...of mandarins and pocongs?

foto source: guardian.co.uk

The Starbiz, Wednesday 11 February 2009 page B9 carries an article by US economist Paul Krugman, who called their senators, proud centrists oh well, destructive centrists! He said, "the centrists insistence on comforting the comfortable while afflicting the afflicted will, if reflected in the final bill, lead to substantially lower employment and substantially more suffering". In simple language, even if Obama's original US$800bil in stimulus with a substantial fraction of that total given over to ineffective tax cuts - have been enacted, it wouldn't have been enough to fill the looming hole in the US economy, which congressional Budget Office estimates will amount to US$2.9tril over the next 3 years! Wow! that is scary isn't isnt it?

Now, on the other side of the atlantic, the British Civil Service or Mandarins as they are popularly referred to, are again under scrutiny. Its much about transparency of information and disclosure and is deemed right, wrong, ethical or unethical, morally acceptable or immoral...depending how one looks at it. Its ok in some societies, not so ok in others, a definite no no in some others. Read more here. The Economist latest edition, describes the UK economy as a fallen star (not a falling star ok? hehe. Read more of the article here if you like.

The Star today reported:

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia scored a dismal 35 out of 100 points in the Open Budget Index (OBI) 2008 and is ranked 53rd out of 85 countries, prompting Centre for Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Dr Ramon Navaratnam to declare he was “surprised and embarrassed.” Malaysia is now listed under the “minimal information” category on Budget information provided by the Government, behind countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. see full report here. This should be a concern to our Mandarins. Of course somebody will jump, some will brush it off as ...aaargh another evil statistical ploy attempting to discredit or sabotage our economy...which ahem...could be true you know? (evil wink) cos afterall there are only 3 great lies in this world: one is a lie; second is a bigger lie and ; three is statistics...dot dot dot...

After a week of not blogging and I come out with yet again another economic fumbles and fears? hehe perhaps my next blogpost should be diverted to ghosts or pocong stories huh? hahaha...as always, my loyal visitors, readers and fellow bloggers...do have a great weekend ya? dot dot dot