Morning News (Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo): July 18, 2009

I keep searching for news/columns that I want to read.

This week nearly belonged to Goldman Sachs and the second quarter earnings (in these times of recession, I turn to the financial page after reading the sports news instead of trying to prevent Alzheimer’s with the Sudoku puzzle of the day). The estimated average compensation at GS touched roughly USD 600,000. I am informed that USD 600,000 is still a huge paycheck in those parts of the developing world.

Everyone seems to be unanimous in admitting that the GS guys are great at what they do. To reflect (and, possibly dampen over-enthusiasm), it is worthwhile reading Paul Krugman’s “The Joy of Sachs” and to remember taxpayers (who?) with Allan Sloan’s “Goldman Sachs bites Uncle Sam’s hand”.

It seems like it was yesterday when Dick Fuld said “Until the day they put me in the ground I will wonder”.

Next, I raced past the madness of the Jakarta bombings (I suppose the bombers are trying to be media savvy by targeting 5-star hotels but irrespective of whether 5 or 500 are killed, whether it is the rich or the poor, it is still madness).

Then, Cherie Blair caught A(H1N1) flu and there was the fury of the monsoon in God’s own country. You might call it insensitivity but I preferred reading about the feast of 46 jumbos described in The Hindu “The heavier the rain, the merrier they were. Waving their ears, they raised their trunks to sniff the air as the scent of food wafted up towards them…About 500 kg rice was mixed with ghee and honey to prepare a delicacy for elephants. Turmeric powder was thrown in as a digestive. Organisers had garnered more to tickle the jumbo palate. The elephants avidly chewed up loads of sugar cane, cucumber, pineapple, bananas and corn.”

Have a great day!