#it's THESE specific people who have already proven they are corrupt and incompetent

[wewringmagicfromtheordinary]

#it's so quaint to me that ppl think the accords mean all those countries will come to just and safe decisions#and that america won't just continue to be the bully in the room making everyone else do what they want#LOLOL just adorable!#and this insistence that steve represents what america is:#no. that's what you're ASSUMING cuz you saw the spangly colours on hs outfit & turned your brain off#what he ACTUALLY represents is telling america off when it does wrong by setting a better example#(ie. dismantling its intelligence apparatus because it's corrupt and fascistic)#steve is the most anti american imperialism but ppl are too dense to see through a costume#for them aesthetics = ethics#so whereas tony is the poster child for americans going abroad unsanctioned to blow shit up#(complete with cool rock soundtrack!!)#the fact that he wears band t-shirts means HE must be rebel right??#until the lemurian star steve's foreign missions are all above-board US sanction (none of this unilateral interventionism ppl hallucinate)#and then post-hydra are chasing after hydra... cleaning up america's imperialist mess#(which none of these self-identified responsible nations in the accords are bothering to do??)#also ppls arguments about the accords always conveniently ignore the ALIENS COMING OUT OF THE SKY#and the fact that we SAW what global decision-making looked like and it was a nuke dropping on manhattan#the whole of civil war's script is a fucking mess tbh via amarriagetrueminds

groovycrusadeperson:

Yes the guy called Captain America has political implications. He’s supposed to represent certain universal values and is deliberately and consistently set up in opposition to the United States of America which has always tried to claim some kind of monopoly over those values…

In Civil War, Steve’s the one claiming a monopoly over “certain universal values”. He’s the one making unilateral decisions to employ lethal force to uphold his understanding of those values. Joe Russo has explicitly called this a kind of imperalism. 

You may disagree on the semantics. But whatever you choose to call it, Steve’s unaccountable use of power to intervene with lethal force on foreign soil is explicitly intended to parallel the actions of unaccountable state superpowers.

[sunriseverse]

chapter two of my megatronus fights god au is done!

TITLE: got what’s coming to me RATING: T PAIRING(S): eventual Megatronus/Orion Pax SUMMARY: Most days, Megatronus’ opponents are normal, run of the mill lower-caste mechs. Today, unfortunately, is not one of those days—in fact, her opponent turns out to be about as far from normal as it’s possible to get, and now she has the responsibility of all of Cybertron resting on her shoulders.

Or: The one where Megatronus fights Primus without knowing it, and the Creator pulls the equivalent of tagging her as “it”, except the game is life, and being “it” means being God of Cybertron.

-

For a moment, Primus’ form hovers in the air without speaking. The audience has gone deathly silent, as if trying to avoid the attention of a swarm of scraplets, but Megatronus can see hints of shock and curiosity in the tilt of their helms and the shifting of their optical ridges.

Then, voice somehow both large and small at the same time, he says, “Megatronus of Kaon. You have proven yourself to be a worthy protector of Cybertron and her people in defeating my constructed form.”

Megatronus stares at him. There isn’t really an appropriate answer to this. She tries to formulate a response; once, twice, three times, and fails all of them. Thankfully, Primus doesn’t take offence. “This means,” he says, “that you are now Cybertron’s rightful Champion.”

That starts her out of her stupor. “I’m what?” she says, half-strangled, shot through with disbelief. “I don’t think you can just—just—do that. What about—you already have a body ruling Cybertron, as corrupt and inefficient as they are.” That garners a smattering of chatter among the watching mechs, but Megatronus ignores them. “You can’t just tell me I’m—what, your new choice of Prime?”

“On that, you’re wrong,” Primus says, horrifically cheerfully. “As Primus the Creator, it is within my purview to appoint a new leader of Cybertron. Over the many vorns that have passed since my creation of Cybertron and its people, I’ve watched, as you said, corruption and incompetence creep into the governing bodies. I’ve watched a free society turn to casteism and functionism, relegating the majority to the lowest of them, and use it as an excuse for the lack of attention given to their rights and the improvement of the situation. And, finally, I gathered enough strength to waken for a brief time and seek a Champion who would lead Cybertron from darkness back into light—a god in living metal.”

“They’ll never accept a pitfighter,” Megatronus says, an uncontrollable laugh bubbling in her vocaliser. “You should have chosen someone else—someone of a higher caste, who at least would have stood a chance of doing what you wish them to.”

Primus frowns, the expression cracking the serene mask that had been settled across his faceplates for the first time since appearing. “You were chosen specifically because you know the condition of the lower castes,” he says. “An upper caste mech would not be able to create effective solutions simply because they reside in a position that allows them ignorance of how most of the others in their society fare. And,” he adds, “I doubt that they’ll be able to argue with this.”

And, suddenly, without warning, there’s another flash of blue, this time smaller. When it clears, a small relic hangs in the air, pulsing slightly with pale light—but, despite its small size, instantly recognisable: the Matrix of Leadership. Gasps sweep the crowd, and Megatronus’ own optics widen, and she instinctively takes a step back, afraid, somehow, that she’ll taint it.

The relic floats forward in time with her retreat. “This is your destiny,” Primus says. “Every choice you’ve made, every time you’ve spoken of a vision of equality for your people has lead to this. Accept your new position, Megatronus of Kaon, and use it to better the world around you.”

Megatronus hesitates for a bare second, before she nods. “I accept,” she says, hoping her voice doesn’t feel as static filled as it seems to her, and carefully sends a command to the plates on her chest to slide apart. It takes an embarrassing amount of effort—she’s never actually done it before, the prospect of baring her spark an anethama and a revulsion, but this—this is for the betterment of her people, and for them, she’ll suffer the discomfort.

It slides into her chest like it was made to fit there, and, for a klik, she can’t feel anything except the pulse of its warmth, washing across her neural net like a cube of fine highgrade, but better; and with it, a thousand flickers of memories flutter through her processor, shelving themselves for latter perusal.

When the sensation passes, her chestplates clicking back into place, Primus is beaming, the smile beatific and humbling. Megtronus isn’t the most religious of mechs, not like those of the Primal Temple who follow scripture and tradition, but it does mean something to her, and this—this feels like sanctification, the way her senses expand and the satisfaction of her Creator rushing over her.

Then, without warning, Primus says, “Ah, my window of time is drawing to a close. I should warn you—tradition dictates a consort for the Champion of Cybertron, to advise and ensure they do not stray off the path of service towards their people. Not, I’m afraid, optional in nature—where exists a Champion, so too must exist a consort.”

And with that, the blue flickers out, and the visage of the Creator is gone just as abruptly as it came.

The stands, which had, before, been mostly quiet, descend into chaos, the crowd surging forward and battering down the barriers between the arena and the audience’s seating, rushing towards her; every one of them wanting to get close, to speak to or press servos, reverent, demanding, angry, against her frame.

Megatronus reels under the onslaught. Her senses feel like they’ve been boosted to maximal capacity and then some, and she can practically sense the thoughts running through the processors of the mechs around her with how loudly their fields are shouting—anger, excitement, rage, joy, mingling together into a helmachingly intense slurry.

Just as they reach her, someone begins to push through the crowd, parting it around them, and, bare kliks later, a femme Megatronus only knows by glimpses of her on official releases from the High Council appears—Vigor, head of the Primal Guard, her large frame, painted in gleaming shades of blue, standing out in the crowd and instantly garnering wariness from those around her. Behind her, three more members of the Guard stand, keeping the crowd at bay.

“Megatronus,” Vigor says, words short and clipped, accent slightly off of proper Iaconian. “You’ll be coming with us to the Primal Palace.” Her tone brooks no argument, and even if Megtronus wanted to, she’s painfully aware that, even with her own modified frame and cycles of pitfighting experience and the longest holder of the Championship of the Pit, she’s outnumbered four to one by the most highly trained mechs on Cybertron.

She presses her dermas together; hesitates for a brief klik, and then steps towards the larger femme.

[mondartmusen]

Uro actually did mirror them, that's the point of their ideals clash and it's why Arturia realizes what Kiritsugu's been through. She thinks she understands him by the end of it even if she can't forgive him, it's why she's shocked at the end of Zero and remarks that if she couldn't even understand the other knights how could she have thought that she understood Kiritsugu. Hope this doesn't come off badly or anything, if it did my apologies

No worries, no worries! I understand what you’re trying to say. Continued under the cut caUSE LONG AND MANY MANY WORDS!!!

So, I guess my problem with that is the fact that Urobutchi tends to take Kiritsugu’s side of things a lot- You know, at least, a lot moreso than he does Artoria’s. Fate/Zero is kind of just. Artoria Bullying. Like to the extent that so much of it is just dedicated to relentlessly punishing Artoria that it undermines the fact that Urobutchi mirrors them. Kiritsugu doesn’t leave Fate/Zero unscarred, don’t get me wrong, but the fact they’re so adamant about punishing Artoria for her ideals that the fact Kiritsugu and Artoria are mirrors often gets lost. Because everyone, everyone, tells Artoria she is wrong. The whole narrative practically bends over backwards to say “LOOK AT HOW WRONG AND CHILDISH KING ARTHUR IS!! SHE’S. SO. WRONG.” Kiritsugu tells her she’s wrong. Rider talks down to her at nearly EVERY opportunity. Lancelot’s entire...’Character’ in Zero is more or less written expressly to do this. Gilgamesh is. I mean, He’s Gilgamesh. Even Diarmuid ends up cursing her, though that one’s a bit more tenuous in it’s connection.So, that’s not to say the narrative doesn’t chastise Kiritsugu’s ideals, but it does so WAAAAAAYYYYY less. Like, SO MUCH LESS. Of course, he does get royally mindfucked in the confrontation with the Angra Mainyu, but let’s look at the way this is framed.Kiritsugu is very often framed by the show (and I focus on the show as I’ve yet to read the lns), as the protagonist, and is often shown to be extremely effective. He is made out to be competent and very strong. He isn’t the sole strongest Master in the War (that’s probably Kirei or Kayneth), but he’s proven to be more than capable by the fact he did more or less end up as the fourth Grail War’s winner. His methods, up until the end, are framed as WORKING. They inflict ridiculous pain on him and other people- But up until the Angra Mainyu comes to him, he is coded by the narrative as being ‘right’, in a utilitarian sense. Irisviel, who is undeniably framed as a main character and protagonist, supports him almost entirely, and while there’s a suggestion of her coming to be somewhat disillusioned with Kiritsugu, this is undercut in her later scenes still being totally supportive of him. The one scenario when Kiritsugu is called out is significant, yes- But. It’s being told to him by Angra Mainyu. He’s being called out by ALL THE WORLD’S EVILS. He’s being called out by a spirit of malice and hate, wearing his dead wife’s form to emotionally manipulate him. Angra Mainyu is, in this case, RIGHT, about Kiritsugu’s methodology being wrong and paradoxical, yes- But Angra Mainyu is also explicitly intent on corrupting his ideals into a method that would cause him and others as much pain as possible. It’s intentions are to be malignant. It’s intentions are nothing but suspicious, and shady. We’re not seeing Kiritsugu being called out by a neutral, objective force- He’s being called out by evil embodied, because embodied wants him to just go with his selfish wish so it can be birthed into the world and cause as much destruction as possible. And Kiritsugu’s method of rejecting the Angra Mainyu is doing what HE ALWAYS DOES, BY GOING AGAINST WHAT WOULD, THEORETICALLY, MAKE HIM HAPPY AND DESTROYING THE HAPPY ILLUSION HE’S PRESENTED WITH.And so, if he’s rejecting happiness, offered by the Shady As Fuck All The World’s Evil, with his normal method of ‘The Greater Good, No Matter What’, is that not kind of a tacit endorsement of his ideal?? Like, he kind of. DOES save the world. Not in the way he means, but I mean- In a sense, he prevents the greater tragedy by doing what he was already DOING. Like, yes, in the end, he’s fucked over- But the world is still turning. Everyone is still alive. Shirou got saved. He gets a little bit more than what Artoria does. He gets to keep living, and even though he’s lost so much, he still gets something. He’s still got someone on his side. He’s got Shirou.Compare this to Artoria, who gets talked down to even indirectly by Irisviel. Irisviel doesn’t call her out directly, no, but she does repeat Kiritsugu’s rhetoric in the beginning of thinking it was wrong force the burden of Kingship onto Artoria. Now, she’s not questioning Artie’s competency directly, but the fact that even Irisviel, our show’s BEACON of positivity and support ends up casting some aspersions on Artoria ability says a lot about how much Fate/Zero goes out of it’s way to frame her as wrong. Then, there’s Gilgamesh. I mean he’s not trustworthy, but he’s certainly framed as competent, and the show is never genuinely dismissive of his attitude, because his nihilism and hedonism, alongside Kirei’s, ends up coming out on top in terms of “people who came out happy with the results of the Fourth Grail War”. Next is Rider, who, after Irisviel, is one of the most thoroughly positive and energetic characters in the show. And he is not only framed as excessively competent- He is. He’s Alexander the Great, and he doesn’t regret anything. He is everything short of an explicit protagonist, because while he might disregard laws and conventions, he’s shown to be GOOD. He is strong, and capable and GOOD. He is effective. And what does he do? He puts down Artoria constantly. Constantly. He goes so far as to call her a child, a little girl. He says explicitly he does not think of Artoria as a King, and that she should have some girlish maiden-like life. And I’m sorry, I love you, Rider, but fuck off?? Just. JUst fuck?? off??? fUCK OFF?? FUCK OFF UROBUTCHI.And then there’s Lancelot, and hIS PURPOSE IS TO MAKE ARTORIA FEEL BAD. Like, her third or so most loyal Knight has become a fucking lunatic madman monster because of her. Like the narrative very specifically makes it out that his Berserker state is because of her. It is her fault, for being inhuman and unapproachable that has driven Lancelot into a state of complete insanity. Lancelot, one of her most esteemed and valued companions, has turned on her because of how she ruled.And then she has to kill him, and then dies for ten years, forced to wallow in her own sadness and agony and misery in more-or-less-purgatory for ten years without any guarantee she’d actually ever have another shot of saving anyone, much less her Kingdom.

And I’m not saying it’s wrong to be critical of Artoria, but the extents to which Urobutchi goes for condemning her ideals and painting her as childish, foolhardy and incompetent are not the same extents to which he does Kiritsugu’s. He is much, much harder on Artoria than he is on Kerry. It’s hard to say they’re mirrors when Urobutchi is so extremely dedicated to saying “Saber. Is. Wrong. She’s Wrong. She’s Wrong And Dumb And Childish. And She Should Feel So Bad About Being Wrong That She Wants to STOP EXISTING.”

[the-fisherman-messenger-blog]

Azeroth Defense Council Forgets to Defend Home City

By Fisherman Swaffman

Like most articles I write these days, it’s with a grave heart I write this article. Perhaps after I open everyone’s eyes to this hard truth I’ll finally hang up my pen, go back to strictly fishing. Before we begin on the serious topic, I’d just like to alert everyone that Orruk is not dead. Some Goblins off the coast of Highmountain caught a glimpse of him before he darted away to avoid losing trace of his recent hunt. Now that’s out of the way, let us begin. 

As we all know, I’ve become somewhat of a respected member of society to some, while others view me as a little annoying runt. First off, if you’re one of the latter and you’re reading this, I resent that. Second off, as a general member of society it is my duty to see to its betterment. That is why I’ve often attended such meetings as the House of Nobles, the ADC, and a completely corrupt court case.  *Editor’s Note: If you have not read about the completely corrupt court case, you should go find it. I’m sure Orruk left some copies around Stormwind. 

Recently, the ADC has fallen onto some hard times. Don’t believe me? Just read this little snip from the Royal Courier and then tell me I’m wrong.

You see, after much of the original leadership of the organization left, the new leaders of the Alliance Defense Council have decided that claiming the defense of the Alliance isn’t enough. They have to be all of Azeroth’s defense council, which is honestly a cruel joke. While that’d be fine and dandy to claim the defense of all of Azeroth, the only problem is that there’s no Horde representatives on the council. How can the council claim the title of Azeroth Defense Council if they’re only representing a small portion of its people? Even before they claimed the title of Azeroth Defense Council, when they were solely the Alliance’s defenders they still didn’t account for all races of the Alliance. Most consisted of humans, with an occasional dwarf, draenei, and elf. Now, today, their leadership is mostly human, yet they’re the defense council of our whole world. 

One of the worst parts of this council is the fact that the leaders stationed on the Council aren’t even world leaders. Never has the Council of Three Hammers attender, nor has Anduin or Tyrande. Now, with the inclusion of Azeroth as a whole, I fully expect them to invite the Banshee queen to our doorstep so she can raise our dead for her unholy army. 

I wouldn’t even be writing about this topic, considering it’s just a bunch of human nobles pretending to be in power once more, but the problem is that a “reputable” news source is promoting them. That’s where the problem here lies, the Royal Courier is feeding its incompetent readers false stories about the authority of this power grabbing council. The next think you know they’ll be reporting on how my paper has been banned and I’ve been thrown into the Stockades. I wish I could end the story there, but there’s even more to feel sorry about.

The above is part of the same “Azeroth Defense Council” article posted above, this time the ADC pledging its support to the Stormwind city guard to help clean its streets up. A noble goal, considering the shit pile that’s been building up for months. If you have no idea what shit pile I’m talking about, go read one of my older articles. I’d take a moment to inform you, but I don’t believe I can handle that kind of horror right now. One would hope that the ADC got off their asses and truly did aid the incompetent guards in cleaning the streets up, as stated above, but let me shed some light onto what’s really been going on. 

*Editors Note: If you haven’t already, also go find the old article posted about the guard’s mishaps. That may help some confused readers on what they’re about to read.

The above is a picture of the Royal Courier’s recent article on a mishap that occurred recently in the Alliance’s Crown City, Stormwind. Odd, earlier the ADC pledged the guard their support, yet now a -KNOWN CRIMINAL- entered the city with -HIS FOLLOWERS-. Huh, you’d think that a competent city guard would be able to spot a known criminal, and even if that was hard they’d be able to think something fishy was about when they notice a man being followed by a group. Not only that, but the -COMMANDER- of the guard broke protocol, which is for more than one guard to respond to an alert, and took on a -KNOWN CRIMINAL- and his -FOLLOWERS- by himself. Hmm. . Odd that a man who’s supposed to be the commander of the city guard can’t even realize that taking on a group of criminals by himself is quite possible one of the dumbest decisions he could make. Why, I might even go as far to say that the only dumber decision would be letting a known necromancer walk away alive. 

Before anyone sends in any letters asking, the above statement is not a joke fabricated by me to help prove my point, this is a real article and real statement made by the guard Commander. Just as I stated before, the Royal Courier has decided to put the idiotic Commander on a pedestal for all to glorify for an idiotic decision. I believe they meant to say “Commander Aldenhardt foolishly took on three of the group single-handily. He miraculously managed to harm two of the cultists before a third made the smart decision and attacked the commander. They all fled, clearly done with their crucifixion and torment of the poor Commander.” That would make sense. Alas, I find nothing in this doomed world makes sense anymore. 

Anyways, back onto the subject: The guard Commander has now broken protocol twice yet he is still in command. I ask that we rise up and demand that a new Commander be chosen and the old one thrown into the Stockades for collaboration with necromancers and criminals. His current solution is to ask the known criminal, Demetrius Devereaux, to just turn himself in. I’d like to note that this criminal is known for many unmentionable crimes, and has been convicted by the courts before. The man somehow broke out of the Stockades, under the command of Commander Aldenhardt, and now runs free. How can we continue with our day to day lives knowing that this criminal roams the streets while the Commander is solving the issue by asking nicely? 

Not only has Commander Aldenhardt proven time and again that he’s a complete failure, the ADC supposedly “pledged their support” and the city has only gotten worse! Is the ADC working with Devereaux? Or is the ADC actually a puppet of the Burning Legion, seeking to throw Stormwind into chaos? Perhaps it is Commander Aldenhardt who is a minion of the Old Gods and would rather watch everyone die as our world is slowly corrupted? Where is Orruk in our time of need? Will this city ever make sense? Have the guards, nobles, and ADC taken the Royal Courier hostage so they will only write about their specific plots in order to advance their own agendas? All these questions and more to be answered the moment I cease hating this world.

((All of this should be taken IC as the paper is an IC article, in absolutely no way should this be taken into OOC)) 

@the-royal-courier @houseofnobles-wra @official-adc-wra @percy-aldenhardt @demetrius-devereaux @the-house-of-crows

[supervidyavinay]

Ajit Dayal, Founder, Quantum Advisor, is back in circulation. Though he left Quantum Mutual Fund three years ago, Dayal continues to be the face of the fund house for its most loyal investors. Shivani Bazaz of ETMutualFunds.com caught up with Dayal to find out his thoughts on a wide range of issues from the current pandemic to the future of value investing. Edited interview.We spoke to you last when you were leaving Quantum Mutual Fund almost three years ago. How have you been? What keeps you busy these days?Barring trying to avoid COVID-19, I have been well – and busy. While the succession plan had been put in place prior to my resignation from the Boards of the Sponsor and Quantum AMC in August 2017, there was still a residual hand holding that took up some of my time in the following year. In October 2018, I was drawn back to help Quantum in the efforts that we had started on converting our Integrity screen in our investing process to a full-fledged ESG-integrated approach. We had started building teams in 2014 for ESG and I spent some time over the past year on ensuring this process was completed. So, I have retired in one sense – but I let the passion drive me and direct my involvement with Quantum Mutual Funds and the Sponsor. You still seem to travel a lot, especially abroad. Is there anything left of the India Story abroad?I spend my time travelling to educate people on the reality of India and asking them not to get caught up in undue optimism or pessimism. The BRIC fairy tale penned by Goldman, Sachs hurt India because it numbed Indian policy-makers into believing that India would rise to some Super Power status because some overpaid economists with little Indian knowledge mandated so on their spreadsheets! By the time of the Great Financial Swindle and the collapse of Lehman in September 2008, the India story was in danger because of the UPA government’s focus on growth at any cost – including questionable and possibly corrupt deals, as has been seen in many court verdicts. The Modi win in May 2014 was seen by many as a re-set and an opportunity for the realization of the Great India Dream. Sadly, the Modi government has proved and shown its inexperience and incompetence when dealing with economic matters. Their mastery over winning elections and toppling state governments is well established and proven. However, while that may allow a consolidation of social power and a dominance of religious beliefs – it does not feed the stomachs or the aspirations of the poor and the middle class. The disastrous demonetisation of November 2016, not only aborted the trajectory of an economy that was about to take off after a great kharif crop in 2016, but rolled back the clock on gains made by small businesses and farmers by adding to their debt levels due to a frozen, cashless economy. The GST is, in my view a fundamentally flawed policy authored by the Congress and, sadly, adopted by the BJP. Furthermore, the penchant for issuing one circular a week for two years to explain GST highlights the lack of understanding by the policy makers of the reality of business and also adds heft to my basic premise that GST is a flawed policy because it hurts the smaller companies and limits the flexibility of every state to create its own business plan. Given the distortions that exist in the reality and perception of India – either bullish or bearish – my travels will continue, subject to COVID!Indian economy was already passing through a very bad phase when the pandemic hit the country. How do you view the current situation?Clearly, the Demonetisation of 2016, the GST of 2017, the collapse of IL&FS of 2018 and the continued support by the political class of the real estate sector – which supports zombie ghost buildings and prevents markets from functioning - has led to a sharp slowdown in the Indian economy and a near-freeze of the banking system for over 2 years. The unexpected COVID has hit a death-blow to India from a social and economic perspective. Rather than stepping in to send the patient to the ICU, the central government is busy spending money on a new Parliament complex and, in Mumbai, the state and municipal government is spending 100x more on a coastal road being built for 50,000 cars rather than hospital beds which are needed for millions. The mutual fund industry got a Rs 50,000 crore bailout from the RBI within 48 hours of the Franklin Templeton debacle and has access to bank loans. The migrant workers are still finding and self-funding their way back to their villages and the Atmannirbhar is now a fancy word for a more blunt “you are on your own – the government has deserted you” state of mind. In a recent article I pointed out that less than 5% of companies may have cash to pay salaries for 6 months – by the time you add interest payments and other fixed costs, companies will not have the ability to survive this unnecessarily long lockdown. Basically, the lockdown was a failure of the central government to plan and the states that have done well are those with better local governments. Maharashtra and Gujarat were failed models and Karnataka and Kerala, to name a few, had successful plans. Multinationals looking to relocate to India will be haunted by the images of the migrant workers and of the bungling by certain states, including the failure of the Gujarat model and the confusion of the Maharashtra government. When an MNC is trying to de-risk its supply chain, it will not seek another risky host state!The government’s stimulus package seems to have disappointed almost everyone. How do you rate the government's efforts to revive the economy?The government remains clueless on policy. While its citizens are dying, it is worrying about fiscal deficits. The government has now evolved a class partition within migrants. The more successful migrants like fund managers get a bail out, some migrants may sit at home and raise thousands of crores in rights issues supported by government agencies and public money, the less successful get to walk 600 km to reach their villages and can audition for a TV series on Survival. Indian industrialists continue to give their standard “8 on 10” for every useless policy from any government. The only thing that will work now is a direct transfer of 4% of GDP or Rs 9 lakh crore - sending Rs 10,000 per month for 6 months to 150 million households in India. We need to rescue the largest and most distressed people in our society. The BJP government has done a fantastic job of accelerating the programmes started by the UPA: MNREGA and the Jan Dhan accounts. Now is the time to activate this facility and use it as a safety net for society. Keep in mind that 4% of GDP given to the poor will lead to consumption – that will boost the recovery of the economy, of society, and mitigate the human tragedy to some extent. Having LIC subscribe to a rights issue of Reliance or a Bharti does not help the economy – it helps those specific companies and their shareholders.The great Indian middle class is facing serious threat due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A lot of job cuts and pay cuts are threatening the very existence of the middle class. Will it further dent the consumption story?Since 2009, a sample of 180 listed companies sourced from Equitymaster had profits of Rs 29 trillion (Rs 29 lakh crore) and paid out 63% of that as dividends of Rs 18 trillion. If they had kept aside a 20% reserve pool – for bad times such as a drought year or a COVID pandemic – they would have had internal reserves to pay salaries for up to 4 months without seeking alms from the government. The certainty of the salary cheque for middle class and lower class India would have been a huge morale booster and allowed a quick recovery from urban India. In the 1980s I criticized corporate India for being inefficient and sleepy and helped import the concepts of financial discipline and efficiency that came along with the fund flows from foreign portfolio investors. Alas, today, we live in the era of companies focused on quarterly profits and maximizing shareholder value and suppressing their duty to look after the human capital that actually makes the company profitable. With the exception of the glorified CEO and senior managers who are paid too much money. An economy is only as strong as the depth and breadth of the middle class and aspiring lower classes. COVID has shown how we have little respect for this backbone of future prosperity.Even their investments are not in great shape. Debt mutual funds have completely betrayed the trust of investors. First, it was a series of downgrades and defaults, now a mutual fund just shut its debt schemes to tide over a difficult situation. Many mutual fund investors have started saying mutual funds sahi nahi hai. As an outspoken critic of the industry, what is your take on the industry?I could write – and probably should write – a book on how the mutual fund industry has become the prime example of a great idea gone wrong. Conceptually, the mutual fund is a great way for most people to invest their savings in the financial markets. Sadly, SEBI uses capital requirements as a filter to separate the crooked from the good. And look where we are. In 2005 investors were mis-sold the BRIC story and the damage to their portfolios after 2008, caused investors to shy away from mutual funds until Prime Minister Modi brought a renewed sense of vigour to the Indian economy. Though the economic promise was not delivered, the confidence and faith saw more inflows into mutual funds in the past 5 years than in the previous 22 years. All this means is that, sadly, the CEOs and Star Fund Managers of many mutual fund houses rubbed their hands in glee and sold more toxic products to gullible investors. Franklin Templeton is not the only fund house that took wild bets to earn more returns so that they could gather more assets. Look at the facts sheets of the top fund houses in January 2020 and see the games they were playing with investors’ money to gather more assets. It is scandalous and shameful. SEBI should cancel the licenses of these Asset Gathering fund houses. They have proven themselves to be unfit and improper to manage retail money. Let them use their PMS licenses to gamble with the more sophisticated or aware HNI money if they wish. Mutual fund is a sahi vehicle - but investors have to realise that many of these branded fund houses are cowboys shooting from the hip.Many equity mutual fund investors, including seasoned investors, are struggling to make sense of the stock market that is increasingly driven by excess global liquidity. You are lucky if your fund manager is adventurous enough to pay the extra high price for the stocks. How does a value investor like you see the situation?The foundation of my investment experience is built on the “value” style of investment as taught to me by Tom Hansberger, who was a partner of the legendary Sir John Templeton. Over the past 5 years, value has become less relevant as a style of investing. In the US, the technology stocks dominate market movements. In India 3 stocks (HDFC, HDFC Bank, Reliance) accounted for 66% of the gains in the BSE-30 Index between May 2014 till the market peak in January 2020. So it is a concentrated market movement. Knowing that “value investing” may fall out of favour in a changing world we had built the Quantum Equity Fund of Funds which captures styles from large cap to small cap to growth as a complementary to the Quantum Long Term Equity Value Fund. We have, for years, been suggesting that investors allocate their equity across styles by investing 80% in the other styles and 20% in the value style for a blended and smoother return. This formula has worked and I hope people did – and will – try it! The Value Fund was the first fund we launched because that is what we knew well – and then we built teams to identify and build solutions around other styles of investment and other asset classes. Today, with just 8 funds, you can use a building block Lego-style to create a financial solution to match your needs, keeping the Value fund as one portion of your allocation bucket.The underperformance of Quantum Long Term Equity Fund has been a cause of concern for many value investors. Do you think value investing has lost its relevance in the current market scenario? In fact, most value funds have been languishing at the bottom in the last few years. And many investors believe we are again going to see liquidity chasing a few select stocks. Please comment.Value as a style of investing is struggling – worldwide. I see that helping in the near term but the long term benefits of an allocation only to a value fund remains in doubt. After COVID, many companies will be in trouble as they may not have strong balance sheets. So the Value stocks should, generally, have more cash and less debt and have a better chance of survival. After that survival is known and when the economy picks up steam - maybe in the middle of 2021 - then the debate is whether the similar Top 3 stocks will account for 66% of the gains in the future. One needs to recognize that these styles of investment are all like pathways to the divine. There are varied levels of risk in a small cap, mid cap, growth or value approach but they seek the same objective: returns. Personally, I have a blended portfolio with the Equity Fund of Funds and the Value Fund and suggest that investors should consider that.Be sensible, be safe, and be diversified. This was the advice you had given to ETMutualFunds.com readers in the last interview. (Read: We have done all that we said we would do) Does the advice remain the same?Yes, the returns you seek is not an end in itself, made in isolation. The returns an investor seeks is an objective to achieve a future goal. No one has any idea which asset class will do well in a one, three or five year period. Therefore, you must have your safe money in liquid funds, your money for future needs in equity funds and your insurance in gold savings funds. Quantum MF has built these simple solutions methodically, brick by brick. My savings are housed there! from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3hAIvUa