Penang might fall to Perikatan Nasional? Seems a little out there, but here’s the argument for this (to my mind) unlikely outcome.
This is what an aging nation looks like: “Japan’s underworld has not escaped unscathed either: a majority of yakuza are over 50 and there are now more gangsters in their 70s than in their 20s. Meanwhile, senior porn is a growing niche, populated by a handful of silver stars in their 60s, 70s and even 80s.” Depopulation is becoming a real crisis for Japan.
Is factory farming the worst crime in history? Read this before you sink your teeth into that KFC drumstick…
Many Malaysians have been complaining about a lack of direction for the Malaysian economy. Today, PM Anwar Ibrahim announced his vision: Ekonomi Madani, Memperkasa Rakyat. The announcement itself is worthy of dissection, which I hope to find time to do some time soon. For now, I can say this: I like the level of Ambition. Top 30 economy in the World! Now, we await the details of how we are supposed to get there.
Anyone who knows some basic amount of physics would know that room-temperature superconductivity is a Holy Grail that could change the way we live. Is LK-99 the new material that would take Moore’ Law to the next level? Some folks are skeptical.
This is the kind of level of Ambition that is needed to take Malaysia to Top 30. One Gigawatts! (And am I the only one here who suddenly thought: hey that sounds familiar!)
I have always thought of value investing as a truism in investing. But what if we are still in the midst of a tech boom that will continue to drive valuations upwards for growth-oriented tech companies? Should value investors lean away from their preferred strategy, and load up on more tech stocks in their portfolios?
I mentioned in my recent post on Barbenheimer that the director made a bold decision in the portrayal of Ken. The Guardian goes a step further and declares that the real star of Barbie was… Ken.
According to Sinar Harian, the amount of days in which we ought to mourn the passing of a politician, before we start speculating on who gets to benefit from his demise, is exactly three days. Politics is really a rough business.
Tech companies doing mass layoffs is no longer surprising, but it is jarring to see employers resort to the axe when there is so much evidence out that that points to massive erosion in goodwill, trust and morale when employees are summarily dismissed. And the human cost of it, is so painful and unnecessary. There is always a better way to do this – but too many employers are too scared, or too lazy, to do the right thing.
So… there’s this thing called employer spyware now, where employers would install software of company computers that would monitor your work activities, figure out if you’ve been spending too much time on Twitter (or, like in my case right now, blogging haha), even monitor your keystrokes. You can even get dismissed from work, with Big Brother software bearing witness against you and lazy-ass ways. Creepy. Should we all be worried now?
In Warren Buffett’s memorable phrasing, when the tide finally goes out is when you know who has been swimming naked. This has certainly been the case in the past few months, as central banks ratchet up interest rates and companies find it increasingly harder to raise funds. More scrutiny is now being brought to bear in private markets, especially when it comes to asset valuations in PE and VC portfolios. This is not new, of course, but the “funding winter” is certainly shining a light on how real the purported overperformance in private markets really is.
China’s population on the decline! India might overtake China as most populous country! – one could worry about implications of declining populations on national productivity, pension liabilities, and whatnot. But maybe, just maybe, it might simply be a lagging indicator to show that things are… good?
“Slow productivity” is a thing, now. The past 20 years have been a whirlwind of emails and SMS and BBM pings and Slack and Whatsapp and Zoom calls – and it’s all getting a bit too much. The revolution is nigh.
For as long as we don’t solve the problem of political financing and lobbying transparency in Malaysia, we will never truly fix the dysfunctionality of our contemporary politics. Some might say, eleh US pun sama je. Yes, lobbying and jockeying for influence will always be there – indeed, it is a core function of the political process! But the American approach of making political financing more transparent has its benefits – it makes public policy-making more transparent and more accountable, and reduces the likelihood of corrupt behaviour in doing under-the-table deals for private advantage.
So, prominent economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram says, on the issue of Anwar’s daughter being appointed as an advisor to the Finance Minister: “I am also not keen on the prime minister being the finance minister. I am also not keen on this (Nurul Izzah’s) appointment. But all things considered the reaction to her appointment is unwarranted.” And then goes on to enumerate the ways in which appointed the PM’s daughter as an advisor might bring advantages. Fair enough. Nuanced, right? But then, you will notice that the headline simply says: “Jomo: Nurul Izzah’s new appointment not a liability”. Nice.
We should not be surprised when autocrats abuse their powers to pursue their own personal agenda, even if it includes the illegal surveillance of an ex-wife. Looks like the backlash against Big Tech is gaining even further momentum now.
The rise of petroleum in our energy mix has led to more than a century of geopolitics being driven by the politics of the Middle East. Now that we are confronting a future where renewable energy technology will become an increasingly significant part of the future of global energy, the security of supply of battery manufacturing – amongst many other potential flashpoints – will begin to feature prominently in the evolution of global politics. Will US-China trade tensions escalate into a Cold War-style balkanization of global supply chains? Will countries like Korea and Japan (and of course, China) be tempted toward military escalation in order to guarantee the uninterrupted supply of raw materials? For mineral-rich, small countries like Malaysia, how do we navigate this new, more treacherous future?
As the world begins to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, concerns arise that we might be heading into another era of stagflation, as global economic growth still looks to be frail, and commodity prices begin an inauspicious climb. Should we be worried? I think it’s too soon to be all anxious about such prospects, but it’s good that people are thinking about it. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
After the recent oil price slump of 2014, crude oil prices have made a gradual climb back up, but have not yet reached the peaks prior to that slump. And while there was a major drop following the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, prices have recently recovered, and a commodity boom is now on the horizon. But how will oil prices fare in the years ahead, as consumer demand for decarbonisation accelerates? It appears to be that that dreaded “peak oil” scenario is likely going to happen soon, or at least within my own lifetime. That secular shift in energy patterns will lead to significant changes in the global economy, as well as geopolitics. That will also mean that the spoils could well go to countries with the foresight to capitalise on this once-in-a-lifetime shift, like the way China has ramped up its capacity for manufacturing solar panels. Other countries would be wise to follow suit.
Who knew one could make quite a bit of money selling milk from home? As Farm Fresh prepares for its upcoming IPO, it is good to see businesses that are still anchored on the idea that business can actually help people to improve their lives. There has been a lot of skepticism, of late, in the enthusiasm of capitalism to embrace a more stakeholder-oriented stance, but I suppose it all depends on your intention: to truly embrace togetherness and shared prosperity, or to merely employ such rhetoric to mask baser motives of greed and exploitation.
It is a common cycle throughout the history of innovation and technological growth: a new technology platform arrives on the scene – it could be petroleum as a source of energy, or electricity as a means to power machinery, or the Internet as a means of sharing information – and those most well-placed to gain from the rapid advancement and growing profitability of such technologies begin to gain outsize advantage and eventual domination: the Rockefeller oil trust, General Electric, or Google and Facebook. Eventually, burgeoning profitability and market share leads to outsize influence and power, and dominant players find themselves increasingly tempted to wield monopolistic power in their favour. And then, the backlash begins. In recent days, a whistle-blower has made her voice heard, and there is growing consensus that dominant tech giants like Facebook and Google will need to be reined in. Competition eventually becomes normalised, until the next cresting of a new technology…
I believe that when historians look back at the politics of the late 2010s, there will be a huge collective sigh of relief that while Trump was certainly an influential and talented demagogue, his own incompetence and lack of discipline made sure that the damage he could actually inflict on America and the world was relatively limited. Could a more capable wannabe-tyrant have done differently? In my mind, highly likely. We are not yet at the endgame of the current epoch of this collective and corrective backlash against the excesses of capitalism and inequality: for that, we need a 21st century FDR to emerge, so that the inchoate demands for better justice and fairness can cohere into a set of much-needed policy reforms that will shape the world anew.
There has been a lot of discussion about broadening the tax base in Malaysia, especially since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax, which was eventually abolished by the Pakatan Harapan government. In an age when income inequality is foremost on the minds of policymakers and commentators, it is interesting to see the Malaysian Socialist Party (“PSM”) and the Democratic Action Party (“DAP”) at loggerheads over the idea of a Capital Gains Tax. My take is that policy choices in Malaysia would become much, much clearer on that day when we finally introduce clear rules around transparency of political financing. Then we will see, who exactly is fighting for the people, vs. those who merely talk a good game.
Being married to Kat Rahmat inevitably means that there will be a lot of conversations around the meaning of Life and Death. In particular, the two of us often have conversations around the fear – nay, terror – of impending death, and how we engage in various convolutions and distractions, to take our eye off the stark reality of permanent departure from this world. This piece is consoling: that even physicists, who we would imagine to be the most rational of the best of us, cannot escape postulations that help us to find peace with the idea of our eventual expiration.
The Great Resignation is real, and it is coming. As many workers have spent months away from the office, they have had time to evaluate their lives and careers, and many have begun to explore different options for how to live their post-pandemic lives. This article reminds us that it is okay for people to leave, and it is equally as important to pay attention on those who choose to stay. As for me, I look back at my career over the past decade and realise that even though I have technically moved jobs 5 times since 2010, those job moves have actually involved me shuttling back-and-forth between just Pemandu and Ekuinas. I would like to think it is a good sign that I have been able to return back to old stomping grounds, not just once but twice. Loyalty and trust can be hard to build, but they are very powerful currencies in our journey through life.
