The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat The problem with forecasting a financial crash is that no two crashes are the same. Causes could range from bingeing on collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) as the largest banks and insurance companies did before the crash of 2007/2008 (which lead to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and countless smaller market players) to run on the banks to rigidly sticking to Gold standard in the early 1900s. It is possible that remedy for one disaster  results in another disaster which was not envisaged at the time of enacting such remedy.  We know crashes do happen and will continue to happen despite our efforts to contain the risk. It is also true that we can moderate the risk but we cannot hope to eliminate the risk. We can shift the risk from highly regulated markets to markets where attitude to regulation is blasé and sometimes actively risk seeking in order to snatch the business from other parts of the world. This is where the world of shadow bankin

By Sikander Hayat Trump’s decision to move US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was long overdue. Congress passed the law to move the embassy toJerusalem , but it was being periodically vetoed for last 22 years by every  president of United States . United States was never a trustworthy partner for Palestinians and is the biggest reason that Israel ( despite being a small country with a population of 8.5 million people) receives an annual aid of three billion US dollars . This amounts to United States paying roughly 500dollars to every Israeli citizen. How can Palestinians trust United States as a partner in peace process when it pays American tax payer dollars to support occupation of Palestine which has been declared illegal by United Nations. By moving embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem , Trump has now come out in open and basically declared his intent to support occupation of  East Jerusalem openly rather than just paying for it financially. For

By Sikander Hayat  Trumptax cuts may help big corporation but these won’t help lower and middle class Americans . One positive outcome could be that largecompanies which are hoarding money outside United States will hopefully declare their profits in US and will start paying their due share of corporate tax which has now come down to 20%. Google,Amazon, Starbucks e.t.c. do not pay their fair share of tax anywherein the world. They make a lot of money around the world but concoct atax evasion system which is barely legal and yet does not come out very well against any moral code. Apple has a sweatheart dea l with Republic of Ireland where Apple pretends to pay tax and Irishgovernment pretends to collect tax . Irish tax rate is probably lowest among the OECD member states and is sucking a lot of good money from hard working people around the world. Compared to United Kingdom, UStax rate was really high but it is now at the same level at 20%. Some of th

By Sikander Hayat  It is fascinating to understand the creation of money out of thin air by the central banks and governments across the world. How a fiat currency gains credence and what is it backed by is a very interesting subject. How piece of paper or some digits on computer screen can be called money and can be exchanged for physical goods is fascinating to observe. Off course value of such a currency is only valid as long as people trust it. Is there a future for current paper currencies or these are going to be replaced by digital ones. With the meteoric rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies , it is a matter of time before central banks will have to come up with a mechanism to integrate these into fabric of current currency universe and find a way to regulate them. I assume that the currently cryptocurrencies derive their value from the use by money launderers and criminal element of our societies as it is possibly the best way to make their black

By Sikander Hayat I  usually  do not provide reviews for service levels at different business establishments but this one business has now forced my hand and I have decided to review any good or bad service I  received  on  this blog so that my  readers  have some sort of idea of what they getting into  before they commit.    This place is run by an  Italian  guy. This is a "cash in hand" place where no  receipts  are given.   The manager is not very welcoming to people of colour so if you are an  Asian  or brown/black person of any  nationality , try to avoid this place. I took my boys  to this place  not knowing about the credentials of this place and he & his  colleague   intentionally  made of mess of their hair just to make sure that I don’t turn up their again.     He is successful in this scheme and we don’t go to this place any more.    The address of this place is  105 The Parade, Watford WD17 1LU  and is in Watford Town Centre.   

Who Knows Tomorrow Will Bring   by Marion Black