THe Myth Of Foreign Direct Investments

Foreign direct investments are the investments which are invested by the foreign investors into a country to generate profits and spread their business in that country. The FDI is probably most attractive thing for the governments of the countries which is considered very good for the economic health of the country and governments provide feasible and favorable conditions to attract FDIs into their country. Especially developing countries strive hard to bring foreign investments into the country to minimize the negative balance of payments and for the economic uplift of the country as these investments create job opportunities and provide a mean of financial activity.

But, do these FDIs come without any negative impacts on the economy and the society?

No, there are certain threats which are associated with the associated with the FDIs.

First thing, when the FDI comes into the country, it is beneficial for the country but, after the business is established from that investment, that business earns the profits and then the foreign investor take the most of the profit, which becomes the out flow. Thus it provides short term benefits to the country and in long run it contributes towards the outflows of the country.

Second thing, when FDI comes into a country it takes foreign style of business, foreign culture and their traditions which affect the local traditions and damage the local traditions and culture.

Then, there is competition factor which destroy the local industry because foreign investors can afford better technology. Some people argue that FDI also boost the technological advancements in the country but they ignore the fact that they need that technology to get an edge over the local industry.

The point here is that we may attract FDI for the short run stability but we will have to strengthen the local market for the long term sustainable growth.

Harassament in Offices and How to Prevent That

TO ladies working in offices, harassment is a common word/situation. Some ladies may even call it Normal Office Practice. The blame of such undesired activity is shared between both parties, i.e. Males and Females. We will be looking at what is harassment, how it happens and how to ward it off in coming lines.

Harassment is a situation in which a female staff may be exploited by his male colleagues by WORDS (mimics, jeers and taunts) and ACTIONS (leg-pulling, blame game etc). Harassment may end in physical exploitation of ladies in the final stage.

So if you have understood what harassment is, let’s see why it happens!

We can never deny that a natural attraction exists between males and females. In honorable males, this emotion is controlled by family values and character. In most males, this emotion remains uncontrolled so they try to take unfair advantage of weaker-sex.

The second biggest reason is Make-ups ad See-Through/Tight dresses worn by ladies. Make-up can give you a graceful look and it can also give you a sex-appeal. In my experience, ladies choose to be more appealing than being graceful!

The third reason can be exposure of possible weakness by ladies. Ladies do not look brave and strong. E.g. they avoid eye-contacts and show panicked body movement. A weakness spotted by a cunning officer will be used against ladies in every case.

The fourth reason is giving too much feed-back. It is a laughter in response of an officer’s joke (where it should had been a smile and in ideal cases, no smile at all!), interfering in a discussion between two officers, listening to call for more than required time, sharing personal things with an officer you have not tested etc.

The fifth reason is trusting ladies only by ladies. Ladies have proven to be switchy in certain cases. If you trust them too much, they can spill out your secrets at a time of their convenience! So offices are not a place to befriend people. Offices are like jungles. Let’s see how!

ANIMAL NO. 1,
THE LION
The Lions are clever, senior, powerful and a bit evil officers. Lions are good workers/ fighters and often not interested in harassments. However, they are seen active in flirts. Bear in mind, flirt is first step to harassment. The lions know their job well so they can not be black-mailed or influenced. Lions are political and have contacts everywhere. Lions are present in every Office.

Can you spot lion in your Office?

ANIMAL NO. 2
THE JACKALS
Like Lions, every office has at least one jackal. They are sycophants (they praise lions very much!). Often they are slow or dumb workers but save their skins by their oily tongue. They are highly political and extremely dangerous. They will plot against you. They will make Lions your personal enemy. They are middle-rankers.

ANIMAL NO. 3
THE RATS
Rats are similar to jackal but are fundamentally distinguishable on the single fact that they are not in good books of lions. Rats make small plans with jackals to overthrow a middle-ranker. Rats NEVER plot against lions because they fear from them too much. Rats will be found complaining against nearly all staff members on their backs. Like jackals, rats are also dangerous! Rats are also present in every Office. Rats are always low-ranker. When they get promoted, they become jackals.

ANIMAL NO. 4
THE EAGLES
The eagles keep themselves to themselves. If they talk to you, they will make it very clear that they are not interested in you. If they wish to flirt but remain in control of their own self. They are always found alone. They are not a danger to any body. They will fight for their personal glory. They are found to take small advantages from their job. They are not present in every office but in most offices they are found. They have a good background and they really enjoy it. They do not believe in politics but make good net works of their own!

ANIMAL NO. 5
THE DOLPHINS
They are extremely rare in offices. The biggest feature of them is a sense of self-importance. They are religious from within their hearts so they will do anything for you. They will make your office your home and will make you their friend. They share and they teach. They are smileys and not a part of any political/flirtous/harassment activity. However they will tease you and do it till the last day!

 

Bigger Offices are bigger zoos. They host complete range of animals. Some are:

ANIMAL NO. 6
THE GIRAFFES
Long-necked as actual giraffes, they can see things from a distance. They are found bickering about something negative which is about to happen. They eventually become laughing stock for other officers. Giraffes can harass new comers about their career prospects!

ANIMAL NO. 7
THE DEERS
 Too smart for their own good! Such officers take a certain pride in their physical beauty. They believe that their work is equally outstanding which is never the case. They are “give-away” crowd. The trick is to admire them in well-phrased language. They will attack on you only when you call them Ugly. They won’t be forgetting it too easily! They are a moderate danger to new comers only.

ANIMAL NO. 8
THE RODENTS & THE ANTS
They are in essence like Rats but lack politics skills. The ants are also similar but more hard working than rodents. These animals cope with most of the work load handled by the Offices and are extremely clerk-minded. On certain occasion they will flatter some pretty girl (wow! See you are SAFE!) And do some flirt. Rodents and Ants are recognized good workers so never come in their way!

ANIMAL NO. 9
THE GOFERS
Officer tracked in menial tasks. They can not get rid of their assignment and are not qualified enough to get a new one. Due to load of small chores on their credit, management never takes them seriously. They develop liaison with rats and jackals. They can do anything to any body so they are dangerous.

ANIMAL NO. 10
THE BEAVERS
Kings of their work-space. Good workers but keep themselves to their table/desk/cabin/floor only. No oily tongue and no impression making exercise. They are strong but not ambitious. Satisfied people! If befriended, they become a good friend of you. Otherwise they won’t even know you exist. They turn into lions sometimes!

ANIMAL NO. 11
THE SWANS
Thinking caps! They use most of their time thinking what should be done and how it should be done. Philosopher type. If given a responsibility, they “prioritize” their jobs. Highly successful in good working conditions. Under stress story is different because they don’t find time to think and analyze. If some swan tries to harass you, it is possible you become a grandmother till finalizes his plans. Not a big threat then!
 ANIMAL NO. 12
THE CHEETAHS
An opposite of swans. They are performers but not thinkers. Sikh Bhayya. They act before they think. In routine matters they are big hits. If some new situation arises, cheetah will ask for help from his junior swans and senior lions. Extremely dangerous if you want to avoid flirts. Usually cheetahs also become lion when promoted.

ANIMAL NO. 13
THE SHEEPS AND GOATS
New comers and internees. Quite helpless and afraid of nearly everything. They have no idea how to make their presence announced. (No impression making techniques!) They are subjected to extreme exploitation by nearly every officer but a few will venture to help them. When Sheep and Goats get adjusted into an organization, they become an animal of their choice!
 

So 13 sorts of different animals you will face when you are a lady. Do NEVER think that males are not harassed. I can recount some very disgusting events in which my best friends and I were maltreated. For males this jungle is also very dangerous or I would more dangerous than ladies. Top management always believes in words said by females and it means…well, you can understand!

 

In the zoo of the above animals, one can be very safe if she tries the following simple things!

• Eye-contact is vital with a serious face. If an officer is talking too much, try narrowing of eyes and pressing of lips. It will give you a stony and very serious look.

• Do not show panicked and confused body movements. The best move is to go slow! Remain serious at all times so you will not lose control at any time.

• Pick an officer, test him/her and then trust him/her. Always watch out if he/she is betraying your trust. If you find a broken commitment, do not cry about it. Just come back slowly never showing your inner emotions! Always keep testing him/her with bits of your personal data.

• Use graceful make ups on. Do not apply too much of make up on your self. An extremely dangerous thing is to wear see-through/tights/short-sleeves. It will invite lions, jackals and rats. Even in that case, no dolphins will come and stop eagles to come!

• Do not show emotions at the spot. Delay your laughter while dealing with most officers till you get alone. Refrain from giving your personal opinions to anybody but the people you trust.

 

I hold an experience of 3 years in different offices and all that I have written is for your personal consumption only. Discuss it with as many people as you like before acting on any suggestions. I have written these lines as a duty to my younger generations. Promise me that when you will become an officer, you will be a DOLPHIN!

                                            

                                        Thanks to Mr. Saleem Haider, Accounts and Admin. Officer, Askri Bank for providing the artilcle 

 

LOVE LETTER OF AN ECONOMIST (ENGLISH VERSION)

My Economics like dear,

I believe in the fact that you love me as Robbins Uncle believed in his theory of wants and needs. Your love is an assumptotic function which can never be zero and one day the curve of your love will rapidly grow and will make hockey shape curve like marginal cost curve because the supply curve of my love is horizontal at the time showing infinity, means its slope and rate of change is zero. You can trust me as gold standard money is trustable.

 Maybe, now, the graph of circumstances is showing my love as short run function, but I assure you that I shall provide appropriate circumstances to change it into long run function and shall produce the love according to your demand. I promise you that I will invest my love and it does not matter to me that how low your return rate is (see I can leave rational behavior for you) and if you would give me appropriate return for my investment of love, I will again invest that return because my MPI (marginal propienciety to invest) is equal to one at the moment and this is how we can, in the consequence of multiplier effect, produce love to infinity and we together can increase the love level in the economy to get equilibrium point of love in the economy and in the world. As you know that I am a big fan of Lord Keynes, so I want to apply it on macro level instead of micro and in this lies the existence of our economy and world.

 I have a dream that we both create perfect competition for lovers where the combination of lovers would be on the point where demand and supply curves o both would intersect. There would be monopoly of lovers in the market and barriers on the entry of rivals and they would have to bear the loss more than average fixed cost on entrance and they would have to exit.

 More than that I assure you that I will keep you happy because I am a rational person and keep in mind both cardinal and ordinal theories of utility maximization. I would, for you, increase my MPC (marginal propienciety to onsume) to one. I know that the rate of your love is of progressing nature, which increases with the increase in income, so, I have decided to increase my income through black marketing, smuggling, corruption, profiteering, and tax embezzlement and fraud to satisfy your demands.

 And before that my taste and habits change or I and other lovers make cartel and decrease supply of love because of high demand (in consequence of which it is predicted that the price of love will increase to double from one to two hearts and yet Islam allows for four) and government may impose tax on the activities of love, due to increasing trade deficit, you will have to think about my proposal.

 This is a hypothesis of mine which can be converted into the theory if you marry and we may create a model. Now, you must accept my proposal because you are a big fan of models.

                                                                                                                        Only yours,

                                                                                                                        Allocator of love in a better way

Facts about Love

When I think about love, many questions come swarming in my mind and I found it very much difficult to answer them. I want to share them:

1. How can you ignore love and care, which your family is giving an idiot like you without any reason, from 15 to 25 years and you prefer your 1 to 3 year old baby love? does it make sense to you?

2. It is said that true love gives happiness. Are you happy due to your love or your love is nothing but a mistake?

3. How can you fall in love with a person, who has all human necessities and activities with him? Why donot you think that your love has intestines in his belly, blood and flesh in his body, or that his nose also flows atleast in flu? I can say more but I would not. you might be understood by now or simply think.

4. Can you find me a single person who after taking step in professional life or after starting a job fell in love?                       

    According to Faiz Ahmad Faiz Sahib:

          Dunya ne teri yad se baigana kar  diya (World has made me forgot missing you)  

          Tujh sa b dilfrareeb hain gam rozgar k (Earning problems are more beautiful than you are)

5. Why all of your family should suffer for a mistake of yours, namely, love?

6. In the environment we are living; media, no doubt is playing an important role, yet, it is spreading misconceptions about love. Can you think not to touch or kiss your love? i know it is possible, but you will definately want to touch your love. It is blessing of media.

    Love is:

          Mohabbat mun ka kurb ha, tan ka kurb mat mango (Love is the closing up of hearts, not bodies)

          Jisay  chho  liya  jaye  ussay  poja  nahi  kartay (A person you have touched would not be worshipful)

 

It does not mean that i donot belive in love. But realit is reality. I respect true lovers, but i have failed to find a true lover in this modren age. This age gave us so much but snatch love away from us.

                                                                                           Sarfraz

History of Pratha(Oiled Bread)

                       

The history is somewhat unique and interesting due to the naming incident of pratha. The very first pratha was made accidently by a Rajput family cook, when he was not aware, if the dough slips from hands into the oil, the thing which would be produced would be calld pratha instead of bread.

The naming story is quite interesting and began when he served that oily bread to a guest who pass the comments: pran tha(a rajputi expression means take it away). Latter on it changes to pratha.

Note:The above story is based on non-factual facts and fiction and only is written for fun.

                                                                                                         Sarfraz

Luxry and Necessity

It is observed that a luxury converts into necessity over time. People want a luxurious life so they keep trying to earn more and more. As their experience in a specific field grows, their earnings also increase. As a result, their purchasing power increased now they are in a position to enjoy some more   luxuries. With time being, these luxuries become a part of their ordinary life course and become necessity for them. Although there involve some other factors being discussed hereunder:

1.    The price of luxuries may fall over time making it easier to afford luxuries for people. There are so many factors which may affect the price of a luxury and are as under:

a)    The first and most likely cause is technological progress which makes it very much easy, cheap and efficient to produce a luxury.

b)    The second reason is profit margin in luxuries which may induce other companies to enter in the market and produce the goods of same nature. This may create competition. Competition may affect the price dually:

i. Advertisement and sales promotion activities may increase the cost of the goods sold, as the result increasing the price of luxury.

ii. To remain in a stable position in a competitive market, the producer may offer less and suitable prices, better terms and conditions and improved quality goods to the consumer. The demand for luxuries is highly elastic, so the demand of such products may increase rapidly.

c)    Normally, inflation does not affect prices of luxuries much because of highly elastic demand. Although the price of goods do not increase in real terms due to inflation but consumer consider it as increase in price in real terms due to physiological effect. So, producers are reluctant to increase the prices of goods except in extra ordinary circumstances. As a result the value of money declines but the prices do not increase so it affects the prices inversely.                                                                                        

2.    Now day’s different financial institutions e. g; banks and installment businesses have made it very much easy for the people to afford luxuries. We may take the example of car leasing schemes in Pakistan from many banking and financial institutions.

Thus, for the reasons discussed above a luxury becomes affordable and necessity for the majority of people living in that economy.

When a good has become necessity:
At the stage where a good has converted into necessity from luxury, government may impose some price restrictions and may decrease taxes on the good. So the price of the good may further decrease due to this fact making it yet more affordable for more people.

At the stage, the profit margin is this much low that some companies my retreat from the market and other may reduce the advertisement and sales promotion expenses to increase their profit margin to some extent. At that stage the advertisement and sales promotion expenses are not necessary but a burden because consumer is very much aware about the characteristics of good.

The price of the good remains stable for some time and then it may increase due to lack of competition and inflation factor.

However, it is quite unpredictable to announce the time duration which a luxury takes to become a necessity.

Examples in Pakistan’s economy:
The following examples may not fulfill all the essentials of theory discussed earlier but these are the things which have almost converted in the necessity from luxury. The deficiency to fulfill all the requirements of the theory of these goods may be is the weak economic and financial structure of the economy of the Pakistan.

Personal computers, Mobile phones, Cars, etc,

                                                        Sarfraz