Warning : you may end up rolling on the floor laughing..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwOL4rB-go
Amazing talent, this Jeff Dunham guy.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Is this Medicine Man the best kungfu performer in Asia..
Is this Medicine Man (sell 'koyo') the best kungfu performer in this region?
Auntie Nellie and I caught him in Malacca 2 weeks ago on the street of Jonker Walk. His show to the crowd was a sell-out! After giving the coconut a beating, he could not stop selling his 'koyo' to the eager crowd with their RM10 notes in hand.. me included. He readily tells eveyone he is retiring, which obviously make his koyo even more like a birkin handbag.Check out this video clip from my handphone. Or better still, check out the same stunt on Youtube below..it is quite a spectacle seeing it 'live'. I understand he's there most Saturdays evenings..until he retires, of course. He has to be the best koyo-performer in Malaysia, if not the region. Quite a Msian icon..
Sunday, November 2, 2008
20metres from an F1 racecar..
What's it like to be 20metres away from a U$1.6m F1 racecar, accelerating into a straight? Does the surroundings vibrate?
Well, here's a taste of it during Spore's first F1 night race on Sept28. Can you spot the cars zooming past? As you can tell, the view wasn't good..but then again, the price of the ticket was just right..free! (this was taken right beside the entrance of the Swissotel Stamford Hotel)
Sunday, October 19, 2008
A Blog Posted by Singapore's Youngest Millionaire
A Blog Posted by Singapore 's Youngest Millionaire
By Adam Khoo
By Adam Khoo
Some of you may already know that I travel around the region pretty frequently, having to visit and conduct seminars at my offices in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Suzhou (China). I am in the airport almost every other week so I get to bump into many people who have attended my seminars or have read my books.
Recently, someone came up to me on a plane to KL and looked rather shocked. He asked, 'How come a millionaire like you is travelling economy?' My reply was, 'That's why I am a millionaire.' He still looked pretty confused. This again confirms that greatest lie ever told about wealth (which I wrote about in my latest book 'Secrets of Self Made Millionaires'). Many people have been brainwashed to think that millionaires have to wear Gucci, Hugo Boss, Rolex, and sit on first class in air travel. This is why so many people never become rich because the moment that earn more money, they think that it is only natural that they spend more, putting them back to square one.
The truth is that most self-made millionaires are frugal and only spend on what is necessary and of value. That is why they are able to accumulate and multiply their wealth so much faster. Over the last 7 years, I have saved about 80% of my income while today I save only about 60% (because I have my wife, mother in law, 2 maids, 2 kids, etc. to support). Still, it is way above most people who save 10% of their income (if they are lucky). I refuse to buy a first class ticket or to buy a $300 shirt because I think that it is a complete waste of money. However, I happily pay $1,300 to send my 2-year old daughter to Julia Gabriel Speech and Drama without thinking twice.
When I joined the YEO (Young Entrepreneur's Organization) a few years back (YEO is an exclusive club open to those who are under 40 and make over $1m a year in their own business), I discovered that those who were self-made thought like me. Many of them with net worths well over $5m, travelled economy class and some even drove Toyota's and Nissans (not Audis, Mercs, BMWs).
I noticed that it was only those who never had to work hard to build their own wealth (there were also a few ministers' and tycoons' sons in the club) who spent like there was no tomorrow. Somehow, when you did not have to build everything from scratch, you do not really value money. This is precisely the reason why a family's wealth (no matter how much) rarely lasts past the third generation. Thank God my rich dad (oh no! I sound like Kiyosaki) foresaw this terrible possibility and refused to give me a cent to start my business.
Then some people ask me, 'What is the point in making so much money if you don't enjoy it?' The thing is that I don't really find happiness in buying branded clothes, jewellery or sitting first class. Even if buying something makes me happy it is only for a while, it does not last. Material happiness never lasts, it just give you a quick fix. After a while you feel lousy again and have to buy the next thing which you think will make you happy. I always think that if you need material things to make you happy, then you live a pretty sad and unfulfilled life.
Instead, what make ME happy is when I see my children laughing and playing and learning so fast. What makes me happy is when I see my companies and trainers reaching more and more people every year in so many more countries. What makes me really happy is when I read all the emails about how my books and seminars have touched and inspired someone's life. What makes me really happy is reading all your wonderful posts about how this BLOG is inspiring you. This happiness makes me feel really good for a long time, much much more than what a Rolex would do for me.
I think the point I want to put across is that happiness must come from doing your life's work (be in teaching, building homes, designing, trading, winning tournaments etc.) and the money that comes is only a by-product. If you hate what you are doing and rely on the money you earn to make you happy by buying stuff, then I think that you are living a meaningless life.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Failures on many fronts
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Failures on many fronts
Oct 1, 2008
ST-NUS BUSINESS SCHOOL SERIES ON FINANCIAL CRISIS
By Bernard Yeung
THE United States sub-prime mortgage crisis has occasioned a deep economic winter. How did it come about?
The crisis is related to international payment imbalances and US economic policies. After the bursting of the dot.com bubble, the US Federal Reserve ran a loose monetary policy for several years. The Fed fund rate, for instance, dropped from 5.98 per cent in January 2001 to 1.73 per cent in January 2002, and stayed in that neighbourhood till the end of 2005. Easy credit fuelled US consumption, reduced savings and created high current account deficits.
The world, especially Asia, absorbed the US inflationary pressure partly by producing more. Also, Asian countries used their savings to purchase US securities to support the dollar so that they could avoid revaluing their currencies.
When capital markets are informed and rational, international imbalances can be self-correcting. A review of the events that led to the current crisis would help us understand why it wasn't so in this case.
The US government encouraged home ownership. That is generally good public policy. But in this instance, it led to the extension of mortgage lending to people who did not meet prime credit quality requirements - hence the term 'sub-prime' mortgages.
Moreover, the mortgages were 'securitised' - that is, bundled and sold as financial instruments to investors for immediate cash. This created an incentive problem: The institutions that originated the mortgages - commercial banks, savings and loans, etc - did not end up holding the mortgages. This led to excessive and irresponsible mortgage lending.
The investment banks that repackaged and sold the 'expected' mortgage payments as securities were able to do so because they enjoyed high credit ratings. Their activity appeared to be old-fashioned financial intermediation, but it was not.
The problem was that US rating agencies assigned ratings based on the investment banks' histories. But the instruments the banks were peddling - mortgage payments from lower-quality borrowers - were new. They carried credit ratings that did not reflect their high underlying default risks. Investment banks could not resist the temptation to make a quick buck. They made a quick buck aggressively.
Additionally, high savings from China and other countries continued to flood US markets. Foreign savers could not resist the lure of apparently safe US returns better than in their own markets. Foreigners did not necessarily invest in sub-prime instruments. But their investments increased liquidity nevertheless in US financial markets.
This translated to more money for Americans for sub-prime mortgages and other kinds of consumption. And investment banks found the profits from derivatives like mortgage-backed securities even more irresistible because they could get cheap credit to refinance. The delinquency risks of low-grade instruments were temporarily camouflaged by high liquidity.
The bubble had to burst. Because of inflation worries caused by high energy prices, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in 2006. Some households had difficulties meeting their mortgage and other payments. The bubble was burst.
Fears set in and investment banks could not borrow to meet their payment obligations. There was a liquidity problem. In March this year, Bear Stearns was sold under pressure to JPMorgan Chase. The government-sponsored Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae issued most of the mortgage securities sold in the first half of this year because investors would not trust investment banks anymore. Still, the fears lingered on. On Sept 8, the US government took over Fannie and Freddie in the midst of foreign investors' concern that the companies' debt might not be repaid.
The asset values of investment banks continued to plummet. The liquidity crisis turned into a solvency crisis. Lehman Brothers filed for liquidation on Sept 14. After refusing to bail out Lehman, the US government decided to support American International Group. The saga, dotted with such sudden U-turns, is still unfolding. Markets are now worried about a global credit crunch.
The sub-prime crisis has its roots in international payment imbalances, made worse by capital markets imprudence, which in turn became endemic because of regulatory failures.
First, investors, particularly foreigners, were swayed by US rating agencies, apparently sound institutions and US economic performance. Getting good returns first made them happy, then made them enthusiastic, and finally made them lose their common sense.
Second, there was a fundamental problem with corporate governance. Wall Street executives enjoyed extremely handsome compensations. Their fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders and investors were pushed to a corner.
And third, these common ingredients of manias - blindfolded investors and poor corporate governance - were amplified by a failure of government. How could such a colossal failure of corporate governance and of rating agencies not have generated early government action? The US authorities' lack of sensitivity to the warning signs is shocking.
Liquidity was already drying up last year. The US authorities, however, still played the interest rate game, reducing the Fed Fund rate in August and September last year. But by then, the liquidity crisis had turned into a systemic crisis of confidence: Investors did not want to throw more good money at investment banks holding potentially rotten liabilities. Early government action to force them to recognise their mistakes and accept losses might have stemmed the bleeding. Intervention then would have been affordable.
The US likes to lecture others of the need for transparency and good corporate governance. Its failure to apply at home what it preaches abroad has serious global negative economic externalities. The question is not just whether US taxpayers should or should not bail out careless financial institutions. It is about admitting regulatory failures, accepting responsibility and rectifying failures in governance.
Apparently, US politicians do not agree. Congress has rejected Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's US$700 billion (S$1 trillion) bailout package. The world has been denied any sign of relief.
The writer is Dean and Stephen Riady Distinguished Professor of Finance at the NUS Business School. This is the first of eight articles in the Straits Times-NUS Business School series on the financial crisis.
Failures on many fronts
Oct 1, 2008
ST-NUS BUSINESS SCHOOL SERIES ON FINANCIAL CRISIS
By Bernard Yeung
THE United States sub-prime mortgage crisis has occasioned a deep economic winter. How did it come about?
The crisis is related to international payment imbalances and US economic policies. After the bursting of the dot.com bubble, the US Federal Reserve ran a loose monetary policy for several years. The Fed fund rate, for instance, dropped from 5.98 per cent in January 2001 to 1.73 per cent in January 2002, and stayed in that neighbourhood till the end of 2005. Easy credit fuelled US consumption, reduced savings and created high current account deficits.
The world, especially Asia, absorbed the US inflationary pressure partly by producing more. Also, Asian countries used their savings to purchase US securities to support the dollar so that they could avoid revaluing their currencies.
When capital markets are informed and rational, international imbalances can be self-correcting. A review of the events that led to the current crisis would help us understand why it wasn't so in this case.
The US government encouraged home ownership. That is generally good public policy. But in this instance, it led to the extension of mortgage lending to people who did not meet prime credit quality requirements - hence the term 'sub-prime' mortgages.
Moreover, the mortgages were 'securitised' - that is, bundled and sold as financial instruments to investors for immediate cash. This created an incentive problem: The institutions that originated the mortgages - commercial banks, savings and loans, etc - did not end up holding the mortgages. This led to excessive and irresponsible mortgage lending.
The investment banks that repackaged and sold the 'expected' mortgage payments as securities were able to do so because they enjoyed high credit ratings. Their activity appeared to be old-fashioned financial intermediation, but it was not.
The problem was that US rating agencies assigned ratings based on the investment banks' histories. But the instruments the banks were peddling - mortgage payments from lower-quality borrowers - were new. They carried credit ratings that did not reflect their high underlying default risks. Investment banks could not resist the temptation to make a quick buck. They made a quick buck aggressively.
Additionally, high savings from China and other countries continued to flood US markets. Foreign savers could not resist the lure of apparently safe US returns better than in their own markets. Foreigners did not necessarily invest in sub-prime instruments. But their investments increased liquidity nevertheless in US financial markets.
This translated to more money for Americans for sub-prime mortgages and other kinds of consumption. And investment banks found the profits from derivatives like mortgage-backed securities even more irresistible because they could get cheap credit to refinance. The delinquency risks of low-grade instruments were temporarily camouflaged by high liquidity.
The bubble had to burst. Because of inflation worries caused by high energy prices, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in 2006. Some households had difficulties meeting their mortgage and other payments. The bubble was burst.
Fears set in and investment banks could not borrow to meet their payment obligations. There was a liquidity problem. In March this year, Bear Stearns was sold under pressure to JPMorgan Chase. The government-sponsored Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae issued most of the mortgage securities sold in the first half of this year because investors would not trust investment banks anymore. Still, the fears lingered on. On Sept 8, the US government took over Fannie and Freddie in the midst of foreign investors' concern that the companies' debt might not be repaid.
The asset values of investment banks continued to plummet. The liquidity crisis turned into a solvency crisis. Lehman Brothers filed for liquidation on Sept 14. After refusing to bail out Lehman, the US government decided to support American International Group. The saga, dotted with such sudden U-turns, is still unfolding. Markets are now worried about a global credit crunch.
The sub-prime crisis has its roots in international payment imbalances, made worse by capital markets imprudence, which in turn became endemic because of regulatory failures.
First, investors, particularly foreigners, were swayed by US rating agencies, apparently sound institutions and US economic performance. Getting good returns first made them happy, then made them enthusiastic, and finally made them lose their common sense.
Second, there was a fundamental problem with corporate governance. Wall Street executives enjoyed extremely handsome compensations. Their fiduciary responsibilities to shareholders and investors were pushed to a corner.
And third, these common ingredients of manias - blindfolded investors and poor corporate governance - were amplified by a failure of government. How could such a colossal failure of corporate governance and of rating agencies not have generated early government action? The US authorities' lack of sensitivity to the warning signs is shocking.
Liquidity was already drying up last year. The US authorities, however, still played the interest rate game, reducing the Fed Fund rate in August and September last year. But by then, the liquidity crisis had turned into a systemic crisis of confidence: Investors did not want to throw more good money at investment banks holding potentially rotten liabilities. Early government action to force them to recognise their mistakes and accept losses might have stemmed the bleeding. Intervention then would have been affordable.
The US likes to lecture others of the need for transparency and good corporate governance. Its failure to apply at home what it preaches abroad has serious global negative economic externalities. The question is not just whether US taxpayers should or should not bail out careless financial institutions. It is about admitting regulatory failures, accepting responsibility and rectifying failures in governance.
Apparently, US politicians do not agree. Congress has rejected Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's US$700 billion (S$1 trillion) bailout package. The world has been denied any sign of relief.
The writer is Dean and Stephen Riady Distinguished Professor of Finance at the NUS Business School. This is the first of eight articles in the Straits Times-NUS Business School series on the financial crisis.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Auntie Nellie's Cancer Story on TV..
Most of you have heard of Auntie Nellie's experience with cancer back in 2006. Her story was part of a TV program here called "A Journey of Hope", which was aired 2 weeks ago.
Here are a few clips of that program on her blog:
Perhaps you may find her story of interest, or simply for general knowledge on cancer.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Modern Mom and Dad :-)
These photos are taken on Ah Kong's Anniversary (2nd September 2008). With big boss of the day - Kuo Hui suggested to go for a Karaoke session @ Greenbox Karaoke, AEON Shopping Centre (Bukit Tinggi, Klang).
Those attended are Lee Lian, Ai See, Suat Har, Kuo Hua, Kuo Hui, Yann and Min.
A Very Close Shave
13 July 2008. 3pm
Location: 5min from Klang toll heading east.
Spotted uncle's car from a distance. We stopped to
assist immediately.
assist immediately.
Uncle Keong was unscathed in the accident...
..but i guess the car totaled.
..but i guess the car totaled.
by puay
Monday, September 1, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Loong & Miyuki
Dear all,
Loong and Miyuki will be holding their wedding ceremony in Tokyo on 8.8.08. It is a small and low key affair among a few friends and next of kin only. Maybe a get together in Klang is in order when they return for holidays.
I have attached the invitation card just for info only and hope you will forgive my ignorance for not informing you earlier.
Love from Ai See and Sam
ps. Help! cannot download image of the invitation card.
Loong and Miyuki will be holding their wedding ceremony in Tokyo on 8.8.08. It is a small and low key affair among a few friends and next of kin only. Maybe a get together in Klang is in order when they return for holidays.
I have attached the invitation card just for info only and hope you will forgive my ignorance for not informing you earlier.
Love from Ai See and Sam
ps. Help! cannot download image of the invitation card.
Photos - Chinese New Year 2006 @ Genting
Ber Cik & Ber Chim,
Hope you guys don't mind that I turn this blog into a photo album.
There are still some photos here in my laptop, after that I will post other photos in my external hard disk.
So, everybody, do enjoy these photos taken by Yann.
Cheers,
Mei
Mei
Friday, August 1, 2008
Anyone can post into this blog..
Hi,
In case this was not clear, anyone of us (as "Contributors") can post into this blog, not just Yann and me.
Try it, it is easy.
It won't 'screw up' the blog in any way.
And if the posting you put in is not what you want, you can easily delete it too, or edit it with changes.
Please feel free to post entries here anytime.. as many as you like ..absolutely no limits, and absolutely any areas of interest which you think others in the Lee clan may find interesting, or just as an "fyi".
/teck
In case this was not clear, anyone of us (as "Contributors") can post into this blog, not just Yann and me.
Try it, it is easy.
It won't 'screw up' the blog in any way.
And if the posting you put in is not what you want, you can easily delete it too, or edit it with changes.
Please feel free to post entries here anytime.. as many as you like ..absolutely no limits, and absolutely any areas of interest which you think others in the Lee clan may find interesting, or just as an "fyi".
/teck
Monday, July 14, 2008
Ah Mah's Great Grandchildren..where are they?
Where are all of Ah Mah and Ah Kong's great grandchildren today, everyone?
And how many are there now?
Han, Puay, Yueh, Wendy, Sing.. can you all take the lead and put some of the recent photos of your children on this blog for all to view? As many as you wish..the more the merrier! And if there are other grandchildren of Ah Mah's that have young ones that I have mistakenly missed out from this posting, please pass on the message to them and encourage them to put their children on this blog too.
I think both Ah Mah and Ah Kong (and all their grand-uncles and aunties too) would appreciate that..
Many thanks in advance!
(btw this very cute picture here was taken by Auntie Nellie when we were on the Greek island of Mykonos last month, and her mother was more than happy to pose for us.. it is now blown up, laminated and posted on the wall of both of our childcare centres for all the parents there to enjoy too..haha, how can one not laugh at this pix?)
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The Japanese Occupation of Malaya..
Recently, I watched a moving documentary-cum-movie called "Nanjing", showing the fall of the city of Nanking, China to the Japanese during World War 2. The atrocities shown in the movie defies belief. I wondered what it would have been for like for our Ah Kong and Ah Mah during those dark days of the Japanese occupation of Malaya.
Surfing the Net, I came across this website showing the account of one man who lived through those days as a young boy. I wonder if Ah Kong, if alive today, would have shared similar stories with us (does anyone have photos of those times in the 1940's?).
Here's the posting of this man's experience and the website detailing the rest of his story below:
http://www.fusionview.co.uk/2006/11/memories-of-malaya-the-japanese-occupation/
My father writes:
When the Japanese in their conquest of South East Asia reached Malaya in 1941 I was 4 years old. Certainly not old enough to read about or understand the politics that gave rise to the war with Japan or the European war. This account is merely that of a family of the professional class in a British Colonial possession in the Far East which underwent about 3 years of the Japanese occupation and survived without any death in the family through torture or other atrocities.
I had 3 other younger brothers each younger by 1 year than the next. My Father was a medical practitioner who graduated in the 1920s from the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore. It was one of the two finest medical colleges in the British Empire, the other one being in Hong Kong University. It produced solidly competent doctors. My Father’s elder brother and their brother-in-law also graduated from the same college. My Father-in-law was also a graduate of the same college at a slightly later date. My Father’s Father (i.e. my paternal grandfather) taught Latin in the secondary school.
The earliest memory of the state of the war was our fleeing to Singapore by train when the reputation of Singapore as an impregnable fortress was still intact. We went to our maternal grand aunt’s house in Bukit Timah where she and her family of her grown-up children lived in a large rambling wooden house in the midst of a pineapple plantation with fruit trees of rambutans and also chickens. A new experience for us was to live in such a large open space with so much greenery and fresh air without electric lights and having to draw water from a well for our baths. Soon the myth of the impregnable fortress was eroding and we fled back to Kuala Lumpur by train and the journey took hours, stopping every time there were hostile planes overhead. My parents must have heard of the rapes and atrocities committed by the Japanese in Shanghai and other parts of China and we then moved deep into a rubber estate with the whole family and livestock (mainly chickens and ducks.)
Here life was quite idyllic. We lived together with other families in rooms one next to the other. There was no electric light again and had only kerosene lamps so we went to sleep very early. The rubber trees kept the temperature cool and there was a stream with clear and clean water in which we could bathe. We were disturbed by the Japanese only once when they came in trucks. We heard the rumbling of their trucks when they went over a bridge which they had to cross to reach the rubber estate. All of us then ran deeper into the jungle which surrounded the rubber estate. All the younger women would put on ugly torn and patched peasant clothes and make themselves as uninviting as possible by rubbing ash or mud on their face or arms and were the first to run away for everyone had heard of their rapes. In this instance none was raped. They were after men who were alleged to have been conducting anti-Japanese activities.
Each one of us had a few clothes and some homemade biscuits tied up in a pillow case standing in the bedroom to be picked up when we had to flee from the house. The peasant clothes were also always ready to be put on.
Other than this disturbance, life was without any untoward event although at all times there was at the back of our minds the worry as to what would the next day bring. The adults must have had a great deal of anxiety especially people like my Mother who had four very young children to feed and bring up.
Surfing the Net, I came across this website showing the account of one man who lived through those days as a young boy. I wonder if Ah Kong, if alive today, would have shared similar stories with us (does anyone have photos of those times in the 1940's?).
Here's the posting of this man's experience and the website detailing the rest of his story below:
http://www.fusionview.co.uk/2006/11/memories-of-malaya-the-japanese-occupation/
My father writes:
When the Japanese in their conquest of South East Asia reached Malaya in 1941 I was 4 years old. Certainly not old enough to read about or understand the politics that gave rise to the war with Japan or the European war. This account is merely that of a family of the professional class in a British Colonial possession in the Far East which underwent about 3 years of the Japanese occupation and survived without any death in the family through torture or other atrocities.
I had 3 other younger brothers each younger by 1 year than the next. My Father was a medical practitioner who graduated in the 1920s from the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore. It was one of the two finest medical colleges in the British Empire, the other one being in Hong Kong University. It produced solidly competent doctors. My Father’s elder brother and their brother-in-law also graduated from the same college. My Father-in-law was also a graduate of the same college at a slightly later date. My Father’s Father (i.e. my paternal grandfather) taught Latin in the secondary school.
The earliest memory of the state of the war was our fleeing to Singapore by train when the reputation of Singapore as an impregnable fortress was still intact. We went to our maternal grand aunt’s house in Bukit Timah where she and her family of her grown-up children lived in a large rambling wooden house in the midst of a pineapple plantation with fruit trees of rambutans and also chickens. A new experience for us was to live in such a large open space with so much greenery and fresh air without electric lights and having to draw water from a well for our baths. Soon the myth of the impregnable fortress was eroding and we fled back to Kuala Lumpur by train and the journey took hours, stopping every time there were hostile planes overhead. My parents must have heard of the rapes and atrocities committed by the Japanese in Shanghai and other parts of China and we then moved deep into a rubber estate with the whole family and livestock (mainly chickens and ducks.)
Here life was quite idyllic. We lived together with other families in rooms one next to the other. There was no electric light again and had only kerosene lamps so we went to sleep very early. The rubber trees kept the temperature cool and there was a stream with clear and clean water in which we could bathe. We were disturbed by the Japanese only once when they came in trucks. We heard the rumbling of their trucks when they went over a bridge which they had to cross to reach the rubber estate. All of us then ran deeper into the jungle which surrounded the rubber estate. All the younger women would put on ugly torn and patched peasant clothes and make themselves as uninviting as possible by rubbing ash or mud on their face or arms and were the first to run away for everyone had heard of their rapes. In this instance none was raped. They were after men who were alleged to have been conducting anti-Japanese activities.
Each one of us had a few clothes and some homemade biscuits tied up in a pillow case standing in the bedroom to be picked up when we had to flee from the house. The peasant clothes were also always ready to be put on.
Other than this disturbance, life was without any untoward event although at all times there was at the back of our minds the worry as to what would the next day bring. The adults must have had a great deal of anxiety especially people like my Mother who had four very young children to feed and bring up.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Post-American Economic Age..for future generations
A bit of history here, written for easy understanding of what's already behind us, but more importantly, what's in front of us, esp for future Lee generations to come. And if you happen to be looking out for investments here and there, this may also be of interest to you. Disregard the "heavy American" accent here..
My fellow Americans, every once in a great while, a giant, yet certain, reality rears its ugly head, stares us in the eyes and asks us to recognize an unquestionable truth that we do not want to hear, recognize or even acknowledge.
As an investor and investment manager, I do not have the luxury of denial. You and I only build our wealth when we invest with reality -- not against it.
What's this new "unspeakable" economic reality?
The next great economic age of world history -- the Post-American Economic Age -- has begun.
I'll be talking about this theme a lot while I'm in Vegas for the Money Show this week, and it's one I'm going to continue to talk about all year -- and probably for the next 10 years.
The simple, unvarnished truth is that this economic ChangeWave is, without a doubt, the most exciting wealth-building opportunity you and I are ever going to have the chance to participate in.
Don't Kill the Messenger
Before the hate mail starts coming in, please let me make sure you understand my message.
The Post-American Economic Age is in no way an indication that Americans are headed to the history scrap pile. As a matter of fact, it's the total reverse of that.
The Post-American Economic Age is not about the fall of America. Rather, it is, as Fareed Zakaria tells us in his new book, "The Post-American World," about the rise of the rest of the world.
This new economic age is not about the fall of capitalism. It's about its success and the way it is manifesting itself around the globe.
We took the greatest economic system known to man and exported it to the rest of the world, which is now hell-bent on catching up to us. It is this amazing global race to make up for so much lost time that's changing the world -- mostly for the better.
A Page From Toby's History Book
Westernism: The first modern economic age was the rise of Western civilization, as Western nations emerged as world powers. It began in the 15th century and cultivated much of the world we now know: science and technology, commerce and capitalism, agricultural and industrial revolutions.
Americanism: The second great economic age was the rise of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As the United States converted from an agrarian to an industrial economy, we grew our nation and its population to the greatest economic heights in history. We became a super power of unheard of size, power and strength.
Post-Americanism: The rest of the global economy has imported much of the infrastructure and institutions of Western capitalism and has accelerated their growth.
We are now in the final chapter of the last economic age. The death of communism, the end of the Cold War, and the end of Maoism and China's rebirth have all sowed the seeds for the next great economic age.
Size Does Matter
We must accept the economic reality that the rise of Western civilization and then of the United States was a dress rehearsal for the rise of the rest of the world.
This new story is really one of size and scale. The countries that innovated and led the Western world were relatively small, e.g., the Dutch and their trading system, Britain and its industry. Modern economic miracles like Denmark, Switzerland and Ireland have populations smaller than most U.S. states.
The United States was the first major economic revolution to take place with a large population. The range and the depth of our prosperity have been unique up to this point.
During the American economic age, China, Russia, India and Brazil were basically asleep -- unwilling or unable to participate in the world economy. Now, they're awake and in a massive rush to catch up.
What makes this age different than the rise of the Western world or the United States is the scale: Three billion people are awakening to capitalism at the very same time. This dwarfs the size and scale of the last two economic shifts.
Investing in the Post-American Economic Age
Any economic activity multiplied by 3 billion is a shift of historic size. And it's the almost unimaginable scale of this third great economic age that brings so much opportunity -- but only for those people who understand that the rise of the rest of the world requires us to invest differently than we have in the past.
First, we need to understand that the rise of the United States and our capitalist system was based on unlimited resources -- food, grain, oil, cement, water, you name it. With 3 billion new people competing for the world's resources, this can no longer be the case.
Second, the rise of American power and economic stability was largely based on the idea of a synchronous world. For example, military superiority was based on superior manpower and weapons. Today, one group of armed rebels taking over an oil line in Nigeria can cause the price of oil to spike drastically, essentially inflicting more economic damage than any military action that's been taken against the United States in modern times.
The world is different now, but you need to remember that this new economic story is also an American one.
For the past 60 years, we were the ones who helped billions of people escape poverty. American business professionals, diplomats and citizens have urged people in distant lands to open their markets, to be unafraid of change, to join the advanced world and, most of all, to learn the secrets of our success.
Furthermore, in the past 10 years, the Internet revolution -- the amazing explosion of information moving around the world at the speed of light -- has accelerated the transfer of knowledge and power, and done so exponentially.
The United States has succeeded in its great historic mission to globalize the world's economies.
Now that the world has entered this third economic age, you as investors need to adapt your strategy. You must lose the old mind set that it's "all America, all the time," and begin to look at your investments through the lens of the Post-American Economic Age.
At Change Wave, we've been global investors for a long time. Most of our investments are in companies with 50% or more of their revenues outside of the United States, and that's the way we're going to continue to invest.
This third great economic age is just beginning, and it's going to be fantastic. It's opening up a whole new world of investment opportunities, the best of which are now in the early, early innings. Welcome aboard.
Toby
P.S. I know the idea of the Post-American Economic Age sounds scary, but it shouldn't be. Investors who understand the world we are now living in will thrive thanks to the new opportunities this great economic shift presents.
My fellow Americans, every once in a great while, a giant, yet certain, reality rears its ugly head, stares us in the eyes and asks us to recognize an unquestionable truth that we do not want to hear, recognize or even acknowledge.
As an investor and investment manager, I do not have the luxury of denial. You and I only build our wealth when we invest with reality -- not against it.
What's this new "unspeakable" economic reality?
The next great economic age of world history -- the Post-American Economic Age -- has begun.
I'll be talking about this theme a lot while I'm in Vegas for the Money Show this week, and it's one I'm going to continue to talk about all year -- and probably for the next 10 years.
The simple, unvarnished truth is that this economic ChangeWave is, without a doubt, the most exciting wealth-building opportunity you and I are ever going to have the chance to participate in.
Don't Kill the Messenger
Before the hate mail starts coming in, please let me make sure you understand my message.
The Post-American Economic Age is in no way an indication that Americans are headed to the history scrap pile. As a matter of fact, it's the total reverse of that.
The Post-American Economic Age is not about the fall of America. Rather, it is, as Fareed Zakaria tells us in his new book, "The Post-American World," about the rise of the rest of the world.
This new economic age is not about the fall of capitalism. It's about its success and the way it is manifesting itself around the globe.
We took the greatest economic system known to man and exported it to the rest of the world, which is now hell-bent on catching up to us. It is this amazing global race to make up for so much lost time that's changing the world -- mostly for the better.
A Page From Toby's History Book
Westernism: The first modern economic age was the rise of Western civilization, as Western nations emerged as world powers. It began in the 15th century and cultivated much of the world we now know: science and technology, commerce and capitalism, agricultural and industrial revolutions.
Americanism: The second great economic age was the rise of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As the United States converted from an agrarian to an industrial economy, we grew our nation and its population to the greatest economic heights in history. We became a super power of unheard of size, power and strength.
Post-Americanism: The rest of the global economy has imported much of the infrastructure and institutions of Western capitalism and has accelerated their growth.
We are now in the final chapter of the last economic age. The death of communism, the end of the Cold War, and the end of Maoism and China's rebirth have all sowed the seeds for the next great economic age.
Size Does Matter
We must accept the economic reality that the rise of Western civilization and then of the United States was a dress rehearsal for the rise of the rest of the world.
This new story is really one of size and scale. The countries that innovated and led the Western world were relatively small, e.g., the Dutch and their trading system, Britain and its industry. Modern economic miracles like Denmark, Switzerland and Ireland have populations smaller than most U.S. states.
The United States was the first major economic revolution to take place with a large population. The range and the depth of our prosperity have been unique up to this point.
During the American economic age, China, Russia, India and Brazil were basically asleep -- unwilling or unable to participate in the world economy. Now, they're awake and in a massive rush to catch up.
What makes this age different than the rise of the Western world or the United States is the scale: Three billion people are awakening to capitalism at the very same time. This dwarfs the size and scale of the last two economic shifts.
Investing in the Post-American Economic Age
Any economic activity multiplied by 3 billion is a shift of historic size. And it's the almost unimaginable scale of this third great economic age that brings so much opportunity -- but only for those people who understand that the rise of the rest of the world requires us to invest differently than we have in the past.
First, we need to understand that the rise of the United States and our capitalist system was based on unlimited resources -- food, grain, oil, cement, water, you name it. With 3 billion new people competing for the world's resources, this can no longer be the case.
Second, the rise of American power and economic stability was largely based on the idea of a synchronous world. For example, military superiority was based on superior manpower and weapons. Today, one group of armed rebels taking over an oil line in Nigeria can cause the price of oil to spike drastically, essentially inflicting more economic damage than any military action that's been taken against the United States in modern times.
The world is different now, but you need to remember that this new economic story is also an American one.
For the past 60 years, we were the ones who helped billions of people escape poverty. American business professionals, diplomats and citizens have urged people in distant lands to open their markets, to be unafraid of change, to join the advanced world and, most of all, to learn the secrets of our success.
Furthermore, in the past 10 years, the Internet revolution -- the amazing explosion of information moving around the world at the speed of light -- has accelerated the transfer of knowledge and power, and done so exponentially.
The United States has succeeded in its great historic mission to globalize the world's economies.
Now that the world has entered this third economic age, you as investors need to adapt your strategy. You must lose the old mind set that it's "all America, all the time," and begin to look at your investments through the lens of the Post-American Economic Age.
At Change Wave, we've been global investors for a long time. Most of our investments are in companies with 50% or more of their revenues outside of the United States, and that's the way we're going to continue to invest.
This third great economic age is just beginning, and it's going to be fantastic. It's opening up a whole new world of investment opportunities, the best of which are now in the early, early innings. Welcome aboard.
Toby
P.S. I know the idea of the Post-American Economic Age sounds scary, but it shouldn't be. Investors who understand the world we are now living in will thrive thanks to the new opportunities this great economic shift presents.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Prof Pausch's "Last Lecture"..
Here's an extraordinary "teacher"..Prof Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon University who has inspired millions with his so called "Last Lecture", which is an honour given to lecturers to share his lessons on life with his students.
In this case, it may turned out to be his real last lecture..Prof Pausch is terminally ill with pancreatic cancer. But the way he is dealing with this disease has been an inspiration to many. His book, based on this Last Lecture, is now #1 on the New York Bestsellers list.
Here is Prof. Pausch on Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams , as seen on YouTube:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=362421849901825950
Friday, May 16, 2008
Anyone to Teach in Spore?
Any takers for Auntie Nellie's advertisement for English teachers in her childcare centres?
If you like toddlers and ankle-biters, you might want to raise your hands.
In fact, I can see..
- Puay playing the piano for and teaching it to the kids..
- Yann taking professional photos of these 2- to 6-year olds..
- Tung taking these kiddos to new heights in computer literacy..
- Han cooking up the most delicious meals of their young lives..
- and Li Yi/Li Kor coloring the best oil-paintings the kids have ever seen..
So maybe, Auntie Nellie doesn't need English teachers afterall..just our family members to give these preschool children the best foundation for their growth and success in their adult lives.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Ah Mah..A Mother Like No Other..
Looking back at the very early years, can you see Ah Mah as a mother with no equal?
With 10 children to raise, can you see a modern familyof 10 kids being brought up with so much care and love, in this day and age? It is almost an unthinkable scenario, isn't it?
On this Mothers Day today, it would be timely that we honour our Ah Mah and yes, your mothers too, for being there for you when you needed them, and raised you up the only way they know how.
Here's another view of Ah Mah, from her passport back in 1970. It appears that she took 2 trips to Singapore on this restricted passport of hers, which cost $5 then.. 38 years ago!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Our 1st Generation in Malaysia..
Were Ah Kong's parents the 1st Generation of Lee's in Malaysia?
My history is hazy, at best. But based on what I can recall, I think Ah Kong's parents must be the first generation Lee's in Malaysia, from China.
These photos are precious.
And if you look close enough, Ah Kong's mother's bound-feet are very much evident on this photo. I saw a documentary not long ago on China's women and their bound-feet. It was an amazing story..the pain and agony that were brought to bear on women of those days..only people of that generation can understand and really know what it really meant (and felt) then.
Maybe some of us may have photos of the generation right before this, showing scenes back in Fujian perhaps?
/glee@singapore
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