- Life is challenging. For everyone. Our physical bodies, our relationships-all of our life circumstances-are fragile and subject to change. We are always accommodating.
- The cause of suffering is the mind’s struggle in response to challenge.
- The end of suffering-a non-struggling, peaceful mind-is a possibility.
- The program for ending suffering is the Eightfold Path.
Friday, September 28, 2012
noble eightfold path
Just this noble eightfold path: right view, right aspiration, right
speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness,
right concentration...I followed that path.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Internal motivators
Internal motivators, on the other hand, help drive you toward
something positive, like being there for your family, taking control of
your health, and having a sense of purpose. Successful people learn to
develop strong internal motivation that make changes last over time.
Questions to ask before you hire a wealth manager
Q. What percentage of the firm's revenue is generated by its wealth management business?
A.
Q. Is the firm privately or publicly held?
A.
Q. Do the owners and employees of the firm invest their own wealth alongside that of clients?
A.
Q. Are the firm's client relationship managers paid for sales or service?
A.
Q. Are the firm's portfolio managers paid based on assets under management or on long-term performance?
A.
At Bessemer Trust, wealth management is our only business, and we've been doing it for over 100 years. We're privately held and always have been. We don't have to answer to some parent company's short-term earnings objectives or cross-sell products for them. We have no hidden agendas. What's more, our owners and employees literally invest their own wealth right alongside that of our clients, so you benefit from a lot of very careful thinking. Our client service teams have no financial incentives to recommend one manager or asset class over another. They entirely focused on serving our client's needs. And our portfolio managers are compensated based on long-term performance, not on short-term returns or assets under management since such incentives can taint judgement. Compare that to the answers you get from other wealth management firms. To ask a question that's been on your mind, call us. And make it a tough one. We like those. Minimum relationship $10 million.
A.
Q. Is the firm privately or publicly held?
A.
Q. Do the owners and employees of the firm invest their own wealth alongside that of clients?
A.
Q. Are the firm's client relationship managers paid for sales or service?
A.
Q. Are the firm's portfolio managers paid based on assets under management or on long-term performance?
A.
At Bessemer Trust, wealth management is our only business, and we've been doing it for over 100 years. We're privately held and always have been. We don't have to answer to some parent company's short-term earnings objectives or cross-sell products for them. We have no hidden agendas. What's more, our owners and employees literally invest their own wealth right alongside that of our clients, so you benefit from a lot of very careful thinking. Our client service teams have no financial incentives to recommend one manager or asset class over another. They entirely focused on serving our client's needs. And our portfolio managers are compensated based on long-term performance, not on short-term returns or assets under management since such incentives can taint judgement. Compare that to the answers you get from other wealth management firms. To ask a question that's been on your mind, call us. And make it a tough one. We like those. Minimum relationship $10 million.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Joseph Stiglitz
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2001 "for laying the foundations for the theory of markets with asymmetric information" with George A. Akerlof and A. Michael Spence.
Before the advent of models of imperfect and asymmetric information, the traditional neoclassical economics literature had assumed that markets are efficient except for some limited and well defined market failures. More recent work by Stiglitz and others reversed that presumption, to assert that it is only under exceptional circumstances that markets are efficient.
Problems of information are central to understanding not only market economics but also political economy.
Wiki
Before the advent of models of imperfect and asymmetric information, the traditional neoclassical economics literature had assumed that markets are efficient except for some limited and well defined market failures. More recent work by Stiglitz and others reversed that presumption, to assert that it is only under exceptional circumstances that markets are efficient.
Problems of information are central to understanding not only market economics but also political economy.
Wiki
Friday, August 24, 2012
A long bright future - medicare
Some 30 to 40 percent of medical procedures are ineffective or redundant.
An estimated thirty thousand Medicare patients die each year from unnecessary or unproven care.
Peter Orzag, former director of Congressional Budget Office and Office of Budget and Management maintains that ineffective or redundant medical procedures cost the nation roughly $700 billion each year.
It's time to consider not just evidence about the effectiveness of procedures, but their cost effectiveness.
Independent health care board consist of health economists and physicians who would consider the cost effectiveness of new and existing technologies, medications, and procedures.
An estimated thirty thousand Medicare patients die each year from unnecessary or unproven care.
Peter Orzag, former director of Congressional Budget Office and Office of Budget and Management maintains that ineffective or redundant medical procedures cost the nation roughly $700 billion each year.
It's time to consider not just evidence about the effectiveness of procedures, but their cost effectiveness.
Independent health care board consist of health economists and physicians who would consider the cost effectiveness of new and existing technologies, medications, and procedures.
SEC canceled vote on money market fund rules
Industry lobby won today. Now it falls on the Fed to do the right thing.
remember this day - a historical evidence that private business always put their own interest before the stability of the entire system. And this is the exact reason why we need strong institutions. Don't let those libertarians tell you that government should always be as small as possible. Those comments are self-serving at best.
To me, disclosing NAV is nothing more than telling the truth. Saying NAV will never break the buck is a lie, and institutional investors know it. That is why the savvy investors pulled their money out of Reserve Primary before unwitting retail investors could.
Facing vested interest at a sum of $2.6 trillion, even telling the truth can not muster enough vote. That is the tradedy of the day. I hope retail investors are paying attention. Market rules aren't always fair. And if you don't have the resources or the time to monitor quickly changing situations, you can be left to hold a stinky bag of bad assets, sold to you as " as safe as a bank deposit".
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2012/2012-166.htm
remember this day - a historical evidence that private business always put their own interest before the stability of the entire system. And this is the exact reason why we need strong institutions. Don't let those libertarians tell you that government should always be as small as possible. Those comments are self-serving at best.
To me, disclosing NAV is nothing more than telling the truth. Saying NAV will never break the buck is a lie, and institutional investors know it. That is why the savvy investors pulled their money out of Reserve Primary before unwitting retail investors could.
Facing vested interest at a sum of $2.6 trillion, even telling the truth can not muster enough vote. That is the tradedy of the day. I hope retail investors are paying attention. Market rules aren't always fair. And if you don't have the resources or the time to monitor quickly changing situations, you can be left to hold a stinky bag of bad assets, sold to you as " as safe as a bank deposit".
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2012/2012-166.htm
Friday, August 10, 2012
The U.S. trade balance in June shrank to $42.9B
The U.S. trade balance in June shrank, again thanks in part to lower oil prices but also from a general import dip. The trade deficit decreased to $42.9 billion from $48.0 billion in May. Exports advanced 0.9 percent, following a 0.3 percent rise in May. Imports shrank 1.5 percent after a 0.8 percent decrease in May.
The narrowing in the trade gap was led by the non-petroleum goods gap which narrowed to $34.4 billion from $37.5 billion in May. With help from lower prices, the petroleum deficit decreased to $22.5 billion in June from $24.8 billion the prior month. The services surplus slipped to $14.6 billion from $14.9 billion.
On a not seasonally adjusted basis, the June figures showed surpluses, in billions of dollars, with Hong Kong $2.6 ($2.9 for May), Australia $1.9 ($1.7), Singapore $1.2 ($1.0), among others. Deficits were seen, in billions of dollars, with China $27.4 ($26.0), OPEC $8.5 ($11.2), European Union $8.4 ($10.5), Japan $6.0 ($6.4), Mexico $5.9 ($6.3), Germany $4.1 ($4.9), Ireland $2.6 ($2.7), Canada $1.5 ($2.0), among others.
The narrowing in the trade gap was led by the non-petroleum goods gap which narrowed to $34.4 billion from $37.5 billion in May. With help from lower prices, the petroleum deficit decreased to $22.5 billion in June from $24.8 billion the prior month. The services surplus slipped to $14.6 billion from $14.9 billion.
On a not seasonally adjusted basis, the June figures showed surpluses, in billions of dollars, with Hong Kong $2.6 ($2.9 for May), Australia $1.9 ($1.7), Singapore $1.2 ($1.0), among others. Deficits were seen, in billions of dollars, with China $27.4 ($26.0), OPEC $8.5 ($11.2), European Union $8.4 ($10.5), Japan $6.0 ($6.4), Mexico $5.9 ($6.3), Germany $4.1 ($4.9), Ireland $2.6 ($2.7), Canada $1.5 ($2.0), among others.
Treasury Budget
The Treasury's deficit in July is $69.6 billion for the lowest July deficit since 2007. Calendar effects did move about $12 billion of spending into June and boosted receipts for July by about $6 billion.
Ten months into the fiscal year, the Treasury's deficit, at $973.8 billion, is 11.5 percent smaller than the prior year. Receipts are up 6.1 percent so far this fiscal year with corporate income taxes, at $182.4 billion, showing the largest gain at 29.8 percent. Individual income taxes, at $928.2 billion, are up 4.2 percent. In contrast, the outlay side shows little change with a only 0.4 percent decline. Defense spending, at $564.4 billion, shows the largest decline at 3.2 percent.
Ten months into the fiscal year, the Treasury's deficit, at $973.8 billion, is 11.5 percent smaller than the prior year. Receipts are up 6.1 percent so far this fiscal year with corporate income taxes, at $182.4 billion, showing the largest gain at 29.8 percent. Individual income taxes, at $928.2 billion, are up 4.2 percent. In contrast, the outlay side shows little change with a only 0.4 percent decline. Defense spending, at $564.4 billion, shows the largest decline at 3.2 percent.
Sunday, August 05, 2012
compare US healthcare cost with OECD countries
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL34175_20070917.pdf
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704409004576146520257051938.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696304575538112856615900.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704457604576011382824069032.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704409004576146520257051938.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696304575538112856615900.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704457604576011382824069032.html
Friday, July 27, 2012
Social life and health
Health isn't just predicted by how many resources people have, but by
how they relate to other people. Feeling isolated make you sick. The
social world remodels your body. Your relationships with the people around you profoundly influence whether you perceive the world as a safe, comfortable place, or as one that is threatening and uncertain. As long as your brain thinks that everything is fine, your body is going to be running a program of long-term investment, general maintenance, and rebuilding. If your brain perceives that you are in an uncertain or threatening environment then it's going to activate stress responses in the rest of the body that trigger changes in gene expression. When we feel threatened our fight or flight response will be activated.
A naturally shy, introverted child may hang back on the playground, get picked on for doing so, and become even more likely to withdraw. These variations in individual temperament are relatively small difference to start off with, but they can propagate into big differences over time by shaping the pattern of social choices you make. Consistently choosing one way over the other solidifies your outlook on whether other people are generally good and trustworthy, or unfriendly and threatening. If your worldview leans toward the later, you are more likely to build a more autonomous, independent life for yourself. That in turn propagates this perception that the world is a distant place, that there is no one else you can turn to. That world view seem to be correlated with long term increases in health risk.
The lonely people's immune systems tended to over express an array of inflammation genes, which control immediate tissue repair processes but also drive the wear and tear we know as aging.
A naturally shy, introverted child may hang back on the playground, get picked on for doing so, and become even more likely to withdraw. These variations in individual temperament are relatively small difference to start off with, but they can propagate into big differences over time by shaping the pattern of social choices you make. Consistently choosing one way over the other solidifies your outlook on whether other people are generally good and trustworthy, or unfriendly and threatening. If your worldview leans toward the later, you are more likely to build a more autonomous, independent life for yourself. That in turn propagates this perception that the world is a distant place, that there is no one else you can turn to. That world view seem to be correlated with long term increases in health risk.
The lonely people's immune systems tended to over express an array of inflammation genes, which control immediate tissue repair processes but also drive the wear and tear we know as aging.
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