Archive for 'All Postings' Category
Frustrated of France
28 August 2010This a copy of a Comment I put on a Baseline Scenario blog today where James Kwak describes his trials and tribulations with Verizon when trying to move his phone and DSL service from one house to another. http://baselinescenario.com/2010/08/18/more-telecom-hell You should consider yourself lucky that you don’t have to deal with Orange and France Telecom [...]
Devaluing the yuan
25 March 2010Continuing with Thursday’s China theme, SocGen’s Albert Edwards has been looking at the emergence of a trade deficit in the People’s Republic and the implications. The backstory here is the recent, surprise announcement from Premier Wen Jiabao and Commerce Secretary Chen Deming that China would record a trade deficit in March – the first since [...]
Our White Collar Nation
5 January 2010When I first read this article from The Stone I was amused by its simplistic view of the world. Clicking on the “trenchant observations” link below partly confirmed my assumptions:-) However, I guess many would agree with the general theme. So, other than Wall Street kleptomania and a dysfunctional government, what went wrong? Is the [...]
Class Warfare American Style
5 January 2010Jesse (aka Arthur Cutten) on learning of the recent GSE bailouts from Matt Taibbi on the criminal nature of the US financial services community. Hilarious rant, close to the truth or has Arthur spent too much time in a less class divided Europe? Extract: For me the basic dynamic of the mortgage bubble is some [...]
Tea Parties: Joke of the Week, or Pathetic Excuse for Party Management?
17 April 2009In the days of Karl Rove, when the Bush adminstration was earning its now-undeniable title as the Worst President in History, it made sense to do all kinds of goofy things that would harm the domestic and global economy, as long as it gained approval from the base. “Serve the base,” seemed to be Karl’s [...]
An Open Letter to the Board of Directors
13 April 2009An Open Letter to the Board of Directors Last week, I gave a keynote talk at the CRIM Crystal Ball Conference in Montreal, and the speech seemed to be really well received. I had decided ahead of time that the best way to talk about today’s problems was to have a frank conversation about how [...]
Project Inkwell Comes to Mexico
5 October 2008One of the very positive results of our last Future in Review Conference www.futureinreview.com was an invitation from well-known Mexican business leader Ricardo Salinas-Pliego to come and visit the school, Plantel Azteca, he has funded through his Fundacion Azteca for the last decade. My son and I had a chance to visit this amazing school, [...]
BP’s Russian Adventure
7 August 2008I haven’t written about British Petroleum’s current and future experiences in Russia, mostly because – it’s so sad, and so predictable. Perhaps it’s also because I happen to be a shareholder, which means it bothers me on a personal level, and because I’m so fed up with the Putin/Stalin thread and Putin’s obvious puppet. And, [...]