process bankrupted a lot of stockbrokers and other large players. Taking note of this severe crisis, the govt. rushed in to save the day, for stock brokers don't loose money in this country! First, the govt. changed the rules of the game - not once, not twice but thrice! In Pakistan, stock brokers make money by borrowing from banks and using that borrowed money to play with the stock market. By law, they have to return that money along with interest in X days, while retaining all the profit. This being Pakistan, now that the value of the stocks bought on borrowed money has fallen below the amount of their loans, the stock brokers have conveniently changed the time they need to pay it back to a full year - and arm twisted the govt. to throw money at the stock market by buying shares at higher than market prices so the stock brokers can cash out and let the govt. bear the losses. Depending on how you add up the various billions the govt. has already thrown at the stockbrokers, the total amount has already reached 150 to 200 billion rupees. The law changes alone are worth many billions - without them the entire stockbroker industry was effectively bankrupt. In a surprise twist to the tale, a few govt. organizations have grown a backbone, and refused to just hand over govt. money over: Four of the federal organizations have expressed their reservations on provision of a fund amounting to Rs20 billion to Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) for pulling the share market out of the prevailing crisis. According to sources, the Federal Government directed the State Life, National Bank, National Investment Trust and Employees Old Age Benefit Institution to extend Rs20 billion to KSE. The federal bodies are of the view that the fund created with the money of the poor, pensioners, insurance holders and others should not be provided to KSE. These bodies have already extended Rs5 billion to KSE in a bid to support the market. Kudos to the above for resisting this blatant transfer of money. In the long run, the stocks might even make money, but pension money should never be gambled, even if there is a good chance of winning.
• Information poverty
  Google: The right information at the right time in the hands of people has enormous power. Despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year on providing basic public services like primary education, health, water, and sanitation to poor communities, poverty in much of Sub-Saharan Africa persists. Where does this money go, who gets it, and what are the results of the resources invested? That's where we find a big black hole of information and a lack of basic accountability. How do inputs (dollars spent) turn into outputs (schools, clinics, and wells), and, more importantly, how do outputs translate into results (literate and healthy children, clean water, etc.)? We simply don't know the answers to most of these basic questions. But what if we could? What if a mother could find out how much money was budgeted for her daughter's school each year and how much of it was received? What if she and other parents could report how often teachers are absent from school or whether health clinics have the medicines they are supposed to carry? What if citizens could access and report on basic information to determine value for money as tax payers? The work of The Social Development Network (SODNET) in Kenya is illustrative. They are developing a simple budget-tracking tool that allows citizens to track the allocation, use, and ultimate result of government funds earmarked for infrastructure projects in their districts. The tool is intended to create transparency in the use of tax revenues and answer the simple question: Are resources reaching their intended beneficiaries? Using tools like maps, they are able to overlay information that begins to tell a compelling story.
• While the rest of the world is poised on a cliff, the Pakistan economy has already fallen off
  Rumors stalk the crumbling land, each one trying to lay claim to a bigger piece of the explanation as to what's happening in the country. From the rumors it looks like the country has had it. Shaukat Tareen and the State bank governor has flown off to foreign lands to beg for money, a govt. spokesman is on TV claiming that Pakistan is not bankrupt - meaning it is, striking fear left right and center. Some of the rumors stories floating around: The country is bankrupt. This is not a rumor, as the govt. has confirmed it. The rupee is over valued, and despite crashing, the govt. says it's still overvalued. A number of large corporate groups are near bankruptcy A few of the large stockbrokers are bankrupt Exports are falling, and thus unemployment is increasing Foreign capital is flying out of Pakistan You can't remit money officially from Pakistan Mutual funds aren't letting investors take out money What's going to happen? Will the usual bailout show up in time? Of course it will, but in the meantime the country is just about economically dead.
• You know your country is fucked when....
  The BBC reports that Pakistanis flee into Afghanistan: The UN says 20,000 people have fled Pakistan's tribal area of Bajaur for Afghanistan amid fighting between troops and militants in recent months. The UN's refugee agency says almost 4,000 families have crossed north-west into Afghanistan's Kunar province. The army began a sustained campaign against militants in Bajaur nearly two months ago. Some 300,000 others have fled east within Pakistan in recent weeks with many of them living in temporary camps.
• Why Pakistan Will Implode
  An article emailed to me by an American friend who spent a couple of years in Karachi. Written before the fall of Musharraf, it's posted in it's entirety below, a non-journalistic, bleak look at Pakistan:
• Tarun Khanna: Billions of Entrepreneurs
  Interesting book on how business is done in India and China, though not as good as the reviews on Amazon make it out to be. It seems overly directed towards the western reader who doesn't have much knowledge of the two countries, and hasn't read much else about them. The basic gist of the book is that India and China have two very different approaches to business, and both countries have to be dealt with very differently. There are lots of examples in the book, but there is where Friedman is better, in his book The World is Flat. Both books have their flaws, but the hundered of examples and anecdotes in both of them make them a worthwhile read.
• The gigantic house of cards, formerly known as Wall Street
  Now, you'd be better off buying a copy of Nassim Taleb's The Black Swan and reading that, but here is the extremely simplified version of one aspect of the giant monolith which was the American financial house of cards: Back in the days, we had these things called banks. They took in money from people, and lent