Don’t Dump Gold Just Because GIC Is Bullish

GIC’s director of economics and strategy, Yeoh Lam Keong, made an interesting statement on Tuesday that there will be further weakness in financial markets. He advises investors to go for gold, hold government bonds and currencies such as the yen, yuan and Canadian dollar. The US dollar is to be avoided “like the plague” as the United States monetise their debt by printing money.

That is all rather belated and even, ironical, considering GIC’s multi-billion dollar stakes in Citigroup and UBS. Nevertheless, it serves no purpose crying over spilt milk. As a matter of fact, I don’t believe any investors have been immune in this period of wealth destruction. The world’s richest are collectively poorer, with $2 trillion of wealth vaporized. Warren Buffett sufffered his worst year ever, losing $25 billion, but is still the second richest man.

Read the full article here.

Does Saving Money Rank Highly In your Financial Priorities?

Last week, there was a harsh report from DBS that Singapore may lose 90,000 jobs due to the worst economic recession in recent decades, pushing the jobless rate to 5 per cent by mid-2010. It was further postulated that the economy may contract 4.8 percent in 2009.

Singaporeans have not felt the brunt of the economic hardships just yet. Yes, manufacturing and exports are in the doldrums but many companies are holding back on their layoff plans. Firstly, it is not popular, given that DBS was roundly criticized for using ”retrenching as a first resort” to save costs.

Read the full article here.

O.J. Simpson Sentenced to 9 Years for Hotel Robbery

O.J. Simpson, 61, was sentenced Friday to up to 33 years in prison for robbing a pair of memorabilia dealers. Most of the 10 counts Simpson was convicted of, including attempted armed kidnapping, would run concurrently. He will be eligible for parole in nine years.

Simpson was convicted along with five others of robbing Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley at the Palace Station hotel casino in Las Vegas in September 2007. Prosecutors said Simpson took items including footballs with his autograph.

This former professional football and Hall-of-Famer was acquitted 13 years ago of murdering his ex-wife and her friend. Simpson was later found liable for the deaths in a 1997 civil lawsuit and ordered to pay damages totaling $33.5 million to the victims’ families.

Simpson dispersed property to friends in an effort to avoid its confiscation to satisfy the damages award, prosecutors told the jury at the start of the robbery trial.

“You didn’t want all of those items to fall into the hands of the Goldmans,” Nevada State Judge Jackie Glass said before sentencing Simpson. “You were heard on the tape making reference to them as the gold- diggers.”

In his defense, Simpson said: “I wasn’t there to hurt anybody. I didn’t want to steal anything from anybody. I didn’t want anybody else’s stuff — just my own stuff. I’m sorry.”

Apparently he was trying to “recover family heirlooms — including his slain ex-wife’s wedding ring — to pass down to his children.”

Simpson will remain in custody while he appeals. Speculation is rife that this is payback for “crimes” he commited in the past. There are strong opinions to Simpson’s sentencing. What do you guys think?

How To Measure Odds of Divorce?

Divorce rates are on the rise. If your marriage is on the rocks and you are worried about joining the statistics, why not measure your odds of divorce using this divorce calculator?

You can find it on divorce360.com. Designed by American economist Betsey Stevenson, this divorce calculator may lend credence to signing a prenup by showing you the likelihood of divorce.

Just fill in your gender, whether you have children (for female respondents), education, age and how many years you were married.

The calculator then reveals the percentage of people with similar backgrounds who are already divorced and the likelihood you will be hunting around again within five years.

It seems like the older you are, more years of marriage  and being more educated lower the chances of getting divorced.

However, if you’re a female high school dropout with no children and has been married for one year and tied the knot before your 18th birthday, you should probably keep a divorce lawyer on standby.

Don’t ask me if this device is accurate though. In any case, it should be used only as a guide and don’t dispel plans of getting married just because the odds of divorce is high.

Teen Commit Suicide On Live Web Cam

How terrible that a college student committed suicide with possibly thousands watching the sick act.

The teen, Abraham Biggs, took a drug overdose in front of a live webcam as some users encouraged him, others tried to talk him out of it, and another messaged OMG in horror when it became clear it was no joke. The police were called into action but by then, the teen was dead.

This drawn-out drama — and the reaction of those watching — was seen as an extreme example of young people’s penchant for sharing intimate details about themselves over the Internet.

Read the full article here.

Halloween Joke – Going To A Party

A cab driver picks up a nun. She gets into the cab and the cab driver won’t stop staring at her. She asks him why he is staring and he replies, “I have a question to ask you but I don’t want to offend you.”

She answers, “My dear son, you cannot offend me. When you’re as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I’m sure that there’s nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive.”

“Well, I’ve always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me.”

She responds, “Well, let’s see what we can do about that: #1, you have to be single and #2, you must be a Catholic.”

The cab driver is very excited and says, “Yes, I am single and I’m Catholic too!”

The nun says, “OK, pull into the next alley.”

He does and the nun fulfills his fantasy. But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying.

“My dear child,” said the nun, “Why are you crying?”

“Forgive me sister, but I have sinned. I lied, I must confess, I’m married and I’m a Baptist.”

The nun says, “That’s OK, I am on the way to a Halloween party, and my name is Kevin.

Crazy UCA Shooting

Sirens sounded at the University of Central Arkansas campus on Sunday. The campus is officially on lock-down as three persons are gunned down. UCA Police says the shooting happened around 9:50 p.m. near the Snow Fine Arts Center.

One person died on the scene and the second died at Conway Regional Medical Center according to a hospital spokesperson. The third person injured in the shooting has been treated and released from the hospital.

Warwick Sabin, UCA vice president of communications, says police are looking for four suspects in the case, one of which has been apprehended.

Classes are canceled for Monday and all housing facilities are restricted to residents only.

GM Chrysler Merger Talks Unveiled

It is no secret that General Motors is barely surviving in this economic upheaval. GM share price continue its freefall, reaching an unprecedented trough in over 50 years.

There are bankruptcy fears and the automotive giant looked vulnerable even after insisting that they are not seeking bankruptcy protection.

Fellow car giant, Chrysler, is not having a good time either. In fact, Chrysler could be in worse shape financially. According to the Wall Street Journal, there are merger and acquisition talks involving GM and Chrysler.

Chrysler is owned by Cerberus Capital Management, which controls 80.1% of the company. It also owns 51% of the automotive lending company GMAC, while GM owns the other 49%. Cerberus was reported to have proposed to trade its stake in Chrysler to GM, while Cerebus would receive GM’s stake in GMAC in return.

GM and Chrysler are two of the notorious “Big Three” in the automotive industry. But this industry, like many others in recent months and years, has had its value decrease due to the economic turmoil in the United States. The 100-year-old GM and the 83-year-old Chrysler would shake up the entire industry even more with a merger, though in less than ideal circumstances.

Cerberus is only a year removed from purchasing a controlling interest in Chrysler, and two years removed from buying 51% of GMAC. Yet the private-equity firm is already looking to sell both.

According to sources that talked to the Wall Street Journal, the merger negotiations between GM and Chrysler began over a month ago, before the most recent crashes in the stock market. However, these economic troubles and the falling prices of both GM and Chrysler stock have put talks of a merger on hold. As soon as markets stabilize, however, the merger talks between GM, Chrysler and Cerberus may resume.

GM and Chrysler were close to a possible merger last year until Cerberus bought out most of Chrysler. GM was also in brief talks to merge with Ford in 2005.

Chrysler sales went down 33% in September, while GM sales went down by 16%. Sales of automobiles as a whole in the United States are down 13% this year.

Worst Stock Market Crash Since 1937

This is not the time to write lengthy posts after the carnage we have witnessed in global stock markets. I believe nobody is in the mood to read market analysis. A picture speaks a thousand words.

Read the full article here.

Emmy Award Winners 2008

Here are the Emmy Awards Winners of 2008. I am glad that one of my idol, Samantha Who, won the Best Supporting Actress in a comedy.

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy: Jeremy Piven, Entourage

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy: Jean Smart, Samantha Who

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama: Zeljko Ivanek

Directing for a variety, music or comedy program: Louis J. Horvitz– 80th annual Academy Awards

Best supporting actress in a Drama: Diane Wiest, “In Treatment”

Best writing for a variety, music or comedy program: The Colbert Report

Best Comedy Writing: Tommy Smothers– Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

Best lead actress in a miniseries or movie: Laura Linney,” John Adams”

Best Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Outstanding Guest Actor/Comedy Series: Tim Conway for “30 Rock”

Outstanding Guest Actress/Comedy Series: Kathryn Joosten for “Desperate Housewives”

Outstanding Director/Comedy Series: Barry Sonnenfield “Pushing Daises”

Outstanding Writer/Comedy Series: Tina Fey “30 Rock”

Outstanding ‘Made for Television’ Movie: Recount

Outstanding Supporting Actor/Mini-Series: Tom Wilkinson “John Adams”

Directing/Mini-Series, Movie or Dramatic Special: Jay Roach “Recount”

Writing/Mini-Series, Movie or Dramatic Special: Kirk Ellis “John Adams”

Supporting Actress/MiniSerires or Movie: Eileen Atkins “Cranford(Masterpiece)”

Outstanding Reality Show Competition: The Amazing Race

Oustanding Miniseries or Movie: “John Adams”

Individual Performance: Variety or Music Program: Don Rickles “Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project”

Guest Actor/Drama Series: Glynn Turman “In Treatment”

Guest Actress/Drama Series: Cynthia Nixon “Law and Order”

Outstanding Director/Drama Series: Greg Yaitanes “House”

Outstanding Writing/Drama Series: Matthew Weiner “Mad Men”

Outstanding Lead Actor/Miniseries or Movie: Paul Giamatti “John Adams”

Outstanding Lead Actor/Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin “30 Rock”

Outstanding Lead Actress/Drama Series: Glenn Close “Damages”

Outstanding Lead Actor Drama Series: Brian Cranston “Breaking Bad”

Outstanding Lead Actress/Comedy Series: Tina Fey “30 Rock”

Outstanding Reality TV Host: Jeff Probst “Survivor”

Outstanding Comedy Series: 30 Rock

Outstanding Drama Series: Mad Men