| Richard Heinberg's Museletter #180: Iran: We Will Know Soon…
MuseLetter for March 2005, titled “Onward to Iran," summarized relevant information available at that time. In recent months concern over America's intentions has grown even more intense, to the point that it has become the fulcrum of nearly every discussion about the future of world affairs. As many have pointed out, an attack could have cataclysmic implications for the region, for the world economy, and not least for the oil import-dependent and nearly bankrupt US. Recently Rolling Stone magazine convened a panel of experts to assess the situation in Iraq (“Leaving Iraq: The Grim Truth," by Tom Dickinson, March 7, www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13710030/leaving_iraq_the_grim_truth). The panel, which included such policy luminaries as Zbigniew Brzezinski (Jimmy Carter's national security advisor) and Richard Clarke (counter-terrorism advisor to four presidents), concluded that the war in Iraq is lost.
Leaders call for concrete steps to build mutual trust, promote ...
NEW DELHI, Apr 3 (UNB): Unlike previous assemblies of South Asian leaders and rhetoric speeches, the 14th SAARC Summit assumed a greater dimension of economic and political cooperation with Afghanistan taken in as a new member and China, Japan, South Korea, America and the European Union as Observers.
The Delhi summit virtually sparked a ray of hope for the impoverished South Asians with the promise for establishing physical, economic and intellectual connectivity and removing barriers to intra-regional trade and changing mindsets of political leaderships.
Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who assumed the new responsibility of leading the eight-member SAARC family for next one year, said, " I see signs of hope that our governments are now addressing the bilateral political issues that have prevented us from achieving our potential."
"We must now make a break with the past and join hands to realise our shared destiny," Dr Singh said in his inaugural speech at the 14th summit at Vigyan Bhaban Tuesday morning.
Down memory lane with Lester James Peries
"My pre-occupation was with the English language. But something got into me and I wanted to become a reporter. I had trouble with the family because they didn't consider it a job. Reporters were hardly paid. But it was some romantic obsession and I was determined to succeed." "A British filmmaker may win an Oscar for his work. But the award would mean much more if he is knighted by the Queen upon his return to England. Nothing compares to the recognition you get at home. This is the crowning glory for me; there couldn't be anything more." "What I saw is that there was a very strong need for commercial films to be made. But I make another kind of film. The primary purpose of film is not to give entertainment to the public but to express something that they can get seriously involved with.
Economy Added 190000 Jobs in March
Today, the Labor Department reported the economy added 180,000 payroll jobs in March, up from 113,000 in February. The March figure considerably exceeded the consensus forecast, which was 135,000.
Strong employment growth indicates the economy continues to expand, despite the drop in new housing construction, slower productivity growth and tepid retail sales. The consensus forecast for first quarter GDP growth is 2.3 percent, and today's employment numbers are consistent with that estimate.
Wages increased six cents or 0.3 percent. Moderate growth should help keep wage inflation in check, and that should boost the stock market.
Separately, the household survey, which includes the self employed, shows the unemployment rate at 4.4 percent in March, down from 4.5 percent in February.
Salesforce to productise politics
NOT CONTENT with hypergrowth in the business world, ubiquitous on-demand software pioneer Salesforce.com is moving into politics after providing the underlying CRM program for US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's ComMitt fundraising efforts. Political campaigns have traditionally been concocted using a ham-handed combination of chewing gum and string but the face of the Salesforce platform probably fits for anybody seeking a highly distributed and shareable programme that is accessible over the web. Having done the deed for Romney, Salesforce wants to productise its work in a programme called CampaignForce that will be distributed on the AppExchange trading site for Salesforce-compatible programs. It won't have escaped Salesforce's attention that this could also act as a jemmy to bigger deals in the lucrative government market, of course.
Citigroup's ABN Opening
There are 13 investment banks at work in ABN Amro's possible merger with Britain's Barclays or crosstown rival ING. Missing from the scrum is Citigroup -- a sign the world's biggest bank by stock-market value is keeping open the option of bidding for the Dutch bank itself. But taking over ABN would be too far a stretch for Citi boss Chuck Prince, who's struggling to prove the bank's scale can generate superior profitability. In theory, a deal makes sense. ABN's sprawl makes it look like a mini-Citi. So the U.S. bank could extract heaps of synergies. Reducing operating costs in ... .
Follow up to Subprime article
You may have seen the recent Magazine article published relating to the Subprime housing market and wondered why is that important to an environmental website? There are myriad reasons, but the biggest of which is the understanding that any economic difficulties that our country experiences from this market meltdown over the next few years directly impacts our country's ability to make green changes to our lifestyle, and address all the issues in front of us. An economy in recession or depression has less capital to expend to make the necessary changes and preparations for the future. Combine these economic challenges with the upcoming oil challenges we are sure to experience and the result appears to be great difficulty for us in the future. Incorporating all the different aspects of the "green" initiative when you understand how the American economy works and what factors drive the economy forward will hopefully allow you to make more informed decisions.
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