The bailout by the US government has been approved. I expect the share to go up a little this week. Elsewhere, governments across the world have been spending a lot to help failing companies in order to avoid the economy from crashing down. But I don’t see this as a long-term solution.

Firstly, the governments only have THAT much money to save the failing companies. Unless their treasuries have bottomless $$$, I don’t see that this behavior can last long enough to be able to lift the worldwide economy.

Secondly, they’re only saving the failing big companies. It’s very unfair for other big companies which did not do THAT bad. And it’s even worse for those small companies. Who are helping them? And I can foresee that more people will lose their jobs because the “help” cannot reach that many companies.

Back to Malaysia. Our share market has not been doing well since the March 8, 2008 election. It’s partly due to our slumping worldwide economy, food shortages…and also due to our political issues. Our inflation rate is already record high (i think highest in 27 years? I forgot what I’ve read this). The government was pretty oblivious when they first announced that our inflation rate was under control. Well, at least now, they’re being honest to themselves. Furthermore, do bear in mind that our Bank Negara has not increase the interest rates.

That’s why things do look a little gloomy in 2008 and 2009….and maybe the situation will continue till 2010. So if you’re looking to buy shares now…wait for the next big drop which will possibly cause some panic selling. Go in, buy some good dividend-based blue chips….and wait for at least 12 months. If you’re not willing to wait that long, then hold on to your money. Put in FD for short term investment…maybe 3 – 6 months but not more than that. Why? Because I think sooner or later, our Bank Negara would have to increase the interest rates…….which will definitely increase the interest rate for Fixed Deposit. And at that time, you will want to have your money ready.

And if you’re already in the stock market for now….you can either sell or let go when the shares go up again after the US bailout….. or keep it for 1 year. Short term profit taking is simply too risky now. So please be cautious and don’t get burn like I did.

If you’re looking to change job, do it now. The job market in Malaysia is still OK since most of the multinationals are slashing jobs in their home countries…….and adding jobs here due to the cheaper labor fees. Smaller companies tend to be a bit risky.

And if you’re like me, who are planning to start own business soon, then make sure you have enough financial support to last till 2010 or later. And make sure you have ideas which will capitalise on the current situation. A lot of great companies were started in the last recession…in the 1997-1999 period. So, if you want to do it, do it now…else you’ll have to wait for another 10 years.

Just my opinion.

p/s…….. latest update. The bailout suggested by the US government was rejected. The US market dropped 777 points….7%. Worse things will follow soon.

p/s…….. banks in Europe are undergoing tough times as well.

Ok, sounds like a promotion or something.

Here’s what happened. Our famous GOOGLE is having a competition called Project 10 to the 100th. The objective of this competition is not to gain a job in Google…nor to get monetary rewards. It’s to help other people by contributing ideas which will benefit a lot of Earthlings. Here’s how it works.

1. Submit your ideas by October 20th, 2008.
2. Voting.
3. Google will help bring the ideas to life.

You can check out at the link above. Do bear in mind though, you don’t gain anything in return except for maybe…sense of satisfaction?

But I do hope that you guys can contribute some ideas to them so that Google can help to make this world a better place. At least, we’re playing our roles.

I’ve just finished watching the famous movie – Red Cliff, based on the story of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I’ve always been a big fan of the 3 kingdoms story. I feel that there are many things that one can learn from the story – friendship, loyalty, military strategy, etc.

Take the 3 famous leaders from the story for example and see if you find any similarities in our daily life.

Cao Cao – The genius military commander who was so ruthless that he trusted neither friends nor foes. He would do anything in order to achieve his objectives, even if he has to sacrifice his entire military. He has a lot of followers, but none of them has 100% loyalty. Such leader would have such followers. He might have achieved many objectives…..but he has no friends and in the end, I feel that his life has been quite a meaningless one. I cannot say he’s evil……because he has his own dreams to achieve, though I must admit that maybe the methods he chose were a little bit too ruthless. He was the type of leader who rather use fear to control his people. Compared to the office politics that we always see nowadays…..Cao Cao’s personality is like those successful people who would use any means to achieve whatever they want…even over their friends’ bodies.

Liu Bei – The opposite of Cao Cao. He would rather sacrifice himself in order to save his people and he has never broken his promises. He was a man of honor and that was why he has so many talented people following him – Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and my favourite Kong Ming. He ruled with his true heart and sincerity. He might not have the wits of Cao Cao, but he has a heart which managed to attract good people to his side. He might not be successful against Cao Cao, but I believe his people were willing to sacrifice for him. A leader like him would be someone who is very good to work with since he is always true to his heart and regards his subordinates as very important friends. He is also someone with a lot of friends.

Sun Quan - He’s somehow like the middle person between the 2 extremes. He’s not as ruthless, but also not as “nice” as Liu Bei. But he’s the one which will hold out as the most successful one in the long run. To be honest, I donno much about him. Hahhaha.

As we can see, even in our daily life, we CAN be like Cao Cao. Ruthless against our competitors and only keep those “friends” who are of some use to us. But is it worth it? We might be able to achieve our dreams…but what have we lost in the process? Family, friends or both? And are we being true to ourselves?

What about Liu Bei? We can be true to ourselves, but we might not be able to compete against more ruthless people. We have great and loyal people behind us, but the main question would still be ….can we win against the ruthless ones. If we cannot, is there a point of having a fight in the first place? And if we cannot survive, we are actually dragging our loyal followers down with us.

To be honest, I would surely prefer to be Liu Bei. I would not betray my own self, my friends and my family. I might not be as rich or successful, but at least I know I have good people by my side supporting me. And with them around, I believe I can achieve great heights in the long run. The critical part is to survive against the ruthless people in the short run.

Last night, I watched the F1 qualifying round held in Singapore. I must say that it is the best looking circuit ever. Sepang? Forget it. Montreal? Forget it.

And to think that they actually did not spend that much to organize such an event….it really made me respect them more. They (the Singapore organizers) are willing to take the chance and be something different. If you’re talking about street circuit, there’s already one in Montreal. But that’s during daytime. This is at night time…with the wonderful night scenery surrounding the circuit. It’s beautiful.

I’m not sure how much they’ve spent but it should be significantly lower, considering the fact that it’s a street circuit and they’re reusing what they already have………….rather than building a brand new circuit located far far away with some isolated part of the world (hint).

The thing we all can learn here is that, sometimes it does pay off to be different. You don’t need to follow the main trend of the world. If people are making mobile phones, then be different and make a mobile phone which is the thinnest in the world and yet it contains the most functionalities (IPhone). Or if people are downloading MP3 illegally, then create something which will encourage them not to download (rather than going to the court)…something cheap…something which enables users to search for 1 song and buy just that 1 song (ITune).

Most of us do not like changes….but without changes, there’s no way we can be different. And in times like this, being different might be the only way for you to be successful. Or should I say, be different and remarkable?

So, what are you waiting for? Open up your creative mind. Be different in your business or in your life.

Now, let’s just hope you don’t go out wearing nothing in shopping complexes……and accuse me of polluting your innocent mind.

We’re in a world of constant changes. Those who can adapt to the new changes will survive and vice versa. But in order to change from the old to the new, we’ll have something which we call “transition period”. This kind of event can take place anywhere, be it in our family, love life, company, business, government, etc.

But let’s face it, most human beings don’t like changes (be it our ancestors or ourselves), unless we’re really desperate and at the same time, depressed about our current situation. That’s when we start to hope for the transition period to kick off as soon as possible……….and for it to be over just as fast. Unfortunately, most transition periods DO last pretty long. Those who didn’t, either have a very well-planned transition plan or have the tendency to end up as a big failure.

So the next time your politicians try to do something new, or you have new assistant to help you with your work, or your company’s management tries to change things for the better ……….do give them more time so that the transition period can be successful. No point jumping to conclusion that the transition would fail unless the transition plan sux or worse, there’s no transition plan at all. Hmm…sounds familiar?

Anyway, what everyone should do is to be patience. And if things really don’t turn out the way it should be, at least they’ve tried and you’ll have 2 options left – to give them another chance or choose a better option. I bet most people would choose for the latter.

But do remember that when things become dire and we become desperate… having a transition period is always better than having none.

p/s…. if you really don’t have the time and patience to wait for the transition period to be over…..then try something else. But make sure in the future, you wouldn’t look back and regret that you should’ve waited for it to be over.