Natural gas: Fuel of the future

This gas has been known about for some time, but new drilling and extraction technology has now made it commercially viable.


"There's a lot of conservatism right now," he said in an interview with CNNMoney. "We're just at the very tip of this pyramid."

'It's a question of believing," said Tertzakian, who also thinks the estimates for future natural gas use are low. "Once they believe the trend, gas demand is more likely to gain momentum."


If you all can remember, Exxon has just recently acquired XTO Energy for a total of 41 billion dollars. If Exxon sees something there, I'm pretty sure they are right.


They are definitely not playing a hit-or-miss game. Exxon has always been acute with its investments and this is a particularly big one so there's no way Exxon will get it wrong.

At least, I have 101% confidence that this is the right investment for Exxon. Being the number producer of oil, it is not going to leave the position now that it is reaping the profits from the natural gas boom.


Soon, the boom will die down and everyone will realise just how great natural gas is and how they are actually in surplus out there. It is a matter of who gets them first before they run out.


But in making electricity, it could have real benefits. Ming, from Secure Energy, said that used in the most efficient power plants, natural gas is actually 70% cleaner than coal.


Yes, so there you have it, we now know that natural gas is actually undermined by coal and that it will eventually emerge victorious. It is gaining market share at a rapid rate and estimates have been conversative till now.

It is going to shock everyone in the near future so just you wait guys. Natural gas will be your main source of fuel for all your products before you know it.


More technology will be developed to extract the natural gas from shale more easily and water pollution will definitely be taken care of.


This is de facto synonymous to that of the 3D technology, it has been here for quite some time already but no one has really noticed its potential yet. But everything is changing, natural gas is here to stay! It is becoming more flagrant a fact that natural gas is the fuel of tomorrow!


Start to invest in natural gas and you will be rich before you know it.


Credits -cnn, -culturefeast, -linde, -sxc

It was all planned ?

All the reports we had seen in the past before the financial crisis, were de facto spurious ! They were all not bona fide!


In actual fact, most of them were misleading. Let's take a look at the notes below.


"Had credit-rating agencies been more careful in issuing ratings or downgraded ratings in a more responsible manner, we maybe would have averted the crisis," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of an investigations subcommittee. "But they did not. Without credit ratings, Wall Street would have had a much harder time selling securities because they wouldn't have been considered safe."


The investigation -- which reviewed hundreds of emails and interviews with officials at rating agencies -- revealed a world of overwhelmed analysts who didn't have enough data about securities they were rating and were under pressure from investment banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to issue good ratings for complex securities that were at the heart of the financial crisis.


Levin's investigation found that 91% of AAA-rated, residential mortgage-backed securities issued in 2007 and 96% of similar securities issued in 2006 have now been downgraded to junk status.


Later, they too announced mass downgrades of hundreds of subprime mortgage-backed securities.


Well, at least now we know, we should not always look at the reports of the experts for they are experts at obfurscating the facts and they have the propensity to lie just to paint a more beautiful picture to stimulate the economy.


If you guys are familiar with the accountancy field, you should know that accountants that give clean reports will always be sought after by top companies because these reports are coveted by almost any companies.


Why is that so? Simply because by having a clean report, whatever they sell will be highly sought after as well. For instance, if the company Procter & Gamble's record is clean, their consumers will naturally trust that the products they sell are trustworthy.


If the report is ugly, then the consumers will naturally veer away from the products just in case they might get themselves hurt from the products they consume.


The same logic applies here, the rating companies will give great ratings so that they will find themselve a myriad amount of business which will naturally accentuate their strong reputation!


All in all, they will do whatever it takes to beguile the public and to lure them into the trap of the highly precarious securities!


Hence, if you wish to buy securities in the future, do not rely merely on reports, trust your own judgement and look at the news from all angles. Don't be too gullible.

Credits -marketwatch

Against all Odds

"Since 1851, the US economy has been in periods of contraction roughly one-third of the time, yet sixteen of the blue-chip companies that comprise the Dow 30 were founded during recessions and almost 60% of Fortune 500 companies began business in a bear market, according to a June 2009 report from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Proctor & Gamble survived the panic of 1837, then the worst recession in our young nation’s history, while General Electric came out of the economic chaos of 1872 and Hewlett Packard was born in the Great Depression. McDonald’s fried its first french fry just before the onset of World War II. Charles Schwab sprouted out of the early 1970s as rampant inflation threatened to get out of control. "


An intriguing summary as to why the bad economy is the best time to start a business.



As Warren Buffett's golden rule states clearly, when other people fears, you should be brave!

Similarly, when the rest invest enthuisastically, you should stay behind and look at the bigger picture which many of them missed.


The point here is that you should never be beguiled by the unsustainable hype for they are merely distractions that will obfuscate your judgement.


In the book Good to Great, there are 11 companies which have showned great tenacity throughout their endeavour in the corporate world.

It has been proven time and again that none of them were simply riding on the galvanized forces of the economy.


When we look at the industry per se, we realised that the company was de facto in an emasculated industry rather than a bullish one.


i.e. Kimberly Clark boomed when the paper-industry was bearish and now it is making big bucks from Huggies

i.e. Nucor boomed when the steel industry was in depression and now it is one of the most renowned steel company in the entire world.




i.e. Kroger boomed when supermarkets were becoming a low-profit business and now you see thousands of its branches everywhere




i.e. Walgreen boomed despite there being a sudden surge in the number of competitors in the pharmaceutical business and now they are actually ubiquitous at every corner of the shopping malls you visit.




Nonetheless, starting a business in a bad economy is merely a perfunctory and vague point. What is more interesting is that behind all these, you need a leader, a great leader so to speak.

Without a great leader, it will be paltry even if you have the best company in your hands. Look at the cute picture above, the leader will go up first and take a peek at what's in front before he helped his team up. We all progress as a team and thus everyone's opinions is precious. It is fatuous to dismiss any one of them at any one point in time.


It is imperative to have a great leader that is neither an authoritarian nor a pharoah, but a relentless yet humble leader who involves everyone in the company, including the customers.


Afterall, the market forces are against you right now so you will definitely need your companions with you to pull through this dire period.


Teamwork!

At the end of the day, it's a matter of First Who... Then what.




If you decide on a destination first, only people who are agreeing with that destination will get on board. The bad thing is that if you decide to change a destination along the way, they will alight from your bus.


However, if you pick the people who are willing to join you, they will follow you and support you with all their might regardless of the destination. Afterall, they believe that they are on board because of the team, not the destination. When everyone works together, they will succeed eventually.


In conclusion, it is no doubt a strategic move to start a business in a bad economy, but it is a lot harder to gather the right people to push your business ahead in this beleaguered economy.


You need relentless consistency and strong tenacity in order to succeed. That is why so many companies steer away from investments in the bad economy, simply because they are afraid, afraid of failing.


Definitely not an easy feat to pull off.





Credits -techcrunch, -bolstablog, -freeuni, -brightscope, -mgcpuzzles

ANTM Cycle 14 Photos

Credits -livejournal

Economic ReCoverY

It seems that Economic Recovery is really imminent. Like really really soon !!!


Let's look at a summary of all the latest reports



Driven by global demand, McDonald’s registers first-quarter profit growth of 11%, topping $1 billion (Wow, McDonald's is actually reaping alot of money!!!)




Abbott's profit declines due to a hefty accounting gain the company reported in the 2009 quarter. (Nonetheless, it is making a lot of revenues from all the drugs and equipments it is selling!)

Morgan Stanley swings back into the black, posting a first-quarter profit of $1.4 billion underscoring a recovery in activity in the capital markets. (Woah, the capital banks are back on their feet)

Yahoo nearly triples its first-quarter profit, topping Wall Street estimates, but sales -- and shares -- don't follow that lead (Even Yahoo? The super-lousy search engine is making money?)



German car maker Volkswagen AG reports a 95% surge in first-quarter profit (That's huge given the scale of the automobile saga recently)

Retailers trade higher; Coach doubles dividend (It seems that people are beginning to shop already)

Coca-Cola's first-quarter net earnings rise 20% as the soft-drink giant makes gains in market share (Its recent investment on the bottling industry is not hurting it much)

Apple Inc said Tuesday that profit rose 90% in its fiscal second quarter as it sold almost 9 million iPhones (As usual, Apple's profits is surging like nobody's business)
 
 
Of course there are downsides to the economy recovery such as the automobile saga, the volcanic ashes across Europe that is hurting the convalescence airline industry, Google's breach of privacy and of course, the infamous Goldman Sachs' fraud!
 
 
For now, let's just enjoy the good news first okay? Considering that we are finally getting out of all this bullshit for once.
 
Credits -marketwatch, -thebaglady, -audinorwich, -technabob

Treasury Yields

Treasury Yields soar high into the sky recently after reports about the payroll have been released.


The yield on 30-year Treasurys briefly came within a hair of 5% before settling back to the 4.75% range. The ten-year note's yield hit 3.9%, driving 30-year mortgages, which are priced off that ten-year note, over the 5% mark.


For the benefit of everyone, yields rise in advance when great news about the job market are released. Why is that so?


It's pretty logical actually. When more people are equipped with a job, they earn a reasonable amount of income and this increase their purchasing power and their marginal propensity to consume. Hence, there is a higher spending rate and the demand will rise as a corollary.

With a rise in demand, prices will increase and this will lead to the infamous inflation.


In the end, the interest rate will be raised to curb inflation.


Or, if you want a simpler explanation, when people are equipped with a job, the unemployment rate will fall and then inflation will settle in, without a shadow of a doubt. End of story.

The speculators have already pronogsticated that there will be a rise in interest rate in the future so they will naturally raise the yields now.


Also, as the yields rise, foreigners will start to invest in their debts because they offer high returns. "Hot money" will start to flow in and the supply of U.S. dollar will drop because foreigners buy these debts with U.S. dollars. Bear in mind.

Then the strength of the U.S. currency will rise for sure, leading to a rise in imports and a fall in exports. That is very bad because it will just to more trade deficit.


The U.S. government already fraughty with a plethora of troubles surrounding its deficit now.


Credits -marketwatch, -elliottwave, -ega

It will pay off

Okay, there's going to be a number of technical terms in this post.


So please bear with me on this one.


I learnt a lot at my workplace so far, during my 1month 16 days stay there.


Although the roles are pretty much repititive, I have tried my best to squeeze the most out of it and to master all the necessary skills that are pivotal for my job.


One of which is to maintain a healthy relationship with the staff from Department B. I will like to emphasis on this because it is extremely crucial, in fact its the ne plus ultra of business, to have healthy relationships with everyone.


Basically, I'm from Department A.


Sorry, I cannot list the name of the departments for security reasons.


So I was issuing the forms today and I realised that I told the PM shift girl that there are 9 important forms left in the cupboard that needs to be distributed by 5pm.


In the end, guess what? Yes, they totally forgot about it and it slipped off my mind as well.


I totally forgot to double check and I only realised it at 5:10pm. Hence, I went around searching for people to pass the forms to but everyone went out for dinner and I was practically floundering because there is simply no one around, including the executives who went out for dinner.


But I tried to maintain a placid persona and I thought I can wait for them to come back and then I pass the forms to them. But it is extremely cumbersome for them to do forms after 5pm because there are a lot of tedious procedures to go through and most of the people in Department B will reject the forms.


At that point in time, I was panicking a bit. I have to admit it.


It was intense but in the end, the guy from Department B is willing to do it.


Thank god I maintained a healthy relationship with the Department B, you never know when you need their help.


To be honest, these people come to our Department for forms every single day and we are the ones issuing the forms to them and we print out the report for them to sign. So we can be mean to them any other day but the problem is that when you need their help, they will do the same to you.


So the moral of the story here is to be nice to everyone for you really never know when you might employ their help.


If you think that you will never meet him or require his help in the future, then you are wrong, very wrong.


Under unprescedented circumstances, you will never know!


At the end of the day, it's your choice.


You can choose the actions, but not the consequences!

Cisco's Winning Router

These ad hoc equivalency benchmarks lingered over the years and have now returned with a vengeance with the Cisco CSR-3 and its outrageous 322 terabits-per-second throughput (Tbps).


So Cisco rolls out this phenomenal router that will obviously feed some of the most expensive bundles of fiber and lots of them.

Every person in China can make a simultaneous video phone call.







Every movie ever made in Hollywood for all time can be downloaded in 4 minutes.






The entire contents of the Library of Congress can be downloaded in one second.



This is all nonsense of course, because the pipes between the router and the data are not big enough to come close to allowing these events. And the ability of hard disks, where such data would be stored, cannot come anywhere near these throughput speeds. Definitely not feasible for sure!


Yes, all of the above mentioned are not realistic but the point is, it has that huge amount of potential, that if the pipes can be enlarged in the future, all these can be easily achieved because the transmission speed is appallingly high.


We all know anything is possible. Nothing is impossible today.


Welcome to the technological age. We all know that Cisco is the Number 1 superpower when it comes to servers and routers but boy do we not know that it can come up with something so ridiculous!


It's ineffable to be honest. It can even be considered as an incandescent breakthrough so to speak.


Did I mention that this thing cost $90,000? Well, considering its capabilities, it is dirt-cheap, trust me! But then again, it was never meant for a consumer, because it will lead to more piracy and illegal stuff being committed along the way with such a powerful router. Who knows what the public will do with it!


Anyway, this router is actually pivotal for super gargantuan businesses that require transmission of data at lightning speed so that all the operations can be run efficiently and smoothly without a single breakdown or lagginess.

 An example of which will be DHL where it has to handle millions of orders throughout. This router could help DHL detect where the package is and every metre it has travelled in a second. It can monitor the movement of the package to that very extent!

Impressive isn't it? But, I'm sure it will be subjected to misused in this maladjusted society today. Hackers, social engineers will definitely use it to commit more fraudulent acts and this might even help them to get away because they can transfer data so fast that the system will not even detect it! By the time the system took note of it, the thief would have already been long gone.


Good or bad, you guys decide!


Credits -marketwatch, -arstechnical, -adeel, -westernexperience