It's sad that this came down to a personal feud. Let me quickly try to respond to some of the accusations and then maybe we can move toward something constructive. I recommend those who are not interested in this rather pointless quarrel to please skip three paragraphs. Again, the reason i said i am not an economist was to admit my lack of proper grasp on the issues. I can say with confidence that if i had not mentioned i was not an economist and had just given my views... there would be an army of educated economists who would pounce on me for "advertising" my flawed views. So what do want Mr Karma.. someone like me, with little knowledge of classroom economics, should never dare to say anything in public? how can you blame me for being honest about what i don't know? What am i trying to prove? what am i advertising? since when is NOT knowing things a thing of pride? You don't even know who i really am. I'm sure no one here does. same goes for you. I don't know who you are and i don't care either. Trust me when i say this, i am not here to prove anything about myself. And i still fail to see how anyone can "prove" anything in an anonymous forum. now come on.. i have a TENDENCY to reduce discussions to a farce by my BRAND of humor polls? How many times have you seen me do this? The reason i posted that poll was, (i'm sorry i'm going to repeat myself in the same thread again) i didn't get why people were not replying. Honestly. I had tried talking about globalization and Nepal in the past here. this was when nepal was planning on signing in with WTO. I wanted to know if people knew what the impact would be and if anyone was fighing it. But no one seemed to care then. Now i am back and have similar questions and no one seems to care. I honestly wanted to know if people thought i was sounding like a broken record. Look at the other options.. Yes, maybe the manner in which it was presented was not "classy" as you would perceive it. i am sorry for my unrefined ways. But hey, thanks to the poll, this thread, which was being pushed down the bottomless memory hole of Kurakani, is still surviving and some people think it is actually informative. And your last paragraph just hurts. and again, i am not being sarcastic or whatver. This anonymous forum is not an ego trip for me. trust me when i say this that i have better things to do than pretend to be concerned about my country to a bunch of strangers who do not know my real name. I am still looking forward to your input as you seem to know more about it than i do.. (aaah.. hate to repeat but i am not being sarcastic.. really). yes i did come down a little harsh in my last post mainly because you took my words of honesty and turned them into trying to make me look like a moron who is scared to have a steadfast stance. But i have explained my reasons for having the disclaimer and i hope you understand. In short, i am admitting my ignorance, i want to learn and maybe we can educate one another here. But i should still be able to say what i think is the truth, right? ooook... "bumbum" I am glad that this banter is actually getting some attention and helping us understand this complicated idea called free trade. I am glad people who do not understand all the intricacies of free trade are now interested in it (2nd or 3rd category in my silly poll). And we should be. Nepal is in and we don't know much about its implications in our future. I have my fears for free trade mainly because of the state of countries like Argentina, Jamaica, Indonesia etc etc. Governments in these countries opened doors to investors that put profit before people which is a scary idea. As far as preparation from nepali govt goes, I think it was necessary, to ensure a secure future for the local establishments, traditional farmers etc etc, that the government protect them and strengthen them before putting them face to face in a competition with multinational companies. Nepal might have a pretty good potential of benefitting from free trade but we are very vulnerable and during times of conflict, it is very easy to overlook what is happening in that end. i think it is the responsibility of the educated population to watch what is happening to our country as we can't really tust these leaders of ours. ok that's enough for one night.