Ant and the Grasshopper

[yellow knifeTop contributor]

There are good times and there are bad times. Neither is here to stay.. Every good time fades away and comes bad time which will again leave space for good time. So we see seasons, cycles..

Many who merry during Good Times, weep during bad times. We the long term investors have seen these cycles again and again and expect the same in future as well.

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There are two good practical lessons of Ant and Grasshopper in the world.

1. Norway.

Need not to re-write just refer...

https://forum.lankaninvestor.com/t3164-what-a-portfolio?highlight=what+a+portfolio

2. Chile

When Andres Velasco became Chile's minister of finance in March 2006, the country's treasury held $ 6 Billion in savings. Over the next two years that number ballooned to almost $ 50 Billion as the world wide commodity boom drove up the price of copper, Chile's major export.



The country's good fortune did not go unnoticed- nor did the absence of a commensurate increase in public spending.

In November 2008 thousands of protesters burned an effigy of Velasco in streets of Santiago, vilifying him for refusing the push for greater spending and higher public sector wages while reminding those calling for his resignation that the copper-generated surplus money for a rainy day.

As the world economy plunged deep into recession in 2009 the wisdom of Velasco's tough choices became abundantly clear. The crisis curtailed access to credit and forced many countries to endure belt-tightening, but Chile used its arsenal of savings to launch a $ 4 Billion package of tax cuts to cushion the impact of the global slowdown on its economy and to distribute a raft of subsidies to mitigate the hardships of poor.




. By April 2009, Velsasco was the most popular minister in President Michelle Bachelt's cabinet ,with an approval rating of 57%-almost double what it had been in August of the previous year.

[yellow knifeTop contributor]

Sri Lanka is yet to see this kind of leaders and a rating system of those who lead them.

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Andrés Velasco Brañes (born August 30, 1960) is an economist and professor. He served as the Finance Minister of Chile from March 2006 to March 2010, the whole of the first presidential period of Michelle Bachelet.^[1]




Books authored by him..

• Trade, Development and the World Economy: Selected Essays of Carlos Díaz-Alejandro. A. Velasco, Editor. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988. [1]
  
• Vox Populi (novel). Santiago: Editorial Sudamericana, 1995.
  
• Lugares Comunes ("Common Places" / novel). Santiago: Editorial Planeta, 2003.
  
• Free Trade and Beyond: Prospects for Integration in the Americas. A. Estevaordal, D. Rodrik, A. Taylor and A. Velasco (eds.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 200
  

[කිත්සිරි ද සිල්වාTop contributor]

Thanks YK.
(Good one).
But with more consumerism in play, the thinking has taken a different turn.
(හෙට මැරුනත් හිතට සැපයි අද ජොලිකරලා).
The Grasshopper is right or live like as if no tomorrow is right is just how one sees the world.
(The third generation failing established family businesses in SL is good example why people not so fancy Grasshoppers any more and opt for more GRASS nowadays).

[BackstageTop contributor]

(The third generation failing established family businesses in SL is good example why people not so fancy Grasshoppers any more and opt for more GRASS nowadays). Very Happy

Legalize it !

[කිත්සිරි ද සිල්වාTop contributor]

Yes.  
(In Ayurveda, this is one of the best cancer preventive herbs like Cinnamon and turmeric).

Legalize it !  

[Ethical TraderTop contributor]

Thanks YK. Good & timly thread. This (Chily story) reminds me the joint opposition call for reduction of oil prices in Sri Lanka.

[yellow knifeTop contributor]

Thanks YK. Good & timly thread. This (Chily story) reminds me the joint opposition call for reduction of oil prices in Sri Lanka.

When you are in opposition you want to reduce oil price.. When you are in power you want tax revenue..

During the accelerated war  of last Ealam war , a Buddhist monk and a opposition MP sued against government on oil price..Now when the same opposition become members in power they do the opposite of what they used to be.. and those who were in power also change the role to continue what previous opposition was doing...

This is why general public should be educated

 

[yellow knifeTop contributor]

(The third generation failing established family businesses in SL is good example why people not so fancy Grasshoppers any more and opt for more GRASS nowadays). Very Happy

Legalize it !  

Third Generation families become destroyer... a nice hypothesis...

My Grandfather used to say Sthithi, Dithi and Bange... that is Brahma develop, Wishnu maintain and EEshwara destroy... So he used to say all big dynasties end with third generation.... (  ? )

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My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son be again on camel...

               ---------
Râshid bin Sa`îd Âl Makṫûm

Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Emîr (Arabic: أمير‎) (Ruler) of Dubai. He ruled for 32 years from 1958 until his death in 1990