2008 : A retrospective

It's 2009 already, can't believe 2008 passed by already

2008 wasn't joyful to any one. Housing bust, Layoffs, Retirement portfolios, IRAs shrank to 50% or less, Wall street meltdown, Oil prices, commodity prices, Paulson's bazooka(wtf happened to that ?!), Series of Bomb blast in India, Madoff..

Looks like Recession is here to stay.
Even though I'm one of those million people who took a beating in the market, I want to write about few good things..

>CEO pay
So long suckers, gone are days of the exorbitant compensation packages, golden parachutes and Private Jets. With so much backlash from Public and Lawmakers, I hope this House/Senate approves a bill to limit these packages in the future also.

> More regulation on Wall street
Hedge funds, Commodity traders, Derivatives, Exotic financial instruments which no one understood. Huh. Now the dream run is over. Here's to the more regulation on wall street. Before cheering for that, I've to question the ethics/smartness of these senators leading the committees on Finance, Ways and means, Tax....

Christopher Dodd, Barney Frank, Charles Schumer. How good are these guys. All the mess happened while these guys are approving laws. Isn't time to bid adieu to these men?

>Commodity Traders
Remember last summer. We're taken for a ride by Hedge Funds, Commodity traders... Now with the burst of Hedge funds and frozen Credit, we're blessed with $1.6 gas prices.

>Oil Prices
Crude oil was 'flirting' with $150 per barrel price back in summer. Now it's $40. Though it's one of the fall outs of Weakening economy, it's bad news for this OPEC cartel. Couldn't be any more happier. And those high oil prices ain't so bad. It ended America's mad fascination for SUVs and Trucks.

Arjun murti, please take a hike!!

>Incompetent CEO's
Dick Fuld(Lehman), Angelo Mozilo(Countrywide), Robert Willumstad(AIG), Kerry Killinger(WaMu), Ken Thompson (Wachovia) and then few dickheads at Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae. Good bye assholes, corporate America wouldn't miss ya. I'm just waiting for Bob Nardelli and Rick Wagoner to turn in their papers. Sooner it is, better for Detroit.

>Iraq
I hate giving credit to Dubya's regime in any form. But there's some peace in Iraq. Though I don't approve the way it's accomplished, I'm happy for Iraqi citizens and armed forces based in Iraq

>Both House and Senate in control of Dems
That's right fellas. Since '92 , this is the first time we've both Senate and house dominated by Dems. Hope they'll be strong and bring some order in this country. If possible, please undo all the acts passed by Republican thugs. Abstinence Only education, ban on Stem cell research, Bush Tax cuts, Environment Protection...

>Obama in 1600 Penn Ave
After 8 years of Public housing, Bush is about to move out of White House. And a democrat in White House. This superseded all the sorrows and setbacks. Honestly, I'm not yet sold with Barrack's Hope and audacity. But hey, anybody can do better than dubya and evil Cheney. Good Riddance fellas..

>Sarah Palin stays in Alaska.
That's right, this 'hockey mom' wouldn't be moving to DC any time soon. Hopefully she never moves into Mainland. Though I don't have high regard for American Voters, they exceeded my expectations in this election. Just the thought of her as VP gives a chill in my spine.

Finally, I've two good news to share on personal front.

Karun, my friend and owner of this blog got married and my sister got engaged in Dec '08. Congratulations!!
In a way, I can't complain much about '08.

Hopefully '09 brings Peace and happiness to all of us. (and death to Islamic Terrorists)

Happy Sankranthi !!
Peace.