http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/opinion/13friedman.html?em
A positive look at China as a reposte to the article that I linked to in an earlier post…..that I was inclined to believe.
I would love to be wrong.
Heres one of his cheeeky comments ..
First, a simple rule of investing that has always served me well: Never short a country with $2 trillion in foreign currency reserves
Nice blog .Definitely worth dipping into .
http://nafkamina.blogspot.com/ sept 13th 09 entry part of.
Fascinating insight into the future of a deeply polarised and militarily weaker society.
Regarding the Arab sector, the percentage of primary school pupils for 2008, from the total, was approximately 27%. In nominal terms, there were about 235,000 Arab primary school pupils in 2008, compared to about 160,000 Ultra-Orthodox pupils.
The trend is clear. Barring some unforeseen demographic event, similar in size to the immigration wave from the ex-Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the face of Israeli society will change dramatically in a couple of decades. Most people finishing school will – under present conditions – not be doing military service. More significantly, a large proportion of these graduates (most of the Ultra-Orthodox ones for certain) will not be joining the work force. Countries like Japan are facing a work force crisis due to the low birth rate; Israel has a high birth rate, but in the “wrong” sectors of society.
In my opinion, this is by far the single biggest challenge facing Israel’s future. This will no longer be the Israel we know, governed by a secular elite with (more or less) Western values and standards. Certain aspects of life in Israel will change dramatically, with consequences that cannot be predicted with any reliable degree of accuracy.
http://thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog/2009/12/the_economists_the_world_in_20.html
“A chart showing the combination of the young and old as a percentage of China’s overall population: back in 1965, it was a stunning 80% (mostly made of young) and then it progressively dropped to its absolute low point in 2010, when it was a hair under 40%. The forecast is now a steady rise to just over 60% by 2050. That means 2010 will be THE golden year and that everything goes downhill from then on. By 2030 the Chinese will have a pensioner population equal to the entire U.S. population.”
http://thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog/2009/08/why_i_think_the_obama_administ.html
A good run down of a sad state of affairs in ME .( Mix of FT quotes and Tom’s commentary)
There was no inflation for long periods of time in the distant past as the money used mineral/metals that were in short supply so you could’nt inflate a cunrrency.So all interest rates were a form of profit taking from the burrower .It could end up in a form of financial slavery as it does still today amonsgt the poorest illiterate people who are most vunerable.Hence the outlawing of interest in Christianity and Islam.
But today…money is based on ink and paper and can be devalued by inflation.So interest should not be outlawed…as inflation is a type of Governmental theft and interest on bank accounts is just a way of compensating people for that loss of value.
The moral is that religious edicts should not be followed closely..but the values that underlie them should be respected…because thats where the sense derives from…..
The most fundamental aspect of money is that there can’t be enough of it.It has to be in demand all the time…..
So Rich people can only exist in small quantities and people have to be needy at the bottom of the pyramid ( bottom heavy) for money to work.
Its like Gold…quite a worthless metal really..but because it is rare..it works as a ‘money’…….
That is why money ceases to function in the context of Communism.
My thoughts: lifted from another blog
They had endless amount of product to bring to the market place ( sand on which to build on) ….and rising prices all the time???…Hmmmm.
If Pakistan had developed properly as a nation….I don’t believe those Gulf states would have had ‘reason’ to develop as they have.Its the failure of countries like Iran and Pakistan that has allowed them to become hub countries for everything.
Goes to show that if you really create a stable and secure base level for any society…you can get away with building castles in the sand.
Gulf In Talks on Replacing US$ For Oil: Report
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/10/05/business/business-us-oil-dollar.html
I respect Robert Fisks contacts but this does seem to be quite unlikely.
Almost an act of war if true.
The security blanket the US throws around the fake states that are the AQ funding Gulf States…comes seemingly free.But it is’nt.You buy in dollars and buy US treasuries to help keep interest low and the dollar up.Thats the unoffical global Tax system and security arrangement for oil rich nomads who can’t stand on their own two feet.( Essentially..the Gaurdian of the Holy sites ..is not Saudi Arabia..its the US..and they are not doing too bad a job really if you think about it)
The last person to try this was Saddam Hussein ( to sell oil in euros ) and the Gulf war 2 started 6 months later.The only other country to try to float this has been Venezuela and Iran.Notice a trend?