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Showing posts from July, 2020

Lakshmi Mittal was the third in the list of wealthiest people in the world in 2005, however he has fallen to the 91st position in 2019. What caused a significant reduction in his wealth?

Lakshmi Mittal is the product of the wave of Globalization that started around 1970’s. To answer your question i need to give you some background. The major powers decided that another World war would be too destructive for the world economy and steps had to be taken to integrate the developing world into the developed world. This was especially important as people could see the effects of Nuclear weapons that had been used in Japan During WW2. It was obvious another WW would lead to end of life on this planet. It was becoming obvious that we could either live as half slaves or equals and both things were not possible together. So began the process of Liberalization of the world. Western Germany invited Engineers from the developing world (This is how the foundation of Turkish Diaspora in Germany was laid) USA introduced mass migration from the non White world for the first time as equals instead of as slaves on a large enough scale. The laws banning marriage between Europeans and non

Foreign trade of the Soviet Union

Soviet foreign trade played only a minor role in the Soviet economy. In 1985, for example, exports and imports each accounted for only 4 percent of the Soviet gross national product. The Soviet Union maintained this low level because it could draw upon a large energy and raw material base, and because it historically had pursued a policy of self-sufficiency. Other foreign economic activity included economic aid programs, which primarily benefited the less developed Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) countries of Cuba, Mongolia, and Vietnam. The Soviet Union conducted the bulk of its foreign economic activities with communist countries, particularly those of Eastern Europe. In 1988 Soviet trade with socialist countries amounted to 62 percent of total Soviet foreign trade. Between 1965 and 1988, trade with the Third World made up a steady 10 to 15 percent of the Soviet Union's foreign trade. Trade with the industrialized West, especially the United States, fluctua

Is it a good idea to appoint Bollywood stars as tourism brand ambassadors for countries? Rich folks usually don't care, and middle class/poor can’t afford them. What is the point in wooing commoners in India through them?

 It depends on the production house, the kind of audience the movie is made for and the kind of following an actor has. Large production house usually make movies either for NRI audience or for the rich. When you are buying a cinema ticket for Rs 500, you are more likely to go on a foreign holiday than to a local tourism destination. Then again a movie cannot get a business of 500 crores by running only on OTT platforms though a movie made on a small budget would very comfortably get back all the money invested in it even if for example now when Cinemas are not opening due to Covid19. People said TV would end the Theater industry. It did not, They said VHS and Cd’s would end the Theater industry, They did not, Now they are saying OTT platforms would end theaters, They won’t, What they would do is open up market for a particular kind of production houses. For example today sitting at home, you can shoot a movie on your Phone and upload it on YouTube and if it is liked, it may get a mill