Simple dude. The moment you have an international investigation large amounts of the investment coming here will pull out. The debt situation will go haywire. The presence of an investigation alone will give ammunition to the nut jobs on both sides of the ethnic divide.

Ha…ha…nut jobs indeed. Does that include you as well Dodo? We nuts should stick together you know?And yes you are absolutely correct about foreign investors pulling out. Now the 64 million dollar question is, WHEN WILL THE BLOODY RAJPAKSAS’ PULL OUT?

ps. use http://www.xitenow.com to read lankaenews and lankanewsweb

@dodo
Dude, that wasn’t what I meant. I meant, if there’s an international investigation about to happen, how would you know whether it’s an honest one, or another US exercise to destabilize the region?

If the international community starts an investigation after this country has stabilized economically or 6-7 years down the line, ideally when MR is beginning to loose, or has already lost popular support then I would say the initiative is honest.

@dodo
7 years is approximately 1/10 of a lifetime. Doesn’t the fact that some of the war criminals will be dead by then bother you? Mahinda is over 70, mind you.

no because i think the most important thing right now isn’t catching war criminals. but more importantly considering the ‘expediency’ with which these investigations & subsequent trials have been conducted in the past adding 7 more years is not going make much of a difference. Milosevic died before the conclusion of his trial, acutally he died before his trial got anywhere. ICTY was establish in 1993, it’s still going on.

actually, I have little problems with a trial taking place right now provided two conditions are met. 1) that the whole business gets concluded in in matter of months as opposed to a number of decades. 2) that there is someone competent & powerful enough to replace MR immediately, love him or hate him MR is capable.

@Dodo
So you are not against war crime investigations taking place. But their main objective should not be to catch and punish war criminals. Might I ask what should their main objective be then?

@Dodo,

MR is capable? Neither his fiscal policy nor his foreign policy are bound to take SL very far.

Ok. then let’s here it shall we?

Well, if by capable you mean he is good at rousing the nationalist sentiment of the majority community, then certainly, no disagreement there. In my view, however, the primary goal should be to become self-sufficient. Basically, my biggest qualm with MR is that he is not using local people to do reconstruction work; he is relying on massive amounts of credit from the IMF, China, and India to get the Chinese to build second-rate infrastructure, e.g. roads, bridges, etc. Second rate because the quality of Chinese made products is always objectionable. I don’t know about roads and bridges, but I have put together Chinese made furniture that falls apart in a few months. The Chinese have no standards – their massive economic growth is based on peasants working for pennies a day in metropolitan factories where safety regulations are a joke. That is why they produce such massive amounts of garbage which magically finds its way to every corner of the world:

http://www.alternet.org/story/144204/our_lives_are_filled_with_worthless_crap_that%27s_destroying_the_earth:_here%27s_what_you_can_do

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/chinese_products_unsafe/

Well, what about energy? SL is investing in even more coal-fired powered plants, when it could easily go for green energy. Energy is related to the environment; from what I have read, MR or MR’s close associates are busy selling off all the “prime real estate” to the highest bidders, with little regard to the environment.

Education: I don’t see any massive investment here. In all likelihood, MR will try to dumb down the curriculum while he’s in office.

Defense: MR has increased the defense budget by loads, but the military is still second-rate. A country that has no manufacturing base worth speaking of will never have a first-rate military. But a solid manufacturing base requires a capable class of technical workers, which SL simply does not have. That means that this massive investment in defense is yet another wasted expenditure; it will be used to keep the size of the army artificially high, as well as buy new weapons that will never be used – although they might be displayed in the self-glorification parades which MR is fond of. And of course, the oversized army will be used to terrorize Tamils in the North and East, enough so that their political aspirations can be checked and the Sinhalese nationalists are satisfied.

Fiscal policy: It seems like MR is fond of borrowing money and printing money. Which means SL will have no end of high inflation. Which means the standard of living is likely to improve very little during MR’s tenure.

Foreign policy: I have already noted this. MR is forming all the wrong alliances. Far better to be aligned with the West than East.

Heshan, IMF credit is necessary. and your analysis of Chinese engineering capabilities is drooling ignorance, a swift google with help you with that. the furniture argument is just stupid & non sequitur.

You will need provide alternatives energy sources.

actually education here is sort of ok, some expansion is necessary. I’m not sure in what direction though. dumbing down the curriculum argument is also stoopid.

Fiscal policy: our borrowings are stable especially relative to growth & credit ratings are improving. so i don’t see where this argument is coming from. Printing money is a lie. no one is increasing the money supply. infact the money supply has tightened recently if anything. and this isn’t even fiscal policy?

Meh! about foreign policy. The chinese need us the americans need to destabilize us. i say side with China. they are going to overtake america anyway. And american businesses really don’t give a fuck, they’ll case profits anywhere.

Dodo,

IMF credit is only necessary for countries that have succumbed to poor fiscal management: Greece, Sri Lanka, etc. If you look at the giants among the East Asian nations, none of them needed a bailout during the global credit crunch, e.g. Singapore, Hong King, Taiwan, etc. Even Mahinda boasted once upon a time that SL would opt out on the IMF credit – which has obviously not been the case.

Chinese engineering is crap, there’s no doubt that. Here’s a simple example: a Chinese-made car that can’t even survive a 40 mph crash safety test without getting a major pounding:

———–

The first crash-test performed on a Chinese car.

The JMC Landwind was the first to be tested by the renowed German institute, ADAC Motorwelt.

This is what happened:

http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/4733/01020517594002jd.jpg

Conclusion: IMPOSSIBLE TO SURVIVE IN A CRASH AT 60km/h (40 Mph).

This car as you can see, is a Chinese copy, obviously a very bad copy of an Opel Frontera (Isuzu Rodeo).

Der Spiegel on line, said the ADAC Motorwelt (German Automobile club) claimed that it’s the worst car they have ever tested in their history (maybe a bit of exaggeration but who knows..), ADAC now is asking for a ban on the European market.

FULL Story including video here: http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f29/chinese-engineering-really-sucks-20085/

——————————————

Oh man, the WORST car they’ve ever tested, and this comes from the Germans, the people who design BMW’s and Benzes, so they obviously know what they’re talking about. Just for the record, when Gothabaya Rajapakse survived a bomb attack by a suicide bomber a few years ago, he happened to be in a “bomb-proof” German BMW. Oh yeah, and 40 mph is well below the speed limit in the USA; the speed limit in school zones is 20 mph, so 40 mph is about double that; I hate to think what would be left of that Chinese car on a highway, where the speed limit is 65 mph!

And its not just me, but a lot of Americans are tired of Chinese junk. Here in the States we have a phenomenon called “Walmart” which has basically killed small businesses through its cuthroat pricing practices, which in turn are made possible by its ability to outsource its manufacturing processes to factories in China (read: slave labor). The quality of many “durable” products made in China and sold at this Walmart is dubious at best. I have encountered everything from saucepans that can’t withstand heat to can-openers that break after the 1st go, and of course the furniture – the screws, for example, are often of an inferior quality. A metal (aluminum) frame for a futon that I purchased actually broke.

So don’t be surprised when the Chinese made bridges, roads, and ports in SL start falling apart after 5 or 10 years. I’ll be the first to make a bet that proper quality assurance and safety tests have NOT been carried out. Rajapakse could care less; after all, either he or one of his associates is collecting a fat commission.

Fiscal policy: have a look at Sri Lanka’s annual rate of inflation, since Mahinda ascended the throne: http://www.indexmundi.com/sri_lanka/inflation_rate_%28consumer_prices%29.html. When Ranil was in charge, inflation was always below 10%. As you know, when prices are so high, people tend to buy less, and when people buy less, firms have little incentive to produce more. The net effect is a decline in real GDP which of course implies diminished economic growth.

I don’t think the Americans are interested in destabilizing SL. The Americans generally do what India says, when it comes SL.

The point about IMF loans being because of MR’s poor fiscal management is nonsense. This country has always gotten loans from the IMF, even in ranils time ;) It’s ideal if we can get out IMF loan schemes but that will take some time.

Funny thing that you linked to a GM forum of all things ;) Americans shouldn’t be telling other people about how bad their cars suck, seriously. And for your information, I went to school in America both undergrad & grad school. And I still go there every year. So you are not going to convince me with this americans are getting tired of chinese junk argument. ;) Most americans don’t care. And considering Intel CPU’s & Apple devices are made in china you might want to get another reality check. And in general finding a bunch of crappy Chinese products doesn’t prove anything. Chinese can make bad cars & make good bridges. It’s not like china is one unified company with one standard of products. Work on your debate logic a bit more. ;)

You seem to have no fucking clue about what inflation is. Commodity prices being high don’t mean anything as long as people have more money to dispose. All the goobledgook you wrote about production slowing down is nonsense. here’s proof. http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=66&c=ce&l=en

Heshan, never talk about crap you know nothing about. despite your nonsensical claims about inflation the GDP growth in the high inflation era real growth was much higher than in the low inflation era. That shouldn’t come as a surprise had you known anything about economic orthodoxy. High growth usually asserts inflationary pressure; it’s very rare to be able to both growth and control inflation. infact if you look at the 2010 data you’ll find that real GDP growth here is close to 8.2% 2011 it’ll be close to 10%.

Looks like I hit a nerve there : )

A loan is a loan; every loan comes with something called interest. When you take a loan, you’re basically in debt, not only for the amount you borrowed, but the amount of interest you have to pay back. Other SL Preidents may have taken loans, but they had an excuse – something called a “war.” Not only is MR taking loans after the war, but he is taking them despite the fact that he promised not to:

“”We will not pawn or sell our motherland to obtain any monetary aid,” said Mahinda Rajapaksa.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7947787.stm

Unlike you, MR understands that the loan comes with stiff conditions, for example austerity measures, many of which will not win him popular support:

“MP Karunanayaka said one condition is the reduction of expenditure and increase of revenue. The main opposition UNP pointed out that the taxes will have to be imposed to meet the conditions of the IMF increasing the burden further on the masses. ”

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_091/Jul1248961795CH.html

When the per capita income of the average Sri Lankan is less than 10 USD/day, higher taxes aren’t exactly going to increase the standard of living.

Funny thing that you linked to a GM forum of all things ;) Americans shouldn’t be telling other people about how bad their cars suck, seriously.

And considering Intel CPU’s & Apple devices are made in china you might want to get another reality check.

Hahaha, you obviously have no knowledge of engineering. Apple’s devices are manufactured in a number of countries, not just China. Plus, the devices are manufactured according to precise standards set out by Apple. The same goes for Intel. Intel is American, not Chinese. The Chinese can’t make their own chips (or if they can, the chips are very low quality):

Hu added that although the China-made CPUs have improved since they were first produced in 2002, they have a long way to go to compete with US chip-makers such as Intel.

“It still needs another decade before China-made chips meet the needs of the domestic market. Hopefully after two decades, we will be able to sell our China-made CPUs to the US just like we are selling clothes and shoes,” Hu said.

http://www.whatsontianjin.com/tech36.html

Even the Chinese admit their engineering is crap : )

Chinese can make bad cars & make good bridges.

That makes no sense. China produces more than 1 million engineers a year, but they can’t even come up with a computer chip of their own to gives Intel competition. Chinese engineering is not at the forefront of technology – it was never was, and never has been. This is in contrast to Japan, which has always been a leading market competitor (example, Japanese cars are known to get high ratings in crash-safety tests). But much of this just boils down to the manufacturing process. As I said, there is little to no regulation in the average Chinese manufacturing firm/factory. By regulation, I am referring to everything from wages to safety to quality assurance. China produces CRAP in BULK. The whole world, except a few Sorry Lankans such as yourself, are well aware of this.

That’s not Americans telling the Chinese their cars suck, its the GERMANS telling the Chinese that Chinese cars suck. Read it again man, the test was conducted in Germany. Most Americans don’t care? Hahaha…. you’re not the only one who lives here. The vast majority of Americans are tired of outsourcing and somewhat weary of immigration (although the anti-immigration sentiment hasn’t nearly reached European levels yet).

Commodity prices being high don’t mean anything as long as people have more money to dispose.

LOL, okay genius, explain how people are going to buy more items at higher prices when their incomes aren’t increasing .

the GDP growth in the high inflation era real growth was much higher than in the low inflation era.

——————–

E xplanation: an increase in the money supply.

————–

We suggest that the positive association between economic activity and price inflation is not on account of an expansion in real wealth but on account of an expansion of the money supply. The so-called total real economic growth cannot be quantified as such — it is not possible to add potatoes to tomatoes to obtain the meaningful total that would be required to calculate real economic growth. So-called economic growth is calculated from monetary turnover, which is deflated by a dubious price deflator. This means that what is labeled as economic growth is nothing more than the rate of growth of distorted monetary-turnover data.
“What is labeled as economic growth is nothing more than the rate of growth of distorted monetary-turnover data.”

According to mainstream thinking, the stronger the monetary pumping is, the stronger the pace of spending — and consequently the stronger the monetary income and the so-called real economy is going to be. In short, in this framework more money means more spending and this leads to stronger economic growth.

Contrary to this way of thinking, more money only undermines the process of real-wealth generation. This means that more money is bad news for the production of real wealth.

Consequently, with more money and less wealth, this means more money per unit of goods, i.e., a general increase in prices. Observe that what we have here is an increase in monetary turnover on account of monetary pumping, which is presented as a strengthening in real economic growth, and an increase in general prices on account of the monetary pumping. Hence, it is not surprising that we observe a positive association between the so-called strong economic activity and price inflation. Note again that the so-called strengthening in economic activity reflects the strengthening in monetary pumping. In fact what we have here is a situation wherein monetary pumping is positively associated with the strengthening of price inflation.

From here we can deduce that it is erroneous to suggest that stronger economic growth must lead to higher price inflation. As we have seen, on the contrary, stronger economic growth for a given money supply must lead to a fall in prices. Observe that the fall in prices here is the manifestation of real-wealth expansion. It means that a every holder of dollars can now have access to more real wealth, i.e., goods. Contrary to conventional thinking then, a fall in prices whilst real wealth is rising is great news.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26965.html

—————————–

Basically, economic growth and inflation both increase at the same time when more money is in circulation. Why?

More money in the economy does not lead to an increase in real wealth. On the other hand, as the article says, Consequently, with more money and less wealth, this means more money per unit of goods, i.e., a general increase in prices.

This is perfectly consistent with the Sri Lankan situation. Ponzi-scheme artist Nivaard Cabraal, personally appointed as head of the Central Bank by Rajafucksa, has been printing money like no tomorrow and passing it off as economic growth.

@Dodo
You haven’t yet answered my question. If the main objective of war crime investigations shouldn’t be catching war criminals, then what is it?

There’s no doubt that Sri Lanka has been consistently dumbing down the curriculum since the 1960s. The chemistry subject that we were taught was nothing compared to what was taught in the 60s and 70s. Also they combined two subjects, botany and zoology, to make one stupid subject – biology. Needless to say, it turns out that (botany + zoology) > biology. Pure and Applied maths were combined into one subject called “Combined Maths” . Again, (Pure Maths + Applied Maths) > Combined Maths. They taught us calculus when we were 18 years old A/L students. In the 1970s, they taught calculus to 15 years old O/L students.

@Heshan
We can be fairly certain that neither Apple, nor Intel will ever even think about manufacturing anything in Sri Lanka. Among many other reasons, one is the lack of competent electrical/electronic/computer engineers. Those who are competent have either left the country, or moved into different areas such as management or accounting. So probably the Chinese engineers are better than the available SL engineers and if we can’t make German, or British, or Japanese engineers come here and work, there’s nothing wrong with getting the Chinese engineers to do some of the work for us.

Heshan, You’ve made to look like an idiot several times on this forum. So how about you go to the corner where duncie stays and make up more conspiracy theory bullshit.

You have no response to me other than spew some garbage about expanding money supply. The point here is that despite all your goobledgook there was higher ‘real’ growth despite your prediction to the contrary. come to terms with that. ;)

And heshan, you still don’t get my point about ‘bad cars & good bridges’. sad. I suggest you rattle your supposedly highly educated brain a little and try to figure out what it means.

The intel & Apple examples clearly show that the only thing they make isn’t cheap stuff you get at walmart. You give them a standard they’ll build to it. it has little to do with whether China can design a CPU of the same caliber as intel. Which is completely besides the point here.

And lefroy’s point is also very valid.

Lefroy, I don’t know about chemistry subjects in the 60 or biology. combined maths was not much difficult from Pure & applied very little was taken away from the curriculum. I think the decision to bring them together was to give equal weight to all the fields being studied. Actually ALs need to actually be ‘dumbed down’ a little to allow kids to do stuff other than study & go to tuition class. & university admission should look for things other than AL results as a serious qualification.

Lefroy, the main point of warcrimes investigations should be to catch criminals. I never said it isn’t. I don’t think the priority of this country is have massive warcrimes investigations at the expense of socioeconomic well being.

@Dodo
I thought when you said “10 years down the line this country should seriously revisit what happened,” you meant war crime investigations. But now it seems you just meant that we ought to learn from our experiences, after ten years from now.

War criminals are criminals, just like ordinary criminals. An imperfect society has to prosecute and punish its criminals, just to protect itself from them. Ordinary criminals are either killed or locked way in prisons in order to protect the society from them. There is a need for that. If there isn’t, we wouldn’t have to spend so much money in our correctional system. Punishing criminals is necessary for our socioeconomic well being. So what makes you think that not protecting our society from those criminals, those indiscriminate mass murderers, rapists and torturers, and let them walk around as free men, is good for the socioeconomic well being of our country?

@Dodo

China is not famous for building bridges, or any other form of infrastructure for that matter:

—————

In fact, building quality has come to be an increasingly prominent concern since a large number of schools were shattered during the Sichuan earthquake, killing 5,335 students, according to the official tally. A much publicized accident took place last year in Shanghai, when an almost completed residential building toppled over on its side and killed a construction worker. Six people were sentenced to prison for violation of safety-management regulations that led to the building’s collapse. A few months later, a six-story apartment building collapsed in Wuhan, Hubei province. Investigations in that case exposed a flimsy skeleton of iron wires being used instead of steel to hold together the building.

To prolong the lives of Chinese buildings, Zheng says the main obstacle is overcoming the predominant new-trumps-old mind-set, a goal that he thinks is achievable with the help of government support. “In the past, we didn’t make it a priority to protect old buildings, or to reduce energy consumption and waste,” he says. “Now we should really focus on how to make them both more durable and timeless in style.”

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2030548,00.html#ixzz1LIlEYkzZ

—————————-

Read the last line from a Chinese government minister: “In the past, we didn’t make it a priority to protect old buildings, or to reduce energy consumption and waste,” he says. “Now we should really focus on how to make them both more durable and timeless in style.”

The main point is that if the plant was Chinese-owned , then the quality of the product would automatically drop. Or else, if the plant was manufacturing scissors and bicycles, it would be easy to again hire cheap unskilled labor, making the quality of the product sink. Walmart is a good description of the second case.

*You cannot outsource safety

@Dodo,

You give them a standard they’ll build to it .

No they won’t. They’ll try to cut costs, which is why they’re doing so much of the reconstruction work in SL, e.g. the Chinese were the lowest bidder. Cutting costs is not necessarily a bad thing, but when you do so at the expense of safety, it diminishes the quality of the whole product.

Heshan is there an argument in all of this. It says nothing about whether chinese construction here will be built to last or not. Everyone knows that there are crappy chinese stuff & there is quality chinese stuff. Do you think those multi billion dollar contracts chinese get in the middle east are also going to fall apart. Do you think the BMICH is a crappy building that’s going to fall apart? So it’s pointless making these asinine assertions about the quality and durability of stuff you know nothing about. Whether the chinese bridges will fall apart or not is something we’ll have to see in the future.

And where does this stupid argument “if it’s chinese-owned then the quality would drop” come from. Off the top of my head Lenevo is a counter example. Lenevo, a chinese owned brand, is leagues ahead of the crappy shit Dell comes up with. The thinkpad series has not dropped an ounce in quality since chinese bought it over from IBM. I can dig up more examples but you’re not worth the time.

You sound like one of those pathetic americans who is deadly afraid of chinese ascendancy.

I see you seem to have dropped the econ talk after having your arse handed to you.

BTW are you a creationist by any chance?

@Dodo:

Designing and building (what engineers called “implementation”) are the two main phases of any project. As far as designing goes, the Chinese have failed miserably. They are good at improvising; for example, I read a few months ago about a “modified” speed train that the Chinese bought from France. The fact that the Chinese have designed very little that’s original over the past half-century should tell you something about their engineering abilities. They are certainly not at the forefront of technology.

I have already explained the Chinese approach to implementation: they prefer to cut costs, which can easily bring down the quality of the product. To give a simple example, Dell computers are worthless because they use recycled parts (motherboards, chips, etc.). Even the casing consists of recycled plastic. This is why Dell sells the cheapest computers on the market. If BMW did the same thing with its cars – which it could easily do – the quality of the whole product would come down. You cannot make a luxury car with substandard parts.

Hahaha, its your opinion that the quality of the Thinkpad hasn’t come down.

—————

wuyunchi says:
March 30, 2011 at 3:35 pm

@DoReMiForever Really, the Lenovo I used were good, I never had any problems with my Lenovo. I agree that Thinkpad was better made by IBM! There were Chinese expert saying that CPU Socket from Lenovo was poorly build to compare to IBM. Chinese got problem with they attitude during work. I visited a Chinese state owned nuclear pressurized cylinder manufacture company. People were smoking and playing cell phone. At lunch time, people went drinking or sleeping! Nothing like Japanese!

@DoReMiForever says:
March 30, 2011 at 3:13 pm

I hate LeNOvo for they breaks down all the time and are not well made like the original IBM Thinkpads
and yes it sucks that LeNOvo is Chinese

http://www.great-ads.com/51/funny-ad-lenovo-thinkpad-grandma-proof/

————————————

Looks like conventional wisdom disagrees with you as usual. I like the quote about the guy visiting the Chinese factory and the workers were goofing off. Hahaha, he even compares them to the (totally opposite) Japanese.

I did not give up on the economic argument. In fact, I figured it out this morning. Government spending is counted as part of real GDP, e.g. its the “G” in the C + G + I + NX equation. The reason why (real) GDP went up during Rajapakse’s time is because GOSL borrowed and spent like a madman to finance its military expenditures. And also, because of what I said before – it printed money.
But borrowing is not sustainable – which means in the long-run, real GDP will come down and inflation (due to MR’s poor fiscal policy) will remain high.

It’s funny how when you spout rubbish here, I come up with counterexamples that show your logic is nothing more than a pile of dog shit.

Chinese ascendency?

Nothing to be afraid of there. The fact that the US is switching from a manufacturing to a services based economy, is consistent with basic macro theory. It also means American workers demand a higher wage, which by extension means the standard of living is higher in the USA. Until the Chinese workers demand better working conditions – higher salaries, fewer hours – etc, they will be the slaves of American corporations.

heshan nobody said they are at the forefront in technology. We’re talking about building a bunch bridges & roads in sri lanka, not figuring out quantum computing.

Lol at the lenevo crap you’ve posted, what a rondom dude spurts on the internet doesn’t amount to anything. go to a product review cite and check lenevo reviews. here I’ll help you a little.
http://www.laptopmag.com/mobile-life/best-brands-overall-verdict-2011.aspx

oops… Lenevo is number 2, behind apple. Oh my!

Man! the defense budget here has gone from 3 to 3.5% gdp since 2007. your theory fails absurdly, again.

BTW are you a creationist?

What the earthquakes in Haiti, New Zealand, and Japan show is that low-quality construction work is not worth it in the long-run (for the record, New Zealand and Japan prove what quality engineering can do. The ability to withstand natural disasters is a good measure of sustainability. Given the lack of quality infrastructure in the North and East, this is a good opportunity for S. Lanka to invest in high-end roads, bridges, etc. Handing over the project to the lowest bidder can prove fatal in the long-run.

Apple is overpriced. They make a decent product, but what you’re paying for is the looks. In terms of actual performance, there is nothing exceptional about Apple, e.g. it’s computing power, RAM, graphics, etc. are no better other than other top-of-the-line brands. Apple does have its own OS, which is better than Windows, but Linux is light-years ahead of both of these (ask any developer), and Linux is free . The only reason people are still using Windows and Mac OS is because of the GUI. In simple terms, the popularity of Apple has very little to do with its performance:

Apple has introduced the idea of lifestyle into their products. It’s an idea, not a product. When you pay over $1,000 for a slab of glass and silicon and aluminium, you aren’t buying the slab, you’re buying an idea of yourself. The idea of yourself as someone who is creative, different and eloquent. It’s highly effective marketing.

As for Lenovo, I have read that it’s customer service is bad and a “Google” search doesn’t exactly vouch for its performance (the Google search turns up dozens of pages of horror stories – so much for name brand performance!)

The survey you gave is a real joke. Do you actually know anything about laptops? No one would put Apple at the top and HP at number 3. Apple is allright but Sony Vaio and Alienware are way better. HP is crap; I have owned an HP, and the battery heats up so bad that you risk getting burned if you touch the bottom. I have also owned a Dell PC and took it apart enough times, replacing everything from the sound card to the hard disk drive to the power supply to know that it’s the worst piece of junk ever conceived of, let alone sold . This was a very old Dell PC, but the I also had an old IBM Aptiva that never broke down. I also owned a Thinkpad, once upon a time, before the Chinese bought over the company. The Thinkpad survived a drop on the floor; the LCD shattered, but a little soldering and it was possible to access the hard drive by connecting a port on the laptop to an external monitor. So if the Thinkpad of today is like it was back in 2001, then thumbs up, but I seriously doubt it. Read this review from 4 months ago:

———————-

frustrated
holdyn 4 months ago
Compare old good IBM ThinkPads to the today’s shitty Lenovo series? Seriously? I have had an IBM ThinkPad T40p and then I have had a ThinkPad T60p (the last quality Thinkpad series), then I bought a ThinkPad T61…. What a Dissappointment!!!! THIS IS JUST A PIECE OF JUNK!

IBM ThinkPads are dead!
Long live IBM’s ThinkPads!

http://getsatisfaction.com/lenovo/topics/are_lenovo_thinkpads_as_good_as_ibm_thinkpads_were

————————-

And finally, if you want to know why Lenovo sales are so high, its because they’re the biggest seller in China! 1 billion is not a small market!

Man! the defense budget here has gone from 3 to 3.5% gdp since 2007

“The economic situation in Sri Lanka is stable, but hampered by the resumption of hostilities between the government and the LTTE, escalating oil prices, and high inflation and interest rates. GDP grew by 6.8% in 2007, down from 7.7% growth in 2006. Sri Lanka’s key exports such as garments and tea performed well. Remittances from foreign workers, estimated at $2.5 billion, also helped the economy.”

http://www.sricolama.com/component/content/article/360-uncategorised/360-background-of-sri-lanka.html?start=14

Basically, positive NX and C (more remittances = increased consumption by households), in addition to government spending caused the GDP growth. You are right that the increase in G was not significant. On other hand, it does not discount my point that Rajapakse has a poor fiscal policy. Relying on foreign remittances and exports of tea and apparel to ensure the economy grows is not sustainable. What if there was a major war in the Mid-East? As for tea and apparel, what about the EU withdrawing GSP+ concessions?

Man! you had your third strike at my last post. so you’re not going to get much from me from now on.

But two things.

“linux is light years ahead” Lol man, but which linux?

“ask any developer” again man, what type of developer?

If that’s your way of admitting defeat, so be it. Go look at the World Bank data; 22% of Lankans have been living below the poverty line for the past 6 years. That should show you what MR’s priorities are.

but which linux?”

There’s only one Linux! Looks like you don’t know anything about operating systems. Why do you try to pass off Mac as God’s gift to humanity? I bet you’re the same type that hires support techs wit high-school degrees to install software on your desktop.

what type of developer?

LOL, another idiotic question.

Heshan, you’re bonkers.

There are multiple types of linux distros. Unfortunately for you i’ve been using linux since the red hat days in the late 90s. linux is simply a kernel around which a distro is built. And there are literally 100s of distros designed and optimized for different tasks. Even your digital TV has linux running inside it. There are distro’s for people who know linux like gentoo & debian. And then there are more commercial stuff like ubuntu & fedora. These are vastly different from one another. The reason I asked you this question is to see if you knew WTF you are talking about. unsurprisingly you didn’t. In anycase, linux is in no way the best OS considering how crappy driver support is.

The same story applies for developers man. Different developers prefer different OS’s depending on the tool kits the OS provides.

Haha, the platform is the same regardless of the distribution. As long as the distribution has the Linux kernal, it’s still LINUX. Your question mentioned nothing about distribution, you just asked “which linux”, which is a dumb question to ask.

haha, i knew you’s say something ignorant like that. no those platforms are not the same. Kernels are always modified from distro to distro. But even if you use the same kernel the difference between two distros aren’t cosmetic. Do you think whatever run inside your TV is the same as what runs inside the google servers. anyone who has ever used linux will understand my question ‘which linux’

Heshan once again you have been found wanting.

Just give it up man.

Linux is just the kernel. KDE window manager, Tux Racer, web browsers, window manager, Bash shell are nothing more than applications running on windows. They are not a component of the OS.

The kernel is simply modified according to user preferences. But it’s still the Linux kernel that’s modified. Otherwise it’s not a Linux distribution.

Almost all distros make their own small, custom changes to the Linux kernel in order to accommodate other changes or additions that the distribution maintainers want to make. This makes each distro’s kernel unique, and probably incompatible with other distributions.

Exactly what I said. They begin with the Linux kernel, which is why it’s called a Linux distribution. The kernel can be reverse-engineered to again become the Linux kernel. I’m not even a programmer and I could figure that out in 5 sec!

http://www.softwareinreview.com/linux_guides/the_differences_between_linux_distributions.html

Stop moving the goal post. you compared Windows, OSX & Linux. Those are three OS’s not three kernals, I don’t see a point comparing the windows to the linux kernel. It’s like comparing an engine to a car. And even if you compare kernals the BSD unix kernal that OSX is built upon is considered by most knowledgeable people to be extremely ‘good’ (what ever that means without context), and it’s free.

And KDE & bash aren’t strictly applications they are user interfaces.

Did you know that the Central Bank is falsifying its economic data? GDP growth is between 4-5%, not 8% as the State media likes to boast.

So we should believe any uncorroborated data that you pull out of your rear end, as against the Central Bank, the IMF and the ADB?

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/srilanka/Lankan-economy-looking-up-ADB-IMF/Article1-681981.aspx

“The economy is USD 50 billion now while international trade has surpassed USD 20 billion; markets have been liberalized; per capita income of USD 500 in 1990 has increased to USD 2,400 in 2010; the country has graduated to the middle income category; exchange rates are no more controlled by the Central Bank; the country now has its most industry friendly tax structure; the agri-dependency has reduced with 60% of the GDP is now from the services sector; poverty levels have dropped from 21% in 1990 to 7.6% in 2010; unemployment rate is all time low of 5%; exports have developed with Sri Lankan tea brands becoming popular at international market and rubber moving towards value added exports; hotel occupancy has exceeded 80% for the first time in 30 years; infrastructure expansion is legendary with new ports, power plants and roads are being added to the existing networks; prolonged power cuts are history and the expectation of ‘electricity for all’ is within reach; daily wages in the informal sector have been significantly increased.”

“Sri Lanka’s economy is at its healthiest in the post-independence era. This is not political propaganda, just black and white data.”

http://print.dailymirror.lk/business/127-local/42709.html

Heshan, I didn’t bother responding to your “poverty talk” because i didn’t want to come off as a sadist. But it seems other people have taken up the mantle.

It’s also amusing how you are fixated with the educational qualifications of people. I wonder why?

“The report of the Asia & Pacific Economic and Social Survey report states that Sri Lanka has achieved a speedy economic development since 2009.

Issuing the report in Colombo yesterday the Economic Officer of the Asia and Pacific Region Economic and Social Commission Mr Mohomad Hussein Maalik said that Sri Lanka’s GDP which was 3.5% in 2009 has steeply increased to 8 % by 2010.”

http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2011/05/06/escap-commends-sri-lanka%E2%80%99s-steep-increase-gdp-8-2010

Dodo, when one has a small penis, one continuously worries about the penises of others ;)

@dodo
Believe him. He’s talking from experience. David is the supreme authority on penises.

Quiet, everybody, Lefroy’s come up with his annual joke. Give him some respect.

*100% reliable

Ok we’ll humour you and forget the Central Bank. The articles posted quote the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank. Say what you will about them, I’d say most sane people will take their comments at least more seriously than the ones coming from the Bank of Heshan’s Ass.

I think Koshy Mathai and Narhari Rao just raped your mouth Heshan :)

And apparently the Bank of Heshan’s Ass is taking a lot of deposits these days :D

Looks like Zoid is a batty boy – he definitely takes Nivard Cabraal’s filthy lies up every hole

The point is made right there. The discrepancy between World Bank data and government data is huge.

Example: the World Bank says the poverty rate was 23% in 2009, while GOSL says it was 15%.

A simple calculation will prove who’s right: consider the 300K IDP in camps. We can assume all 300K were living below the poverty line in 2009. This would mean that 14.7% of the people in the North alone were living below the poverty line. But GOSL claims the poverty rate was just 15%. This would mean that only 0.3% of the rest of the entire country was living in poverty – which is obviously BS.

FYI: The total Sri Lankan population was 20,303,477 in 2009.

Slight correction: This would mean that 14.7% of the total population of the island, in just the North, were living below the poverty line.

Heshan, why do you keep doing this to yourself?

Learn how to google properly. Here’s the official World Bank Data :

http://data.worldbank.org/country/sri-lanka

PLEASE NOTE THE POVERTY RATE: 15.2%

As for your ‘calculation’ above it is so so so embarrassing, WTF Heshan. 300,000 is NOT 14.7% of 20,303,477. It is 1.47%.

Haha, that data is for 2007. I’m talking about 2009. This is what the World Bank says for 2009:

“About 23 percent of the people in Sri Lanka live below the poverty line (World Bank, 2009c)”

http://www.american.edu/cas/economics/ejournal/upload/Global_Majority_e_Journal_1-2_Rao.pdf (see page 104)

The source is a reputed economics journal.

Back to you: why does the world bank say 23% and the Sri Lankan Central Bank say 15%?

You’re right about the 1.47%, I was not looking closely at the calculator.

And you have not commented on why Sri Lanka’s GDP growth is the 2nd highest in Asia, when adjusted for inflation. Unless, of course, you believe it. Do you know what inflation is? I am willing to explain it in simple terms, as well as its relationship to economic growth.

Heshan, seriously you need help.

To start with, you claim the article you have linked to is a ‘reputed economics journal’. That’s a pathetic lie. Here’s what it actually is:

“The articles are based on research papers written by AU undergraduate students (mostly freshmen) as one of the course requirements for AU’s General Education Course: Econ-110—The Global Majority.”

http://www.american.edu/cas/economics/ejournal/index.cfm

In short, it’s a collection of term-papers from an intro-level econ class at a middling university. Reputed economic journal my ass.

Be that as it may, let’s look at the reference provided in the article for the World Bank figures it cites:

http://go.worldbank.org/WDS0EV8GT0

Look at the date on that document Heshan. IT’S FROM 2006. In other words, that was the latest data that the author could find at the time she wrote the paper. Investigate further, and you’ll find that the cited World Bank figure itself is ACTUALLY FROM 2002. Plainly, there is no annual audit of the poverty rate. The latest figure available from the World Bank is what I provided the link to. Here it is again:

http://data.worldbank.org/country/sri-lanka

Back to you Heshan. Why do insist on saying the World Bank says 23% when it clearly says 15.2%?

As for the rest of your garbage, when have I said that Sri Lanka’s growth is the 2nd highest in Asia? It’s YOU who are getting excited about some childish exchange in Parliament, not me. I am well aware of what inflation is, my dear Heshan, as well as its implications for growth. I certainly don’t need lectures from a person who seems to lack even the most basic research skills, who constantly lies even when the truth is available to anyone who can click a mouse, and who can’t even read a calculator properly.

Even if the poverty figure is 15.2%, it does not account for the North and East – even the government admits this:

According to the Department of Census and Statistics….

The poverty line at national level rose rapidly since the 2002 level of Rs.1423. It was Rs.2845 in 2008, Rs.2942 in 2009, Rs.3003 in 2009 November, Rs.3038 in 2009 December, Rs.3079 in 2010 January, Rs.3087 in 2010 February, Rs.3057 in 2010 March, Rs.3025 in 2010 April, Rs.3072 in 2010 May, Rs.3098 in June, Rs. 3097 in July, Rs. 3111 in August and Rs. 3141 in September. “These figures do not cover the Northern and Eastern Provinces,” it said.

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2010/04/04/poverty-in-sri-lanka/

Count the North and East, and the figure easily tops 20%.

So, it looks like you were wrong, and I was right the whole time. Any further questions?

Basically my earlier assessment holds:

The poverty rate in Sri Lanka has been above 20% for at least the last five years.

Yeah whatever Heshan. The passage you quoted is not from the article you linked to. But then this kind of sloppiness is par for the course with you. Even the brief excerpt you have provided seems to involve calculating the poverty line, not the poverty rate. I don’t think you will be able to comprehend the difference, so I’m not even going try. So you go ahead and believe what you want. For those interested in the facts, they are available for all to see at the official World Bank website.

Poor rajivmw wants to desperately believe the poverty rate is only 15%. Next year, you might ask Nivaard Cabraal to look at only the Western Province, or better yet Colombo 7 . In the latter case, Sri Lanka is sure to have the highest per capita income in Asia! That would be the perfect addition to “second-highest economic growth in Asia!”

Although the official poverty rate is 15 percent, that rate is much higher in Uva and Sabaragamuwa Provinces, where between a quarter and a third of all people live below the poverty line, according to the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA). In contrast, the more urbanized Western and Eastern Provinces have poverty rates below 10 percent. Because of the war, there are no accurate statistics on the Northern Province.

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2010/04/04/poverty-in-sri-lanka/

And what proof do you have that these IMF reps are carrying out a half-dozen surveys of households? The last time I checked, the IMF reps were there to advise the Central Bank, not to sniff some smelly village dudes sarong.

Heshan, if you think that GDP data is compiled by surveying households, then it’s utterly pointless arguing with you. But then I knew that already.

isn’t GDP data audited any way. I’m not sure about this though.

@rajivmw,

Does that mean Santa Claus collects the data on household consumption?

Household consumption data is extrapolated from other data (shipments, sales reports, receipts etc.) sourced largely from producers, providers and related organizations. It doesn’t involve going door to door sniffing up people’s sarongs as in your feverish fantasies.

Here’s a description of the methodology in the US:

“Generally, this method begins with the value of domestic output based on data from the economic census—such as manufacturers’ shipments for most goods, revenue for utilities, receipts for most services, and commissions for securities brokerage.8 Next, the domestic supply of each commodity—the amount available for domestic consumption—is estimated by adding imports and subtracting exports and inventory change. Then, this supply, denominated in producers’ prices, is allocated among domestic purchasers. The value of consumer purchases is then converted from producers’ prices to purchasers’ prices by adding wholesale margins and taxes, transportation costs, and retail margins and taxes.9 For some categories, variations of this method are used. For new motor vehicles and for motor vehicle fuels, the domestic supply is converted to purchasers’ prices and then allocated among persons, business, and government based on trade source data. For electricity and for natural gas, residential revenue data provide direct estimates of purchases by persons. For prescription drugs, retail and health services sales from the economic census are allocated to PCE using Census Bureau data on sales by class of customer. For purchased meals and beverages (excluding school sales), food services sales from the economic census are allocated to PCE by type of eating place.”

http://www.bea.gov/national/pdf/NIPAch5consumerspending.pdf

(see page 8 for this excerpt)

hahaha… the fact that you needed one paragraph of copy and paste to describe the PCE shows how little you know about real GDP.

There are two ways to calculate real GDP: income approach and expenditure approach.

In either case, you need a price index, otherwise your data is nominal , not real . The CPI (consumer price index) is still the primary price index favored by the BLS. The CPI relies heavily on CE (consumer expenditure) data:

The strength of the CE is that an extensive accounting of expenditures made by consumer units (4) is collected through personal interviews and paper-and-pencil diaries. Separate samples of consumer units participate in the Diary survey and the quarterly Interview survey.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1153/is_9_129/ai_n27089523/

The article even says that PCE data is important in finalizing CE tables:

The PCE affords comprehensive coverage of item categories similar to those of the CE and, in fact, is used as a tool in the process of producing tables for CE publications.

What’s evident is that household/consumer surveys are definitely a big part of gathering consumption data.

So basically Heshan you have thrown together some important-sounding acronyms, economic jargon and out-of-context quotes and served them up hoping that no one will notice what it really is: pure gobbledegook.

You probably haven’t even read, much less understood, the article you yourself have linked to. If you did, you would realize that the CE and the PCE are two separate things used for different purposes. ONLY the latter is used for calculating GDP, and as I have clearly shown before, does not rely on house-to-house surveys. In fact, your own quote suggests that the PCE is used as a reference point for the CE, not the other way round.

The BLS is NOT the agency responsible for calculating GDP in the US, as you bizarrely imply. That is done by the BEA. The BEA does NOT use the CPI in calculating real GDP – it uses the GDP deflator. Here is a copy-&-paste explanation for your enlightenment/amusement:

“The GDP deflator has a very specific purpose, and it’s name tells you exactly what that purpose is. It should be used to deflate nominal GDP to obtain real GDP. It is not a measure of household inflation, nor is it intended to be, and using it to measure the rate of inflation rate faced by households is not appropriate.”

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/09/the-gdp-deflato.html

This is now getting unbearably boring and tedious. So tell you what, Heshan. If you want to believe that the IMF and the ADB officers have to stage home invasions in order to formulate GDP growth estimates, then be my guest. I no longer have the time or patience to unpack your nonsensical dribblings, and if you want to consider that a victory, so be it.

There is some thing called a national income account. essentially it’s like an audit. the IMF get’s it from every country. it is designed so that governments can’t cheat.

http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/NationalIncomeAccounts.html

@ rajivmw,

You’re a first-class idiot. I say idiot, because GDP calculation is what first year business students learn. Now you’re writing some meaningless crap about “GDP deflator.”

Once again, the CPI, not the PCE is the primary tool used to measure inflation:

CPI is a primary inflation indicator because consumer spending accounts for nearly two-thirds of economic activity.

http://mdafx.com/fundamental_analysis.php

I presume you know what “primary” means.

The CPI is the most commonly used price index to measure the inflation rate.

http://www.colorado.edu/Economics/courses/econ2020/section6/section6-main.html

I presume you know what “most commonly used” means.

The BEA does NOT use the CPI in calculating real GDP

This is what happens when people try to argue things with only superficial knowledge. You really need to take the class; I believe its called “macroeconomics 101.”

The CPI plays a role in the determination of the real GDP; therefore, manipulation of the CPI could imply manipulation of the GDP because the CPI is used to deflate some of the nominal GDP components for the effects of inflation.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/consumerpriceindex.asp

@ Dodo,

Almost every Central Bank cheats. Some more than others, obviously. You might find the following article an interesting read:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/162521-do-we-really-need-a-global-central-bank

Dear rajivmw,

There are lies…damned lies and Nivatta Cabraal Ajith’s Central Bank crap!

Oh. Well let them start a 30-year terrorist war demanding a third of Canada and then see what happens.

How about we give everyone in SL an exit visa to the destination de leur choix , and see who decides to stay.

I have a feeling rajivmw would be the first to leave.

There was a joke doing the rounds in communist Russia. If there was no restrictions to leaving the country, the last person to leave would have to switch the lights off…

No Dunce, that was about the state of Michigan.

I can leave anytime I want to Heshan. But if I end up like you, spending most of my day on blogs, spewing lies, half-truths and bile on the country I left, then what would the point be really? I suspect I’m much happier here than you are there.

And yes Dunce, before you jump in and say it, it’s because I’m not a Tamil. Which is a fair point. I have a lot of Tamil friends here who could take off anytime they wished. I’m truly grateful that they choose not to, and I respect and admire them greatly for sticking around despite all the shit they’ve been put through.

Dear rajivmw…
It’s good that you, “respect and admire them greatly for sticking around despite all the shit they’ve been put through.” The Tamils faced the brunt of all the shit that was shat upon them since 1956…but also don’t forget the other minorities like the Burghers (except Blacker who is a pseudo Burgher)…Muslims and Christians as well who have also had to put up with loads of shit.

rajivmw,

You have the choice to escape from Rajapakse tyranny. But think about all those people in the North who have to register their details with the military, just to visit Colombo . No doubt you “respect and admire them greatly for sticking around despite all the shit they’ve been put through”, but unfair is unfair, man.

I must say though, I admire you for remaining calm in a country where 1/4 of the population is treated less than cows ready for slaughter. And even defending the regime that carries out the injustice.

How was the kiribath & fireworks party?