The UN Represents The Governments Of The World. May A "Bell Of Atri" Represent The People Of The World? (Part 67)
"Deadlock persists between FBR, CMOs over blocking of 0.5m SIMs" - Geo News (May 8, 2024)
To summarize: Undeterred by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) rejection of the Federal Board Of Revenue (FBR) directive to block the SIMs of 506,671 Pakistani "tax evaders", FBR Chairman Malik A.Z. Tiwana called for a 3-day conference with the representatives of all Cellular Service Providers operating in Pakistan, with the aim of bypassing PTA Chairman Maj. Gen. [r] Hafeez ur Rehman & convincing the companies to fulfil FBR directives...which has reportedly failed so far, given that the companies are extremely apprehensive of the detrimental effects of customer lawsuits on their (local & global) market share.
These are trying times for current & former FBR officials. For instance, take the 2 separate Track & Trace System inquiries; the first, conducted under the supervision of former Secretary Tariq Bajwa (in early April 2024), found loopholes & recommended solutions; the second, conducted under the supervision of current Secretary Imdadullah Bosal (in late April 2024), found some former & current officers outrightly guilty, e.g. former FBR Chairman Mr. Javed Ghani, former FBR Chairman Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq & former T&T System Project Director Mr. Tariq Hussain Sheikh (who are reportedly set to face departmental proceedings), & former Member Inland Revenue (Operations) Mr. Qaiser Iqbal & current FBR Chairman Mr. Malik Amjed Zubair Tiwana (who were also found to be responsible for the situation, but against whom no action was recommended)...which raise 5 legal questions:
1-A. If the Bajwa Report does not stand legally voided, is the Bosal Revision automatically void ab initio?
1-B. What (if any) steps did the Bosal Revision take to ensure that all the accused parties had been provided with a legally-adequate opportunity to clear their names?
1-C. Do those current &/or former officers who were suspended but not found culpable by the Bosal Revision, have the option to sue the responsible parties?
1-D. Did the Bosal Revision recommendation to penalize some "guilty" parties while pardoning others cite a previous similar Supreme Court move to investigate Lt. Gen. [r] Faiz Hameed & Brig. [r] Irfan Ramay, while letting Brig. [r] Faisal Marwat, Brig. [r] Tahir Wafai & former Supreme Court Registrar Arbab Arif go free (in the Justice [r] S. Siddiqui case)?
1-E. Is it at all possible that, his intense relief over escaping any penalty in the T&T System Inquiries, so sapped FBR Chairman Tiwana's ability to resist questionable orders, that he has decided to go the distance with the IMF's SIM blockage project, regardless of how many other Pakistani departmental heads he offends or how many human rights he violates?
The next conundrum that comes to mind revolves around the motives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) & the World Bank Group (WBG) for pushing for large-scale SIM blockage in Pakistan. Viewed from an Economics perspective, the first principle to appear relevant is the Supplemental Goods/Services Theory, which posits that should a popular good/service suddenly become unavailable, customers will immediately fall back upon the next most preferable item. As to the IMF/WBG SIM blockage project, aside from the obvious tax extortion factor, could the IMF have another market scheme in mind, e.g.:
2-A. Given that, despite the popularity of cellular services, telephonic services are still quite appreciated all over the world, is it possible that suddenly & illegally blocking the SIMs of over half a million Pakistanis will trigger a wave of insecurity across the entire telecommunication subscriber population who will lunge for (far costlier) landline services? If so, such a commercial development could constitute a great boon for the telephonic service subscriptions of (currently floundering) international telecommunication companies, e.g. AT&T or Lumen Technologies (the share prices of which have been in free fall since the last 5 years).
领英推荐
2-B. Further, should the illegal implementation of the SIM blockage project go through, & successfully bring about a spike in demand for landline services, & in view of the fact that there are regions in Pakistan that don't offer functional telephonic connectivity during an electricity shutdown (e.g. Hayatabad, Peshawar), could the demand for functional telephones bring a spike in demand for household UPS systems? If so, the aforementioned demand spike would be a blessing for international UPS manufacturers, e.g. General Electric & Mitsubishi Electric (who are taking quite a beating in the recession-ridden US stock market these days).
2-C. Given that - on average - a UPS must be charged for double the time it is expected to run, could a spike in UPS usage bring about a delightfully-huge (for the IMF & WBG) spike in domestic electricity consumer bills?
"Warren Buffett Sits On The Sidelines With $189 Billion In Cash: 4 Ways To Put Your Cash To Work If You're Following Suit" - Yahoo (May 7, 2024)
To summarize: In a move that could be a bad omen for the artificial intelligence industry & the American film industry, Berkshire Hathaway has sold a huge amount of shares it held in (American film company) Paramount Global & (AI enthusiast) Apple Inc. While BH acknowledges that the aforementioned massive divestment caused a significant financial loss, the divestment is protection against the deepening economic crisis plaguing Wall Street. As of right now, BH intends investing the US$ ~200 billion in cash from these sales, in US Government Bonds & similar financial instruments.
Contrary to the opinions of starry-eyed journalists, Warren never really possessed any "oracular" powers; all he & Charlie ever did was follow market gossip. Undoubtedly a good policy, but not new or psychic. While AI has already been proved an unworthy investment (Movies - then why are the Taurus Awards still honoring human stuntpeople? Music - then why is Anna Indiana described as "creepy & disturbing"?).
The shocking revelation is about the decline & fall of American film production companies; Paramount is second only to Disney in terms of being a global entertainment company. Further, it has 6 films confirmed for a 2025 release (The Smurf Movie, Novocaine, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part II, The Naked Gun, Vicious, The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants), of which Mission Impossible is slated to be one of the box office blockbusters for 2025.
If the production company for a Tom Cruise movie can't hold on to its institutional investors...what lies ahead for Universal Pictures & Lionsgate Films? The Universal / Lionsgate / Ziffren Brittenham project - the supposed biopic of Michael Jackson - has a budget of US$ ~150 million; estimates of its worldwide revenue haul range from US$ 350 million to US$ 1 billion; a margin that unrealistically huge implies that neither Ziffren Brittenham nor Universal nor Lionsgate are genuinely pushing forward for the money, but for other reasons. Said reasons could possibly be noble, e.g. 15 years after Michael was murdered, the relatives who became his blood enemies as soon as he declared that (for the first time) he had personally chosen his wife, the law firm that illegally took over his wealth after his death, the US movie & music industry that hated him all his life for being a major US entertainment sector investor & the media who committed repeated slander & libel crimes against him due to a bad case of jealousy, could have suddenly discovered that they truly love his personality.
However, the dismal signs that the "Biopic" is unlikely to even break even, bring up another question: Could Ziffren Brittenham LLP senior partner John Branca's expensive legal & financial incompetence have triggered solvency concerns? Take the instructive story of film industry financial fraud, as depicted in the 1967 Oscar winner (& 2001 Broadway musical comedy) "The Producers":
Financially-depleted producer Max Bialystock, who was once a Broadway celebrity, now trades sexual favors with old ladies to stave off bankruptcy...until one day, Max's new accountant Leo Bloom, offhandedly muses that should Max find investors for a production that "unexpectedly" flopped, he could legally keep all the extra money. Inspired by this idea, the duo sets out to produce the worst play they possibly could, titled "Springtime for Hitler", with a horrifically-inept director & a loathsomely-incompetent cast.
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle