Doha Disaster?

No agreement on 2 out of 20 items.  It looks like India and China are starting to wield some of their newfound economic might. 

 

The WTO needs to encourage countries to set up a "transition" fund for its people that will be disadvantaged by opening markets (more), encourage them to move to something else that makes more sense and let er rip! 

 

 

Funny cartoon explaining subprime mortgage crash

I literally laughed out loud when I read this.

When I was working at Hollywood Realty, Jeff used to tell me about how most people were lying about their "stated" incomes on their loan applications. This cartoon explains it beautifully.

Int'l Business is becoming just "Business"

To some of you, this may seem obvious:

"International trade" is becoming just "trade." There is a lot of talk about the new global market, and when the conversation continues from there, the topics I usually hear discussed are:

1. Loss/Metamorphosis of cultures
2. Increased competition
3. Rise of so and so country because of globalizing forces (usually China or India)

That's not all though!

I suspect that there will be some other emerging trends that will pick up speed. I have not heard much about these:

1. International NGOs will rise in prominence/influence and finally grow some teeth.
2. Countries' sovereignty will start to be undermined slowly by NGOs.

Really these two go ideas go hand in hand-but I think they look better when they are neatly separated.

As we all know, for the most part, countries can only assert jurisdiction within their own borders. As trade becomes more inter-national, companies will act strongly to prevent being subjected to some foreign court in a foreign country with a foreign language (scary) when business partnerships go sour. Consequently, they turn to some body/entity for a stabilizing influence.

Individual countries can't provide it because of the jurisdiction-issue. Private arbitration companies are willing and may provide judgment but again, they have trouble enforcing. Companies will turn increasingly to NGOs to do the task. My guess is that NGOs will be more than happy to oblige because of the accompanying increased authority.

This will lead to NGOs beginning to set the trend for business practices.

Naturally, companies will clamor for their judgments to be enforceable and will act in their home countries (NGO member states) to give up just enough authority to the NGO to enforce these resolutions/judgments.

In the end we have reduced state sovereignty and increased NGO prominence.

This raises an additional number of questions- Next posting.

"Why do I keep messing this up?"

"Why am I so lucky?"

What is the difference between these two questions? Obviously one is positive and one is negative, but dig a little deeper. One presupposes failure and the other presupposes success.

The second question makes you think of the positive things in your life-the good things that have come unexpectedly, or even expectedly.

Even if you feel you are not a lucky person, you will be tempted to answer this question, if not for at least a second or two.

Indulge yourself. Answer it.

testing this

This is my test blog from my e-mail. 

Anything is easy once you do it once.  People know this so why do they continue to hold back from beneficial new endeavors? 

Because they haven't done it yet.  Keep this frame of mind all the time.  Do it once, then it's a cinch.

1.  Riding a bike.
2.  Surfing the internet
3.  Reading
4.  Sex
5.  Driving a car

Brevity=soul of w

The goal is to write shorter and better. People deserve value from every character.

I am learning to embrace this. Everyone loves to hear themselves speak. To get maximum impact, make it short and sweet, then drop a hook to their issue/interest.

Then let them take over. They will think you are brilliant and you will have better chance of getting what you want.

I hope to follow the brevity principle in this blog.

(Can you make this post shorter while maintaining its integrity? Let me know)