Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Boosting an economy?

"It (Japan) wants to make more money available to encourage banks to increase lending to business and individuals." Uh, duh. This is a classic stimulus move. We hope that increasing the money supply works for Japan's markets...How to decrease deflation with the increased strength of the yen against the weak dollar. Who knows, the authors of this article seem somewhat skeptical against the effectiveness of this announcement, as they consider the effect of government pressure rather than "a real move to support the economy"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8387754.stm

A Step in the Right Direction

Someone once told me, as long as you're moving forward in the right direction-it counts.

And that's what South Africa seems to be doing, by increasing anti-retrovirals for their HIV-infected population, despite the expensive costs. As an outside opinion-I'm proud of them for moving in the right direction, for taking a risk, for overhauling ineffective policy, and actually demonstrating a concern for their population.

Read more about it at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8388178.stm

Monday, November 23, 2009

What is wrong with people today?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/21/arizona.abuse.arrests/index.html

The complete psychological idiocy displayed by parents is disheartening. And yet, we wonder why children are broken today. This isn't just a crime in the United States, abuse and neglect are rampant everywhere. And the effects are lasting.

It's time for parents to grow up, act correctly, and if they do not-they absolutely do not deserve to participate in their children's lives. Parenting is a right and a responsibility. Parents do NOT have to right to emotionally abuse, physically abuse, or neglect their children. EVER. Perhaps we ought to put our "fmaily values" money where our mouths claim they are.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Why my reading drives me crazy.

Delightful statements from one of my more charming books on globalization and personalized pithy responses.

-The whole section on "exploitation of labour in developing countries"
-"There is a huge range of sophisticated products-pharmaceuticals, electronics, advanced machiniery, sophisticated aircraft and so forth-that only high-income countries can make". My sass filled retort follows: "Thank you for stating the obvious. However, it is the unequal distribution of such technology that stilts industrial growth."
-Equal care must be taken over the fashionable crusade for the elimination of child labor." Word choice Wolf, word choice.

Intelligent observations:
"It is unquestioningly correct that developing countries need to be allowed to use instruments which help them overcome the many obstacles of backwardness-the absence of knowledge of what to do-and how to do it-that is the essential characteristic of that backwardness. "
-"Developing countries are able to make the policy decisions needed to promote their long-term development." (Trade liberalization and what the WTO fails to do)


And then Stilgitz offers actual pragmatic ideas about development, outlining how to couple economic growth with infrastructure investment, education, health, and the human capital needed to make equity work for transforming a failed state into a growing state. Oh-and don't measure success by GDP.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

What is the journey of human development?

As I sit here, trying to do some reading in the comfort of the library, I realize how truly lucky I am. I have an amazing family who would hold up the earth for me. I have a safe place to sleep, food to eat, friends who love me, and healthy outlets for my emotions.

In COMPLETE contradiction, let us turn to "failed states", those with chaos, violence, poor water sanitation, sickness not health, the communities where life is uncertain and grim, with sexual assault, child abuse and exploitation, severe resource shortages. Does we pause to consider the psychological ramifications of being born into such depravity? When your life is not your own, because you've been born into a cycle of poverty-and cannot seem to muster the energy to create a new path? There are a million remedies for the human condition, but we are seemingly drawn to those policy prescriptions that don't always consider the importance of human spirit-and that's what community development and building is about.

What the IMF is not-a feel good organization. Economic liquidity into a bankrupt economy-how about some heart and soul restoration? Where are the people who inject a little love into a community ravaged by destitution?

We ought to consider where we are on our own personal journeys, the path laid out-but the destiny unbeknownst to us. Everyone can pull themselves through a difficult time-but when we get ourselves back together again-it's our responsibility to nurture another's spirit. We Americans have it easy.

Just because we don't have to live paycheck to paycheck still, nor consider if we are going to get enough to eat one day, doesn't mean we can as a society completely ignore the world around us. We have cyclical domestic poverty-but everywhere does. And it's the everywhere I urge us to consider. Everyone has a journey-but what we do with ours as we live temporarily on this earth must be thought about-beyond a simple payment of taxes or charitable donation.

I believe that our lives are threads woven together in a tapestry. What picture they make at the end of our lives, our generation's existence-that creation of legacy is up to us.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Dirty elections: To the rigger the spoils | The Economist

Dirty elections: To the rigger the spoils | The Economist

The study reveals many observations. Namely-rigging has an economic effect and nothing we do can stop it.

"So rigging makes the economy less important to a president’s future—a rejoinder to the Chinese claim that in developing countries “managed democracy” is better for growth than an electoral free-for-all."

This is quite an interesting conclusion..."And aid makes almost no difference. Even if outsiders are keeping the entire country afloat, their influence is patchy."

So does foreign aid matter in helping to promote democratic elections over rigged ones? Evidently not. So what on earth are we doing overseas with the "democratic freedom iniatives" if elections are going to be continuously rigged.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

How to respond to the Global Financial Crisis?

It is clear that the United States has sparked the 2008 global economic crisis, with severe impacts persisting despite international response. The past 12 months have forced the international economy to see the “deep interconnections that have come to exist between different areas of the world, especially those between Europe and the U.S.” (U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Why Europe Matters).

With the burst of our nation’s housing bubble, subprime mortgage crisis, and eventual financial system collapse had a contagion effect on the world. So, the question is “How as a nation of many businesses should respond, and prevent such a crisis from repeating again?” Should we continue to work with Europe, Mexico, Asia, Africa, and South America?

The American commercial ties with Europe have created a market for goods and services, domestic employment for European firms, generator of growth and income, and opportunity for investment. Our Europe-Eurasia team at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce “seeks to further trade and investment, remove regulatory barriers, and improve transatlantic regulations at all levels.” ((U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Why Europe Matters). Joseph Stilgitz argues that many of the ad hoc methods of crisis response have hurt the U.S and the global economy in the past.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recommends that we continue our international engagement specifically with regards to trade, foreign investment in the U.S., and U.S. investment overseas. However, we must continue to develop international trade given that “Ninety-seven percent of America's exporters are small businesses, not large, multinational corporations” (U.S. Chamber of Commerce). Importing “Keeps inflation low and expand the array of choices available for American families. Tariff reductions in the 1990s increased the typical family's purchasing power by as much as $2,000.” Do we seek to stabilize the purchasing power? Should foreign companies continue to invest in the U.S. marketplace? Yes. However, if our financial markets are not safe, these foreign companies will pull out. Joseph Stilgitz stated, “Unfettered financial markets do not work, and the current regulation and regulatory institutions failed — partly because one is not likely to get effective regulation when there are regulators who do not believe in regulation.”

Finally, U.S. investment overseas must continue, for the beneficial effects of sales to continue generating profits and create jobs. Despite the desire for protectionist trade policy, international engagement benefits extend across the world. Cooperation among governments and central banks around the world must continue. We want to encourage monetary easing, but careful evaluation of the potential fiscal stimulus. We believe that another “short-term stimulus could have serious longer-term effects on inflation and interest rates” (U.S. Chamber of Commerce). In a time of economic uncertainty, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce seeks to increase global engagement. Such engagement “has also improved the state of the world, promoting peaceful exchange and lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty through more open markets and trade-generated growth” (U.S. Chamber of Commerce).

What should we actually do about the crisis?

http://www.globalissues.org/article/768/global-financial-crisis#ReformingInternationalTradeandtheWTO


Anyone have an answer?

Monday, November 2, 2009

Who's to blame?

What the hell happened?” is what financial journalists Paul Muolo and Matthew Padilla seek to answer with their book, Chain of Blame: How Wall Street Caused the Mortgage and Credit Crisis. Opening with critiques of the many actors that caused the housing bubble expansion and ultimate burst, the book analyzes the multiple factors that caused the subprime industry meltdown and ultimate bank failure. Ultimately, the book’s chapters force readers to consider the “swarm of spectators, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and lenders” that inflated and burst our international economy.


Muolo and Padilla trace the history of housing markets, paying particular attention to the period of 2000-2007, with the increased influence of subprime lenders beginning to cooperate with Wall Street firms. Peter Cugno poignantly observes the investment bankers from New York buying up subprime loans left and right as he states, “That was the beginning of the end as I remember it-when they started to see the potential for them to get hip-deep in this biz and suck our some serious money. But their mistake was that to do that, they needed to no longer be someone who put other’s together-but to saddle up, own the lender, and take on some serious risk.”


Business Week points out that “Thanks to brokerage firms such as Friedman Billings Ramsey and later all the big Wall Street houses, the subprime business mushroomed into a multi-trillion dollar orgy of sketchy loans, securitizations and all manner of financial exotica that we now see collapsing all around us” (Business Week Analysis November 24, 2008).


Scattered throughout the meltdown story is the theme of risky loans. Wall Street’s loan pool creation, the exception based loans, and willingness to underwrite despite noncompliance with guidelines, forced the companies to turn a blind eye even when the grading of loans took a downturn (Muolo and Padilla). The authors weave a tale of privatization, risky Adjustable-rate mortgages, selfish actors, and much more.


The domestic connection to the international economic downswing is concisely summarized in Muolo and Padilla’s chapter, “We Buried (Some of) our Garbage Overseas”. The brokers who took on loans, buying them up vigilantly, failed to realize how they sparked a worldwide credit crisis with the sale of bundled mortgages to European and Asian investors. In particular, the “overseas banks and investors were now suffering because the subprime collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) they had purchased from Wall Street firms were now defaulting, causing huge losses” across the Atlantic.


Muolo and Padilla highlight the interconnected relationships within the maze of residential mortgage actors who failed to follow national trends, while purchasing, securitizing and selling risky loans at the sake of interest based profit. The story is one of American mess sparking “an economic worldwide contagion” with “American bond salespeople…pulling the trigger” when home prices dropped, foreclosures flooded the market, and the effects flowed through the financial system.

Monday, October 12, 2009

a slap in the face

Dear Members of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee,

Does President Obama really deserve your award?

Drumroll please....not yet he doesn't.

Sincerely,
Concerned citizen of the United States.

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14626903

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

BAE Systems: See you in court | The Economist

BAE Systems: See you in court The Economist

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What bad things have these defense contractors been up to again? Bribing officials again? I'd be interested to watch this unfold.

Moore again?

Business.view: When Moore means less The Economist

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Should I actually watch the movie or is Moore rapping the same verse again? If we live in a society where capitalism with a free market-at what point is the government taking on too much in bailing out the banks. Do they simply get a slap on the wrist? Should more punitive measures be taken?

Saturday, September 26, 2009

paternalism anyone?

Jacob Weisberg: "If, as evidence suggests, people aren't always rational economic actors, then it's reasonable toward better choices"

http://www.newsweek.com/id/215737 (I can't make the link work).

"The underlying left-right divide is about whether or not government should promote virtue, but rather about what kind of virtue it should promote...Both sides take pleasure in mildly persecuting those who fail to meet their civic ideals" Oh, the nature of political news analysts...

But, the next point about American politics is particularly interesting. "Because Democrats hold power at the moment, they face greater power of paternalistic overreaching. It would be wise for observe Sunstein's line. To exhort, nag, tax, and regulate people for the sake of diminishing purely self-destructive behavior is defensible. But to take choices away on the grounds that people should know better is infantilizing-and likely to hurt those who bear the burden of favoring more instrusive government. Liberals should show restraint, lest the freedom to be stupid go up in smoke." For all the sass in his statment, Wesiberg has a point. Should public policy be designed to restrain the public? Everyone has to make choices for themselves. Please don't waste public money Mr. Obama.

Can we take some personal responsibility please?

Economics focus: Waist banned | The Economist

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As I think about the growing health issues in America (and around the world), I wish we as a society would understand the necessity of a little balance in our lives. Why can't we as individuals take some personal responsibility for our health?

While I understand that not everyone may be as health conscious as I am, nor do they like activity as much as I do, I have a problem with people who make excuses for their behaviors. Hello America, it's time to not drink sugar-filled drinks with every meal. It's time to plan out effective eating habits. If you let your weight become an issue, learn to manage it...because it is the most important thing you have. A healthy eater is a healthy person.

So, should we really depend on the government to tax "junk food"? Heck no. As the brilliant authors at the Economist ask, "Would a fat tax affect behaviour"? No. People must change their personal behavior to lose weight, which means tossing in some fruits, vegetables, and maybe a 30-60 minute workout a few times a week.

It's just that simple.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Development...

Something interesting to think about is whether a global economy can support state socio-economic development...as in moving from an impoverished agrarian/subsistence culture to one of trade.

Stiglitz does a decent job at addressing if globalization and the market economy truly allow for states to "develop". But firstly, what is development? What pre-conditions are necessary for such growth to occur? Development of impoverished countries is just that-a shift in capability made possible through improvements in health, education, sanitation, government, and other components of basic infrastructure necessary for the public to survive adequatley, or maybe a little prosperity thrown in there.

But my problem with Wolf's chapters is their utter failure to mention micro-finance. While I'm an idealist, I hope that others understand the priviledges we have here. For seniors who're graduating, we simply attempt to find a job. We have the world at our fingertips. Now, imagine living in a world where water shortages exist, diease may have taken members of your family, civil unrest exists, the freedom of women may be just a passing thought, and you work to live.

Now, does Wolf mention this? No. He self-righteously assumes that the market economy takes care of everyone. Yes, there are haves and have-nots. But do we exist in a society where that gap should be increasingly by the year? One would hope not. As priviledged citizens, our life is not necessarily our own. Yes, capitalism, trade, and the economic fringe benefits are great. But there are others who are in fact worse off, starving, dying, exhausted-because they may not have been given a chance to reach a higher potential.

"It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities."
Sir Josiah Charles Stamp, an English Economist

This quote launches me into my question for next time: "
How does development of the community infrastructure create itself?"

Sunday, September 13, 2009

The World-It's Complicated

The plethora of competing interests involved in the international political economy give rise to global tension. To separate the tangled web of relationships between states, diverse societies, political institutions, micro and macro economies, inter-governmental organizations, and multi-national corporations is simply one task. The international attitudes toward any number of issues lack clear definition or a popular majority understanding. Perhaps the greatest challenge is the active engagement of such diverse actors to effectively implement policy.

First, one must examine the political structure and institutional power within a state. Do democratic processes exist? Is there equality for all citizens? Is the power given to one executive leader or is there a constitutional system of checks and balances? Do bureaucratic systems exist? How does the public participate in the policy making process? These simple questions must be answered to effectively evaluate a state’s ability to participate in the macro-political economy.


Beyond the inter-state competing interests are intra-state issues which spur regional tensions, spark conflict, and increase inequality. Furthermore, severe socio-economic disparities exist more than ever. However, regional political and non-governmental institutions are completely incapable of creating feasible long-term solutions? Why? The current lack of institutional understanding, direction, and oversight hinders any progress towards reaching development goals. Unfortunately, this can be said for much of foreign policy whether it be-military, economic, social, or environmental. The competing interests among intra-state political systems, corporations, and the public sector effectively thwart conflict resolution and policy creation.


A clear vision of macro-economic functions does not exist. Nor does a unified distribution of world power. The status quo is such that the United States is a global hegemony seeking to maintain the current balance of power. When a powerful state relies upon officials who have little experience in international politics or finance, an envisioned policy of mitigation and solution simple fails.


While somewhat pithy and pessimistic, the key fact is that collaboration and cooperation at all levels remains to be the greatest challenge to the international political economy. Any international governing institution is only as powerful as country from which elected officials reside. Where does leadership power stem from? How is national interest represented in G-20, G-8, and other conferences? Do the leaders truly balance political and socio-economic interest in conducting policy, creating strategy, and adopting trade models? Most importantly-how is tension diffused among competing groups? Is world peace protected in lieu of true equality?

Essentially, we must ask whether the alphabet soup of organization, the NGOs, IPOs, UN, UK, EU, US, MNCs, WTO, World Bank, NAFTA, SEC, and others can truly collaborate at an international level to enact social policy. This is the greatest challenge tasked to those actors engaged in actions associate with the international political economy.