Thanks to Mymoneyblog.com for making me aware of the upcoming Membership fee hike from Costco. I didn’t get any notice from Costco or saw in the club but may be its on the way. Anyway, He also posted a real good analysis on how Costco makes money and still shows profit. Check it out at […]
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Year 2008 – In the Rear view Mirror
December 30th, 2008 
Vijaianand I cannot imagine we are already saying good bye to this year. It is Dec 30th and in just 24 hours we are about to welcome yet another year. A new year full of hopes and promises in many folds especially on the economy front all around the globe. With brand new US president in place, there is lot of expectation from him to the put this economy crisis as the first priority in way to stop us going to depression.
Let’s give this final moment to look back and reflect on things which just crossed us last year. I am going quickly few things which I remember about last year.
BAILOUT Year Webster dictionary company every year comes out with top 10 words mostly used in that year. This year “BAILOUT” scored the number one spot and winning the title as “2008 Word of the year”.
This year will surely go in the history books for the financial downturns and economy crisis but especially for quite number of bail outs by the government. Bailout was the sole mantra used by the last oval officials to tackle the financial crisis which devastated the wall street and main street. They developed quite number of strategies to stop the bleed but its too late for many things. According to many analyst, Bail outs just helped to stop the issues temporarily and didn’t help for any long term perspectives. Actually it made things worse for many financial organizations. It is going to take year for those companies to recover and get back to normal after weather this storm fully.
GOLD’s, Golden year
Gold reached his all time highest ever for an ounce this year. It reached $1,023.50 on 17th March 2008 A.M. It bottomed out in 1999, and has been on an uptrend ever since. The previous all-time record high gold price in US dollars, reached on 21st January 1980, fixing at $850.00 on that day’s p.m. On 13th March 2008, it broke through the $1,000 per ounce barrier for the first time ever. Although it retreated to about $995, we think it may fix at over $1,000 tomorrow or soon but it went on to make the history reach $1023. It is still an attractive investment for many with global recession concerns. It is currently lingering around $775-$850.
Beijing Olympics – China’s Class Act It was an Olympics we will never forgot for many years to come. Every Olympiad Games is special and unique on its own. But this time, China made it a point to make it more memorable. It displayed great professionalism and authenticity both in opening and closing ceremonies with high end tradition routines. With billions of dollars spent in the making, China world number one populous country made sure, we take away the splendid memories about this 29th Olympics put up by the 22nd nation.
One more important reason to make this Olympics unforgettable time is because of the Swimming Animal Michael Phelps who made history claiming the most golds in single Olympics. He holds the record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympics with the eight golds he won at the 2008 Olympic Games. He also holds seven world records in swimming. With this record, he surpassed American Mark Spitz, who was also a swimmer and had held the previous gold medal total with the seven that he won at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.
All over the world, people glued into their TV set to at least take a glimpse of this human dolphin creating the history in his every attempt at the pool. It was great watching him accomplish his tall feat.
Historic US Presidential Campaign
It was indeed an historic campaign between a Black Democrat and White Republican. Finally, the popular vote goes to “Barack Obama” . It wasn’t hard fought campaign for John Mccain because he is from the ruling party been in the power for 8 years. Obviously, people wanted a change and whether its obama or Clinton (who failed to secure her presidential Democrat seat with Obama), they would have own. It is historic in many ways mainly the first Black American is elected president after US fought its Civil war few decades ago. It is a welcome news for lot of americans which signs the real change in people’s heart and mind. It is sign of revolution yet to happen.
Mumbai Terror Attack
An unforgetable event unfolded in the Wall Street City of India, Mumbai on Nov 29, 2008. There were a series of ten coordinated terrorist attacks across Mumbai devastating many people life killing almost 164 people (civilians and security personnel). Among the dead were 30 foreign nationals from 10 countries as it happened in famous hotels where foreigns usually stay. The attack went on for 2 days and Mumbai police where finally able to end it after a big chaos. After initial investigations, it was determined that its an act of Pakistani terrorists organization to create yet another panic putting this horror show in way to convey the message Terrorisum will never end in this high tech world.
Finally – A Wise Thought
Last week, I got a video from the Toastmaster Speech Champion and speech mentor Darren Lacroix wishing Happy Holidays with a nice message to Thank ourselves first for this year. I like to ditto his message and stress the point. We sometime forgot to take a moment to accolade ourselves for all the effort we put in to get thru his year. We might have faced some real tough times and good happy moments, it is you who made your days meaningful to get through one at a time.
Before you step into the new year, take some time to Thank yourself for all the things you have done and able to accomplish. Give yourself a nice treat and welcome this new year. That will surely help to make the coming year another fruitful one.
I like to end this post wishing Happy New year to you and your family.