My favourite Google define result for Karma: “Known also as the law of cause and effect or the law of retribution-karma is the principle that every action, good or evil, will eventually return to impact a person’s life.”

So there it is like we all know; action and reaction; cause and effect; every good and bad turn will produce another; bla bla bla. Anyway, my interest lies not in the definition of karma but rather in its manifestation. Yeah, what goes around surely comes around but with accrued benefits calculated over the number years it has taken karma to catch up with you! Look at this way, a good turn usually brings about a better turn over time and vice versa. Therefore I am proposing that we have 2 types of karma – instant and delayed – with emphasis on negative karma only.

Instant karma comes around quickly enough and cause-effect ratio should be approximately 1:1. For example you cheat on your girlfriend today and a few months later after you have turned a new leaf she does the same (fair enough).
On the other hand delayed karma is never in a hurry but it hits you when you think you are off the hook. The cause-effect ratio looks something like (3x-1):1. Where x = effect – cause (in years) and is not less than 1.
Example – you take advantage of a young girl today; 20 years later someone impregnates your 15 year old daughter and she doesn’t even know his real name! So, when you’ve done wrong and you know it, remember that you are better off the sooner your actions catch up with you lest you become subject to the equation above.

PS: I have been also thinking of the idea of “induced karma – a concept of manipulating the gap between action and reaction to achieve a better CE ratio”.