Mahant!

As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg.No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not. I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away."Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free." I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were. Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, s...

George Bush and the Feds have borrowed more than $1.05 trillion from foreign governments and banks. This is more than all the rest of the nation’s administrations put together, from 1776 to 2000. Last month [Nov 2005], the U.S. national debt passed the $8 trillion mark This year’s budget deficit alone added $319 billion to the country’s obligations According to the feds themselves, deficits will rise to $873 billion per year within 10 years Two years more and they will be at $1 trillion per year, with a national debt edging up to $20 trillion By 2017, annual deficits are supposed to reach $2 trillion per year. U.S. households spent $531 billion more than their after-tax earnings. [About half of that money came from “equity extraction.”] Consumer spending has risen to 76% of the economy; before 2000, it was only two-thirds. The savings rate has fallen to less than 2% Student loans outstanding have risen more than 800% Mortgages are up nearly 900% Credit card debt is up more than 500%. :...

Why Commodities? Why not invest in real estate? Why not invest in inflation secured bonds? Why not mutual funds? Why not equities? Why not international securities? Why not cash? Equities, Real estate, commercial papers, mutual funds are the beasts of perceptions. They do not have intrinsic value to their full extent. For example, in case of equities, the book value of the share is the only redeemable part of the security. the actual price of the share does not reflect the true intrinsic value. The share price is the value perception of the market - all things being equal. All these are speculative in nature. By that I mean, the financial speculation is an important part in realizing and discovering the prices. As long as the money flow is high and the " spiral " is in full flow, the prices will rise as the large amount of money chase few ' assets ". Once when the party is over, and the time for the redemption arrives, it is stunning to see the about-turn in the pe...

This is to lots of my friends who would like to use the commodities to their benefit. They may have varying interest like making a quick buck in the trading to buying coffee estates. I hope to give a pointer with this attempt. To understand where we will go from here, we will have understand where we are and in what circumstances we are in. I cannot see the present circumstances aside from the inflation point of view [forgive me!]. I must be sounding like a broken record. But I do not mind repeating, for it is worth. As we move into the New Year of 2006, the situation has only gotten worse, from the same time last year. It is to be expected, as the situation will 'spiral' out of control. By 'spiral' I mean growth in the compounded rate with expanding base. The money supply of the US is growing at the rate of 8% per annum. That means the dollar-supply is increasing by 8% every year. This would naturally mean a reduction in the 'value' of the dollar. With all the ...

The discussion was the classic example of the trap almost all the investors fall into. Traders were explaining many examples of others who had made money in so and so ways. Using so and so advisories. Using so and so services. There might have been one off incident, when people have made money using these methods. But every method requires its own discipline. Changing the methods and looking for a better grounds to make money is not the answer. It would also be extremely unfair to the other person, intended as the example, to assume he did not use any native intelligence. It is the law of nature that every body gets their rewards, if the person has got his rewards, there must be something he did it right. These methods would at the most, in my opinion, would only be a part of the method. It is good in a way that traders are aware of that trading is not confined to their cities, but is a part of the BIG market. They knew there existed a good world outside their cities, but it how they t...

On a recent visit to my old trading pad I was a witness to a very interesting discussion. Back in town after a considerable amount of time, I took some time to greet some of old trading veterans and trading buddies. What I encountered was amusing at the same time very illuminating. A bunch of trading buddies had cornered a broker friend of mine. They were pestering him to allow them a sufficient leverage on their trades. They were asking him to allow the traders lot more time before the margin calls are made on them. The cited so many examples of how the brokers were "nurturing" the traders who are holding the positions in deep losses. They were pestering him to give more data, not the routine advisories from the brokers and the technical analysts, but the deep and inside information, so that clients can make profit. Sure profits! Their argument was flawless. After all they were talking of the profitable idea to the broker. More the profits made by the clients, more the broke...