MakePolicy.com

The doom and gloom of economy woe has moved at such a heightened pace over the past year, its as if there has never been a recession or cutbacks before. Its significant to note that there are constant waves in the economy and cycles that result in job cutbacks and factory/business closures. What we need to do is for leadership to re-focus on ways to build new jobs in new industries.
I am heartened to look back through the archives of the BBC and see that in the late nineties …

The eyes of the world are firmly on Mexico as the source of the Swine-flu – as it has been named. But many in the pork industry are asking if the outbreak could be renamed the ‘Mexican’ influenza. Already there are predictions that a sharp decline in pork chops and pork products in general is imminent. No doubt the importing of pork from various North and South American countries will be under discussion. Significantly, medical authorities have tried to emphasize that it is not through eating properly cooked pork that …

The Japanese government now has to cut real gross domestic product to about minus 3 percent for the 2009 fiscal year. This is the worst economic forecast since Japan emerged from the defeat of World War Two half a century ago. (GDP is the total value of goods and services produced domestically.) And it doesnt appear the the pace of the economy wil pick up anytime soon.
So how will these forecasts impact upon the yen?
Over the past year, the yen has risen in value to extraordinary levels. This has been …

Recent debate focused around the re-shaping financial system has involved discussion on the US dollar as a world reserve currency. The US dollar is the most widely held currency in the world today and has been the world’s reserve currency since World War II.
China now holds almost 30 percent of the worlds entire reserves. As such, it appears that there has been a significant shift in power. US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner revealed potential for some flexibility surrounding the Chinese proposals for the development of a global reserve currency …

Just as there was talk of ‘green shoots’ of economic recovery emerging the IMF have released another two chapters warning of a prolonged and deep global recession. Its depressing and confusing.
Billionaire investor George Soros, has contributed to the unease by voicing his concerns that share prices have further to fall. Interviewed, he reportedly said: “It’s a bear-market rally because we have not yet turned the economy around. This is not a financial crisis like all the other financial crises that we have experienced in our lifetime.” Soros, was one …

I caught up with a friend of mine from California and we talked about the state of the economy over in the US. He said he’d been offered an IOU instead of a tax refund earlier this year. I was amazed at his story!
But yes, the state of California is so hard pressed for cash -that it has had to delay paying taxation rebates to residents. I wonder what would happen if my friend decided that he couldnt afford to pay his taxes. Could he issue the state with an …

Well its not just the chief exec of Japan Airlines and the Jamaican PM that are in salary sacrifice mode – the Chinese government has directed executives of state-owned banks and insurers to re-think their pay packets. A government directive said that individual financial enterprises paid top execs too much and even though Chinese executives are paid at modest rates vis a vis Western standards – their pay packets are far larger than ordinary workers.
The directives are siginficant because they highlight the concerns held for the inequality between the …

Its the equivalent to more than 2 percent of the nations gross domestic product and more than the economic stimulus package of 1998. In fact it is the largest stimulus package that Japan has seen. But considering the woeful state of the Japanese economy – one of the worst among the world’s major developed countries – perhaps the scale of the package needs to be grand.
The reported focus of the package is targeted around establishing a safety net for casual workers, ensuring corporate financing remains adequate, increasing solar electric power …

I heard today that the Prime Minister of Jamaica has pledged to take a 15 percent pay cut and called upon his colleague members of parliament to sacrifice 10 percent of their salaries due to the global meltdown. It was heartening news in such dismal economic times! But should more chiefs at the top be sacrificing wages to re-strengthen country and company balance sheets?
There are lessons to be learnt from the economic collapse at country and corporate levels. From Iceland to Lehman Brothers, the economic domino effect over the past …

I heard someone discussing banking and morality today. It was refreshing to say the least. After hearing gloom upon doom and a range of ponzi investment schemes – at last someone was talking some sense. UK PM, Gordon Brown has also reiterated the need for integrity in the banking system. He argued that banking needed to become more moral as the era of irresponsibilty and excess had brough the international economy close to collapse. Honesty and responsibility with peoples money is what bankers should be about.
The debate must now be …