The IPL Tickets went on sale today at several places. Check out the link for more details!

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It seems nothing escapes the death-grip of rising inflation these days. The NYT has a very nice story today about how rising inflation is hitting the oil-rich middle east.

The middle-eastern countries are really in trouble. They’re sandwhiched on one side, by the falling dollar. Their curriencies, which are usually pegged to the dollar are bearing the brunt of the falling dollar, fuelling inflation in their local economies. On the other hand, the rising oil price is making the rulers rich, but at the cost of the local people.

The “Dutch Disease”, as it’s called, is deadly. Basically, the rising price of fuel is making the oil industry very lucrative, and that means the rules/dictators are getting lots of money from selling oil, and they don’t need to pay attention to the local economy any more. This means widespread perception of corruption and nepotism, as the regular people see the rich rulers and their friends get richer while they slip more and more into poverty.

This presents a real problem for the stability of the middle east. As the poor people see that they are not getting any spoils of the rich oil wealth, it presents a ripe oppurtunity for revolution and bloodshed, as the people strive to get a more “fair share” of the countries riches.

This is basically the situation in oil-rich African countries like Nigeria. This is not looking good for the world.

(4 votes, average: 2.5 out of 5)

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Check out the latest blog that I’m working on: The Unofficial IPL Blog at http://www.unofficialipl.com/. I’m totally addicted to blogging (I’ll bet it shows ) and I’m really crazy about the IPL too! Cricket, Bollywood and Big Money all in the same package? This is going to be great!

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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The parliamentary elections in Pakistan, unsurprisingly, brought a huge defeat for the incumbent President. But Musharraf wasn’t standing for elections, he’s sort of the President-for-life. However, Nawaz Sharif’s party and slain ex-PM Benazir Bhutto’s party have made substantial gains, which brings the distinct possibility of impeachment for Musharraf.

If the parliament can muster a 2/3rds majority, it can throw out the President. This is indeed bad news for Musharraf, as it looks very likely. He’s struggling to stay relevant, but the opposition really really hates him.

The way I say, Musharraf has only one option - To leave the country and go to Turkey and somewhere and retire. If he stays on in Pakistan, it’s a big risk not only for his life, but for his political future too. There’s even a faint possibility that the Supreme Court justice that he sacked, Iftikhar Chowdhary, will be reinstated. And if that happens, that dude is not going to rest until he puts Musharraf behind bars.

Amidst all this political bickering, Pakistan’s economy continues to slide.

(5 votes, average: 1.6 out of 5)

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The high drama of the IPL auction unfolded today with some mind-numbing numbers. Dhoni was sold for the highest (yet) for Rs. 6 crores! Check out the list of prices some of the top players netted: Andrew Symonds Rs 5.4 Crores, Murlidharan 2.4 Crores, Shane Warn: 1.8 Crores, Jayasuriya 3.9 Crores!

That’s a lot of money for a 6 week tournament! But more importantly, some cricketers are going to make more money in the IPL that in ODIs. The numbers are only going to increase in the coming years, and this is going to cause some un-intended consequences.

Top cricketers are going to focus on the IPL, and this is undoubtedly going to sacrifice the ODI circuit. The Indian IPL is soon going to be bigger than the Cricket World Cup, and then what? It is conceivable that the BCCI will become more powerful than the ICC, by the way of running a richer tournament (which is already happening!)

Well, at least I hope all this big money translates to better infrastructure and facilities at the stadiums. There is a huge difference between the Chinnaswami stadium at Bangalore and the AT&T stadium in San Francisco. Hopefully this will close soon. By the way, the opening IPL match is in Bangalore. I hope I’m in town to go see it

(5 votes, average: 1.6 out of 5)

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Forget Beijing Olympics, check out the Rural Indian Olympics! Some feats are quite extraordinary, I must say!

(2 votes, average: 1.5 out of 5)

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There’s something very very suspicious going on with the global banks. Yesterday, a story broke out that banks like CitiBank, Bank of America and the rest have borrowed $50 Billion from the US Federal Reserve. It sounds like the US government is “bailing” out these banks that are finding themselves in the middle of a crisis that has seen more than $100 billion disappear. The interesting thing, of course, is that it is the people’s  money (directly through taxes or through inflation) is rescuing these banks.

But there is something even more suspicious. Rather than admit that the this problem is a result of some voodoo magic that the Banks tried to pull over unsuspecting investors, they are blaming a handful of traders for this.

Remember Societie General last month that blamed $7 billion in losses on ONE trader? Morgan Stanley, another large bank, today announced that $9 billion had disappeared, and blamed it on a single trading desk at the company and fired them. Credit Suisse did the same thing, blaming $3 billion in disappeared money on a handful of traders.

Something is very wrong here. If the banks are telling the truth, that means a few individuals are controlling several hundred billion dollars of money at their complete discretion, and these “handful of traders” can swindle $100 billion of money. But more likely, the Banks are covering their asses on really bad bets and suspicious transactions that they made, and are sacrificing some traders for it, hoping to sweep the whole thing under the carpet.

Very disturbing.

(4 votes, average: 3 out of 5)

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China’s economy has been growing at a break-neck speed for the last several decades, and many economists have been warning that China’s economy has been growing too fast - and going out of control. But China has been dodging this fate it seems. But inflation seems to have finally caught up with China.

The inflation rate in China has been growing steadily over the last few years, and it hit a 11-year high this month. Food prices have risen a shocking 18% over the last year, and the overall inflation rate hit 7%. This is especially problematic for China, that has been tightly controlling the exchange rate with the dollar.

This news comes at an especially bad time for China. A looming US recession is already slowing it’s export demand - China’s main source of income. The dramatically increasing inflation means China’s central bank has to either increase interest rates, or let the yuan rise against the dollar. Both ways, this is bad news for export and manufacturing industries. China has built its economic engine on the strength of manufacturing and exports, and this is going to cause serious problems - especially if it appears that China’s communist government is unable to control the inflation and economy.

This is also bad news for the rest of the world. All these years, China has kept global inflation down with it’s cheap products - from iPods to shirts to automotive components. But it’s soon going to start exporting inflation to the rest of the world. Expect to see global inflation rise - Along with tomato and onion prices in the super market.

(2 votes, average: 3 out of 5)

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Hilarious! This dude is REALLY frustrated with Windows

(3 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5)

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Check out this cool collection of car logos and how they have evolved over time. The “web 2.0″ effect is unmistakable, as the later logos have the typical reflections and curvy lines that have become a rage on the web. Check out this ford logo collection below. (Click for larger image)

  

(1 votes, average: 1 out of 5)

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