Uncle Scrooge's Economics

The more I read about legendary market investors or traders, one thing that keeps being highlighted is their willingness to earn more money. If you open any book on history and start reading about anyone who is or has been a participant in the markets, you will definitely come across this undying willingness to earn more money. Someone is obsessed with cars, some with homes; I personally am obsessed with compounding money. Trust me. The longer the compounding, the sweeter the taste. Whenever I say investing, the possible names that pop up are those legendary investors that I have talked about a million times. But what about trading? Trading is one of the most lucrative segments of investments because it creates liquidity. Trading provides opportunities to buy a security at dirt cheap rates and sell the same at egregious valuations. Basically, it provides us the opportunity to take advantage of short-term discrepancies. It's almost impossible to talk about trading without talking ab...

I have probably written a million blogs on the importance of investing in the markets and how ordinary people have minted money in the markets. There is a famous Marathi proverb that goes like, 'दिसते तसे नसते, म्हणून जग फसते.'  which basically translates to: one shouldn't always believe what the eyes see. As you all might have guessed, today's blog isn't going to be on the brighter side of the markets, but on the dark reality that has been buried in our historical pages. These rags-to-riches stories aren't as legitimate as they have been broadcasted. Some of you won't agree, or some of you might judge me for saying the things that I am about to say, to which my reply would be a fabulous word in Marathi, चालायचंच..! So, let's begin. I am going to share a few stories, which will hopefully highlight all the things that I want you all to be familiar with. By the end of this blog, you will understand how power and money can do wonders., how market regulator...

When we talk about Greece, we talk about its beautiful beaches, the mesmerizing coasts, Santorini, the origin of various philosophies, and obviously, the $401 billion in debt and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 172%. What happened in Greece is the epitome of the phrase that not everything that shines is gold. From being one of the countries with the highest gold reserves to being the only developed nation to have defaulted on loan repayments to the IMF, Greece has lost all of its beauty. A lie cannot find a shelter for long. One day it erupts like a volcano, and the next thing you know is that you have lost trust, dignity, and money. Even though Greece practiced a free-market economy, which restricted government intervention to an extent, it was the monetary and fiscal decisions that are responsible for what Greece has become today. Before joining the Eurozone in 2001, Greece had a respectable debt-to-GDP ratio of 60%. Their finances were in good shape, and their budget deficit was also below ...

India has a population of roughly 140 crores. Out of that, I can surely bet that at least 100 crore of them have dreamt of becoming cricketers and representing India. Even if your talent were exceptional, the odds have and will always be against you. To an extent, it is believable that you became a cricketer and represented the country. But the possibility of someone being an exceptional left-arm bowler and a right-arm batsman while simultaneously running one of the biggest private sector banks in India is far-fetched. Having a population of 140 crores, this country is great at producing diamonds out of dust, and Mr. Uday Kotak is a Kohi-Noor. That's right. A boy who started his career as a cricketer ended up creating one of India's most successful and profitable banks, the Kotak Mahindra Bank, and also getting himself on the Forbes list of the most powerful bankers in the world. Mr. Kotak ran the bank for 18 long years and stepped down from his position on September 1, 2023. ...

We all have a few perceptions in our lives. When I say India, different people will have things that pop into their heads. It might be the characteristics of a young and growing economy, or the match that we lost a few days ago, or the traffic. A couple different things would pop up when I say the United States. But what is the first thing that comes to mind when I say Zimbabwe? Surely not the fact that they missed qualifying for the World Cup twice in a row. When I hear Zimbabwe, I immediately think about two things: Robert Mugabe and hyperinflation. Even though Mugabe had a lot of interesting stories that we can discuss, I am going to stick to hyperinflation.  One of the worst types of inflation that an economy can face is hyperinflation. As the name suggests, Hyperinflation is used to describe situation where prices of all goods and services rise uncontrollably over a defined time period. In other words, it is extremely rapid inflation. Generally, inflation is termed hyperinflat...