Short but Rich in Meaning

For everything you have lost, you have gained something else.
and for everything you have gained, you have lost something else.

Possible Rationale Behind Welfare State

When A has higher utility from private consumption than B, then A wishes to raise B's utility. By contrast, when A has lower utility from private consumption than B, then A wishes to lower B's utility. Is this why there's populist move towards welfare state?

Is WFP Redundant?

I attended the World Food Programme (WFP) talk last week to understand more about its mission and vision. WFP is one of the largest NGO that provides food aid to people all around the world, particularly Africa. Despite its high profile, it is ironic to find that many countries are not willing to support its cause. One of the main reasons, I am guessing, is that WFP’s mission is analogous to giving fishes to poor and able people rather than teaching them how to fish. In other words, its mission does not make its targeted population self-sufficient/ self-sustainable in the long run. Worse, it may make turn them into a bunch of lazy people who are heavily reliant on external help for survival.

I personally share the views of these countries. And I think we should be contented to find that there’s another UN agency, Food and Agriculture Organization that looks into teaching these people to be self-supporting. However, does this mean that there’s no longer any role for WFP in this world? Well, not really.

We have to understand that it takes time for the measures put in place by Food and Agriculture Organization to yield some results. During the period between implementation and outcome, we still need to provide food to these people and no other agencies can do the job better than WFP.

In addition, we have to consider situations such as natural disasters, wars, etc where the only viable option is to provide direct food aid to the victims.

A Quote on Balance

"There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness." - Carl Jung

Carl Jung was an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology called Jungian psychology. As shown by the above quote, he liked to emphasize the importance of balance and harmony.

Wagamama and Green Teas

I had lunch with a friend at Wagamama last Saturday. We were amused to find that Wagamama charges for water but gives green tea for free. Given that one just need to turn the tap to obtain drinking water but need to add green tea powder to hot water to obtain green tea, we believe that Wagamama should do the exact opposite (i.e. charges for green tea but gives water for free). We tried to come up with several theories to explain the reason behind Wagamama’s practices. Here’s 2 of them:

1)The demand for water is way much higher than that for green tea in London. It thus makes perfect sense to charge for something that has high demand and provide something with low demand for free.

2)All Wagamama staffs probably drink green tea to quench their thirst while working. Since Wagamama has to provide green tea to its staff, it might as well extend it to the customers for free. Afterall, what is the problem of producing slightly more green tea?

If any of you have more plausible reasons, do share them here.

China's Role in Fighting Piracy

Due to its business model, piracy is like an infectious disease that can never be eradicated. Whenever companies implement new mechanisms to prevent piracy, it will not be long before someone comes up with a way to overcome them. Governments from around the world have also been doing their part in fighting piracy but to no avail. Does this mean we have no other options but to give up our fight?

Well, not really. Although the pirates are always able to stay one step ahead of us, this does not that the fight is over. There are still many things that we can explore to reduce if not stop piracy. And when it comes to government action, I believe no government can have a greater impact on the pirates than the Chinese government.

There are several reasons for me to make this statement. Firstly, the sheer size of China’s population means that the firm actions taken by the Chinese government on piracy can effectively starve the pirates of 1.2 billion customers. Skeptics may say that a large percentage of China’s population is still living below the poverty line and therefore should not be considered as potential customers. I don’t agree with this argument because here, we are talking about goods whose prices are so cheap that it is affordable even to the poorest segment of the Chinese society.

Secondly, piracy in China has evolved to such an extent that it gives the downloader of music/movies the impression that what he/she is doing is perfectly legal. By this, I mean that you can easily find and download music/movies from well-known websites. The excellent interface even allows one to sample the music first before downloading, to look for lyrics and even create a playlist of their favorite songs. Frankly speaking, I do not think there are many legal music/movies providers with such impressive and user-friendly interface.

Thirdly, China’s rising political and economic clout means that the number of people learning Chinese language is increasing rapidly. Consequently, the number of people that are capable of finding and accessing those pirated contents will also rise.

It is ironic and probably beyond the dreams of many artists, actors, actresses and directors that they have to depend on the Chinese for their very survival one day.

My Take on Obama's Copenhagen Trip

There has been a big hoo-ha on Obama’s trip to Copenhagen to do his bit for Chicago. Personally, I think that he should not have made the trip because of 2 main reasons:

1) It is a well-known fact that the Games have never been staged in South America and since Brazil is one of the participating countries for the 2016 Games bid, it is highly likely that Brazil would win the bid. Since that’s the case, the President’s trip to Copenhagen would not only be futile but would also waste taxpayers’ money (not to mention the contribution of the flight to the carbon output which he has been fighting to reduce all these while.)

2) There are many things in Washington that needs his attention. The healthcare issue is obviously one of them. Going to Copenhagen at such a crucial time would only give his opponents more ammunition to be used against him. As expected, many of them have started to say that this is indeed the behaviour of a President who doesn’t know how to prioritize.