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Wednesday Night #1360
March 26 1997 – what does the date mean to you? You may be forgiven if you do not immediately recall that the news of the Bre-X bubble burst exactly eleven year ago. “It had all the elements of a great novel: a dramatic rags to riches story, a mysterious suicide (or was it murder?) and a scandalous international fraud. But the Bre-X saga wasn’t fiction — much to the chagrin of the many who lost money in 1997. Thousands of investors were duped by the small Calgary-based mining company that falsely claimed to have struck gold in Indonesia.” Lessons learned?
As we glory in the concept – if not the reality - of the vernal equinox, we confess to certain bewilderment over the assorted Easter eggs that the Bunny has deposited on our Internet doorstep. It appears that many of these eggs have been broken to make omelets – the others have been turned into ice pellets.
The rescue of Bear Stearns – at what price? – and the parlous state of the U.S. economy remains a great concern not only in North America, but around the world. And still, Bloomberg reports that Stocks in U.S. Rise, Led by Commodities Producers; Freeport-McMoRan Gains “U.S. stocks rose for a third day as a rally in commodity producers helped the market overcome weakening consumer confidence and a record drop in home prices.” U.S. Home Prices and Consumer Sentiment Slide
How many noticed that the Economist quoted our OWN Martin Barnes in its analysis of What Went Wrong?
Five years on and Four thousand American deaths in Iraq, but AFP reports “Iraq war disappearing in US media”
The US death toll in Iraq had just passed 4,000, but on Monday the most viewed story on Yahoo News was “Oil fluctuates as dollar, stocks rise.” Five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq began, Americans’ interest in the war, and press coverage of it, is flagging. With slugfest for the White House going on and an economy that is plummeting toward recession, there is less and less interest in news, positive or negative, from Iraq, where US soldiers have been fighting since March 20, 2003.
We have decided to ignore Vice President Cheney’s visit to the Middle East, preferring to let Xinhua speak for us: “ U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has not made meaningful headway on the thorny issues of Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the world energy crisis during his 10-day trip to the volatile Middle East, analysts said.”
There is increasing unrest and international unease over the Beijing Olympics and the linkage to China’s recent aggression in Tibet, which is now overtaking Darfur as the principal generator of protests. The Olympic torch is lit amidst demonstrations
Bhutan has voted and analysts are confused – we only hope that the Gross National Happiness Index was not affected.
Kosovo and Serbia remain problematic – as Misha predicted
Interesting developments in the Franco-German relationship; Sarkozy aligning with the U.S.
Hillary’s international experience may have been mis-remembered and she says she “misspoke” last week when she said she had come under sniper fire during a 1996 trip to Bosnia.
Canadians back emissions cap, new poll shows — ‘The dirty secret of the oilsands [tar sands] is starting to get out more’ and Stephen Harper has climbed on the bandwagon.
We still cannot get over John Baird’s selection as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum – we are aghast!
Meantime we hope that someone in Ottawa is paying attention to the news that a U.S. firm has laid claim to nearly all of the Arctic Ocean’s undersea oil
On that happy note, we look forward to having you join us. We will be in good company, with Peter Perkins, Judith Patterson, and David Mitchell on the return portion of his annual New Brunswick to British Columbia trek. Three of our favorite OWNs to lead us down winding intellectual paths (in search of more Easter bunnies).
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We look forward to your company.
Diana & David Nicholson
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South Africa – No Decoupling Here - September 24, 2008
South Africa – No Decoupling Here - September 24, 2008
It wasn't supposed to be this way. Sure, by mid-2007 everyone was expecting the U.S. economy to slow. But commodity producers like South Africa were supposed to be immune - the so-called "decoupling" hypothesis. Past issues | his WN page
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Exploring America’s Export Success - March 26, 2008
The Canadian and U.S. economies are both slowing, but under the surface they could not be more different. Canada is seeing weak exports and strong domestic demand, whereas the U.S. economy is seeing weak domestic demand and strong exports.
On the surface, this looks like an exchange rate story. U.S. export growth (after adjusting for inflation effects) was strong in the mid-1990s, but declined steadily during 1997-2002, as the U.S. dollar appreciated. By 2002, U.S. export growth was in the red, but then the dollar began its trek back to earth. Exports recovered during 2002-2007, and lately have been growing at around 9%. Past issues | his WN page
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