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seshnath

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Everything posted by seshnath

  1. Bridge hype. I come from a blue collar small town type of family and my grandfather's brother brought the game along when he moved back after retiring from a senior job at a large Canadian bank. I remember my dad, uncle, granddad and granddad's brother playing til 5 am every other weekend. Good times. Their wives and kids got in on it too, and the uncle's wife was probably the best player of them all, by my estimation. The grandpa brother taught everyone the basics of how to bid based off some popular system, and the others quickly became beasts. My dad, mom, brother and I still get together from time to time to play some games, have a drink and enjoy some time together. Our bidding is pretty much nonsense, but we make some alright plays and have tons of fun. I started with office poker games and soon migrated to bridge following WEB. I have been an ACBL member since 2005 and make it a point to play in at least one regional/sectional when I am in the US. Other times I play online at BBO with the same handle seshnath. I am enjoying it so far. - Nathan
  2. You can invest directly in Indian stocks as a foreigner. Only question is - are you willing to take the currency risk? I can assist in setting up an account.
  3. Would love to join at bridgebase - am seshnath - these days I play infrequently - expecting it to change by jan middle.
  4. I play on bridgebase - seshnath is my handle there as well. I have tried okbridge - didn't like it - poor customer service as well. I use Bridge Baron to learn - highly recommend that. Buffett recommended book I have read is Why you lose in bridge? - it is an exercise in inversion - would recommend reading that after you feel comfortable with the game. I also try to play MABC regional held around the 4th of July.
  5. Netnet - I had registered last winter as well. Didn't get a chance to go through - am doing it now. A synthesis of Dawkins' writings and cellular automata rule throws up interesting explanations for me.
  6. It's not that he doesn't like Jack Welch. He's just interjecting in a debate and trying to enlighten...kind of like how everyone on here does! ;D Cheers! Anyone hear of the "Alwaleed of Omaha" story? It seems when Al-Waleed, the Saudi owner of Kingdom Holdings told WEB that he was especially proud when called "Warren Buffett of the Gulf", WEB replied that he was proud when he was called "Al Waleed of Omaha". To me, that is the take downs of all take downs from WEB with all its subtlety and humor. (I read this story in some Middle East newspaper a year or so ago)
  7. There is also the choice of voting for your guy and finding another job in the next three years.
  8. I have been following this guy and better place for some time since I heard a TED talk - concept is interesting.
  9. Interestingly, the good ones cost about $17, while the inferior Dulles ones were $30. I thought so - I had only bought before at Omaha and probably, once at a store in west coast. So I didn't have a good way to compare. My choice was go back to India with See's (old or not) or without them. Shipping costs to India are high enough to justify the price, though.
  10. It was a besides all this - he is talking about probabilities, was the point I was making. I have never read about a POTUS doing this after Eisenhower - I have read Reagan, Ike and Bush memoirs/biographies. Don't know about Clinton (more like, don't care to know) The guy got the popular vote and electoral college once should tel you the obvious.
  11. I am with you, Sanjeev. Though, I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised to see their store in DC's Dulles Airport this July and glad that I was flying home with something better than bling-blings for my wife.
  12. Thanks for posting. Am reading it now. Love Michael Lewis writing style. Obama talking risk management and probabilities - No wonder WEB said that the country is in good hands or something similar to that effect during the elections four years ago.
  13. I picked HLTOY when it went below a buck. Doubled the money just now - sold a half of my position recently to redeploy funds in other opportunities. I am holding on to the other half. I liked it at that price for the cash flow and non-greece portion of the business. I see the debt over hang and a share dilution can't possibly be that bad, again at my buy price.
  14. Moore - no offense. You should google for marriage and hindu next time - it predates all abrahamic institutions, if I am not wrong.
  15. Shalab, what is that new law your friend is referring to? I had an Arab client who says that you have to be careful when investing in America (true story!!) - that doesn't make America a bad place to invest. It is true for all cross-border investments. You can find crooks every where; you have lot of other ways of losing money everywhere in the world. You need to hire a real expert; evaluate his call and then decide. It is true for all "open" economies as well. Rupee depreciation - on average it has lost 3-4% ever since 1991 when the economy opened up. It has been a reality here. According to economist though, if I recall right, Rupee is undervalued by something like 50%. I don't get this bit about wage inflation - there are so many people around and everyone is eager to work. To me, it is like being in the USA in 1970s - everyone was building in wage inflation because they expect inflation to be high next year. Expectation driven inflation is simple (not necessarily easy) to break as Volcker has shown. Return of 15% and up is still around - not on your terms though - it is for people who are willing to wait and do the hard work of stock picking. It isn't easy like it was in 2000, 01. Personally, I don't care whether I get 10% this year or -20%, as long as I make a decent return in the next 10 years. Isn't that what value investing is all about, as well?
  16. I doubt if a fear of neo-colonialism is driving anything in India; nor does competition. It is mostly about jobs. Regarding capital account deficit funding - how do you think it has been happening so far? it is mostly indian diaspora that has been doing it (i don't have numbers to back it up.) Also, going forward I don't expect a capital starved west to fund anything other than social security and old age pensions. Chinese funding has not been much of an issue around here - despite all you hear in the news, we have good trade with China. Lot of Indian manufacturing companies are setting base in China - which is a good start. I am with you about open markets (I had od-ed on Ayn Rand.). What when and where is purely a matter of culture and (our) discretion and judgement. My vote will not be for government that kow-tows to whatever is in flavor in the international markets. You don't want another Argentina on your hands, considering the size of the population.
  17. As developed world's investors are giving up on BRICs, BRICS recently decided to take matters in their hands. There is a decision to bill mutual trade in own currencies, as a start; better negotiations with IMF etc etc.
  18. I hope (and I'm sure others too) that there are more international investors with a similar mindset. Would love to see some multiple compression as I've been sitting on cash for a while and looking to deploy. Like
  19. Wow!!! Me:- South India -> DC Area -> Kuwait -> South India. Life has come a full circle :D
  20. All the data points to a system that is not open? What are your data points? I did answer my question - FDI means foreign direct investment. If a country is not open, would there be FDI? Check these out. http://dipp.nic.in/English/Policies/Policy.aspx Regarding articles on bing and internet - do you always trust the opinions of whoever you read on internet? Whether we want our door open 180 degrees or less than that is a matter of culture, history and priorities. Let us talk about the standards for openness - Is US open as it is claimed to be? If so why was there a big hue and cry about Chinese buying a petroleum company or Middle Easterners buying a Port operating company? Why was it blocked? Now that is a door that looks open but is shut right in your face as you walk in. Each nation has its priorities - we manage based on ours. Investor interests are secondary to interests of voting citizens - that is a reality for a democracy. Which sector is open and to what extent is a policy decision. At least, India is clear about it. The pace at which we go is a matter of judgement - you want to second guess it, be my guest. And all economic policies by a government by its nature will help someone and harm someone. If you want to look for problems, I am sure you are going to find it everywhere especially with the bias. I don't see any issue here - whether we do it this year or next is a matter of judgement. And nobody has said that we are not going to do it, period. Retro-active tax changes - it is just clarification, really. Again priorities - we don't care for investors who want to evade a 30% tax by routing transactions through tax havens. If you are a US company/resident, you can't escape the tax net just because you did a transaction in Mauritius. Your global income is taxed. Also, think about it - Indian saving rate is much higher than most other countries. So where do we look for capital - India or outside. Do we really need people buying s**t they don't need from Walmart or do we push for better infrastructure - you tell me where the priorities should be, if you were managing India Inc.
  21. Zorro - it is not about slowing purchase of gold really - it is about systemic risk from single asset loan providers. Slowing purchase of gold in India will be the collateral damage.
  22. FDI in retail is in the news for all the wrong reasons - it was not about protecting big family owned companies. It was all about protecting middle level retailers - they provide a lot of jobs - to employees and to small business owners. The retail market is very much fragmented in India - an average retailer does about gross 200,000 per month in a B-class town i.e below metro. The big retailers like Reliance and More are new comers - less than a decade old. You will find a lot of department stores as well. Then there are state run and co-operatives as well competing. Just because India is slowly opening up at its pace doesn't mean that things are going back to where they were. Between the tiger and the elephant, the latter will be slow. I am glad the regulators follow that pace, instead of being pressurized to chase the prevailing fashion. It has worked well so far (banking sector being one prime example)
  23. Indian Central Bank just raised the LTV on loans against gold to 60%. http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/notification/PDFs/CC265_210312.pdf In 2010, about 2% of gold inventory was with NBFCs.
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