Buy now, pay later losing appeal for US consumers

US People seem to listen to Shania Twain now..

By choice or by force, more U.S. consumers are putting away their credit cards as the financial crisis reshapes attitudes toward spending and debt.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc noticed that customers were pulling out the plastic less and less this year as the financial turmoil intensified. The world's biggest retailer said the portion of transactions using credit cards was falling after three consecutive years of double-digit gains.

"Customers have maxed out on their credit limits," Eduardo Castro-Wright, the head of Wal-Mart's U.S. stores, said at a recent conference. "They can't use (credit cards) more."

Link : Buy now, pay later losing appeal for US consumers

Ka-Ching and the US Credit Crisis

Shania Twain has forewarned about the Credit Crisis than most of the economists...

We live in a greedy little world--
that teaches every little boy and girl
To earn as much as they can possibly--
then turn around and
Spend it foolishly
We've created us a credit card mess
We spend the money that we don't possess
Our religion is to go and blow it all
So it's shoppin' every Sunday at the mall

All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store

[Chorus:]
Can you hear it ring
It makes you wanna sing
It's such a beautiful thing--Ka-ching!
Lots of diamond rings
The happiness it brings
You'll live like a king
With lots of money and things

When you're broke go and get a loan
Take out another mortgage on your home
Consolidate so you can afford
To go and spend some more when
you get bored

All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store

Let's swing
Dig deeper in your pocket
Oh, yeah, ha
Come on I know you've got it
Dig deeper in your wallet
Oh

All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store

Can you hear it ring
It makes you wanna sing
You'll live like a king
With lots of money and things
Ka-ching!

China is the stage

With Beijing Olympics nearing, all eyes are on China. While China is very eager to project itself as a leading economic power, many countries want to keep China in the image of a retarded communist country with largel scale human rights violations.

National Geography has released its May Month issue as China Special with many articles on China.

Some of the Interesting articles are

a. The Emergence of an aspiring middle class in China and their anxiety of not being left behind.

b. Mass Migration of Chinese Population from Villages to Cities and Spiraling Growth of the Chinese Cities.

c. The uncertain road ahead for them as maintaining the same economic growth rate and distribution of the wealth gets tougher.

Endless Replay - Accidents

The Hindu's report on the Gory Bus Accident in Vadodara : Forty-four people, including 41 schoolchildren, were killed when a State-owned Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) bus fell into the main Narmada dam canal on the outskirts of Bodeli town in Vadodara district, about 200 kilometres from Ahmedabad, early on Wednesday morning.

Singapore Media is reporting that about 1,00,000 indians die due to road accidents every year.

Last week, the SUNTV was reporting of the death of pregnant lady due to negligence of government staff in a Hospital in Krishnagiri/Dharmapuri region.

These two incidents are the scenes from the tamil movie "Indian" by Director Shankar. These two incidents are pointers to the deep entrenchment of Corruption in India. It is really disgusting that no one is willing to take any initiatives against this.

Global Food Crisis

Spiegel, the german newspaper, has an excellent article about the Global Food Crisis

It cites the major reasons for the food crisis as follows :

• The world population is growing constantly, while the amount of arable land is declining.
• Climate change is causing a loss of agricultural land, irreversible in some cases, as a result of droughts, floods, storms and erosion.
• Because of changing eating habits, more and more arable land and virgin forests are being turned into pasture for livestock. The yield per acre in calories of land given over to pasture is substantially lower than that of arable land.
• The World Bank wants developing countries to introduce market reforms, including the abolition of protective tariffs, a move that often causes massive damage to local agriculture.
• Speculators are driving up the prices of raw materials. The resulting high oil price leads to "energy crops" being cultivated instead of grain for food or animal feed.
• Millions of people displaced by civil wars need food, and yet they themselves are no longer capable of producing food.

In another related article, it elaborates the choice between Food and Fuel, which the world should take. It notes "Food prices are skyrocketing. Arable land is becoming scarce. And forests continue to disappear across the globe. The world must decide between affordable food and biofuels".

M$ of Agriculture

Rising Food Prices are triggering riots and political upheavals across the world. Africa and Asia are going to be the net losers in this price rise. Behind the surface, the global giants who are quietly taking over the world's food chain. These Global Giants based in US, Europe and Australia are going to be the net gainers in this turmoil.



The M$ of Food Business, Monsanto is one of the Global Giants that are going to benefit immensely. Here is an article surprisingly in the US mainstream media about Monsanto.

VanityFair writes "Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination."

- through Slashdot

Tata Motors' Nano car to roll out in October: Official

SINGUR: Indian automobile maker Tata Motors Ltd will roll out its ultra-cheap Nano car on schedule by October, a top official said on Wednesday.

Tata Nano unveiled

The Tata's World car has been unveiled at the 9^th Auto Expo in New Delhi. Cheers for the First Class Product from Modern India.

Nano has managed to get the world's attention which I would say at a the scale of Apple's products before launch.

Tata Nano could be the icon of globalization's success stories.