LAW OF HEALTHONOMICS

1st LAW: Soaring Health-care costs are only the symptoms. You've got to start treating the disease.

2nd LAW: Investing to keep employees working and healthy beats paying for them when they are out and sick.

3rd LAW: Sickness costs more than Wellness

4th LAW: Unmanaged Diabetes and Hypertension can hit your bottom line as hard as inflation and competition.

5th LAW: Throwing money at health-care costs won't make them go away.

6th LAW: Cover health-care costs before they happen

7th LAW: Lower Health-care deductibles are the new competitive advantage.

Thats it!! You can follow our Lifestyle blogs for more on Healthy Lifestyle.

Indian Rupee to Get New Currency Symbol

Indian jury has given its verdict: the symbol of Indian rupee will change, retaining its Indian character with an international flavour. The five-member panel has chosen IIT post-graduate D Udaya Kumar’s design from among five shortlisted symbols and recommended it to Indian Cabinet for approval.

Kumar's symbol (on the right) is an amalgam of the Devanagari 'Ra' and the Roman capital 'R' without the stem, very much in line with what Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had envisioned. "We intend to formalise a symbol for the Indian rupee which reflects and captures Indian ethos and culture," Mukherjee said in his Budget speech this year.

The chosen symbol has the Finance Minister's approval, said a Ministry official. The Ministry had organised a symbol design competition with a prize money of Rs 2.5 lakh with the condition that it should be applicable to the standard keyboard, be in the national language script or a visual representation and should represent the historical and cultural ethos of the country.

The basic aim of the new Indian currency symbol is to provide the Indian rupee with international recognition and to isolate it with its current abbreviation of 'Rs' used by its Arch rival Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Kumar's concept, an official said, is based on the Tricolour and "arithmetic equivalence". While the white space between the two horizontal lines gives the impression of the national flag with the Ashok Chakra, the two bold parallel lines stand for 'equals to', representing balance in the economy, both within and with other economies of the world.

Displaced People in Bangladesh; They Aren't Pakistanis!!

As an economist, I always speak for Free-Immigration but after studying the case of displaced people in Bangladesh often hyped as Pakistanis by some media outlets here which is wrong as these people are originally from Indian state of Bihar and had migrated to Bangladesh after the creation of Muslim state of East Pakistan in 1947 from Indian state of Bihar and other Indian areas.

I am surprised that why these people are dubbed as Pakistanis as they have nothing to do with the land of Pakistan nor they have ever been here nor their forefathers. If these people are allowed to come to Pakistan due to strong lobbying of "General Pakistan Repatriation committee", then this will only create huge economic burden on the country's resources.

These people are living in worst conditions near Dhaka the capital of Bangladesh and are numbered in between 250,000 and 300,000. The state of Bangladesh is providing them free electricity and water with the help of fundings from International donor organizations including UN and Pakistan. If these people are allowed to immigrate into Pakistan then they will only create huge slums and more lower HDI for Pakistan.

What Government of Pakistan needs to is to make clear announcement that these people will not be allowed to immigrate into Pakistan as they will be the burden on the country's economy. Government also need to return funds taken from their lobbyist and announce a major aid package for Bangladesh.

Samsung Karachi Expo

Samsung Electronics organized an Exhibition of a wide range of Samsung products in Karachi's Pakistan Air force Museum, where visitors were provided with a first-hand experience of Samsung's revolutionary 3D TVs.

The consumers were thrilled by this fantastic display of Samsung's latest products including Digital Cameras, Mobile phones, Air conditioners and 3D LED TV products. Professionals and management of publications and media along with consumers including Techies and bloggers were seen curiously exploring the features and technology of 3D TVs at this innovative show.

The General Manager Samsung Pakistan Mr. Steve Han said; 'The Samsung 'Universe' Exhibition in Karachi has surpassed our expectations and proved to be a highly successful Mega Event. Samsung is the first company to offer a complete 3D product line-up including TVs, Blu-ray player and home theater. This vast festival at the PAF Museum Karachi also delivered the amazing experience of Samsung's highly evolved 3D technology to the consumers. In future, our global research will bring more attractive and exciting products for the Pakistani consumers, including the best-in-class 3D experiences.'

The festival also featured 3 gaming zones. Another highlight of the show was a photo studio where the participants were getting their pictures taken and cheerfully walked away with instant print-outs of their photographs. 3D TV display became the center of attraction at the Exhibition.

Also on display were the fastest PCs, Thinnest Monitors, high-capability Printers, Side-by-Side Refrigerators, classy Microwaves, and Virus-Free Air-conditioners from Samsung. This electronics giant also offers the 'Bada mobile platform' and an integrated store of games, navigation, social-networking, and other lifestyle applications called 'Samsung Apps'.

Launching Karachi Economist

MediaXpress Inc is all set to launch Karachi Economist, a new service that will provide easy and open access to high-quality multilingual academic output in a single, cross-searchable portal. “A wonderful treasure trove of easy-to-find resources”.

Karachi Economist will support free markets, globalization, free immigration, and will only accept the propositions of Keynesian economics which deemed more "reasonable".

Their primary focus will be on World Business Politics and Economics, but they will also runs regular sections on science and technology as well as on books and the arts. They will support increase in government health and education spending and also their "stimulus" plans for economic development during recession. With roots in classical liberalism, Karachi Economist will disfavor any government interference in either social or economic activity.

FIFA 2010 World Cup Ends Without Sialkot-made Football

Unlike in every FIFA World Cup, where Pakistan is represented in every game in the shape of Sialkot-made Footballs, but unfortunately this year all the Footballs for the FIFA World Cup South Africa were made in China and not Pakistan.

Pakistani footballs, of course, have a long history of being kicked around in Football World Cup tournaments. From the iconic Telstar (which was the first designated official game ball, at the 1970 Mexico World Cup and then at the 1974 World Cup in Germany) to the even more iconic Tango (the official ball of the 1978 and 1982 World Cups in Argentina and Spain), and even at the last World Cup in 2006 in Germany, hand-stitched, high-performance from Pakistan - really from Sialkot - have been the preferred choice for Adidas, the official providers of match balls to the FIFA World Cups.

At one time, Pakistan’s export city of Sialkot was catering to 85 per cent of the total world demand for high-quality inflatable balls, but No longer. Technology is a major factor in tilting the balance against the local industry. The penetration of machine-made balls hit the Sialkot hand made stitched soccer industry.

In order to cope with the menace of machine made balls, the SME Development Authority has at put in place the final steps for the establishing of the Sports Industries Development Centre. It is expected that this project worth Rs435 million will enable the Sialkot sports manufacturing industry to adopt modern technology, without which there is no going forward.

Pakistan & China bond, US out in the cold?

China has agreed to invest in Pakistan's energy sector. President Asif Zardari is in Beijing at the beginning of a week long visit. And with that deal, and rumours of further nuclear agreements in the offing, U.S. influence over Pakistan appears to be waning. Dr Anatol Lieven from King's College says for Pakistan, China could soon replace America.

Higher Inflation for Lower Unemployment

Many people wants the government to resolve the issue of Higher Inflation - Increase in domestic prices of commodities and the issue of Unemployment in the country. But many people may not be aware that both Inflation and Unemployment are inversely proportional to each other.

When economists look at inflation and unemployment in the short term, they see a rough inverse correlation between the two. When unemployment is high, inflation is low and when inflation is high, unemployment is low. This has presented a problem to regulators who want to limit both. This relationship between inflation and unemployment is the Phillips curve.

British Economist Phillips has collected the data of the British economy from the year 1869 to 1957, the study was the most empirical one then been theoretical. The Study clearly shows that whenever unemployment is high, inflation is lower and when inflation is higher, unemployment is low.

You may be wondering why this happens, why both of them cant be mutually achieved by any government, so the reason behind it is that more jobs will be created where there is more money supply in the economy. More money supply in an economy leads to higher inflation. So the government in any country has to choose between inflation and unemployment.

Economically speaking i think government should focus on declining unemployment rate in an economy then stopping inflation. Lower unemployment rate will be more beneficial for the economy in the long run.

Regards

Ruinous Role of IMF - International Monetary Fund

IMF just want a country to increase its exports or decrease its imports to improve Balance of Payment situation. Increase in exports in short term is not possible, every country tries its best to do it and if it hadn't met this challenge before then how can it is possible that it will do it after IMF loan. So the only real policy of IMF is that a country reduces its imports.To meet this challenge they impose a number of restrictions on a country so that it can reduce money supply with in its Country. They also monitor this activity and then give their first grant of Loan.

The measures to decrease money supply within a country include reducing fiscal deficit, increasing taxes, increasing price of goods, devaluation of currency which all result in decreasing of country's money supply, Lower standard of living, Increase in Unemployment, Decrease in Investments and Lower Output of the country.

For a country to grow it is necessary that it import goods and keep on doing it until it meets a certain elasticity.

Where to Put My Money

At a time when Pakistan's economic situation is so much volatile and bank interest rates are at the lowest, everyone is wondering where to put their money. For starters there is the stock market. Yes, really. Unless you genuinely believe capitalism is dead, the stock market should be considered. It has consistently outperformed every other asset class, including Real Estate.

Some companies in the Karachi Stock Exchange pay a very high dividend. Okay, it is conceivable in these unprecedented times that this oil giant will cut payments to shareholders, but it seems a risk worth taking. If you don't have the luxury of time – a prerequisite for investing in shares – there are other options.

Like you can invest in National Savings where the rate of interest is very high compare to other avenues and also the situation is not as volatile as in Stocks. But again the problem is Pakistani Rupee which is depreciating since the new Pakistan Peoples Party government sworn in.

So you can also turn to the last refuge of the desperate: gold, which is proving an impressive, if volatile, performer during the financial crisis. Either buy the stuff via gold exchange traded funds, which trade on the stock market, or pop down to a bullion dealer and buy a bar of the hard stuff which you can then store it in your cellar. Other things you can do is: Buy an Apartment, A Car, Invest in Mutual Funds, Start a Business or Go Shopping. 

My First Post

This Blog will cover my views on the Economy. Till then keep on reading my technology blogs at http://solsnet.com/blog, http://mastermysite.com/blog, My City Related Blog http://ckarachi.blogspot.com, My Lifestyle Blogs http://clifestyle.blogspot.com and my personal blogs at http://zeeshanvalliani.wordpress.com