Quick notes: Super app | Amol Yadav...

• Tata’s super app: Step aside Amazon, you could soon order ‘everything’ using Tata’s super app.
  
  Over 2,000 online sellers file antitrust case against Amazon in India.



• Big economies in crisis: The clear outlier among major economies is China, which catapulted into recovery mode in the second quarter 
  
  
  At -23.9%, India's GDP contracts for first time in over four decades .
  



• State Media Poll: Nearly 50% of Chinese think India is too economically dependent upon China, an assessment many Indians would agree with. . . . Well, history debates consume our lives
  



• VPNs provide backdoor entry for banned Chinese apps: Even as the govt banned 59 Chinese apps, including the popular TikTok and Camscanner, many people have been downloading and using them through the VPNs.



• Amol Yadav: Plane built on Mumbai rooftop takes to the skies



• 'The Chinese air force is no threat': You see, it is not about numbers here, it is the qualitative edge we have over them that will make a difference. Which brings me to the point of Rafale versus the Su-30/MiG 29. We have almost 250 plus of these and are increasing their strength with new purchases to make good the earlier losses. In my opinion, if we had a trade-off possible, we could do with a 100 odd Rafales rather than the older technology.  In today's war, it is the side which has technical superiority which is at an advantage.  Technology is a force multiplier. It allows you to fire the magic bullet to get through the door first. Once you have broken in, it is a matter of time before you would have put out China's front tier airfields and air defence.



• China Launches Warship for Pakistan Navy: China has launched the first of four “most advanced” warships it is building for Pakistan amid deepening defense and economic ties between the two allied nations. 
  



• India selects RISC-V for self-sufficiency contest: Startups encouraged to get busy with open-source 32-bit Shakti, 64-bit Vega. Indian officials acknowledge it's all the start of a rather longer effort to both enhance the nation’s semiconductor design and manufacturing capabilities and an ecosystem to make it all happen and meet India’s desire for silicon self-sufficiency.
  
  How a Silicon Valley chip pioneer landed in China



• Make the most of your online learning: Do not think about finishing the course! Just think about putting in the time: Good online learners use processes that involve putting a certain daily amount of time into their chosen course. Your daily goal is always to put in the time you’ve allotted, whether it’s five minutes or five hours. This means never missing an “X” on your calendar, signifying you’ve done your day’s studies. -Barbara Oakley



• Speculative bubble: No sales but 4,300% gain in firm amid penny stock boom. Retail investors’ frenzy over small stocks in India has reached such extremes that shares of some companies that aren’t booking any sales, let alone profits, are going through the roof.

Quick notes: Temple gold, No-growth economy...

• Kaangress should use temple gold to build a psecular India, expert suggests:
  The Tirupati Trust Foundation has 1,700 tonnes of gold, which is about five per cent of all the gold held in India. This comes to between $1.5 trillion and 1.7 trillion - that's right, trillion.  These, by the way, are assets - it is money we Indians own. And, given that they are foreign currency assets, it is hard to understand why we have a foreign exchange problem.  The finance minister and the governor should offer the Tirupati trustees annual earnings of, say, Rs 3,000 crore (two per cent interest on 500 tonnes of gold) plus savings of the cost of storage of the gold.



• India has become the "least favourable market", and it now makes business sense to exit and export from China, Finnish major Nokia has told the government. Nokia cautioned that the political risk of operating in India may impact future investment decisions.



• Constable alerts rapist: Qasim, after having committed the crime along with four of his friends, was watching TV at his hutment in Agripada when a constable named Mujawar called him on his mobile phone. "The policeman asked him where he was and said he wanted to make some inquiries," Qasim's mother, Chand Bibi, told ToI. Qasim immediately changed his shirt, borrowed Rs 50 from his mother and left. He has been untraceable since. 



• Silicon Valley can’t save America’s no-growth economy. High-tech solutions cannot and will not prevent America’s economic growth’s collapsing



Every Conquerer who moved from West to East was Suffixed 'The Great' as in 'Alexander The Great' and East to West became 'The Barbarian' !
— InterNet Hindoo ! (@DrShobha) August 21, 2013

Riding the New Silk Road

Overland alternative to shipping from China to Europe

Trucking goods from inland factories to the ports of Shenzhen or Shanghai on the coast and then sending the goods by ship around India and through the Suez Canal takes five weeks. The Silk Road train cuts the shipping time from western China to retail distribution centers in western Europe to three weeks. The sea route is still about 25 percent cheaper than sending goods by train, but the cost of the added time by sea is considerable.

NYT: Hauling New Treasure Along the Silk Road

Daily Digest

• Why does the universally valid economics work perfectly to depreciate the rupee, but act the other way round on the dollar despite pervasive US current account deficits?  
Globalised dollar, dollarised world by S.Gurumurthy

• UPA’s Food Security Ordinance does not address the fact that our most fertile food-growing lands are being grabbed by the government to hand over to builders or to corrupt corporations to be spoilt by mining or to the industries to be poisoned and polluted. The deliberate annihilation of India’s small farmers is the end of national food security.
Food Insecurity by Vandana Shiva

• Jai Macaulay!
India Ranks as 66th Most Innovative Nation

• Padre's Perversity: Father Leo Koppala, from Andhra Pradesh, was arrested in the US on charges of engaging in sexual contact with a child under 13 years of age.
Indian catholic priest faces sex charge in US

• And Kshatriya pride is gutted
Ramalinga Raju, Digvijaya Singh meet raises eyebrows

'Level playing field' and such fables

Market access for Indian agricultural produce has been a major point of contention in bilateral relations. While India has brought down tariffs on agricultural products of interest to the US, the US has not reciprocated.
In the budget of 2011-2012 the government had reduced basic customs duty on raw pistachio and bamboo on the US’ request for more market access for these products.
In April 2007, the US had given a green signal to import mangoes from India after treating it with radiation, which has turned out to be a costly affair for the exporters.

Business Standard: Fruit diplomacy to get a push

Indian Mango exports, which started in 2007 in bargain of the access to the US Harley Davidson bikes to Indian market, is seeing a continuous decline over past three years. Exchange rate disadvantage Indian exporters face in competition with their Pakistani peers; high freight charges and lack of irradiation facilities in India are at blame.
Indian mangoes losing American market to Pakistan

The Growth Dogma

Economists have largely disregarded the environmental consequences of growth. For them, the key benchmark of prosperity is GDP, the sum of all products and services produced in a given country. However, GDP does not factor in the over-exploitation of resources, the destruction of biological diversity, air pollution, and the poisoning of groundwater.

Spiegel: Less Is More: Rogue Economists Champion Prosperity without Growth

Bypassing IMF, WB

Near zero interest rates in the U.S., Japan and Europe have fueled foreign investors’ appetite for higher-yielding assets, driving up currencies from Brazil to Turkey. Brazil has warned of a global currency war and has been pushing for a pooling of foreign-currency reserves to shield the region from global financial shocks..

Bloomberg: BRICS Nations Plan New Bank to Bypass World Bank, IMF

New Form of Colonialism: Land Grabbing

Foreign investors are buying or leasing vast amounts of farmland in Third World countries to profit from surging demand for food crops as a result of rapid population growth. "Land grabbing" amounts to a new form of colonialism that often runs counter to the interests of locals. 

Notice how even Malaysia and Saudi Arabia have joined the party

Spiegel: 'Land Grabbing': Foreign Investors Buy Up Third World Farmland

Barter Economy Matures

Time magazine declared this new form of consumption to be one of the 10 great ideas that will change the world. The new thing about collaborative consumption is that it can achieve a broader impact with the Internet as both a stage and a platform. The web professionalizes swapping and allows it to develop into an independent branch of the economy. 

Spiegel: Barter Economy Matures from Niche to Trend

• Barter Deals Flourishing 

High Frequency Trading Takes Over

This astonishing GIF comes from Nanex, and shows the amount of high-frequency trading in the stock market from January 2007 to January 2012. (Which means that the Knightmare craziness of last week is not included.)

The stock market today is a war zone, where algobots fight each other over pennies, millions of times a second. Sometimes, the casualties are merely companies like Knight, and few people have much sympathy for them. But inevitably, at some point in the future, significant losses will end up being borne by investors with no direct connection to the HFT [high-frequency trading] world, which is so complex that its potential systemic repercussions are literally unknowable.

The Rise of the HFT Machines

The Shatterer of Glass-Steagall Wants It Restored

As Citigroup Chairman & CEO in 1999, he pushed Bill Clinton to repeal Glass-Steagall Act, which ensured a clean division of commercial and investment banking. He even has a plaque in his office celebrating himself as "The Shatterer of Glass-Steagall."  Now, he calls for the return of the same Glass–Steagall Act.

 Spiegel: It's Time To Break Up Massive Banks!

2013 `Storm' May Surpass 2008 Crisis - Roubini

Euro collapse + US double-dip + China hard-landing = Perfect Storm

"The incentives of the banks is still to cheat and do things that are either illegal or immoral. Nobody has gone to jail since the financial crisis. The banks, they do things that are illegal and at best they slap on them a fine. If some people end up in jail, maybe that will teach a lesson to somebody. Or somebody hanging in the streets."

Retail FDI To Help China

A rider in the multi-brand FDI policy which mandates 30 per cent sourcing by retail chains like Walmart from the micro and small enterprises (MSEs) may be more helpful to the Chinese rather than Indians, industry fears.


Wal-Mart And China - A Joint Venture

For several years, Wal-Mart has been the single largest U.S. importer of Chinese consumer goods, surpassing the trade volume of entire countries, such as Germany and Russia. Global sourcing is now fully integrated into the company's operations -- giving Wal-Mart enormous leverage worldwide.

Exports Soar.. Jobs Galore

Their capitalism is not dictated by speculators. They have little faith in all that financial wheeling dealing with dubious economic value. They rely on good old fashioned Engineering, Research and Development. They charge 28% on capital gains tax, but they aren't doomed.

German Exports Soar above One Trillion Euros

Germany appears to be an island of tranquility on the labor market too. Despite growing recession fears, there were more open positions available in November than ever. After a brief lull in Sept. and Oct., demand for workers climbed to a record high, the Federal Employment Agency (BA) reported.

Indian Economy to Surpass Japan by PPP This Year

India's economy will surpass Japan's by Purchasing Power Parity measurement this year, becoming the world's 3rd-largest economy by PPP, says Crisil.

Greek Default Certain, Italy Begs China for Cash

Predictions of a default by Greece have gone to 98%. Meanwhile, cash-strapped Italy has been meeting with the Chinese in the hopes of conning money from them for a bailout.

Too bad greedy Indian politicians are so narrowly focused on protecting their own wealth, or our own Madame-ji might have prevailed upon them to bail out her relatives overseas.

India 5th in Space Competiveness Ranking

India is now ranked in 5th place according to an annual Space Competitiveness ranking put out by Futron Corporation.

Pak Wants Kids to Learn Chinese

Pakistan is going to make learning Chinese compulsory for their school curriculum. Never mind that there are hardly any Chinese-speakers in the country. First the 'Yellow Cab' scheme, now the yellow gab scheme - more stunts from a desperate leadership. Have they even gotten people to speak Sindhi yet, in their cities?

Perhaps they should first try their hand at something easier, such as adopting Chinese cuisine, like pork fried rice. China is, after all, the only country to have a Strategic Pork Reserve.

How to Fix Europe? Default? Or Euro-TARP?

The more Eurozone butts up against fiscal limitations, the more it will inflame national animosities between its component states.

S&P Downgrades US from AAA Rating

For the first time in American history, the creditworthiness of the USA has been downgraded from its AAA rating to AA+