Archive for the ‘Globalization’ Category

More Globalization…the Solution?

Friday, March 6th, 2009

Its ironic that while the man on the street actually blames globalization for the current state of mess, world leader’s primarily European leaders are calling for a even stronger world economic governance.  They envision the world with a global central bank and a global.

Many believe that this is inevitable….while others think  that this is just a European ploy to take control of the USA.  The state of the economy in the EU does nlot in any way suggest that states are better off centrally managed.  Surprising United Kingdom that has opted out of the European Currency order is now a strong advocate for golabl economic governance under Gordon Brown.  Has he been promised the presidency of the new world order under some unholy collusion?

 This debate will undoubtedly intensify over our depressed years. What is important is that citizens of the world must begin to educate themselves on this issue…and if democracy does not itself collapse…they should insist on being able to vote on this issue…rather than being ridden roughshod over by the politicians.

Today business leaders have fallen… Private sector political strength have declined.  Politician are beginning to rise to the fore, taking the high road, and distancing themselves from being the cause of the problems … advocating solution that will strengthen their own power and priviledge.

Recession or prosperity, money and power grabbing will continue unabated.  The question is how ordinary world citizen can protect themselves from being sacrificial pawns.

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America Has Voted…and my prayer for the New Administration

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

America has voted, and it is a decisive victory for the Democrats and President Obama.

Every US election is a watershed event for the world as the US President has so much capacity to influence world events and global trends. In the last century American Presidents and their people has championed the cause of capitalism and a free society. By year 2000, there is hardly any tinge of communism left in the world…thereare even few democratic socialist movements left!  Liberal and permissive values are the order of the day.

As pioneers and champions of causes, we all know that often we win the war and lose it.

Capitalism, individual Freedom are today Universal and no longer American Values.  Where human injustice, tyranny exists, it is usually a an aberration of the free system rather than a remnant of any autocratice, state planning system.

The battle for a free and capitalistic world has been won. It is time to learn how to manage a Global Capitalistic Economy in an universal and not in the American Way.

Hollywood,and the American Media can of course do what it wants…but it is my main hope prayer is that under this new administration, Americans leaders will begin to see themselves as a partner in the free world and not as an advocate and defender of American Style Human Rights and Capitalism.

Under this new arrangement of shared global leadership.. ,being progressive nation is filled enterprise and initiative,  she will undoubtedly continue to lead in many issues that affect the world.

It is my hope, and I prayer that America will lead in showing the world

  1. How to cope with the excesses of capitalism. To reduce lifestyle gaps…care for the little people..let them enjoy more of the good life as the rich and the wealthy.  As the world’s most advanced capitalistic nation, it also leads in capitalist excesses. The current financial crisis coupled with a new leadership provides a great occasion for this reexamination and for change.
  2. As the world largest energy guzzling nation, using more energy per than any else, how to better manage energy use and develop alternative energy resources
  3. This election has more than any showed that the Social Networks on the internet may be used to reach, communicate and galvanize diverse groups of people in a responsible and meaningful way.  I hope America their internet communities will continue to lead the world towards responsible communication on the internet.

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Who has money to buy the toys?

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

Herald Tribune Blog, 2 Sep 2008,  posted a interesting article on “Lesson on the sales of a team”  commenting on former Thai Minister’s sale of Manchester City to an AbuDhabi Consortium.
http://blogs.iht.com/tribtalk/business/globalization/?p=797

“Thai billionaire is selling an English team to some Arabs swimming in oil money”

Daniel Altman, the author pointed out that this move has significance not only for Football but for the Global Economy.

Football clubs and football players have become a Global Investment Instrument.

“For some of them, an expensive team is basically a toy,  for others, it’s a heavily leveraged investment” says Altman.

From the comments, not many people are too worried about this..

S Lakshma Reddy, commented…

“This will pave the way to global personal merit and talent, pure and simple, and will receive global recognition and compensation. No national bias or prejudices and only global spirit and merit and citizenship.”

Many commented that as long as the owner changed,  and the game remained as in this case in England, then it is good for England.  Many were concerned that like in the US, teams abandoned one city for another, after the City has spend a great deal of investment in building a stadium and other infrastructure for them.

Whilst not abandoning their cities, increasingly English, Italian and Spanish teams are playing more games outside their country and city.

Would teams in time find it more lucrative to play their games overseas than in their home country?  It’s really a question of how much local sponsors are willing to pay, and Fan are willing to fork out to watch their teams,  isn’t it?

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Subprime Crisis: Personal Viewpoint

Thursday, February 7th, 2008

Many Asian markets are closed this week for the Lunar New Year. Meanwhile the Dow is falling. It  is fearful to think about what Asian markets will open with next week. Are we overacting?

 My observations do suggest that there is enough money globally to be swished around…and adequate courage to make these moves.   The huge investments by sovereign funds in troubled US financial institutions are evidence of this. Despite huge budget deficits, the US senate has voted without blinking an eye,  to provide handouts and rebates to the American public… a macro-play we can expect to see more of around the world.

Fear is the only factor that really influences liquidity.  With no fear of liquidity, banks can continue to do their business, make loans, support construction, collaterize debts and make lots of money. Life can go and improve and progress.

 I am optimistic that we can spend out way out of the situation…avoid a major recession.  There are  concerns that the current spending spree and economic stimulation will have negative impacts in the longer term….but  we cannot worry about that when we feel the impact.  These days time just have too many things up its sleeve!

 The picture for shareholders, especially those in financial service companies may be different.  Asset losses have to be somehow accounted for even if there are sufficient funds to maintain liquidity… Some of these losses may show up as balance sheet items resulting profits taking a hit.  Others may show up as off- the-balance sheet items…meaning the investors in funds managed directly or indirectly by the bank  take the hit directly, rather than the bank shareholders.  Both situations will result in severe loss of confidence as consumers for financial products marketed by banks or as investors in bank shares.  Both situations should if one is concerned with fundamentals lead to a lower valuation of bank shares in the market place.

 Hopefully this may not be, as governments and politicians all over the world have vested interest in promoting the strength of their financial sectors, and will spare no effort in restoring confidence in these businesses. Confidence counts more than fundamentals in today’s stock markets.

Conclusion?   Perhaps we are making too much about a recession being eminent. We, the people and the governments can probably can fearlessly spend our way out of it

May the New Year of the rat prevail and be prosperous,

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Globalizing Chaos

Monday, January 28th, 2008

Many investors in china are still wondering how a mortgage credit crunch in the USA can so badly affect their stock prices and cause their banks to reserve billions of dollars of contingent losses. Even more surprising to many is how this is happening when the economy is clearly rushing ahead with growth rates exceeding 10% , and while affluence is clearly beginning to permeate and be evident, even in second tier cities, beyond those along the coast.

Talks of Asian stock markets or economies being decoupled from those of USA and the western economies were quickly quashed as stock markets around the world aligned themselves to Dow trends; the good and bad news from housing, employment, retail trends in the USA …and of course the macro-economic tweaks by the US administration.

The current financial crisis will certainly add to the overall debate about Globalization… Boon or Bane? The answer will depend on how countries and leaders can work together to avoid a global recession.

I have started a “Recession Watch” at my facepage site. You may join this group to more actively share in its discussion.

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Free Trade and Bad Food

Saturday, July 14th, 2007

I am not sure if the article “China Not Sole Source of Dubious Food ” By ANDREW MARTIN and GRIFF PALMER published in the New York Time , July 12, 2007 , if published earlier, may have saved Zheng Xiaoyu once ranked as one of the most powerful regulators in China from his execution.

Zheng rose from modest beginnings to help create and lead Beijing’s version of the Food and Drug Administration in the United States but ultimately could not resist the bribes and gifts offered by the food and pharmaceutical Industry.
The article identifies many countries from which the USA has had encounters of unhealthy and unsafe food. It says….

“Critics say the F.D.A. has not changed to deal with the flood of imports in the last decade, as trade agreements have opened up borders to products from across the globe.”

In defence of the FDA, one has to acknowledge that this is no easy matter. In the area of food, the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) with the objective to protect their human, animal and plant life
or health has been one of the most vexatious to implement and administer…giving rise to many charges of trade protectionism.

The area of medicines and drug manufacture is probably far more complex. A review of the website of the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration will show the rash of international agreements, local and international authorities (more…)

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Facism in the Global Economy

Thursday, July 12th, 2007

There is no denying the power and influence of the USA in the global economy. Many would suggest that the USA derives this power increasingly more from military might, and its political influence over the many Global Governance Organizations like the WTO, World Banks, IMF etc.

The more extreme of critics label the USA a the Facist Regime in the Global economy as is depicted in the following video

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The Issue of non-interference

Friday, March 23rd, 2007

In a chapter, “The Issue of non-interference”, in his book “Southeast Asia in Search of an ASEAN community“, Rodolfo Severino, a former secretary general of ASEAN, asserts that that this concept has its underpinnings in the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia which put an end to the eighty years of war between the Dutch and the Spanish. He writes…

“What is more significant for the future of international relations and thus, of mankind is that it conferred sovereignty on the nations of Europe over their respective territories, largely freeing them from the Holy Roman Empire…..It also guaranteed in much of the continent religious liberty and tolerance at least for the three major branches of Christianity - the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran and the Calvinist.”

This short passage, taken I must emphasize in its own context, made me reflect on how (more…)

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More Brickbats about Globalisation

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007

“On the other hand, there is a strong prime facie case that the net impact of neo-liberalism has been negative. For example, in a study for the United Nations, British economist John Eatwell (1996) pointed out that financial liberalization of the 1970s was supposed to:

move savings from developed to developing companies
(more…)

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Global Political Economy Website

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007

The Site Global Political Economy provide insightful articles on trends impact of globalisation. Quoting the editors,

“This site deals with intertwined global economic and political issues. The emphasis on intertwined refers to the Complex Approach which is the method of inquiry used on this site as distinct from the “systems approach” which is commonly used for social, economic and political analyses.”

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