Mega Ponzi Scheme ...

I was reading an article recently where the author while acknowledging that the US was in terrible financial shape, was quite confused on how the country got into this mess.

Its quite simple really - The US, and most other countries, in the last few years started operating like a giant ponzi scheme with new borrowing servicing old commitments. The entire world, and not just Madoff is guilty.

Satyam's SOS ....

I am sure you know everything that there is to know about the Satyam fiasco.

I was thinking about this earlier today and I think the following folks can't pull Satyam out of this abyss and execute a turn-around:

Not Ram Mynampati (no pedigree), Azim Premji nor Narayanamurthy (not enough energy).

There is one person who would be perfect: Vivek Paul.

ex-Vice Chairman, Wipro
Currently, Partner, Texas Pacific Group (Private Equity)

This is one move that would solve almost every issue:

• Strong leadership - Paul's experience at GE Medical Systems and Wipro (where he was the principle driver in their growth from 250 MM to 1 Billion)
• Energy/Focus - Paul is said to be able to do in 8 hours what Ashok Soota and other ex-colleagues at Wipro took 20 hours to do
• Access to funds - Texas Pacific Group (his current employer) has the deep pockets to provide liquidity
• Pedigree - This would provide a great level of confidence amongst Satyam clients
• His ambitions - It is said that he left Wipro because Premji brought his son onboard and this would prevent him from being a true CEO. This would be a great way for him to become CEO of a business that he knows in and out
• GE - One of Satyam's biggest clients is GE and Paul's ex-boss at GE Medical, Jeff Immelt is now GE's CEO - This should help in retaining and even growing the GE relationship

There are probably many other reasons why this makes sense. Mr. Paul, are you listening?