845) Got Money ... Got Life?!

Run after Money .... spend your whole youth piling it up ... over work, sacrifice time, relations, and anything to have more of it ..... why??! ... To enjoy your life when you are older and cant work ..... GIVE ME A BREAK.

Money is like drugs, it just gives an instant feeling of euphoria and owning the world, but no matter how much you have or get, you will always need more and your whole life will revolve around it. Do you think that keeping on possessing things will make you happy? Do you really think that if you own a yacht, a plane, 10 cars, ...etc will make you happy? ... I guess not, it will make you more worried about maintaining them and getting better ones. I'd rather earn enough money that makes me able to spend a week in a luxurious place twice a year than owning and worrying about it for the rest of the year.

This doesn't mean I hate making money, of course NOT. What I hate is making it a goal not a result. I work to make a difference, feel satisfied, and when I do that right, I should get money; sometimes a lot (Corporate), sometimes few (Academic), and sometimes none (Social Responsibility Work). But it only appears in my short term goals to maintain functioning properly, while life-time goals have no trace of it.

What really makes me happy is seeing a positive difference happening with people whether I took part in it or not. What makes me happy is seeing a talent recognized, an effort appreciated, and a passion respected. What makes me happy is freedom, justice, simplicity, and above all LOVE. This is a long lasting happiness money can't afford it.

Why do you lead a PENDING life running after a mirage while you can actually live it to the max with you already have? 

M.O.H.@.L.Y

810) The Economy Drag & "3agalet el Entag" !

One of the things that frustrates me the most when meeting people and discussing the Egyptian Revolution is the famous sentence: "You - revolts- ruined our economy".. It has become a cliche to the extent that people started believing and acting upon it.

I wonder how great was the Egyptian Economy during the past 30 years! Let me ask some questions may be I am fooled and the "Angles" in SCAF are right:

- What is the average income for Egyptian Employees before & after Revolution?
- What is the ratio between executives and employees salaries before and after Revolution?
- What is the real unemployment rate in the Egyptian Market before & after Revolution?
- What is the relation between the prices and salaries before and after the Revolution?
- What is the collected percentage of taxes required by Billionaires vs. Employees before and after Revolution?
- Who is responsible for not containing the security vacuum that in turn affect investments and tourism?
- Who is responsible for not taking any serious steps towards getting back the stolen money in and outside Egypt?
- Who is scaring investors with their statements about burning Egypt and civil war?
- Who is the one who has an open budget that directly takes its feed from Egypt resources and is refusing to even discuss it?
- Who owns all the Egyptian uninhabited lands, and how can they play a role in getting it down to its real prices? (unless they are happy with the current ones).
- Who is still adopting the same economic strategies and still borrowing billions keeping the next governments trapped?
- Who spent 200 Million pounds on a useless referendum and 1 Billion on a puppet Shura council?
- Who is prolonging the Transitional period that in turn extends the status quo.?

Answer these questions first, and then talk to me about "3agalet el Entag!".

Mohaly

745) Khamsa We Khemesa !

Ladies and Gents, Please welcome the new "Shelen". A "5 pounds" coin has been issued. Watch out and dont get confused with other coins, and I advise to go and buy a small purse to carry on all the 1/4. 1/2. 1. and 5 ... wa may khafeya kan a3zam... 

Ya tara "menu el khamsa" hayfedal bekhamsa!

Mohaly

721) Arabs Money .... Down the Drain !!

Arabs should be entitled for the World Records in consumption, with distinction regarding how silly the fields of consumption are. I will just be mentioning selected numbers from the non-periodical reports of Arab World Consumptions, and briefly commenting..although sometimes I feel that there is no comment, but I will leave that to you to decide...

Outcome of monthly cellular SMS messages that appear on the bar at the bottom of the screen of Arab satellite channels in the downlink convergence (8) million dollars! 

The cost of producing video clips of Arab songs is (16) billion dollars per year! 

Total annual income of domestic servants is Arab (35) billion dollars ! or approximately (3) billion dollars a month!! 

Total spending by the Arab Women on beauty products in a single year is (2) billion dollars (1.5 billion share of Gulf women!

Total spending by all the Arab countries on scientific research is (1.7) billion dollars annually, representing (0.3%) only of the gross national product. 

For comparison: in France, 2.7%, Sweden 2.9%, Japan 3% (ie, 10 times as much Arab countries combined), In Israel, 4.7% according to figures from UNESCO for the year 2004)!

The number of illiterates in the Arab world is more than the (100) million,  this means that one of every 3 Arabs can not read or write!!!  And for those who spend their money on books: The average number of books read by an American per year (11) books, and European (7) Books, The Arab in a single year does not exceed a quarter page 

!!!!!!!

P.S. Thank God that the report did not mention how much do Arabs spend on prostitutes and sex escorts.

Mohaly

688) Are you Rich enough?!

I have lately been exposed to extreme differences in salaries scales where I know people (Employees in Cairo) who earn 50K per month, and others of the same age and years of experience who don't exceed 4 or 5K. The weird thing that both of them don't consider themselves rich although of one of them is earning 10 times the other.

That brought me to the following question:
How to know if you are rich or not?
Is it by the amount of money your earn, or the amount of money you spend, or if you have supportive friends, and family, or is it a state of mind regardless of what you own?

Are you rich enough?
Mohaly

626) Beyoncé ... Beyoncé !!

Last weekend there was a huge party for the American superstar Beyoncé in Marsa Allam. Many people who don't even know or have seen here were trying to stop this party for moral reasons, there was even a fatwa that "Beyoncé is 7aram" but that is not the issue of this post (was already discussed in a previous one).

The issue is that Beyoncé fees was $1,500,000 for 90 mins; ya3ne about $16,600 per minute; ya3nee about $270 per second.

So by the time you have read this post, and had a glimpse at her photo in the party, the 28 years old star has made about $10000 (make it $20000 if you stared at the picture ;)

Kol Beyoncé wentom Taybeen,

Mohaly

571) How much is "Too Much"?!

How much money is enough?

How much money can make people satified and not worried?

What can someone do with 20 billion that he can't do with 10 billion?

Is the answer: "Infinity"?

Then it is pointless! as you will never reach your goal and be a slave for your "wants" rather than "needs" ...

very confusing... how much is "too much"?

Mohaly

444) Standard of Living in Egypt......We ba3den?

El denya ba2et ghalia awy! Begad, prces are going crazy!! Egypt used to be a cheap or even moderate place, now it is really getting expensive. Try eating out in a fast food restaurant, you will pay about 10 dollars, go for a real restaurant you will pay around 30 dollars, go to a fancy one, then not less than 100 dollars.

Same thing for clothes, car stuff, entertainment,....etc. I spent the last 10 days alone, and had to buy every single thing, and realized that it is becoming harder and harder to JUST KEEP within the standards I am used to, ya3nee the goal now became to MAINTAIN, where DEVELOP is kind of a luxury with such dramatic increases!

Goodbye to the Single House Dream!

Mohaly
P.S> Still believing that we gonna be better, just don't ask me how!

390) Community Satisfaction!

I was thinking about the equality of people and how hard it is to find someone who has everything all the time. Even the socio-economic classes are based on what? income, education, life style.. but what about happiness, satisfaction, love... isn't satisfaction the ultimate goal for each of us.

We need money to be able to fulfil our current and future needs...in order to be satisfied
We need education to be capable of playing a role in life (whether selfish or contributing to the society)... in order to be satisfied.
We need to build relations to give and get love in order to be satisfied.
What if you have this satisfaction, and you are down the socio-economic classification? doesn't that mean that you are up the ladder of life in general?!!

I wanna say that whatever criteria you classify people upon, the end overall result shoull be equal. We just sometimes focus on one aspect and start building our whole perception and communication upon ; e.g Rich & Poor, Educated & Illiterate, Moltazim & not Moltazim ( that one really provokes me).

At the end, for the community to be satified, we all need each other no matter how different they are, coz even different is a relative word as it means something today "different" that what it will mean for the same person tomorrow.

Mohaly

389) Moh@ly Weekly- E10!

Mubarak Picture Down: Although I don't approve many things that is happening in Egypt, but I was really sad to see Egyptians in Mahala do what Iraqis did with Saddam exactly 5 years ago. Frankly, I got scared when I saw this video on You Tube. Rabena Youstor. http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=dGFUAsjTtx4

Arab Actors: This decision by the Head of Actors Syndicate (Ashraf Zaki) regarding that the Arab actors should act in only 1 drama production/year is non-sense and unfair. Since when do we care about that nationality of the actor...in Arts it is not about who you are as much as about what creation do you get out and contribute...and this contribution is at the end of the day part of the Egyptian heritage (like Farid, Sabah, Naboulsi,.....etc movies).

Useless Money: I really don't know how these heroes of government employees can survive the month.... suddenly I feel that the minimum unit is 50 LE, any where I go even for coffee and water I pay 50 pounds...If I eat it jumps to almost 100 pounds...if eating and drinking are now forcing themselves as part of the upper class budget, what would the middle and lower classes do? We have to do something to save our fellow citizens at least to ensure that they have the basic food and drink guaranteed or else.....

Moh@ly

373) M.o.h.@.l.y.i.c.s Weekly! (Eps. 5)

American Elections: I think that if Clinton and Obama didn't team up at this stage as President-Vice, there will be a great possibility for another republican idiot to become the president and keep the Bush ideology running.

Sawiris: As I said here 1 year ago, this man knows how to succeed.. he is the 60th richest man on earth now with a 70,000,000,000 LE fortune (ma-shaa-Allah) and steadily heading to top 20!

Weather: I really became confused about the weather in Egypt, one day it is raining and 6 degrees, the other day it is hot like hell and 36 degrees in shadow! i.e. 7ar geddan sayfan, 7ar we bard ma baed shetaa2an!! El wa7ed maba2ash 3aref yelbesh eih!

Moh@ly

356) The Zero Pound-Note!!

I have read about this Idea in India, an NGO called FPI set up to fight corruption has printed over 200,000 zero-denomination notes that resemble Indian currency and has begun distributing them around the country. It is asking people to give the notes to anyone demanding a bribe. This is their promo:

"Imagine that you are going to a government office to get some paper cleared or some certificate and the lazy guy out there refuse to give you the stuff as promised and ask you to come back in another few days, weeks or months. You know that he expects you to pay bribe and you really don’t know what to do. So how would you handle such a situation? You want to yell at him, but you don’t know how to express your anger. Here is a solution: The Zero rupee-note."

Do you think it can work in Egypt, or since the pound is already of Zero value, it doesn't matter much.

Mohaly

350) 7ena Maysara ... Ya khofee 3aleeki ya Masr!

I went to see 7eena Maysara last Monday after what I read and heard about it. It is a real reflection of the crisis and miserable situation that about 20% of the Egyptian population suffer from that directly and indirectly lead to un-employment, ignorance, addiction, adultery, homosexuality, homeless children, and terrorism.“Hena Maysara” paints a nightmarish, and completely credible, picture of low class in Egypt.

The film plot is mainly around Adel, a mechanic who struggles to support his mother, nieces and nephews left behind by absent brother and killed sister, meets Nahed who has fled abuse at the hands of her stepfather in Banha. Nahed becomes pregnant. Adel, who is already struggling to make ends meet, rejects the child because of poverty and the two go their separate ways. The rest of the film follows the separate and mostly tormented & regret lives of Nahed, Adel and their son, Ayman.

It is a WELL DONE movie expect for couple of scenes that were over, and the non-convincing part of turning a well educated kid into a street kid just because his adopted parents left him. The scenario, directing, shooting, set, music, costumes, were great. The acting was an Oscar level! all of them especially Amr Saad, Hala Fakher, Somaya El Khasbab, and the incredibly funny Amr Abdel Gelil. The one shot of Khaled Saleh reminded me of waiting for the Godot, as both of them were waited for throughout the plots.

These people shouldn't exist in the society. But because of the appearnece of the exteremely rich (that shouldnt be there too) who gained such incredible amounts of money on the expense of these poor people, the appearance of such exteremly poor is a counter act. And if the society wouldnt do something about both, we will face a social BOMB soon.

Mohaly



"There is nothing particularly original about either "Maysara’s" characters (impoverished young men, mothers forced by circumstance to seek work abroad), or its themes (poverty, violence and abuse). What sets this film apart is the way it humanizes its protagonists, ensuring that they are not reduced to clichéd stereotypes. Sara Carr in Daily News.

316) USD Up, USD Down, Prices are always Up!

Do you remember the 80s movie "Tegebha Keda, Tegelha Keda, Heya Keda"?!

When the UDS vs. EGP increases, every single commodity increases (even beta3et el gargeer than is cultivated here!). In 2007, and specially in the last couple of months the USD lost almost 10% of its value and still everything is getting more and more expensive? Tab Ezay?!!

Mohaly

262) Islamic Banking....Is it a big Myth?!

I don't like people who manipulate others and use their need to benefit while selling them the same thing in a different name....I'd categorize cigarettes and Islamic divisions in banks in the same category of fooling people and selling them something else that they advertise or claim...

From sources inside the admin of Islamic banks, the money of the Islamic division and other divisions end up all to the same destination whether investment in projects or loans. It just have a different front end for marketing purpose and attracting more segments from the market to increase their market share and profitability.

And if it is really an Islamic division, why do we allow other non-Islamic transactions and legalize it!! My opinion....it is a big myth!

P.S. I am not against something being Islamic, but against fooling people.

Mohaly

251) The Closed Loop!

Back from Qatar at last...

Guys, if you think Cairo is hot in summer, be my guest and try Qatar!!

Midnight and you still cant open the window....i stayed the WHOLE week in the room!!! Even if I went out there is nothing to do except 3 malls without extra-ordinary outlets or landmarks...

As my friends living there say it is all about the money... "In Qatar, El Felous zayy el Matar"...
Imagine the fresh Qatari graduate takes at least 7 times the fresh (AUC) graduate in Egypt!

Anyway when I met my friends who are living there, there was always this discussion about should we stay in Egypt and develop it or should we leave till it is better, and if we left how will it be better without the good people who left...it is a closed loop that needs to be broken!!

Mohaly

216) Work for Money!

What is the amount of money that if you won, you can confidently say: I don't wanna work for money anymore?

Mohaly

131) 200 Egyptian Pounds (bardo 10 dinar kuwati!)

The New 200 LE released this week..

and the 500 LE to come...

Haneb2a a3'neya! rabena yostor 3al inflation.

Mohaly

122) Don't Get Fooled

I got this email today, please don't get fooled with such CUSTOMIZED mails, kol da habal!

Dear Mohamed Aly,
My name is Mr. Chan Lee, I work with BANK OF CHINA, Hong Kong,have a Business Proposal for you. Our late client named Mr. Hamadi Hashem made a fixed deposit amount of US$17.3m he did not declare any next of kin in any of his paper work, I want you as a foreigner to stand as the beneficiary to transfer this funds out of my bank into your account, after the successful transfer, we shall share in the ratio of 30% for you and 70% for me.
All I need from you is your readiness, trustworthiness and dedication. I need to know if you will be able to handle this with me before I explain to you in details. Should you be interested please send me the required information below;
(1) Full Names
(2) Current Residential Address and Telephone number
I will want you to reach me on my private e-mail : (chan04lee@yahoo.com.hk). Finally after that I shall provide you with more information.
Regards,
Chan Lee

The Wrong money with the Wrong people in the Wrong place!

16-3-2007: More than $205 million was found in a house in the capital Mexico City, along with guns and drugs!!

P.S> the largest amount of money I have ever seen!

Mohaly