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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (3132)	4/14/1998 3:45:00 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9980

Enough on conspicuous consumption, here is the answer to our prayers. Excerpted from the WSJ: Its biggest allies and best companies long ago defected. But in its long running struggle with Chine, Taiwan has snagged victory in the Battle of the Tooth. The island gave a hero's welcome Thursday to surely the oddest guest ever to be granted a state visit: a 2,400 year old tooth said to have come from the Buddha himself. Flown in on a specially chartered plane, the holy molar touched down to cheering throngs led by Taiwan's premier. Radio stations devoted up to the minute reports to the tooth's stately progress. "Let us have peace and harmony in our society," said Premier Vincent Siew, offering a prayer to the tooth in an airplane hangar converted into a makeshift shrine. Under a red and gold banner proclaiming "Ceremony to Welcome the Buddha's Tooth Relic," the object of attention rested after its trip in a miniature gold-plated pagoda, wrapped in clouds of incense. One of three teeth said to have been found after the Buddha's cremation, the tooth was spirited out of Tibet to India in 1968, at the height China's Cultural Revolution.... Buddhists in India, fearing vandalism from Indian religious extremists, have decided to give the tooth to Taiwan. But the tooth, it turns out is a highly political issue. Beijing, which holds one of the two other surviving teeth, fought for its mate to be returned to the mainland. "They don't like it that they have one tooth, and we have one tooth," chuckles the Venerable Yifa, a nun at a Taiwan temple that is the tooth's new custodian. Indeed, Beijing's communist rulers--who regularly rail against "feudal superstition"--are attacking the tooth as an imposter. "We have no idea where the third Buddha's tooth originates," read a diatribe in the official Chinese press this week, which referred scornfully to "the so-called third Buddha tooth." Taiwan has high hopes for the holy tooth. Believers say it can end a recent string of mishaps, from plane crashes to corruption scandals. But fierce squabbling has already created bad kharma. Opponents say the government should solve problems, not fan superstition. Some ask why Taiwan's president, a noted Christian, will preside over a mass prayer for the tooth this weekend. True believers remain serene. Says You Kuen-song, a food company executive waiting at the sweltering airport to catch a glimpse, "Once the tooth has arrived, our troubles will be over."

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (3132)	4/14/1998 6:16:00 PM
From: k.ramesh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

Why am I here is a toughie. I will get to it. Let me state this first, I am more concerned at overvaluation of financial assets to the point that even those content with sitting on cash feel that their cash will be worth less as every one else gets rich off the market. I am concerned at the relentless pressure for higher earnings which barring tech companies, I frankly cannot see happenning in a supposedly low inflation era. Banks are still stiffing the same 110 million working stiffs,TV and toothpaste still have more or less the same audience to sell to. Consolidation is supposed to generate cross marketing opportunities, Well I just got junk mail from CUC intl which I guess got my mailing list from Century 21 because now they are Cendant or whatever . I guess I am afraid of getting taken for a ride. Some more egs. Companies modernize their IT infrastructure with Bandwidth and SAP and GUI and client server, swapping what used to be 30/hr cobol guys with 75 to 100 hr C, java whatever.In many cases it is the same people going round in musical chairs, how do I know that this is not pure and simple inflation vs. high tech, higher value which is worth the extra money? Do I disdain consumption? More like I hate waste, and sometimes it is hard to tell the difference. However, I will be the first to admit that you cannot dream up new pathways on an empty stomach, so I do look to the 'West' to aggressively pursue alternate energy sources, market simple living whatever. At this point in time I doubt any new major technology can be sold to the world without first selling it to CA then USA etc. Now do I feel guilty livin' in the land of over consumption etc... hardly, first instead of admitting that you are cheap, you can reinvent yourself as an environmentalist <g>, you can thus feel morally superior aren't Indians born that way? and see you bank balance grow... Let's face it Indians that come here are cop outs, opting for the easy life, you rode up one wave that led you to your IIT or what ever(publicly funded by an impoverished populace!) and now your try riding another wave. Till somebody writes a book on how this is really smart arbitraging of international currency mispricing or something substantially polysyllabic, I guess I will wallow in guilt <g> . regards Ramesh.