There has been a number of vocal Americans who think that this whole outsourcing business is taking away jobs from them and giving it to people in other countries.

I wonder what they’ll think of the news that an Indian company is now hiring Americans.

Wipro, Ltd., one of the largest software services provider in India, is planning to get the services of more workers in the US as a way of gaining more traction in the face of a rebounding technology market.

Wipro CEO and Chairman Azim Premji thinks that getting US employees will help his company gain more local orders and also gain more contracts from the federal government. This is significant given that the US provides the company with half of its yearly revenue.

Wipro plans to hire 500 employees for its new services center. The company declined to reveal where the new center will be located but it already has one center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Those vocal Americans must be thinking of another thing to complain about.

It looks like the world economy is beginning to arrest the slide caused by the recession — the worst slump the world economy has experienced in more than 60 years. And proof of it is in the increase in the demand of products. Shipping companies are experiencing profits that, frankly, not as bad as they had hoped. Funny though that at this point, most forecasts are still on recording losses and if a loss is not that bad then it is considered good news. It’s a concept that can be a bit hard to wrap your head around because we’ve been used to a robust economy.

Hopefully, we learn lessons from this recession and start becoming more aware of how everything is related economically. I know I’ll be more conscious about how I spend my money in the future. No more nights out everyday. Every other night will do, I guess.

European confidence in the economic outlook increased twice as much as economists forecast in August, a European Commission report showed today. The U.S. economy, the world’s biggest oil user, shrank less than expected in the second quarter, and France and Germany returned to growth in the same period.

I was watching the news today and thoroughly enjoying myself. What stuck with me though was the report given by the business correspondent regarding the performance of the stock market this week. According to the correspondent, trading in the last few days has been moving consistently sideways with nary an action because, as she pointed out, the fund managers and brokers in Europe are on vacation during the month of August. She said that bigger movements are usually expected during the fourth quarter.

I just find this amusing. With the world suffering from a global recession and with stock owners sweating buckets because of the uncertainty of these times, these brokers can still find the time to frolic in Europe’s hot vacation spots. Ibiza and St. Tropez, anyone? How they can actually relax with the financial fate of a lot of people lying in their hands I’ll never know. But I’m guessing copious amounts of alcohol may be involved.

The Cannes Film Festival has become synonymous with with the glitz, glitter and excess money that the movie industry has been known for.

But this year, it looks like Cannes is also going through its own belt tightening measures to reflect the crisis that has cast a pall on the world economy. It’s safe to say that the business of entertainment is tiptoeing through this crisis just like other businesses.

Advance bookings for the film festival shows that there is a 15 percent drop in attendance. What this means is that there will be far fewer distributors on the lookout for films to buy and far fewer investors who would want to put their money on a movie — stocks in trade of the whole Cannes festival.

Things have become so surreal that Steven Spielberg is practically panhandling looking for investors for the now independent Dreamworks Studios, one of the more successful movie companies in Hollywood. Just the thought of Spielberg — arguably the most successful director in Hollywood history — begging for spare million dollars from investors sends shivers up my spine.

Because of the still bleak economic outlook, Hollywood is now adapting by lowering film budgets, down to 20 percent in some cases. This could mean Michael Bay may have to limit the cars he destroys in his next action movie from 60 to just 50 — the horror! But more alarming though is that there may be movies that may not see the light of day because the projected returns may not just be worth it. For this, the real losers are the art films and the independents that already make do with minuscule budgets and non-mainstream appeal.

Art does suffer during an economic crisis.

Chrysler tries to beat total collapse by getting aid from the government in the form of $4 Billion dollars last January is again getting protection with the blessing of the White House by filing for bankruptcy. The globally charismatic President Obama whom people simply cannot get enough of carries a sense of something everywhere he goes, call it charisma or call it the change he is promoting in the government but many favor his style, well not all. There will always be detractors for as the eternal Continue reading »

From thousands of free pizzas to Lemon Cola baptisms, the world is truly an interesting yet weird place to live in. First on the block, In Oslo Norway, baptisms were turned odd when the city’s water supply pipes froze and the priests at a baptismal ceremony were forced to use Lemon Cola as their symbol for holy Water. According to the faith, any liquid can be used for baptism in the absence of H2O to serve as the symbolic water which was used to baptize Christ.
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The Economy is on the rocks and the American public is pissed off at the unreasonable AIG executives who have not yet returned their million dollar bonuses. Such is the anger of the people that opposition groups have been trying to organize tours of their properties to showcase their utter ignorance of the shape the economy is. From million dollar homes, yachts, cars and more, they have it all and are part of the tour should it push through. Continue reading »

WASHINGTON, DC — In an attempt to gain some credibility while explaining where $350 billion of the $700 billion banking bailout fund disappeared to, the Treasury Department (motto: “Thank you, sir, may I have another?”) is planning to purchase commercial time during the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast in front of what it hopes will be a large drunk-but-forgiving television viewing audience,

“I’m thinking frogs croaking out the words “Fred! Dee! Mooawk!” says Treasury Secretary Henry “Bud” Paulson. “Or maybe some pigeons flying over that bull statue on Wall Street and making deposits. Get it? Deposits? This is gonna be great!”

The 30-second ad during Super Bowl XLIII will cost $3 million, but NBC is expected to give the Treasury Department a discount in return for allowing the network to write off the entire 2008 prime time schedule as a loss. “They’re hurting for ad buyers this season,” said Paulson. “I’m not sure why.”

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben “Gentle” Bernanke doesn’t think the commercial should be funny. “We need to take the Apple approach,” says Bernanke. “A hot chick running across the floor of the New York Stock Exchange swinging a hammer than she throws at a giant safe where all the loot is hidden. Wait a minute … that’s not where it is, is it?”

Timothy Geithner, expected to be President-elect Obama’s Treasury Secretary, thinks he should get to decide on the ad since the game is on February 1 when Obama will be in office. “I want chimpanzees dressed in suits to look like bankers,” says Geithner. “Or is the other way around better? And then they have to eat potato chips with Dan Quayle. Is he still alive?”

NBC has already alerted the public works departments in all major U.S. cities that the commercial will run at the end of the first quarter, so they can be prepared for the largest simultaneous mass flushing since the farting Clydesdale.