Blogo Numero Trois

Still in my old fashioned print form, so no link: March 17 edition blah blah blah "Stashing the Cash"

Britain's financial crisis is pretty similar to ours (though there's never got quite to the "crisis" level). However, George Osbourne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, will be making his third budget statement on March 21st and things are looking up since last quarter (in which Britain's economy shrank).  One of the ratings agencies, Fitch, reaffirmed Britain's AAA status (this is good, almost necessary for a country), but threatened a downgrade if public borrowing increases in the next two years. So naturally, Osbourne is cutting back. But there is the same delicate position as in America (although nothing is done delicately here), if companies and households save more, and the government spends less, there will be no more recovery. Interestingly enough, companies have been hoarding, due to low trust in banks.  So, Osbourne is writing the tax rates to get the desired results: he lowered the main corporate tax rate, while keeping the tax relief on capital spending lower.  He's hoping for companies to invest in Britain, increasing the competitiveness of the pound.




the economist has the weirdest article titles. you can't make these things up.

Blog Numero Deux

I went back in time and am using a printed copy of the economist: the March 17-23rd 2012 edition, "The sacking of Bo Xilai" and "Bo Bo Black Sheep"

We talked a bit about this issue in class, but this article goes a bit more in-depth into the real meaning behind some the boat being rocked.

Bo Xilai was fired from his position as party chief of the region of Chongqing on March 15th and replaced by Zhang Dejiang.  He was previously thought to have been destined for the standing committee of the Politburo, a very prestigious position. That was partly because of his status as a "princeling", his father, Bo Yibo, was a leader from Mao's generation.

His dismissal doesn't indicate any change in the party structure, but rather the direction that the party will take.  Bo was infamous for his supposed "no holds barred approach to going after gangsters" when he cracked down on his region's mafia problems. But, his violent campaign really just satisfied his own ends: there are allegations he selectively attacked his personal opponents, including wealthy entrepreneurs.  More suspicion is cast on this situation by the fact that his former police chief, who led the anti-mafia campaign, fled to the American consulate and now is under Chinese investigation.  On top of that, Bo followed extremely "leftist" policies, reviving the "red songs" of the Cultural Revolution and favoring state enterprises. ( Ironically, he also sends his kids to schools in the West.)  His campaigns can be seen as an attempt to discredit his competition for the standing committee seat, Wang Yang, who is more liberal.  This is an indirect vicotry for Wang and may indicate a more liberal future China.

More indications of China's growth come from comments that hinted at Bo's dismissal. The day before Bo was fired, Wen Jiabao made stated that without political reform "a tragedy like the Cultural Revolution" could happen again.  Although turmoil like the the Cultural Revolution has no indication of being on the horizon, the remark was directed at "die-hard Maoists", who form most of Bo's support.

"Let Mexico's Moguls Battle" aka Blog Numero Un

http://www.economist.com/node/21546028

Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world, controls most of the phone and cell market in Mexico and is trying to break into the television market.  He owns America Movil, Telmex, Telcel which comprise of 80% of Mexico's landlines and 70% of its cells, but he can't get into the television market, and subsequently is barred from offering "triple play" deals.  But these companies are already ripping off their customers, charging them much more than any other country, in addition to refusing to disclose area codes forcing all calls to be charged as long distance. This has gotten the company in trouble with the WTO.  Telcel was recently fined $1 Billion by Mexico's Federal Competition Commission (CFC), but has yet to pay the fine. the CFC has also exercised its power to stop Televisa from acquiring Iusacell to prevent it from joining forces with the other major TV company TV Azteca.

As for the television market, it is currently dominated by Televisa. Mr. Slim is fighting the Televisa monopoly by partnering with Dish, a satelite television service provider and by offering programs online. So far this has been fairly successful, but their main problem is acquiring material -  the popular "telenovelas" are owned by the rival companies, TV Azteca and Televisa.

But here's where the politics come in.  The proposed switch to digital in 2015 would give Mr. Slim and his fibre optics an advantage over the established networks, but, and election is coming up. The television has already used its power: it blurred out the face of a senator speaking against the television monopoly, later claiming it was an error. The government is, of course, backing down to the powers that be.

Fluff Blog

As this is not quite the halfway point of this year, I don't know if I can really comment. Two more weeks and then the quarter is over, then college app decisions, and then a couple months to AP tests, then a month till graduation. Those are the landmarks that I am currently looking forward to.

Reflections.... it hasn't been as hard as I thought it was going to be. Here's some cheesyness: I've found out more about myself.  Like what I can do with art when I actually try.

Predictions.... it's going to get easier?  That's more of a prayer. Well it's guaranteed to lighten up after the end of the quarter but third quarter is usually hellish.

Another note: Senioritis is on the rise, and so far I have been able to ward off the symptoms.  Others have not been so fortunate. These few weeks after vacation, the outbreaks have been particularly widespread and multitudes have fallen to its work-ethic-destroying destruction.Yeah.

Tom Toles!!!

Here, Tom Toles uses caricature to address the issue of Romney's old job.  As it is the newest topic which the other candidates have latched on to to attack Romney, he is shown responding. His first speech bubble shows him playing to the 99%.  The cigar smoking 1%, is comically appalled, and the mini cartoon at the bottom right shows Romney trying to appease the people that fund his campaign. Overall it portrays Romney as pandering to everyone in order to gain support.

Handicapping

I don't know how handicapping works, so, I'm just list who I think is going to have the best chance of getting the nomination, from least likely to most likely.

Bachman's out, but she'd be last.
Then there's Perry. I thought he was going to drop out too, especially after spending so much for so little in Iowa.
After that there's Ron Paul. He might be getting more attention, but he'd never get the nomination because of his liberal social views.
John Huntsman. Also never going to happen.
Rick Santorum is tooooooo conservative. It's kinda scary. He wouldn't get the nomination because he would never win the general election. He has no middle appeal.
Newt Gingrich has a chance, even though he's recently lost a lot of popularity. He's nice and republican, but not too much.
Mitt Romney. He has the best organization, plenty of money, the most middle of the road platform and has the best chance against Obama. That being said, the GOP doesn't like him and has been systematically going through all the other options till they ran out of steam.
Chris Christie.

Even More Tom Toles

Here, Tom Toles makes fun of the GOP by depicting the elephant at a restaurant unable to decide what he wants. He predicts that "after months of looking at the menu" the party will have "decided to have the Romney". The cartoon deals with party not liking any of the candidates using caricature. The cartoons message is that no one new will jump in to be a candidate at the last second, and the GOP will be stuck with Romney.