The Economist on Germany, the Ireland bailout, the Euro and all that.
I don’t normally deal with economics on my blog, but I could not resist this . I should first say that my better half is German, so we have German TV in the house. I seen the news report live on ZDF (a German state channel) a few weeks ago when Angela Merkel suggest that bond-holders must suffer and pay. While my heart agreed, my head (and I’m no finance/economics expert) oh feck, that’s Ireland in the deep stuff. Two weeks later, a ‘German’ bailout. And Merkel and her French counter-part still want some bond-holders to suffer. Fair enough, but as the piece in The Economist says domestic politics needs to be put to one side for the greater good of Europe as a whole – just because Merkel is under pressure at home does not mean the whole of Europe should suffer from the onslaught of the markets. One final point, back in the 1990’s when I was in college, the whole EMU thing was a big part if our economics course. Our lecturer at the time was suspicious of the whole thing. He thought economic and monetary union without political union would fail. I now hear lots in the media about the need for fiscal union. Have the chickens come home to roost!
New business ideas: renting a car by the hour
I read this article in The Economist recently about businesses renting out cars by the hour. It’s a good story from many angles – threatening car manufacturers; reducing emissions; new business ideas. Have a read and see what you think.
The use of the word ‘fair’; some thoughts for accountants
In accounting we use the word ‘fair’ a bit. ‘Fair value’ and ‘true and fair view’ are two key concepts that come to mind. But what is fair, and what is unfair. What might be fair to you, is unfair to me and so on. And then, what if we try to translate ‘fair’ into other languages. Does it retain it’s meaning. I don’t know to be honest as I’m not a linguist. But as an accountant, I’m sort of programmed to think logically and look for a definite answer. But maybe there isn’t one. To get you thinking, have a read of this piece from economist.com. It’s a bit a bit of fun on the use of the word ‘fair’ around the recent emergency budget in the UK.
Emerging markets – are they still emerging?
I don’t normally delve too much into the world of economics and marketing, but this piece from The Economist (April 15th, 2010) caught my eye.
Antoine van Agtmael, a Dutch investment banker, actually coined the phrase “emerging markets” almost 30 years ago. In this time some of what were emerging markets are now the largest markets in the world – China and India for example. Market knowledge is a must for any business, even small ones, but when a business gets to the global level a detailed knowledge of (and arguably a presence in) all global markets is a must – emerging markets included. Van Agtmael cautions though on the use of the term “emerging markets”. Some markets, for example China, Brazil, South Korea and Mexico, have not only emerged, but upstaged developed economies. For example, the SamSung brand from South Korea is one of the worlds best known electronics brands. Perhaps a mindset change is needed to appreciate the business challenges of some economies which have now well and truly emerged.
Here’s a link to the full article: Schumpeter: An emerging challenge | The Economist.
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