How should we judge a government?

In Malaysia, if you don't watch television or read newspapers, you are uninformed; but if you do, you are misinformed!

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience - Mark Twain

Why we should be against censorship in a court of law: Publicity is the very soul of justice … it keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial. - Jeremy Bentham

"Our government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no
responsibility at the other. " - Ronald Reagan

Government fed by the people

Government fed by the people

Career options

Career options
I suggest government... because nobody has ever been caught.

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?
Corruption is so prevalent it affects English language?

When there's too much dirt...

When there's too much dirt...
We need better tools... to cover up mega corruptions.

Prevent bullying now!

Prevent bullying now!
If you're not going to speak up, how is the world supposed to know you exist? “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” - Ananta Prameodya Toer (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.)

Friday, July 03, 2015

Anil Netto: Seven reasons why we should ditch Fitch

'Who cares what Fitch thinks? Why have the media been giving so much publicity to this rating agency?

On 20 January 2015, Fitch rating agency said it was “more likely than not to downgrade the rating of the sovereign” in the coming months. On 17 March, Fitch issued another statement saying there was more than a 50 per cent chance of downgrade by the end of June.

On 8 June, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department confirmed that the government had held meetings with Fitch over its negative outlook. What transpired at the meeting with Fitch?

Finally, on 30 June, Fitch announced there was no downgrade and instead maintained its A- and A ratings and even improved its outlook from negative to ‘stable’.

Here’s why ordinary Malaysians should not pay too much heed to the Fitch rating as a measure of the state of the economy and our wellbeing.'

More:
http://anilnetto.com/corporate-led-globalisation/neo-liberal-economics/seven-reasons-why-we-should-ditch-fitch/

Nazri has just provided a clue: GST helped in Fitch's rating, which happens to be one of the seven reasons.

But the conclusion in the above article is convincing:

In conclusion, rating agencies have not had a glorious recent history and their role has been scrutinised in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. This was reported on the website of the Council on Foreign Relations:

‘CFR Senior Fellow Sebastian Mallaby argues that government regulation is unlikely to solve the conflicts inherent in credit rating agencies, particularly when it comes to sovereign debt. “The more government has power and is meddling with rating agencies, the more the rating agencies will be browbeaten into giving a generous rating to the sovereign,” Mallaby said.

‘The best way to counter the monopolistic power of the Big Three, he argued, is for investors to stop giving their ratings so much weight. “The reason why the subprime bubble could happen, or the reason why the European sovereign debt crisis can happen is, largely, that very blind investors bought bonds relying on ratings, and [didn’t do] their own homework about what the real credit risk was in the bonds,” said Mallaby.’

Stop pandering to these rating agencies. They do not represent the interests of ordinary Malaysians.

Link

No comments: