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Inequality and the Poverty of Economics

The Journal of Economic Perspectives is an academic journal that summarizes the state of research in various fields of Economics.  Perusing this journal shows the extreme political bias of much of modern day economic research.  The Summer 2013 issue was devoted to "income inequality."  The main theme was that rich folks are getting richer, but, of course, the facts actually show just the opposite.  Not deterred by the facts, the various economists that opine in this edition blithely parrot absurdities such as wealthholders ability to "sustain their preeminence. What is the analysis?  Imagine that you wanted to know if baseball teams created dynasties and "perpetuate" their dominance of baseball.  What facts would you want to assemble to prove this? Here's the way economists think:  collect data that shows that back in the old days, the baseball teams that won the pennant won 65 percent of their games each year.  Then show that, today, the teams that win the

Let's Sober Up, Malaysia (Important Posting)

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Finally, someone who can provide clarity to the foreign funds moving in and out Asia. It does not mean we should not be wary but need to put things in its proper perspective. I have added my take on the market capitalisation growth of the world's top ten markets as another viewpoint that should further lend credence to the long term trend. Need to distinguish short term noise from long term concerto.  Economics – Markets – Strategy” for Asia and the G3.     Three steps forward…   Capital flows have always been a two-way affair.  When sentiment is strong, inflows push you up the mountain.  When it’s weak, they drag you out to sea.  The fact that Western central banks put interest rates on the floor five years ago and kept them there has only amplified the action – first inward, as Asia’s V-shaped recovery took off in 2009 and 2010 and then outward, as the EU debt crisis erupted in 2011 and, more recently, as fears over Fed tapering have grown.   We estimate that in the two quarters

3 Tighter Rules for Property Sector? (Sept 2013)

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Prior to Budget 2014 (to be tabled next month), speculation has rift up on a few proposal to tighten the rules, especially on property sector. Following the outcry from public stating the alarming high property prices, measure should be taken to tackle the issue before bubble was formed. The Bubbling Biz... Among the measures being proposed were: Non-other than Real Property Gain Tax (RPGT) Higher Stamp Duty : ~ 5% of purchase price for 3rd property ~ 7.5% for 4th property ~ 10% for 5th property onward Loan-to-Value ratio reduce to 60% for 3rd property onward While the above info need to be ascertained further, some banks already implemented their in-house ruling. What's that? It was to limit the maximum term for refinancing of property to 10 years . Yes. Sooner or later, all of the banks will follow. * Please note that the above 3 rules need to be ascertained further. Stay tune!

Always An Alternative

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You notice a trend here ... all come from the same school of thought, same MBA course ... always offer an alternative choice to any problems or issues. Remember that any problems or issues you encounter from the rakyat is always their fault. As ministers, "to serve the public" should never be taken to heart.

Readership Statistics

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Since we have just gone past the 10 million page views, it is substantive enough to cull some statistics on the readership of this blog. Where they come from, what devices do they use to access the blog, which operating system is popular. Its pretty interesting that so many still use Internet Explorer as their browser but I am pretty sure Chrome will surpass IE pretty soon. Another surprising figure was that my second biggest readership after Malaysia is from the USA and not Singapore, go figure?!! p/s thanks a lot as well to all the referral sites ... you cannot do this alone Pageviews today 3,088 Pageviews yesterday 7,402 Pageviews last month 216,447 Pageviews all time history 10,325,488 Pageviews by Countries Entry Pageviews Malaysia 8344282 United States 451004 Singapore 431491 Australia 116978 Indonesia 72666 United Kingdom 68873 Hong Kong 47827 Canada 24098 Germany 14984 France 12542 Pageviews by Browsers Entry Pageviews Internet Explorer 3349536 (32%) Chrome 2469407 (24%) Firefo