October 27, 2010
The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand.
Psalm 37:23-24
If you had all the money you needed, would you still work? I saw a recent study that said 65% of Americans would continue with their current job even if they had enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.
You know, there are some people who love their job more than anything in the world. But I also know other men and women who would honestly jump at the chance to quit their current job if they were given enough money to live comfortably. The truth is that God wants you to have balance. You shouldn't set your job up as an idol, nor should you be bitter about it!
The point of this Scripture is that God has you where you are for a reason if you are delighting in him. But if you attempt to find your full joy in the things of the world, you are going to be disappointed. As you delight yourself in the Lord and allow him to guide your steps in all you do, God will bless you with contentment in all aspects of life... including your job!
Don't define yourself by what you do for a living. Instead, delight yourself in the Lord and trust in him for your provision and contentment.
TRUST IN GOD FOR YOUR WELL-BEING AND SEEK FULFILLMENT IN HIM!
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For more from PowerPoint Ministries and Dr. Jack Graham, please visit www.jackgraham.org
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Trusting in God's plan for your life
October 26, 2010
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust can be difficult, can't it? There have been times in my life when I put my trust in someone and was completely let down. And every time that happens, it makes it that much harder to trust them again.
But while people will fail you, God will never let you down.
God has a master plan for every Christian... a blueprint for every believer... a wonderful will for your life as well as mine. And whether you are a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker, God has a purpose for your life.
We can know for certain that God is in control, that we're not just aimlessly wandering and meandering through life, because the Scripture affirms that over and over again.
The Lord only asks that you trust in him to know what's best for you... to not lean on your own understanding of how things should be. It's like that bumper sticker I see all the time that says, "If God is your copilot, then you better trade places!"
When you begin trust in God for everything, He will do amazing things in your life for his glory!
TRUST IN GOD'S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE AND ALLOW HIM TO MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT.
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For more from PowerPoint Ministries and Dr. Jack Graham, please visit www.jackgraham.org
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust can be difficult, can't it? There have been times in my life when I put my trust in someone and was completely let down. And every time that happens, it makes it that much harder to trust them again.
But while people will fail you, God will never let you down.
God has a master plan for every Christian... a blueprint for every believer... a wonderful will for your life as well as mine. And whether you are a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker, God has a purpose for your life.
We can know for certain that God is in control, that we're not just aimlessly wandering and meandering through life, because the Scripture affirms that over and over again.
The Lord only asks that you trust in him to know what's best for you... to not lean on your own understanding of how things should be. It's like that bumper sticker I see all the time that says, "If God is your copilot, then you better trade places!"
When you begin trust in God for everything, He will do amazing things in your life for his glory!
TRUST IN GOD'S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE AND ALLOW HIM TO MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT.
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For more from PowerPoint Ministries and Dr. Jack Graham, please visit www.jackgraham.org
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
USA for Africa - We Are The World (w/M.Jackson) + Lyrics HQ
Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, produced by Quincy Jones, recorded by popular musicians to raise funds to help famine-relief efforts in Ethiopia which experienced unusual drought in 1985.
Indonesia warns volcano could erupt at any time
Indonesia warns volcano could erupt at any time
MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia warned Monday that its most volatile volcano could erupt at any time, prompting calls for the evacuation of thousands of villagers living on the mountain's slopes.
Mount Merapi has seen increased volcanic activity over the past week and officials have raised the alert level for the 9,737-foot (2,968-meter) -high mountain to the most urgent level, said government volcanologist Surono, who uses only one name.
The mountain last erupted in 2006, when it sent an avalanche of blistering gases and rock fragments racing down the mountain that killed two people. A similar eruption in 1994 killed 60 people, while 1,300 people died in an eruption in 1930.
"Officials have predicted that if it erupts, magma would flow to the southern side," said Sri Purnomo, the head of Sleman district on Java island, where Mount Merapi is located.
He said officials were warning some 11,400 villagers living on the mountain's southern slope to prepare for "urgent evacuation."
About 40,000 people live close to the mountain.
Purnomo said camps to take in the evacuees were being set up at government buildings and sports fields more than six miles (10 kilometers) away.
Villagers in the past have been reluctant to leave their homes and crops, and witnesses said many were still seen tending their fields and feeding their cows on Monday.
There are 129 active volcanoes to watch in Indonesia, which is spread across 17,500 islands and is prone to eruptions and earthquakes because of its location within the so-called "Ring of Fire" - a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.
MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia warned Monday that its most volatile volcano could erupt at any time, prompting calls for the evacuation of thousands of villagers living on the mountain's slopes.
Mount Merapi has seen increased volcanic activity over the past week and officials have raised the alert level for the 9,737-foot (2,968-meter) -high mountain to the most urgent level, said government volcanologist Surono, who uses only one name.
The mountain last erupted in 2006, when it sent an avalanche of blistering gases and rock fragments racing down the mountain that killed two people. A similar eruption in 1994 killed 60 people, while 1,300 people died in an eruption in 1930.
"Officials have predicted that if it erupts, magma would flow to the southern side," said Sri Purnomo, the head of Sleman district on Java island, where Mount Merapi is located.
He said officials were warning some 11,400 villagers living on the mountain's southern slope to prepare for "urgent evacuation."
About 40,000 people live close to the mountain.
Purnomo said camps to take in the evacuees were being set up at government buildings and sports fields more than six miles (10 kilometers) away.
Villagers in the past have been reluctant to leave their homes and crops, and witnesses said many were still seen tending their fields and feeding their cows on Monday.
There are 129 active volcanoes to watch in Indonesia, which is spread across 17,500 islands and is prone to eruptions and earthquakes because of its location within the so-called "Ring of Fire" - a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Jesus Knows What Lonely Is
October 4, 2010
"...Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me."
—John 16:32
To varying degrees, each of us has felt the pain of rejection and loneliness. When it comes, it can be completely debilitating. Such pain may even be yours at this moment.
Perhaps you're isolated in your office cubicle day after day. Or maybe you're constantly surrounded by people, without ever feeling connected. Or perhaps you're facing a crisis that no one on earth can endure for you.
Friend, I'm here to tell you that Jesus knows exactly how you feel. That might sound a little strange, since Jesus is God, surrounded with multitudes of angels in celestial glory! But don't forget that Jesus once walked on the earth as a man. "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not" (Isaiah 53:3).
Jesus experienced earth's loneliness to the greatest degree. Laden with our sins on the cross, he experienced horrific separation from the Father in that moment when he cried, "My God... why have You forsaken me?" He suffered it willingly, for the joy set before him—the joy in knowing that you and I would never have to be separated from God by our sin! And he sent the Holy Spirit so that even on earth, we will never be alone!
"And, behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
THANKS BE TO JESUS... WE ARE NEVER TRULY ALONE!
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For more from PowerPoint Ministries and Dr. Jack Graham, please visit www.jackgraham.org
"...Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me."
—John 16:32
To varying degrees, each of us has felt the pain of rejection and loneliness. When it comes, it can be completely debilitating. Such pain may even be yours at this moment.
Perhaps you're isolated in your office cubicle day after day. Or maybe you're constantly surrounded by people, without ever feeling connected. Or perhaps you're facing a crisis that no one on earth can endure for you.
Friend, I'm here to tell you that Jesus knows exactly how you feel. That might sound a little strange, since Jesus is God, surrounded with multitudes of angels in celestial glory! But don't forget that Jesus once walked on the earth as a man. "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not" (Isaiah 53:3).
Jesus experienced earth's loneliness to the greatest degree. Laden with our sins on the cross, he experienced horrific separation from the Father in that moment when he cried, "My God... why have You forsaken me?" He suffered it willingly, for the joy set before him—the joy in knowing that you and I would never have to be separated from God by our sin! And he sent the Holy Spirit so that even on earth, we will never be alone!
"And, behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
THANKS BE TO JESUS... WE ARE NEVER TRULY ALONE!
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For more from PowerPoint Ministries and Dr. Jack Graham, please visit www.jackgraham.org
I thought I was smart but I didn't know better.
This is way back in 1970, when I was still new to markets and the business. I had all my money in puts in January, which people thought was nuts. I sold my puts the day the market hit bottom and tripled my money. Two months later, I sold short several companies — but in the next two months, markets kept rallying, stocks kept going up. I was wiped out and lost everything. Interestingly, the companies I'd short also went bankrupt over the next two years, but I was wiped out first.
This episode taught me that i didn't know enough about markets and market timing.
I thought I was smart but I didn't know better.
Jim Rogers
This episode taught me that i didn't know enough about markets and market timing.
I thought I was smart but I didn't know better.
Jim Rogers
Friday, October 22, 2010
FA.......
The US dollar firmed throughout the NY session ahead of this weekend's G-20 meeting. Economic data released out of the US was relatively mixed. Weekly jobless claims were slightly better than expected at 452K vs. exp. 455K; however the prior week's number was revised higher to 475K from 462K. The 4-week moving average declined to 458.0K from 462.3K the week before. While indicating a decline in jobless claims, the marginal drop shows little improvement. The Philadelphia Fed Index for October, which was forecasted to show a reading of 2.0, disappointed with a print of 1.0 (prior -0.7). September leading indicators were as expected at +0.3% thought the prior month's +0.1% was revised lower from +0.3%. St. Louis Fed President Bullard was on the wires saying that he favors asset purchases in increments of $100B and favors an open-ended amount. We think that this approach would allow the Fed to manage the varying expectations from the market of the amount of so-called ‘QE2'.
Economic data elsewhere included Euro Zone Consumer Confidence which came in line with expectations at -11 (prior -11) and Canada's September leading indicators fell to a disappointing -0.1% (cons. +0.2%, prior +0.6%). EUR/USD slumped after trading as high as around 1.4050, falling to current levels around 1.3920.
U.S. equities gained for a second consecutive day as earnings season continued with positive results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced by about +0.35% and the S&P 500 gained slightly by around +0.18%. Commodities tumbled as the dollar strengthened. Gold broke below an hourly bear flag pattern falling roughly -1.60% and silver dropped by about -3.42%. Oil slid by nearly -2.28% as demand for commodities dampened.
On the calendar for the upcoming Asia/Pacific session is Australia's 3Q import price index and export price index (QoQ).
Economic data elsewhere included Euro Zone Consumer Confidence which came in line with expectations at -11 (prior -11) and Canada's September leading indicators fell to a disappointing -0.1% (cons. +0.2%, prior +0.6%). EUR/USD slumped after trading as high as around 1.4050, falling to current levels around 1.3920.
U.S. equities gained for a second consecutive day as earnings season continued with positive results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced by about +0.35% and the S&P 500 gained slightly by around +0.18%. Commodities tumbled as the dollar strengthened. Gold broke below an hourly bear flag pattern falling roughly -1.60% and silver dropped by about -3.42%. Oil slid by nearly -2.28% as demand for commodities dampened.
On the calendar for the upcoming Asia/Pacific session is Australia's 3Q import price index and export price index (QoQ).
Sunday, October 17, 2010
THE SAME DOOR LEADS TO THE SAME RESULTS
One of my favourite business stories is about a middle-aged manager
struggling to pay his bills, so he decides to get some advice from
a financial expert.
The manager makes an appointment to meet with a well-respected
financial advisor whose office was located in a swanky building on
Park Avenue.
The manager enters the expert's elegantly appointed reception room,
but instead of a receptionist, the manager is greeted by two doors,
one marked "employed" and the other marked "self-employed."
He enters the door marked "employed" and is greeted by two more
doors, one marked "makes less than $40,000" and the other "makes
more than $40,000."
He makes less than $40,000, so he enters that door, only to find
himself face to face with two more doors. The door on the left is
marked "saves more than $2,000 a year," and the one on the right is
marked "saves less than $2,000 a year."
The manager only has about a thousand dollars in his savings, so he
enters the door on the right - only to find himself right back on
Park Avenue!
THE SAME DOOR LEADS TO THE SAME RESULTS
It's painfully obvious that the manager in the story will never get
out of his rut until he starts choosing to open different doors.
The moral of the story is that most people are like the manager -
they choose to enter the doors of life that lead them right back to
where they started.
The only way for people to get different results is to chooseto
enter different doors, isn't that true? Like one of my mentors
always used to say, "If you continue to do what you've always done,
you'll continue to get what you've always gotten."
Is it time to open another door in your life before you hit
65? Why 65? It's because out of every 100 people who hits 65,
statistics place them in the following categories;
1 will be wealthy,
4 will be financially independent,
5 will still be working,
54 will be dead broke and dependent on others,
36 will be dead.
struggling to pay his bills, so he decides to get some advice from
a financial expert.
The manager makes an appointment to meet with a well-respected
financial advisor whose office was located in a swanky building on
Park Avenue.
The manager enters the expert's elegantly appointed reception room,
but instead of a receptionist, the manager is greeted by two doors,
one marked "employed" and the other marked "self-employed."
He enters the door marked "employed" and is greeted by two more
doors, one marked "makes less than $40,000" and the other "makes
more than $40,000."
He makes less than $40,000, so he enters that door, only to find
himself face to face with two more doors. The door on the left is
marked "saves more than $2,000 a year," and the one on the right is
marked "saves less than $2,000 a year."
The manager only has about a thousand dollars in his savings, so he
enters the door on the right - only to find himself right back on
Park Avenue!
THE SAME DOOR LEADS TO THE SAME RESULTS
It's painfully obvious that the manager in the story will never get
out of his rut until he starts choosing to open different doors.
The moral of the story is that most people are like the manager -
they choose to enter the doors of life that lead them right back to
where they started.
The only way for people to get different results is to chooseto
enter different doors, isn't that true? Like one of my mentors
always used to say, "If you continue to do what you've always done,
you'll continue to get what you've always gotten."
Is it time to open another door in your life before you hit
65? Why 65? It's because out of every 100 people who hits 65,
statistics place them in the following categories;
1 will be wealthy,
4 will be financially independent,
5 will still be working,
54 will be dead broke and dependent on others,
36 will be dead.
Influential people have the following characteristics.
1. They have integrity. Their word is their bond. When they say that they will do something, they always follow through with it. They don't steal or cheat.
2. They have an optimistic attitude. They always think a glass is half full and that everything is possible.
3. Excellence is their password. Everything they do is done to the best of their ability. They never settle for second best in any aspect of their life or behavior.
4. They are decisive. They know what they want and they make decisions quickly.
5. They are goal setters. Quick decisions are followed by setting a goal to ensure that the necessary steps are in place to reach the desired result.
6. They make a commitment to everything they do. They commit to work harder at everything they attempt and never give up.
7. They set priorities. They ensure that an important thing is handled first and a less important thing is done later.
8. They are very good with relationships. They are loyal to their friends and family and fair to everyone they encounter.
9. They are full of self confidence. There is no doubt in them about their capabilities because they know that they can handle anything life throws at them.
10. They practice good time management. They ensure that time is not wasted on frivolous things and that important things get the time that they deserve.
11. They show gratitude for what they have and generosity to those in need.
12. They are self motivated. They do not need any outside influence to motivate any of their actions as they have the ability to provide all the motivation they need to accomplish any task.
If you can master these twelve characteristics you will be amazed at how influential you become in all facets of your life. Pick one of these traits and practice it daily until it becomes second nature to you.
When you have mastered it, go on to the next one. Yes, it will take time to master them all, but think of the future you will have when you do.
The sooner you start, the sooner you will become the master of your destiny.
2. They have an optimistic attitude. They always think a glass is half full and that everything is possible.
3. Excellence is their password. Everything they do is done to the best of their ability. They never settle for second best in any aspect of their life or behavior.
4. They are decisive. They know what they want and they make decisions quickly.
5. They are goal setters. Quick decisions are followed by setting a goal to ensure that the necessary steps are in place to reach the desired result.
6. They make a commitment to everything they do. They commit to work harder at everything they attempt and never give up.
7. They set priorities. They ensure that an important thing is handled first and a less important thing is done later.
8. They are very good with relationships. They are loyal to their friends and family and fair to everyone they encounter.
9. They are full of self confidence. There is no doubt in them about their capabilities because they know that they can handle anything life throws at them.
10. They practice good time management. They ensure that time is not wasted on frivolous things and that important things get the time that they deserve.
11. They show gratitude for what they have and generosity to those in need.
12. They are self motivated. They do not need any outside influence to motivate any of their actions as they have the ability to provide all the motivation they need to accomplish any task.
If you can master these twelve characteristics you will be amazed at how influential you become in all facets of your life. Pick one of these traits and practice it daily until it becomes second nature to you.
When you have mastered it, go on to the next one. Yes, it will take time to master them all, but think of the future you will have when you do.
The sooner you start, the sooner you will become the master of your destiny.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Advancing Through Adversity
Ephesians 3:14-21
One noteworthy trait of the apostle Paul was his determination to advance through adversity. There are many people who get stuck in life's hard spots. They are either too scared or too bitter to move through the hardship.
Instead, these folks wait for the Lord to remove the trial, but He doesn't always work that way.
How a person responds to hardship reveals his or her true character. Hard times are when God's people most need to match actions to words. It's easy to say, "I trust God" or "My Lord is faithful," particularly when life is good. But unless we recognize that He is sovereign even in adversity, the same lips will complain and seek pity. Believers who trust in the Lord's faithfulness and supremacy will steadfastly focus on Him and thereby keep their anxiety and doubt subdued.
In order to conquer adversity, we must begin moving through it. It is essential for a suffering believer to surrender to God's will. We may not know what His purpose is. We certainly won't like the pain, and we'll definitely want the situation to change—fast. But giving the Lord free rein allows Him to mature our faith, conform us to the likeness of His Son, and fulfill His unique plan for our lives.
Surrendering does not seem like a way to advance anywhere. But in reality, we're just handing over the controls to God and saying, "You guide me where You want me to go." Doing so requires a lot of trust. We serve a Lord who is worthy of our faith and confidence.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
One noteworthy trait of the apostle Paul was his determination to advance through adversity. There are many people who get stuck in life's hard spots. They are either too scared or too bitter to move through the hardship.
Instead, these folks wait for the Lord to remove the trial, but He doesn't always work that way.
How a person responds to hardship reveals his or her true character. Hard times are when God's people most need to match actions to words. It's easy to say, "I trust God" or "My Lord is faithful," particularly when life is good. But unless we recognize that He is sovereign even in adversity, the same lips will complain and seek pity. Believers who trust in the Lord's faithfulness and supremacy will steadfastly focus on Him and thereby keep their anxiety and doubt subdued.
In order to conquer adversity, we must begin moving through it. It is essential for a suffering believer to surrender to God's will. We may not know what His purpose is. We certainly won't like the pain, and we'll definitely want the situation to change—fast. But giving the Lord free rein allows Him to mature our faith, conform us to the likeness of His Son, and fulfill His unique plan for our lives.
Surrendering does not seem like a way to advance anywhere. But in reality, we're just handing over the controls to God and saying, "You guide me where You want me to go." Doing so requires a lot of trust. We serve a Lord who is worthy of our faith and confidence.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Overcoming Self-Sufficiency
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
In many modern cultures, self-sufficiency is prized. People cheer over stories of the man who "pulled himself up by his boot straps." A lot of folks don't like to admit the need for help from other people or from the Lord, since a can-do attitude seems far more impressive. In a word, the problem is pride.
Adversity punches holes in pride. Paul reported that he had a lot of reasons to be arrogant—a good pedigree, education, religious fervor, etc. (Phil. 3:5-6). Even after his conversion, he had plenty of opportunity get a swelled head. God had specifically called him to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. But the Lord also gave him a "thorn in the flesh"—an obstacle so great that Paul required constant spiritual assistance to work through it. This was the pin that burst the apostle's pride balloon and then kept it so full of holes that it couldn't re-inflate.
God uses adversity in much the same way in our lives. We find ourselves in a situation that is beyond our capacity to handle. So we try to pull those bootstraps, but nothing happens. That is when God offers His sufficiency, His might, and His guidance. Those who submit to Him discover renewed strength, as His power dwells within them.
Self-sufficiency is no prize; it is a trap. That's why God's message is the opposite of the one that the world trumpets so loudly. Those who desire to conquer adversity must sacrifice self-reliance to depend upon Him. When we are weak, His Spirit makes us strong.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
In many modern cultures, self-sufficiency is prized. People cheer over stories of the man who "pulled himself up by his boot straps." A lot of folks don't like to admit the need for help from other people or from the Lord, since a can-do attitude seems far more impressive. In a word, the problem is pride.
Adversity punches holes in pride. Paul reported that he had a lot of reasons to be arrogant—a good pedigree, education, religious fervor, etc. (Phil. 3:5-6). Even after his conversion, he had plenty of opportunity get a swelled head. God had specifically called him to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. But the Lord also gave him a "thorn in the flesh"—an obstacle so great that Paul required constant spiritual assistance to work through it. This was the pin that burst the apostle's pride balloon and then kept it so full of holes that it couldn't re-inflate.
God uses adversity in much the same way in our lives. We find ourselves in a situation that is beyond our capacity to handle. So we try to pull those bootstraps, but nothing happens. That is when God offers His sufficiency, His might, and His guidance. Those who submit to Him discover renewed strength, as His power dwells within them.
Self-sufficiency is no prize; it is a trap. That's why God's message is the opposite of the one that the world trumpets so loudly. Those who desire to conquer adversity must sacrifice self-reliance to depend upon Him. When we are weak, His Spirit makes us strong.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Do Good Quietly
by Max Lucado
"They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men" (Matt. 6:5).
This is the working definition of hypocrisy: "to be seen by men." The Greek word for hypocrite, hypokrit?s, originally meant "actor." First-century actors wore masks. A hypocrite, then, is one who puts on a mask, a false face.
Jesus did not say, "Do not do good works." Nor did he instruct, "Do not let your works be seen." We must do good works, and some works, such as benevolence or teaching, must be seen in order to have an impact. So let's be clear. To do a good thing is a good thing. To do good to be seen is not. In fact, to do good to be seen is a serious offense. Here's why.
Hypocrisy turns people away from God. When God-hungry souls walk into a congregation of wannabe superstars, what happens? When God seekers see singers strut like Las Vegas entertainers . . . When they hear the preacher—a man of slick words, dress, and hair—play to the crowd and exclude God . . . When other attendees dress to be seen and make much to-do over their gifts and offerings . . . When people enter a church to see God yet can't see God because of the church, don't think for a second that God doesn't react. "Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding" (Matt. 6:1 MSG).
Hypocrisy turns people against God. So God has a no-tolerance policy. Let the cold, lifeless bodies of the embezzling couple issue their intended warning. Let's take hypocrisy as seriously as God does. How can we?
1. Expect no credit for good deeds. None. If no one notices, you aren't disappointed. If someone does, you give the credit to God. Ask yourself this question: If no one knew of the good I do, would I still do it? If not, you're doing it to be seen by people.
2. Give financial gifts in secret. Money stirs the phony within us. We like to be seen earning it. And we like to be seen giving it. So "when you give to someone in need, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" (Matt. 6:3 NLT).
3. Don't fake spirituality. When you go to church, don't select a seat just to be seen or sing just to be heard. If you raise your hands in worship, raise holy ones, not showy ones. When you talk, don't doctor your vocabulary with trendy religious terms. Nothing nauseates more than a fake "Praise the Lord" or a shallow "Hallelujah" or an insincere "Glory be to God."
Bottom line: don't make a theater production out of your faith. "Watch me! Watch me!" is a call used on the playground, not in God's kingdom. Silence the trumpets. Cancel the parade. Enough with the name-dropping. If accolades come, politely deflect them before you believe them. Slay the desire to be noticed. Stir the desire to serve God.
Heed the counsel of Christ: "First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too" (Matt. 23:26 NLT). Focus on the inside, and the outside will take care of itself. Lay your motives before God daily, hourly. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life" (Ps. 139:23-24 NLT).
Do good things. Just don't do them to be noticed. You can be too good for your own good, you know.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:3-4 NIV)
Lord, you make it plain in your Word that you hate hypocrisy, especially because it turns others away from you. So, Father, I pray that you would blunt my natural inclination to seek personal recognition for whatever good things you allow me to do. I don't want to be a phony, but neither do I want to be a glory hound. Fill me with your Spirit, and teach me to follow his example in gladly giving all glory to your Son. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
From Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2010) Max Lucado
"They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men" (Matt. 6:5).
This is the working definition of hypocrisy: "to be seen by men." The Greek word for hypocrite, hypokrit?s, originally meant "actor." First-century actors wore masks. A hypocrite, then, is one who puts on a mask, a false face.
Jesus did not say, "Do not do good works." Nor did he instruct, "Do not let your works be seen." We must do good works, and some works, such as benevolence or teaching, must be seen in order to have an impact. So let's be clear. To do a good thing is a good thing. To do good to be seen is not. In fact, to do good to be seen is a serious offense. Here's why.
Hypocrisy turns people away from God. When God-hungry souls walk into a congregation of wannabe superstars, what happens? When God seekers see singers strut like Las Vegas entertainers . . . When they hear the preacher—a man of slick words, dress, and hair—play to the crowd and exclude God . . . When other attendees dress to be seen and make much to-do over their gifts and offerings . . . When people enter a church to see God yet can't see God because of the church, don't think for a second that God doesn't react. "Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding" (Matt. 6:1 MSG).
Hypocrisy turns people against God. So God has a no-tolerance policy. Let the cold, lifeless bodies of the embezzling couple issue their intended warning. Let's take hypocrisy as seriously as God does. How can we?
1. Expect no credit for good deeds. None. If no one notices, you aren't disappointed. If someone does, you give the credit to God. Ask yourself this question: If no one knew of the good I do, would I still do it? If not, you're doing it to be seen by people.
2. Give financial gifts in secret. Money stirs the phony within us. We like to be seen earning it. And we like to be seen giving it. So "when you give to someone in need, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" (Matt. 6:3 NLT).
3. Don't fake spirituality. When you go to church, don't select a seat just to be seen or sing just to be heard. If you raise your hands in worship, raise holy ones, not showy ones. When you talk, don't doctor your vocabulary with trendy religious terms. Nothing nauseates more than a fake "Praise the Lord" or a shallow "Hallelujah" or an insincere "Glory be to God."
Bottom line: don't make a theater production out of your faith. "Watch me! Watch me!" is a call used on the playground, not in God's kingdom. Silence the trumpets. Cancel the parade. Enough with the name-dropping. If accolades come, politely deflect them before you believe them. Slay the desire to be noticed. Stir the desire to serve God.
Heed the counsel of Christ: "First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too" (Matt. 23:26 NLT). Focus on the inside, and the outside will take care of itself. Lay your motives before God daily, hourly. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life" (Ps. 139:23-24 NLT).
Do good things. Just don't do them to be noticed. You can be too good for your own good, you know.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:3-4 NIV)
Lord, you make it plain in your Word that you hate hypocrisy, especially because it turns others away from you. So, Father, I pray that you would blunt my natural inclination to seek personal recognition for whatever good things you allow me to do. I don't want to be a phony, but neither do I want to be a glory hound. Fill me with your Spirit, and teach me to follow his example in gladly giving all glory to your Son. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
From Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2010) Max Lucado
Waiting on God
October 15, 2010
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
John 11:1-6
One day, the great preacher Phillips Brooks was pacing back and forth in his study. He was particularly agitated and anxious that day and someone said to him, "Dr. Brooks, what's wrong?"
"It's what's always wrong," he said. "I'm in a hurry and God isn't!"
So often our culture tells us to want things and want them now! But sometimes God delays his response and you can be left wondering, "Where is God?"
In the story above, Lazarus died and was brought back to life by Jesus. And looking at that in hindsight, it's easy to have faith because we know today how the story ends. But I'll bet for a while Mary and Martha had that exact same question: "Where is God?"
But don't be deceived. Just because God may delay a response doesn't mean that he's not there! God cares deeply for you and about your problems. He will absolutely come through... but it will be in his own timing. Mary and Martha were praying for Lazarus to be healed, but Jesus had an even bigger miracle he wanted to do. He wanted to raise him from the dead!
So make your prayer, "God, while I want you to do ________, help me to trust in your perfect timing." When you begin to pray in that way, you'll open yourself to seeing God truly work miraculously in your life!
TRUST IN GOD'S TIMING WHEN YOU PRAY BECAUSE HIS PLAN IS PERFECT!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more from PowerPoint Ministries and Dr. Jack Graham, please visit www.jackgraham.org
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
John 11:1-6
One day, the great preacher Phillips Brooks was pacing back and forth in his study. He was particularly agitated and anxious that day and someone said to him, "Dr. Brooks, what's wrong?"
"It's what's always wrong," he said. "I'm in a hurry and God isn't!"
So often our culture tells us to want things and want them now! But sometimes God delays his response and you can be left wondering, "Where is God?"
In the story above, Lazarus died and was brought back to life by Jesus. And looking at that in hindsight, it's easy to have faith because we know today how the story ends. But I'll bet for a while Mary and Martha had that exact same question: "Where is God?"
But don't be deceived. Just because God may delay a response doesn't mean that he's not there! God cares deeply for you and about your problems. He will absolutely come through... but it will be in his own timing. Mary and Martha were praying for Lazarus to be healed, but Jesus had an even bigger miracle he wanted to do. He wanted to raise him from the dead!
So make your prayer, "God, while I want you to do ________, help me to trust in your perfect timing." When you begin to pray in that way, you'll open yourself to seeing God truly work miraculously in your life!
TRUST IN GOD'S TIMING WHEN YOU PRAY BECAUSE HIS PLAN IS PERFECT!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more from PowerPoint Ministries and Dr. Jack Graham, please visit www.jackgraham.org
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Options......
the major options that has worked for
many people, that you may want to consider.
1. Network Marketing (my favourite!)
2. Direct Sales (insurance and real estate)
3. Investment in stocks and shares
4. Investment in Futures
5. Investment in Commodities
6. Investment in FOREX
7. Own a business
8. Own properties
9. Internet marketing
many people, that you may want to consider.
1. Network Marketing (my favourite!)
2. Direct Sales (insurance and real estate)
3. Investment in stocks and shares
4. Investment in Futures
5. Investment in Commodities
6. Investment in FOREX
7. Own a business
8. Own properties
9. Internet marketing
Preparation for Spiritual Warfare
Ephesians 6:10-13
Believers are caught in a battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness, but the Lord has provided everything we need to stand firm against the forces of evil. Why, then, do Christians fail so often and give in to temptation and sin? I think there are a number of reasons.
We are unaware of the battle. Even if we know about spiritual warfare, during everyday life, it's easy to forget an invisible war is raging around us. Our inattention makes us prime candidates for an attack.
We are ignorant about the Enemy. Satan is free to bombard us with one scheme after another when we don't recognize his tactics or understand his goals.
We are untrained for warfare. Believers are soldiers whether they want to be or not. God's Word is the training manual that gives instruction for discerning deception, resisting temptation, standing firm in faith, and walking in integrity.
We allow Satan a foothold. The primary battleground for Christians is the mind. If we begin to listen to the Tempter and consider the benefits of his suggestions, he will gain a foothold into our thoughts, feelings, and desires. Left unchecked, the foothold will become a stronghold, and we'll soon find ourselves mired in sin.
The time to prepare for warfare is now. You cannot afford to be complacent and unaware of your Enemy, or you will quickly become his victim. Begin filling your mind with God's Word, and obediently listen to the Spirit's inner warnings. That's the way to experience the joy of victory in Christ
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Believers are caught in a battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness, but the Lord has provided everything we need to stand firm against the forces of evil. Why, then, do Christians fail so often and give in to temptation and sin? I think there are a number of reasons.
We are unaware of the battle. Even if we know about spiritual warfare, during everyday life, it's easy to forget an invisible war is raging around us. Our inattention makes us prime candidates for an attack.
We are ignorant about the Enemy. Satan is free to bombard us with one scheme after another when we don't recognize his tactics or understand his goals.
We are untrained for warfare. Believers are soldiers whether they want to be or not. God's Word is the training manual that gives instruction for discerning deception, resisting temptation, standing firm in faith, and walking in integrity.
We allow Satan a foothold. The primary battleground for Christians is the mind. If we begin to listen to the Tempter and consider the benefits of his suggestions, he will gain a foothold into our thoughts, feelings, and desires. Left unchecked, the foothold will become a stronghold, and we'll soon find ourselves mired in sin.
The time to prepare for warfare is now. You cannot afford to be complacent and unaware of your Enemy, or you will quickly become his victim. Begin filling your mind with God's Word, and obediently listen to the Spirit's inner warnings. That's the way to experience the joy of victory in Christ
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Trading the forex market .....
Trading the forex market is one of the most exciting and potentially
profitable endeavors that you can undertake. We trade the entire
world, matching the world’s economies against one another. This
market is vast,much larger than any stock or futuresmarket. There is nothing
else like it on earth......
profitable endeavors that you can undertake. We trade the entire
world, matching the world’s economies against one another. This
market is vast,much larger than any stock or futuresmarket. There is nothing
else like it on earth......
Jesus sees beyond your reputation.
October 8, 2010
And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."
—Luke 19:7
"Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he." Perhaps you knew this song as a child. But do you remember that story?
Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Basically, he was a turncoat. He got rich by cheating his own people. This man was isolated, cut off, and hated by his fellow Jews. He must have been very lonely and full of fear and anxiety.
When Jesus came to town, Zacchaeus scampered up a tree just to get a glimpse of him passing by. Jesus was working his way through the crowds; people were pressing around him, trying just to touch him. Jesus looked up, and there was Zacchaeus, literally out on a limb.
Jesus stopped. Zacchaeus' heart must have begun pounding as their eyes locked. The little man surely died a million deaths! "Oh my! He sees me. He sees me! He's looking right at me!"
And what a shock when Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus' house! I imagine Jesus smiled with amusement and love for him!
Jesus is passing your way today. Can he come and spend time with you? I can tell you, he hasn't listened to one word of criticism aimed against you. He sees you as a treasure up in that tree—the apple of his eye!
JESUS WANTS TO SPEND SOME TIME AT YOUR HOUSE!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more from PowerPoint Ministries and Dr. Jack Graham, please visit www.jackgraham.org
And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."
—Luke 19:7
"Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he." Perhaps you knew this song as a child. But do you remember that story?
Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Basically, he was a turncoat. He got rich by cheating his own people. This man was isolated, cut off, and hated by his fellow Jews. He must have been very lonely and full of fear and anxiety.
When Jesus came to town, Zacchaeus scampered up a tree just to get a glimpse of him passing by. Jesus was working his way through the crowds; people were pressing around him, trying just to touch him. Jesus looked up, and there was Zacchaeus, literally out on a limb.
Jesus stopped. Zacchaeus' heart must have begun pounding as their eyes locked. The little man surely died a million deaths! "Oh my! He sees me. He sees me! He's looking right at me!"
And what a shock when Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus' house! I imagine Jesus smiled with amusement and love for him!
Jesus is passing your way today. Can he come and spend time with you? I can tell you, he hasn't listened to one word of criticism aimed against you. He sees you as a treasure up in that tree—the apple of his eye!
JESUS WANTS TO SPEND SOME TIME AT YOUR HOUSE!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more from PowerPoint Ministries and Dr. Jack Graham, please visit www.jackgraham.org
Prudent money management............
Prudent money management rules should be observed by ALL traders at ALL times for ALL trades. This helps to protect a trader's capital and keeps him in the game for the long-term, which should be the prerogative of every responsible trader.
There are 6 basic ways to profit from the FOREX Market:
1.Trend Strategy
2.Range Strategy
3.Reversal Strategy
4.Breakout Strategy
5.Hedging Strategy
6.Arbitrage Strategy
A trader can use one or a combination of strategies in his trading portfolio, depending on his personality. There is no "one" strategy that is better than the other.
2.Range Strategy
3.Reversal Strategy
4.Breakout Strategy
5.Hedging Strategy
6.Arbitrage Strategy
A trader can use one or a combination of strategies in his trading portfolio, depending on his personality. There is no "one" strategy that is better than the other.
"Until you can manage your mind, do not expect to manage money."
- Warren Buffet
State deals with a trader's thoughts and emotions. It is by far, the component which will present itself as the biggest stumbling block to a trader's success. Four human characteristics of fear, greed, hope and ignorance will always rear its ugly head in every trade.
The FOREX Market is not just the largest financial market in the world, it is also the largest mirror to our soul. Our approach to FOREX trading will give us insights to our personality. Great traders have always gone to work on their state of mind. Shouldn't we?
State deals with a trader's thoughts and emotions. It is by far, the component which will present itself as the biggest stumbling block to a trader's success. Four human characteristics of fear, greed, hope and ignorance will always rear its ugly head in every trade.
The FOREX Market is not just the largest financial market in the world, it is also the largest mirror to our soul. Our approach to FOREX trading will give us insights to our personality. Great traders have always gone to work on their state of mind. Shouldn't we?
How AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes shrugged off the global recession
Monday, 6th September 2010
The cheap flights pioneer says the 2008 financial crisis will force most airlines to narrow their services
ROGER BAIRD
IF Tony Fernandes, the chief executive of pioneering low-cost carrier AirAsia, ever suffered from shyness as child, he is certainly cured of it now.
The UK-educated Malaysian entrepreneur, who founded the short haul airline in 2001 and its longhaul sister AirAsia X six years later, dominates the meeting room of his West End PR agency with his loud voice and breezy manner.
But then you need to be able to hold your own in the sort of company he travels in. The morning City A.M. spoke to him he had just had breakfast with Sir Martin Sorrell, the boss of WPP and the world’s most influential advertising executive; and he regularly hobnobs with the rich and powerful. Fernandes, 46, bought the Lotus Formula One team last September, and has since made a bet with Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, who runs his own Virgin Racing outfit. Whoever finishes behind the other at the end of the season must serve as a cabin crew member on the rival airline.
Fernandes, who actually began his career on one of Branson’s cable TV stations in the late 1980s, says: “I have already told him to start shaving his legs. We don’t like cabin crew with hairy legs on AirAsia.”
One gamble Fernandes, who has a £230m fortune, lost out on earlier this year was his bid to buy West Ham United football club, which was sold to British businessmen David Gold and David Sullivan.
Fernandes has moved on from that and is currently making headlines because last month he confirmed his intention to float longhaul outfit AirAsia X in the second half of next year. Parent company AirAsia has a 16 per cent stake in that business.
Currently AirAsia has 86 planes and average fares of £25 to more than 100 routes including Malaysia, Thailand, China, the Philippines and Macau. AirAsia X has 11 planes and average return fares of around £300 on routes such as Hong Kong and London. Both airlines share 7,000 staff and are based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Fernandes is chief executive of AirAsia, which itself floated in 2004, and a board director of its longhaul sister.
AirAsia posted a 2009 net profit of RM 549m (£112m) on sales up 11.5 per cent at RM3,179m (£648m). The airline bucked the 3.5 per cent fall the industry suffered globally last year, as it launched 12 new routes and saw passenger numbers grow 24 per cent to 22.7m. Smaller but no less successful AirAsia X posted a net profit of RM87m on sales of RM720m. The longhaul carrier is currently completing a RM100m rights issue to be able to finance the running of its own operations in advance of the separation.
Fernandes says the reason for the flotation is because he is seeing “a bit of contamination” between the way the two airlines are run, and this needs to be prised apart.
He says: “The patterns of the pilots and cabin crew are different on shorthaul and long haul airlines. Both airlines need differing amounts of ground crew, because there is less luggage in the hold on shorthaul. Also the approach to marketing is different on both carriers.”
Fernandes says AirAsia X will float in Malaysia and is considering a secondary listing in London or New York. He will not say how much of the business will be sold to outside investors, but he does say AirAsia’s 16 per cent stake in the longhaul outfit will be “treated as an investment” and will be sold down over time.
Intriguingly, Branson’s Virgin Atlantic also holds a 20 per cent stake in AirAsia X. Fernandes will begin to look for banks to handle the sale towards the end of the year.
However, he does not want or predict a full separation of the two airlines. He says they will still share the same website, but more importantly he says that he sees a “star chamber” of four executives, including himself, who will sit on a board that will span both carriers.
Fernandes says that what is happening at his carriers reflects a polarisation in the airline business brought about by the 2008 financial crisis.
He says airlines are often “destroyers of capital”. And if you take into account the scores of airlines around the world that have failed in the last two years – from Oasis in Hong Kong to Flyglobespan in Scotland – it is hard to disagree with him.
He adds: “Airlines have to choose what they want to be, either shorthaul or longhaul. You have to focus on what you are offering. Two of the world’s most successful airlines, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, are basically longhaul airlines.”
The airline boss continues: “By contrast British Airways runs four businesses. They have first class, business class, premium economy and economy. And that takes different levels of service and marketing for each.”
Fernandes adds: “BA should sell off its shorthaul operations. The industry is separating out into simply premium and low cost airlines, and it takes a lot of focus to do one of those well and make money from it.”
He also thinks that banks should take the bulk of the blame for the financial crisis, backs a Glass-Steagall style reform of finance and says that government response to bank regulation around the world is patchy.
Fernandes says: “Banks should be there to build businesses, and that means sensible lending. Too much cash was put into instruments like derivatives. Governments should split up banks into commercial and investment arms.”
He adds: “Asian banks have learned their lessons from their own banking crisis in 1997, when there was a lot of free and easy money flying around. But this time around they did a superb job.”
Fernandes thinks that the EU is introducing prudent banking reforms, but adds that he thinks the US “has still not got to grips with their big banks”.
The airline chief also argues that the industry is beginning to look up. He says: “We are in a very sweet spot. In terms of budget travel people are trading down towards us. But across the industry as a whole the Icelandic volcano shows that people can’t live without aviation. People want to travel. TV has made the world smaller. There is a lot of talk about CO2 emissions but cars emit out a lot more carbon. The urge to travel is strong.”
There are not many in the airline industry who would see the Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which grounded planes across Europe and the Atlantic at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds, as good news for air travel.
However, for Fernandes the glass is never less than half full. His beginnings in the business demonstrate that.
He worked in the finance department of Virgin’s Music Box and Super Channel in the late 1980s. Fernandes then moved on to become the south east Asian regional vice-president for Warner Music for nine years, until 2001, but then he struck out on his own after becoming disillusioned with the Time Warner’s and AOL merger.
He saw Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, a fellow London School of Economics alumni, talking about his easyJet airline on TV and thought he could replicate the idea in Asia.
He brought together two partners, remortgaged his house for £250,000 and bought AirAsia from the Malaysian government for RM1, taking on RM40m of debt. The airline then comprised of just two ageing Boeing 737-300 jets, with the deal being signed just three days before 9/11, terrible timing for any airline.
“I was philosophical about it,” smiles Fernandes. “The business could only go up from there.”
The airline quickly followed the classic budget aircraft model of lean staff, one-hour airport turnarounds, and high plane usage (12 hours in the air per day instead of the more usual seven). Remarkably, it made a profit at the end of its first year.
“We had to make money, because we did not have any other cash to fall back on,” he says. The airline carried on adding routes and passengers and grew to become a dominant player in the region.
As the airline industry continues to polarise and change, and Asian firms continue their global ascent, we are bound to see far more of the loud, brash and confident Tony Fernandes. Europe’s remaining legacy carriers had better watch out.
CV | TONY FERNANDES
Age: 46; born in Kuala Lumpur
Work: Virgin’s Music Box and Super Channel where he worked as an auditor and later financial controller: 1987-1989; Warner Music: 1992-2001, leaving as south east Asian regional vice-president; chief executive of AirAsia: 2001 to present.
Education: Epsom College: 1977-1983 (“It was like a borstal”); London School of Economics: 1984-1987, read accounting.
Family: Married, with two children.
Hobbies: Music, has about 8,000 iTunes tracks: “Most of it is R&B, but I like most stuff except country and western.” A West Ham fan since 1975.
The cheap flights pioneer says the 2008 financial crisis will force most airlines to narrow their services
ROGER BAIRD
IF Tony Fernandes, the chief executive of pioneering low-cost carrier AirAsia, ever suffered from shyness as child, he is certainly cured of it now.
The UK-educated Malaysian entrepreneur, who founded the short haul airline in 2001 and its longhaul sister AirAsia X six years later, dominates the meeting room of his West End PR agency with his loud voice and breezy manner.
But then you need to be able to hold your own in the sort of company he travels in. The morning City A.M. spoke to him he had just had breakfast with Sir Martin Sorrell, the boss of WPP and the world’s most influential advertising executive; and he regularly hobnobs with the rich and powerful. Fernandes, 46, bought the Lotus Formula One team last September, and has since made a bet with Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, who runs his own Virgin Racing outfit. Whoever finishes behind the other at the end of the season must serve as a cabin crew member on the rival airline.
Fernandes, who actually began his career on one of Branson’s cable TV stations in the late 1980s, says: “I have already told him to start shaving his legs. We don’t like cabin crew with hairy legs on AirAsia.”
One gamble Fernandes, who has a £230m fortune, lost out on earlier this year was his bid to buy West Ham United football club, which was sold to British businessmen David Gold and David Sullivan.
Fernandes has moved on from that and is currently making headlines because last month he confirmed his intention to float longhaul outfit AirAsia X in the second half of next year. Parent company AirAsia has a 16 per cent stake in that business.
Currently AirAsia has 86 planes and average fares of £25 to more than 100 routes including Malaysia, Thailand, China, the Philippines and Macau. AirAsia X has 11 planes and average return fares of around £300 on routes such as Hong Kong and London. Both airlines share 7,000 staff and are based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Fernandes is chief executive of AirAsia, which itself floated in 2004, and a board director of its longhaul sister.
AirAsia posted a 2009 net profit of RM 549m (£112m) on sales up 11.5 per cent at RM3,179m (£648m). The airline bucked the 3.5 per cent fall the industry suffered globally last year, as it launched 12 new routes and saw passenger numbers grow 24 per cent to 22.7m. Smaller but no less successful AirAsia X posted a net profit of RM87m on sales of RM720m. The longhaul carrier is currently completing a RM100m rights issue to be able to finance the running of its own operations in advance of the separation.
Fernandes says the reason for the flotation is because he is seeing “a bit of contamination” between the way the two airlines are run, and this needs to be prised apart.
He says: “The patterns of the pilots and cabin crew are different on shorthaul and long haul airlines. Both airlines need differing amounts of ground crew, because there is less luggage in the hold on shorthaul. Also the approach to marketing is different on both carriers.”
Fernandes says AirAsia X will float in Malaysia and is considering a secondary listing in London or New York. He will not say how much of the business will be sold to outside investors, but he does say AirAsia’s 16 per cent stake in the longhaul outfit will be “treated as an investment” and will be sold down over time.
Intriguingly, Branson’s Virgin Atlantic also holds a 20 per cent stake in AirAsia X. Fernandes will begin to look for banks to handle the sale towards the end of the year.
However, he does not want or predict a full separation of the two airlines. He says they will still share the same website, but more importantly he says that he sees a “star chamber” of four executives, including himself, who will sit on a board that will span both carriers.
Fernandes says that what is happening at his carriers reflects a polarisation in the airline business brought about by the 2008 financial crisis.
He says airlines are often “destroyers of capital”. And if you take into account the scores of airlines around the world that have failed in the last two years – from Oasis in Hong Kong to Flyglobespan in Scotland – it is hard to disagree with him.
He adds: “Airlines have to choose what they want to be, either shorthaul or longhaul. You have to focus on what you are offering. Two of the world’s most successful airlines, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, are basically longhaul airlines.”
The airline boss continues: “By contrast British Airways runs four businesses. They have first class, business class, premium economy and economy. And that takes different levels of service and marketing for each.”
Fernandes adds: “BA should sell off its shorthaul operations. The industry is separating out into simply premium and low cost airlines, and it takes a lot of focus to do one of those well and make money from it.”
He also thinks that banks should take the bulk of the blame for the financial crisis, backs a Glass-Steagall style reform of finance and says that government response to bank regulation around the world is patchy.
Fernandes says: “Banks should be there to build businesses, and that means sensible lending. Too much cash was put into instruments like derivatives. Governments should split up banks into commercial and investment arms.”
He adds: “Asian banks have learned their lessons from their own banking crisis in 1997, when there was a lot of free and easy money flying around. But this time around they did a superb job.”
Fernandes thinks that the EU is introducing prudent banking reforms, but adds that he thinks the US “has still not got to grips with their big banks”.
The airline chief also argues that the industry is beginning to look up. He says: “We are in a very sweet spot. In terms of budget travel people are trading down towards us. But across the industry as a whole the Icelandic volcano shows that people can’t live without aviation. People want to travel. TV has made the world smaller. There is a lot of talk about CO2 emissions but cars emit out a lot more carbon. The urge to travel is strong.”
There are not many in the airline industry who would see the Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which grounded planes across Europe and the Atlantic at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds, as good news for air travel.
However, for Fernandes the glass is never less than half full. His beginnings in the business demonstrate that.
He worked in the finance department of Virgin’s Music Box and Super Channel in the late 1980s. Fernandes then moved on to become the south east Asian regional vice-president for Warner Music for nine years, until 2001, but then he struck out on his own after becoming disillusioned with the Time Warner’s and AOL merger.
He saw Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, a fellow London School of Economics alumni, talking about his easyJet airline on TV and thought he could replicate the idea in Asia.
He brought together two partners, remortgaged his house for £250,000 and bought AirAsia from the Malaysian government for RM1, taking on RM40m of debt. The airline then comprised of just two ageing Boeing 737-300 jets, with the deal being signed just three days before 9/11, terrible timing for any airline.
“I was philosophical about it,” smiles Fernandes. “The business could only go up from there.”
The airline quickly followed the classic budget aircraft model of lean staff, one-hour airport turnarounds, and high plane usage (12 hours in the air per day instead of the more usual seven). Remarkably, it made a profit at the end of its first year.
“We had to make money, because we did not have any other cash to fall back on,” he says. The airline carried on adding routes and passengers and grew to become a dominant player in the region.
As the airline industry continues to polarise and change, and Asian firms continue their global ascent, we are bound to see far more of the loud, brash and confident Tony Fernandes. Europe’s remaining legacy carriers had better watch out.
CV | TONY FERNANDES
Age: 46; born in Kuala Lumpur
Work: Virgin’s Music Box and Super Channel where he worked as an auditor and later financial controller: 1987-1989; Warner Music: 1992-2001, leaving as south east Asian regional vice-president; chief executive of AirAsia: 2001 to present.
Education: Epsom College: 1977-1983 (“It was like a borstal”); London School of Economics: 1984-1987, read accounting.
Family: Married, with two children.
Hobbies: Music, has about 8,000 iTunes tracks: “Most of it is R&B, but I like most stuff except country and western.” A West Ham fan since 1975.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Called to Warfare
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Many Christians don't realize that they are in a battle. We have an Enemy who opposes us in every way—his purpose is to prevent us from becoming who God wants us to be and achieving what He'd have us do. The Devil frustrates our plans, confuses our minds, and brings feelings of anxiety and despair. But he doesn't stop there; he also stirs up disunity in our relationships and churches.
There are several things that Christians should understand about this combat:
The battle is real, even if we can't see it. The difficulty, pain, and discouragement Satan causes are genuine. His temptations are not imaginary; they overwhelm and lure us away from the Lord.
The battle is spiritual. Our struggle is not with one another but with invisible forces of wickedness. Although the conflict is waged in the spiritual realm, it impacts every part of us—our mind, will, emotions, desires, and even our bodies.
The battle is tough. The Adversary fights dirty, and the encounter is "up close and personal." Our confrontation with the forces of evil is like spiritual hand-to-hand combat and flesh-to-flesh wrestling. He has a host of demonic beings who work unceasingly, even when we sleep. As long as we are on earth, the war will continue.
Although the Enemy is strong, there isn't reason to fear—he's no match for Christ, who lives within us. We've been entrusted with Jesus' divine power over the Evil One. However, we can access the Son's authority only by submitting to His lordship and walking in obedience to His Spirit.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Many Christians don't realize that they are in a battle. We have an Enemy who opposes us in every way—his purpose is to prevent us from becoming who God wants us to be and achieving what He'd have us do. The Devil frustrates our plans, confuses our minds, and brings feelings of anxiety and despair. But he doesn't stop there; he also stirs up disunity in our relationships and churches.
There are several things that Christians should understand about this combat:
The battle is real, even if we can't see it. The difficulty, pain, and discouragement Satan causes are genuine. His temptations are not imaginary; they overwhelm and lure us away from the Lord.
The battle is spiritual. Our struggle is not with one another but with invisible forces of wickedness. Although the conflict is waged in the spiritual realm, it impacts every part of us—our mind, will, emotions, desires, and even our bodies.
The battle is tough. The Adversary fights dirty, and the encounter is "up close and personal." Our confrontation with the forces of evil is like spiritual hand-to-hand combat and flesh-to-flesh wrestling. He has a host of demonic beings who work unceasingly, even when we sleep. As long as we are on earth, the war will continue.
Although the Enemy is strong, there isn't reason to fear—he's no match for Christ, who lives within us. We've been entrusted with Jesus' divine power over the Evil One. However, we can access the Son's authority only by submitting to His lordship and walking in obedience to His Spirit.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
The United States Are The Largest Debtor In The History of The World
United States is now the largest debtor nation not in the world, in the history of the world...no country has ever run up so much debt as we have in the US.
This is not just a problem for our children and grand children, this is a problem for you for me and our parents, you know this is a problem that is hitting all of us in the face right now.
Those guys in Washington just worry about the next election, they worry to make sure they will stick around, they do not care about you, they do not care about me, they care about getting their next pay check and not whether the country survives.
Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and is a regular guest on Bloomberg and CNBC.
This is not just a problem for our children and grand children, this is a problem for you for me and our parents, you know this is a problem that is hitting all of us in the face right now.
Those guys in Washington just worry about the next election, they worry to make sure they will stick around, they do not care about you, they do not care about me, they care about getting their next pay check and not whether the country survives.
Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and is a regular guest on Bloomberg and CNBC.
The Whole World Is Going To Have More And More Horrible Problems In The Future
Some people are getting better, some sectors are getting better. Governments have been pouring gigantic amounts of money into the market and the people who get that money are obviously better off and they think that things are better and they are better. But overall, the situation continues to deteriorate, unemployment goes higher, the debts are staggering in the West anyway. So the whole world is going to have more and more horrible problems in the future.
in Economic Times
Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and is a regular guest on Bloomberg and CNBC.
in Economic Times
Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and is a regular guest on Bloomberg and CNBC.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Daily Trading Tips
(Tuesday, 05 October 2010)
2 S2 S1 Pivot R1 R2
3 EUR USD There is bearish potential for a fall to 1.3660 - 1.3550 area while 1.3730 - 1.3810 resist. After this fall a recovery up to 1.3730 or above is expected. 1.355 1.366 1.373 1.381 1.391
4 GBP USD It is a triangle configuration. Market should break either side. Acceleration should occur above 1.5870 or under 1.5745 limits. 1.564 1.5745 1.58 1.587 1.597
5 USD CHF Market should not go lower than 0.9680. After this move down it should go up to 0.9750 - 0.9800 area. Break below 0.9680 will open the way to test 0.9600 zone. 0.96 0.968 0.975 0.98 0.985
6 USD JPY It is a triangle configuration. Market should break either side. Acceleration should occur above 83.90 or under 83.10 limits. 82.1 8310 83.5 83.9 84.5
7 EUR JPY There is bearish potential for a fall to 113.70 - 112.60 area while 114.50 - 115.30 resist. After this fall a recovery up to 114.50 or above is expected. 112.6 113.7 114.5 115.3 116
8 GBP JPY Currently uptrend should end around 132.40 - 133.00 area. A correction down to 131.70 - 130.70 is expected. A rise above 133.00 will abort this bearish scenario. 129.7 130.7 131.7 132.4 133
9 USD CAD The current rise has limited upside potential between 1.0260 and 1.0360 area. A correction down to 1.0210 - 1.0160 zone is expected. Then if 1.0160 area hold it should resume his uptrend. 1.01 1.016 1.021 1.026 1.036
10 AUD USD Market should go down to 0.9650 - 0.9550 area .If this crucial support zone, 0.9550, holds it should resume higher to 0.9700 - 0.9760 zone. 0.955 0.965 0.97 0.976 0.98
2 S2 S1 Pivot R1 R2
3 EUR USD There is bearish potential for a fall to 1.3660 - 1.3550 area while 1.3730 - 1.3810 resist. After this fall a recovery up to 1.3730 or above is expected. 1.355 1.366 1.373 1.381 1.391
4 GBP USD It is a triangle configuration. Market should break either side. Acceleration should occur above 1.5870 or under 1.5745 limits. 1.564 1.5745 1.58 1.587 1.597
5 USD CHF Market should not go lower than 0.9680. After this move down it should go up to 0.9750 - 0.9800 area. Break below 0.9680 will open the way to test 0.9600 zone. 0.96 0.968 0.975 0.98 0.985
6 USD JPY It is a triangle configuration. Market should break either side. Acceleration should occur above 83.90 or under 83.10 limits. 82.1 8310 83.5 83.9 84.5
7 EUR JPY There is bearish potential for a fall to 113.70 - 112.60 area while 114.50 - 115.30 resist. After this fall a recovery up to 114.50 or above is expected. 112.6 113.7 114.5 115.3 116
8 GBP JPY Currently uptrend should end around 132.40 - 133.00 area. A correction down to 131.70 - 130.70 is expected. A rise above 133.00 will abort this bearish scenario. 129.7 130.7 131.7 132.4 133
9 USD CAD The current rise has limited upside potential between 1.0260 and 1.0360 area. A correction down to 1.0210 - 1.0160 zone is expected. Then if 1.0160 area hold it should resume his uptrend. 1.01 1.016 1.021 1.026 1.036
10 AUD USD Market should go down to 0.9650 - 0.9550 area .If this crucial support zone, 0.9550, holds it should resume higher to 0.9700 - 0.9760 zone. 0.955 0.965 0.97 0.976 0.98
ENDGAME- ALEX JONES - Blueprint for Global Enslavement
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-515319560256183936#docid=1070329053600562261
Fed boss: Threat from deficits 'real and growing'
Bernanke says deficits pose 'real and growing' threat to economy, calls for plan to cut them
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks during a question-and-answer hour with invited students from various Rhode Island colleges and universities in Providence, R.I., Monday, Oct. 4, 2010.
The economy could be hurt if Congress and the White House fail to come up with a plan to curb the nation's huge budget deficits in the coming years, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Monday.
Bernanke, in a speech prepared for delivery, reiterated his belief that the government shouldn't raise taxes or slash spending now because the economic recovery is still too fragile.
But failing to bring the deficits under control could endanger the economy later on, he said. Exploding budget deficits can lead to higher interest rates for people buying homes and cars, and for businesses buying equipment or expanding operations. That could crimp Americans' spending and slow economic growth.
"The threat to our economy is real and growing," Bernanke said. "The sooner a plan is established, the longer affected individuals will have to prepare for the necessary changes."
The federal government is on track to produce its second-highest deficit ever -- $1.3 trillion -- for the budget year that ended Sept. 30. That would be slightly below last year's record $1.4 trillion in red ink.
President Barack Obama assembled a commission to tackle the soaring deficit. Its goal: come up with a plan to cut the deficit so that it is no bigger $550 billion by 2015, an amount equal to about 3 percent of the total U.S. economy.
The options for slicing the deficit -- cutting spending on popular entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare and raising taxes -- will be difficult for the White House and Congress to sell to the American public.
Bernanke steered clear of making recommendations on the best way to reduce the deficits, saying those tough decisions are best left to the nation's elected officials.
Rapidly rising health-care costs and the aging of the U.S. population are among the major forces putting pressure on the deficits in the years ahead, Bernanke said.
"We should not underestimate these fiscal challenges; failing to respond to them would endanger our economic future," Bernanke said in remarks to the annual meeting of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.
At another event earlier in the day, Bernanke defended the government's decision in 2008 to bail out banks, even though the action was unpopular with the American public.
"For what it's worth, it's worked," Bernanke said in a town-hall style meeting with college students in Rhode Island. "It's stabilized the system. The financial system is now much healthier than it was. It's no longer in crisis, and moreover, the money that went into these financial firms is coming back to the taxpayers with interest. So it turns out to have been not only a successful program, but for the most part, a pretty good investment for taxpayers."
Aversa reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report from Providence.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks during a question-and-answer hour with invited students from various Rhode Island colleges and universities in Providence, R.I., Monday, Oct. 4, 2010.
The economy could be hurt if Congress and the White House fail to come up with a plan to curb the nation's huge budget deficits in the coming years, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Monday.
Bernanke, in a speech prepared for delivery, reiterated his belief that the government shouldn't raise taxes or slash spending now because the economic recovery is still too fragile.
But failing to bring the deficits under control could endanger the economy later on, he said. Exploding budget deficits can lead to higher interest rates for people buying homes and cars, and for businesses buying equipment or expanding operations. That could crimp Americans' spending and slow economic growth.
"The threat to our economy is real and growing," Bernanke said. "The sooner a plan is established, the longer affected individuals will have to prepare for the necessary changes."
The federal government is on track to produce its second-highest deficit ever -- $1.3 trillion -- for the budget year that ended Sept. 30. That would be slightly below last year's record $1.4 trillion in red ink.
President Barack Obama assembled a commission to tackle the soaring deficit. Its goal: come up with a plan to cut the deficit so that it is no bigger $550 billion by 2015, an amount equal to about 3 percent of the total U.S. economy.
The options for slicing the deficit -- cutting spending on popular entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare and raising taxes -- will be difficult for the White House and Congress to sell to the American public.
Bernanke steered clear of making recommendations on the best way to reduce the deficits, saying those tough decisions are best left to the nation's elected officials.
Rapidly rising health-care costs and the aging of the U.S. population are among the major forces putting pressure on the deficits in the years ahead, Bernanke said.
"We should not underestimate these fiscal challenges; failing to respond to them would endanger our economic future," Bernanke said in remarks to the annual meeting of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.
At another event earlier in the day, Bernanke defended the government's decision in 2008 to bail out banks, even though the action was unpopular with the American public.
"For what it's worth, it's worked," Bernanke said in a town-hall style meeting with college students in Rhode Island. "It's stabilized the system. The financial system is now much healthier than it was. It's no longer in crisis, and moreover, the money that went into these financial firms is coming back to the taxpayers with interest. So it turns out to have been not only a successful program, but for the most part, a pretty good investment for taxpayers."
Aversa reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report from Providence.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Wealth is not destroyed.....but transfered......
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-515319560256183936#
Saturday, October 2, 2010
If It's a Problem, Don't Recognise It!
By Kee Thuan Chye
Idris Jala is a good speaker. If you listen to him and you don't watch it, he will sell you an idea.
That's what he did - or tried to do - when he gave the keynote address at the “We Are Malaysia” event hosted by UCSI University on Malaysia Day.
He spoke of 1Malaysia and its aims, and how national unity can be achieved. One of the central aims of 1Malaysia is upgrading the diverse population's attitude towards one another from tolerance to acceptance and, eventually, the celebration of diversity. And one of the central strategies of achieving that is the recognition that, in Idris' own words, “in life, there are only two types of issues”.
Sounds rather pat, as if coming from a self-enrichment guru. But as I said, Idris Jala (left) is a seller of ideas.
What are these two types of issues?
Problems and polarities. A problem, expounded Idris, is something that can be solved. A polarity is something that cannot be solved but must be managed. The examples of polarities he gave are old and young, urban and rural, good and evil, rich and poor. Like the North and South Poles, they cannot be removed; therefore a balance must be struck between them.
To illustrate further, he gave the example of his wife and him. She is fastidious in wanting him to place his socks in a proper basket for washing, but he is used to leaving them all over the house. Despite her repeated attempts to get him to conform, he is incorrigible. She on her part takes an inordinate amount of time to get ready when they have a function to attend. It annoys him that because she can't decide on what to wear, they often turn up late.
“That's the situation,” said Idris, “but if we tried to solve it, we could end up in divorce.”
Extending the idea to a wider realm, Idris said race and religion are also polarities, which means they cannot be solved.
“If you try to solve them,” he said, “you could get something like Hitler's Final Solution and the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.”
On that UCSI occasion, Idris got away with not having to answer questions from the floor as there is usually no provision for such in a keynote address. But if there had been, the key question would be: Isn't this all just a game of semantics? How do you decide what is a problem and what is a polarity? Or is there really no difference between the two?
Let's look at the issue of race in the present context. Let's bring in Perkasa, which insists that the 30 percent equity for bumiputeras must be upheld in the New Economic Model (NEM). For want of an opposing camp, let's bring in the MCA, which recently called for the 30 percent to be gradually reduced.
Is this situation of two opposing viewpoints over a racial issue a problem or a polarity? What does it translate into when from this dispute, policy has to be made?
Policy is policy. It provides a guideline for operations to be performed and actions to be taken. It provides a clear-cut solution. It does not merely manage. So how will it solve this Perkasa-MCA dispute?
If Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak decides to listen to Perkasa and includes the 30 percent in his NEM, the MCA might have something to say. Not to mention other groups opposed to Perkasa as well. But since the MCA is a Barisan Nasional partner, Najib or his deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin, can ask its party leaders to shut up and toe the coalition line, and chances are they will obey. Is that managing the issue or solving it?
While we mull over this, let's consider another point - for an issue to be resolved, it calls for negotiation and sometimes arbitration. There was negotiation between the two differing groups over the ge tai issue in Penang last week and the outcome was satisfactory to both sides. Do we say they found a solution to the issue or that they merely managed it? Does it matter what we call it?
It's all semantics. And semantics are of no practical use. Sometimes, semantics create further problems. In any case, the fact that you enter into a negotiation shows that you want to find a solution. If after negotiating, you still can't find it, you may seek an arbiter.
For racial disputes, there is already an arbiter. And that, plain and simple, is the constitution. So how we solve or manage - whichever word you want to use - racial disputes should be guided by that arbiter.
Article 153 of the constitution is the bone of contention. But as lawyer Azzat Kamaluddin (left), who also spoke at the “We Are Malaysia” event, astutely pointed out, there is no mention in that article of special rights for the Malays.
Clause 1 of Article 153 states: “It shall be the responsibility of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to safeguard the special position of the Malays and natives of any of the states of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate interests of other communities in accordance with the provisions of this Article.”
Note that there is only mention of “special position”. And the second part says, significantly, that the Agong shall also be responsible for safeguarding “the legitimate interests of other communities”. It's not all one-sided.
Azzat pointed out that “everyone stops at Clause 1”. But if they were to look at Clause 2, they would see clearly that the special provisions for Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak pertain only to positions in the public service; scholarships, exhibitions and other similar educational or training privileges or special facilities; and permits and licences for the operation of any trade or business.
And in these areas, the provisions have to be “of such proportion as [the Agong] may deem reasonable”. In other words, it's not carte blanche.
Look also at Clause 5, which states that Article 153 “does not derogate from the provisions of Article 136”.
What does Article 136 say?
It says: “All persons of whatever race in the same grade in the service of the federation shall, subject to the terms and conditions of their employment, be treated impartially.” This is another limit to the scope of Article 153.
If the government follows the rule of law and interprets the constitution as it should be interpreted, we wouldn't have a racial problem. Yes, problem. Let's call a spade a spade. The racial problem we have now is mostly the result of what the government has done and not done.
It has not followed the rule of law. It has not told Perkasa to grasp the proper provisions of Article 153. Instead, it has been affirming that Perkasa's doing the right thing - only a few days ago, Deputy Education Minister Puad Zarkashi said Perkasa was championing the people's rights as spelt out in the constitution. Perhaps Puad hasn't read beyond Clause 1. Perhaps he doesn't understand it fully.
In terms of what the government has done, it has chosen to take sides to formulate policies that are contrary to the spirit of the constitution. For instance, is the discount for bumiputeras purchasing property constitutional? If so, where is it written in that sacred document?
The government favours one race and marginalises the other races. With regard to the civil service, it has not upheld Article 136 of the constitution, which calls for impartial treatment for civil servants of all races. Over the past four decades, the promotion of civil servants to the highest positions has been almost totally confined to those of one particular race. Is that impartial treatment?
As for religion, it is again the government that has created problems. Just to name two, one is its action to deny Christians the right to use the word “Allah”; the other, and more far-reaching, action is declaring Malaysia an Islamic state, as Najib did in 2007 when he was Deputy Prime Minister.
“Islam is the official religion and we are an Islamic state,” he said.
He must surely have read Article 3 of the constitution but chose to ignore what it says: “Islam is the religion of the federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the federation.”
Nowhere is it stated that Malaysia is an Islamic state.
But by his declaration, Najib caused fresh anxieties to surface and made the issue of religion more contentious. In extreme situations, the provisions of Article 3 have been disrespected. A recent example is Perkasa's lodging of a police report against a church in Shah Alam for planning to stage a Christian play during Ramadan on the grounds that it was seditious and insulting to the sultan.
That police report became a problem to the church. How would it be solved? In an ideal Malaysian setting, the government would have stepped in and told Perkasa to respect Article 3. But of course, it did not. For the church and other Christian groups, these problems will continue to crop up in future and there will be no solution in sight if the government stays silent.
Is the government silent because it now believes it can call such a problem a polarity? And with a polarity, which cannot be solved, the less said about it, the better? Similarly, in the case of the Johor school principal who allegedly made racist remarks, it is better to let the issue be until the public forgets about it?
If so, 1Malaysia is not about taking a radically honest approach towards national unity and the celebration of diversity. It seems to shy away from calling a problem a problem and solving it. Calling it a polarity merely adds a new twist to the propaganda.
So, if Idris Jala comes to your neighbourhood and tries to sell you that idea, be sure to ask him some difficult questions. He's a good speaker and can easily mesmerise his audience. His words may sound pretty until you probe them for substance. If you do, you might find that they amount to nothing more than public relations prattle.
Idris Jala is a good speaker. If you listen to him and you don't watch it, he will sell you an idea.
That's what he did - or tried to do - when he gave the keynote address at the “We Are Malaysia” event hosted by UCSI University on Malaysia Day.
He spoke of 1Malaysia and its aims, and how national unity can be achieved. One of the central aims of 1Malaysia is upgrading the diverse population's attitude towards one another from tolerance to acceptance and, eventually, the celebration of diversity. And one of the central strategies of achieving that is the recognition that, in Idris' own words, “in life, there are only two types of issues”.
Sounds rather pat, as if coming from a self-enrichment guru. But as I said, Idris Jala (left) is a seller of ideas.
What are these two types of issues?
Problems and polarities. A problem, expounded Idris, is something that can be solved. A polarity is something that cannot be solved but must be managed. The examples of polarities he gave are old and young, urban and rural, good and evil, rich and poor. Like the North and South Poles, they cannot be removed; therefore a balance must be struck between them.
To illustrate further, he gave the example of his wife and him. She is fastidious in wanting him to place his socks in a proper basket for washing, but he is used to leaving them all over the house. Despite her repeated attempts to get him to conform, he is incorrigible. She on her part takes an inordinate amount of time to get ready when they have a function to attend. It annoys him that because she can't decide on what to wear, they often turn up late.
“That's the situation,” said Idris, “but if we tried to solve it, we could end up in divorce.”
Extending the idea to a wider realm, Idris said race and religion are also polarities, which means they cannot be solved.
“If you try to solve them,” he said, “you could get something like Hitler's Final Solution and the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.”
On that UCSI occasion, Idris got away with not having to answer questions from the floor as there is usually no provision for such in a keynote address. But if there had been, the key question would be: Isn't this all just a game of semantics? How do you decide what is a problem and what is a polarity? Or is there really no difference between the two?
Let's look at the issue of race in the present context. Let's bring in Perkasa, which insists that the 30 percent equity for bumiputeras must be upheld in the New Economic Model (NEM). For want of an opposing camp, let's bring in the MCA, which recently called for the 30 percent to be gradually reduced.
Is this situation of two opposing viewpoints over a racial issue a problem or a polarity? What does it translate into when from this dispute, policy has to be made?
Policy is policy. It provides a guideline for operations to be performed and actions to be taken. It provides a clear-cut solution. It does not merely manage. So how will it solve this Perkasa-MCA dispute?
If Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak decides to listen to Perkasa and includes the 30 percent in his NEM, the MCA might have something to say. Not to mention other groups opposed to Perkasa as well. But since the MCA is a Barisan Nasional partner, Najib or his deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin, can ask its party leaders to shut up and toe the coalition line, and chances are they will obey. Is that managing the issue or solving it?
While we mull over this, let's consider another point - for an issue to be resolved, it calls for negotiation and sometimes arbitration. There was negotiation between the two differing groups over the ge tai issue in Penang last week and the outcome was satisfactory to both sides. Do we say they found a solution to the issue or that they merely managed it? Does it matter what we call it?
It's all semantics. And semantics are of no practical use. Sometimes, semantics create further problems. In any case, the fact that you enter into a negotiation shows that you want to find a solution. If after negotiating, you still can't find it, you may seek an arbiter.
For racial disputes, there is already an arbiter. And that, plain and simple, is the constitution. So how we solve or manage - whichever word you want to use - racial disputes should be guided by that arbiter.
Article 153 of the constitution is the bone of contention. But as lawyer Azzat Kamaluddin (left), who also spoke at the “We Are Malaysia” event, astutely pointed out, there is no mention in that article of special rights for the Malays.
Clause 1 of Article 153 states: “It shall be the responsibility of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to safeguard the special position of the Malays and natives of any of the states of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate interests of other communities in accordance with the provisions of this Article.”
Note that there is only mention of “special position”. And the second part says, significantly, that the Agong shall also be responsible for safeguarding “the legitimate interests of other communities”. It's not all one-sided.
Azzat pointed out that “everyone stops at Clause 1”. But if they were to look at Clause 2, they would see clearly that the special provisions for Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak pertain only to positions in the public service; scholarships, exhibitions and other similar educational or training privileges or special facilities; and permits and licences for the operation of any trade or business.
And in these areas, the provisions have to be “of such proportion as [the Agong] may deem reasonable”. In other words, it's not carte blanche.
Look also at Clause 5, which states that Article 153 “does not derogate from the provisions of Article 136”.
What does Article 136 say?
It says: “All persons of whatever race in the same grade in the service of the federation shall, subject to the terms and conditions of their employment, be treated impartially.” This is another limit to the scope of Article 153.
If the government follows the rule of law and interprets the constitution as it should be interpreted, we wouldn't have a racial problem. Yes, problem. Let's call a spade a spade. The racial problem we have now is mostly the result of what the government has done and not done.
It has not followed the rule of law. It has not told Perkasa to grasp the proper provisions of Article 153. Instead, it has been affirming that Perkasa's doing the right thing - only a few days ago, Deputy Education Minister Puad Zarkashi said Perkasa was championing the people's rights as spelt out in the constitution. Perhaps Puad hasn't read beyond Clause 1. Perhaps he doesn't understand it fully.
In terms of what the government has done, it has chosen to take sides to formulate policies that are contrary to the spirit of the constitution. For instance, is the discount for bumiputeras purchasing property constitutional? If so, where is it written in that sacred document?
The government favours one race and marginalises the other races. With regard to the civil service, it has not upheld Article 136 of the constitution, which calls for impartial treatment for civil servants of all races. Over the past four decades, the promotion of civil servants to the highest positions has been almost totally confined to those of one particular race. Is that impartial treatment?
As for religion, it is again the government that has created problems. Just to name two, one is its action to deny Christians the right to use the word “Allah”; the other, and more far-reaching, action is declaring Malaysia an Islamic state, as Najib did in 2007 when he was Deputy Prime Minister.
“Islam is the official religion and we are an Islamic state,” he said.
He must surely have read Article 3 of the constitution but chose to ignore what it says: “Islam is the religion of the federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the federation.”
Nowhere is it stated that Malaysia is an Islamic state.
But by his declaration, Najib caused fresh anxieties to surface and made the issue of religion more contentious. In extreme situations, the provisions of Article 3 have been disrespected. A recent example is Perkasa's lodging of a police report against a church in Shah Alam for planning to stage a Christian play during Ramadan on the grounds that it was seditious and insulting to the sultan.
That police report became a problem to the church. How would it be solved? In an ideal Malaysian setting, the government would have stepped in and told Perkasa to respect Article 3. But of course, it did not. For the church and other Christian groups, these problems will continue to crop up in future and there will be no solution in sight if the government stays silent.
Is the government silent because it now believes it can call such a problem a polarity? And with a polarity, which cannot be solved, the less said about it, the better? Similarly, in the case of the Johor school principal who allegedly made racist remarks, it is better to let the issue be until the public forgets about it?
If so, 1Malaysia is not about taking a radically honest approach towards national unity and the celebration of diversity. It seems to shy away from calling a problem a problem and solving it. Calling it a polarity merely adds a new twist to the propaganda.
So, if Idris Jala comes to your neighbourhood and tries to sell you that idea, be sure to ask him some difficult questions. He's a good speaker and can easily mesmerise his audience. His words may sound pretty until you probe them for substance. If you do, you might find that they amount to nothing more than public relations prattle.
Play at Work, Work at Play.
You know what the secret of a happy life is? To be able to answer yes to the question, "From this you make a living?" If you aren't doing what you love - or at least loving what you do - you are slathering on pounds of excess weightiness! So ... if you can't be with the work you love, love the work you're with. And if you hate the work you're with, love hating it. Invent a hilarious character, and use that character to complain loudly about everything you hate. Then laugh.
Gambler jumps to death from floating casino after losing HK$5m
Gambler Jumps To Death After Losing HK$5m
Dennis Chong / The Standard HK
Monday, September 20, 2010
A 51-year-old mainlander jumped off a 13-deck "floating casino" off Sai Kung after losing HK$5 million playing baccarat.
The gambler, identified by police only as Xu, made his fatal leap off the Star Cruises vessel SuperStar Aquarius as it sailed back to Hong Kong from international waters shortly before 9am yesterday.
Rescuers searched for Xu for almost an hour before fishing him out of the water. He was certified dead by the ship's doctor.
Xu apparently boarded the ship on Saturday for a two-day gambling trip. He was seen betting at the baccarat table right after dinner.
According to several passengers, he gambled until closing at 8am yesterday and lost almost HK$5 million.
He was seen wandering on the deck for about an hour before jumping. Crew were alerted immediately that a man was overboard. The captain sent a rescue team and notified the Hong Kong authorities.
Genting Hong Kong, a Hong Kong- listed company that operates the Star Cruises fleet, said there were 1,500 passengers on board at the time of the incident, which happened in Hong Kong waters.
Police said there are no suspicious circumstances in the case, which was classified as "man overboard."
A police spokesman said they received a report of a man jumping off a ship at 9.50am when the vessel was sailing south of the Kwo Chau islands, south of Sai Kung.
Marine police and the Fire Services Department dispatched rescuers to the area and the Government Flying Services sent a helicopter.
Super
Star Aquarius returned to port with the body, arriving in Hong Kong at 12.30pm.
Passengers disembarked before police investigators boarded the vessel to inspect the body. It was later transferred to Kwai Chung Mortuary.
A Genting Hong Kong spokeswoman said the company is getting in touch with the man's next-of- kin.
According to the company's website, SuperStar Aquarius departs daily from Hong Kong and, besides casino facilities, has a variety of entertainment and sports facilities.
Dennis Chong / The Standard HK
Monday, September 20, 2010
A 51-year-old mainlander jumped off a 13-deck "floating casino" off Sai Kung after losing HK$5 million playing baccarat.
The gambler, identified by police only as Xu, made his fatal leap off the Star Cruises vessel SuperStar Aquarius as it sailed back to Hong Kong from international waters shortly before 9am yesterday.
Rescuers searched for Xu for almost an hour before fishing him out of the water. He was certified dead by the ship's doctor.
Xu apparently boarded the ship on Saturday for a two-day gambling trip. He was seen betting at the baccarat table right after dinner.
According to several passengers, he gambled until closing at 8am yesterday and lost almost HK$5 million.
He was seen wandering on the deck for about an hour before jumping. Crew were alerted immediately that a man was overboard. The captain sent a rescue team and notified the Hong Kong authorities.
Genting Hong Kong, a Hong Kong- listed company that operates the Star Cruises fleet, said there were 1,500 passengers on board at the time of the incident, which happened in Hong Kong waters.
Police said there are no suspicious circumstances in the case, which was classified as "man overboard."
A police spokesman said they received a report of a man jumping off a ship at 9.50am when the vessel was sailing south of the Kwo Chau islands, south of Sai Kung.
Marine police and the Fire Services Department dispatched rescuers to the area and the Government Flying Services sent a helicopter.
Super
Star Aquarius returned to port with the body, arriving in Hong Kong at 12.30pm.
Passengers disembarked before police investigators boarded the vessel to inspect the body. It was later transferred to Kwai Chung Mortuary.
A Genting Hong Kong spokeswoman said the company is getting in touch with the man's next-of- kin.
According to the company's website, SuperStar Aquarius departs daily from Hong Kong and, besides casino facilities, has a variety of entertainment and sports facilities.
PAMM-Account..PAMM (Percentage Allocation Management Module)
A PAMM-Account is a trading account that consists of one or several Managed Accounts, which come together to form an independent, unified trading structure, where trading operations are carried out solely by the PAMM-Account Manager. The several Managed Accounts that make up the composition of one PAMM-Account are regarded by the trading platform as a unified whole.
The principle of work on a PAMM-Account lies in the proportional distribution of profit or loss among Investors’ accounts.
A PAMM-Account is advantageous for all participants, as Investors gain potential profit without having to execute any trading operations themselves and the Manager receives remuneration for the management of Investor's accounts.
The principle of work on a PAMM-Account lies in the proportional distribution of profit or loss among Investors’ accounts.
A PAMM-Account is advantageous for all participants, as Investors gain potential profit without having to execute any trading operations themselves and the Manager receives remuneration for the management of Investor's accounts.
1 large trader led to May 6 stock market plunge
Gov't report finds large trader triggered May 6 stock market plunge with $4.1B computer trade
.
Topics:Stocks.Marcy Gordon and Daniel Wagner, AP Business Writers, On Friday October 1, 2010, 5:46 pm EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A trading firm's use of a computer sell order triggered the May 6 market plunge, which sent the Dow Jones industrial average careening nearly 1,000 points in less than a half-hour, federal regulators said Friday.
A report by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission determined that the so-called "flash crash" occurred when the trading firm executed a computerized selling program in an already stressed market.
The firm's trade, worth $4.1 billion, led to a chain of events that ended with market players swiftly pulling their money from the stock market, the report said.
The report does not name the trading firm. But only one trade that day fit the description in the report. The firm Waddell & Reed, based in Overland Park, Kan., has acknowledged making such a trade that day.
The free-fall highlighted the complexity and perils of the fast-evolving securities markets. Electronic trading platforms now compete with the traditional exchanges. Stocks are traded on about 50 exchanges beyond the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market. Computers using mathematical formulas give so-called "high frequency" traders a split-second edge. Electronic errors at high speeds can ripple through markets.
The stock market was already stressed even before the plunge that day. Anxiety was mounting over the debt crisis in Europe. The Dow Jones had been down about 2.5 percent at 2:30 p.m., when the trader placed an enormous sell order on a futures index of the S&P's index, called the E-Mini S&P 500. The trade was automated by a computer algorithm that was trying to hedge its risk from price declines.
In that one trade, 75,000 contracts were sold within 20 minutes. It was the largest trade of that investment since the start of the year. The firm's previous transaction of that size took more than five hours, the report notes. The trade triggered aggressive selling of the futures contracts and that sent the index sinking about 3 percent in four minutes.
The report said the design of the firm's trading formula may have amplified the rush to sell.
It said the formula ignored price changes and responded to the volume of trading. The automated program sped up the firm's selling as other market players began trading the first block of futures contracts that flooded the market.
In a previous statement, Waddell & Reed acknowledged that it had sold the contracts to reduce its funds' risk quickly. It said traders feared that the European debt crisis could spread to U.S. markets.
The company maintained that the transaction "was not the cause of any abnormal price action." It said the move involved just 1 percent of the contracts of that type that changed hands on May 6. The sale would not have caused problems in a normal market, the company said.
"Our portfolio managers and the funds acted in a manner consistent with the interests of their fund shareholders," it said.
The exchange where the E-Mini trades occurred agreed that the trade by Waddell & Reed probably didn't spark the plunge. The exchange operated normally and the trade was proper, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. said in a statement. It said the plunge probably resulted from widespread concern about news events. It said E-Mini prices often change just before price swings in the broader financial markets.
Nearly 21,000 trades were canceled in the ensuing weeks because the exchanges deemed them erroneous.
Responding to the episode, the SEC and the major U.S. exchanges agreed on a six-month pilot program that briefly halts trading of some stocks that mark big price swings. The new "circuit breakers" are in effect until Dec. 10. Under the rules, trading of any Standard & Poor's 500 stock that rises or falls 10 percent or more within a five-minute span is halted for five additional minutes.
On May 6, about 30 stocks listed in the S&P 500 index fell at least 10 percent within five minutes.
SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro has said anxiety over the "flash crash" may have contributed to the withdrawal of retail investors from the stock market in recent months.
Schapiro said recently the SEC will consider imposing so-called "limit up-limit down" requirements that would bar any trades outside specified boundaries. Limit up-limit down restrictions, which apply to the commodity futures markets, impose a maximum price change higher or lower in a given day.
Owners of financial exchanges issued statements endorsing the proposed rule changes. Trading limits such as limit up-limit down rules are "a vital means to prevent clearly erroneous trades," and are more effective than circuit breakers, said Randy Williams, a spokesman for BATS Global Markets. BATS operates the third-largest stock trading platform.
Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., who heads the House Financial Services subcommittee that oversees the SEC, said the new report "confirms that faster markets do not always lead to better markets."
"While automated, high-frequency trading may provide our markets with some benefits, it can also carry the potential for serious harm and market mischief," Kanjorski said.
AP Business Writer David K. Randall in New York contributed to this report.
.
Topics:Stocks.Marcy Gordon and Daniel Wagner, AP Business Writers, On Friday October 1, 2010, 5:46 pm EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A trading firm's use of a computer sell order triggered the May 6 market plunge, which sent the Dow Jones industrial average careening nearly 1,000 points in less than a half-hour, federal regulators said Friday.
A report by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission determined that the so-called "flash crash" occurred when the trading firm executed a computerized selling program in an already stressed market.
The firm's trade, worth $4.1 billion, led to a chain of events that ended with market players swiftly pulling their money from the stock market, the report said.
The report does not name the trading firm. But only one trade that day fit the description in the report. The firm Waddell & Reed, based in Overland Park, Kan., has acknowledged making such a trade that day.
The free-fall highlighted the complexity and perils of the fast-evolving securities markets. Electronic trading platforms now compete with the traditional exchanges. Stocks are traded on about 50 exchanges beyond the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market. Computers using mathematical formulas give so-called "high frequency" traders a split-second edge. Electronic errors at high speeds can ripple through markets.
The stock market was already stressed even before the plunge that day. Anxiety was mounting over the debt crisis in Europe. The Dow Jones had been down about 2.5 percent at 2:30 p.m., when the trader placed an enormous sell order on a futures index of the S&P's index, called the E-Mini S&P 500. The trade was automated by a computer algorithm that was trying to hedge its risk from price declines.
In that one trade, 75,000 contracts were sold within 20 minutes. It was the largest trade of that investment since the start of the year. The firm's previous transaction of that size took more than five hours, the report notes. The trade triggered aggressive selling of the futures contracts and that sent the index sinking about 3 percent in four minutes.
The report said the design of the firm's trading formula may have amplified the rush to sell.
It said the formula ignored price changes and responded to the volume of trading. The automated program sped up the firm's selling as other market players began trading the first block of futures contracts that flooded the market.
In a previous statement, Waddell & Reed acknowledged that it had sold the contracts to reduce its funds' risk quickly. It said traders feared that the European debt crisis could spread to U.S. markets.
The company maintained that the transaction "was not the cause of any abnormal price action." It said the move involved just 1 percent of the contracts of that type that changed hands on May 6. The sale would not have caused problems in a normal market, the company said.
"Our portfolio managers and the funds acted in a manner consistent with the interests of their fund shareholders," it said.
The exchange where the E-Mini trades occurred agreed that the trade by Waddell & Reed probably didn't spark the plunge. The exchange operated normally and the trade was proper, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. said in a statement. It said the plunge probably resulted from widespread concern about news events. It said E-Mini prices often change just before price swings in the broader financial markets.
Nearly 21,000 trades were canceled in the ensuing weeks because the exchanges deemed them erroneous.
Responding to the episode, the SEC and the major U.S. exchanges agreed on a six-month pilot program that briefly halts trading of some stocks that mark big price swings. The new "circuit breakers" are in effect until Dec. 10. Under the rules, trading of any Standard & Poor's 500 stock that rises or falls 10 percent or more within a five-minute span is halted for five additional minutes.
On May 6, about 30 stocks listed in the S&P 500 index fell at least 10 percent within five minutes.
SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro has said anxiety over the "flash crash" may have contributed to the withdrawal of retail investors from the stock market in recent months.
Schapiro said recently the SEC will consider imposing so-called "limit up-limit down" requirements that would bar any trades outside specified boundaries. Limit up-limit down restrictions, which apply to the commodity futures markets, impose a maximum price change higher or lower in a given day.
Owners of financial exchanges issued statements endorsing the proposed rule changes. Trading limits such as limit up-limit down rules are "a vital means to prevent clearly erroneous trades," and are more effective than circuit breakers, said Randy Williams, a spokesman for BATS Global Markets. BATS operates the third-largest stock trading platform.
Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., who heads the House Financial Services subcommittee that oversees the SEC, said the new report "confirms that faster markets do not always lead to better markets."
"While automated, high-frequency trading may provide our markets with some benefits, it can also carry the potential for serious harm and market mischief," Kanjorski said.
AP Business Writer David K. Randall in New York contributed to this report.
Friday, October 1, 2010
If you want the power to touch your world for Christ, you must spend time with the source of power, Jesus Christ!
God is so good.............You raised me up.........
Online Financial Trading for Consistent Profit
DATE:
10th Oct. 2010 at 4pm & 7pm.
VENUE:
Qualine Edu Success Sdn Bhd
Unit 301, Level 3, Block A,
Sunway Mentari Business Centre,
Jalan PJS 8/5, 46150, Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
MAP:
http://www.everydaymakemoney.com/images/unit301sunwaymap1.JPG
Pls register at www.ecnpreview.com to book your seats.
10th Oct. 2010 at 4pm & 7pm.
VENUE:
Qualine Edu Success Sdn Bhd
Unit 301, Level 3, Block A,
Sunway Mentari Business Centre,
Jalan PJS 8/5, 46150, Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
MAP:
http://www.everydaymakemoney.com/images/unit301sunwaymap1.JPG
Pls register at www.ecnpreview.com to book your seats.
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