Thursday, January 31, 2013

If you don't like the republic you are in...

...create a new one...using different demographics.

Nothing new under the sun.
Buenos Aires (CNN Argentinian lawmakers passed a new measure Wednesday lowering the nation's voting age to 16. Representatives in the South American country's lower house overwhelmingly voted in favor of the law Wednesday. A majority of senators approved it last week. The move to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 comes a year before a key mid-term election in Argentina, and some critics have said it's an attempt by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her party to garner more votes.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Whoops...

...its as if the entire world knows the problem...and capital is flowing surreptitiously to other jurisdictions and continents.

(Reuters) - Caterpillar Inc uncovered "deliberate, multi-year, coordinated accounting misconduct" at a subsidiary of a Chinese company it acquired last summer, leading it to write off most of the value of the deal and wipe out half a quarter's profits.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Unreliable...

...that certainly is a diplomatic way to describe official statistics coming from the Middle Kingdom...


China's unexpected surge in exports last month renewed concern from analysts at Goldman Sachs, UBS and ANZ that statistics from the nation can be unreliable.
The 14.1 per cent jump from a year earlier was the biggest positive surprise since March 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The increase didn't match goods movements through ports and imports by trading partners according to UBS, while Goldman Sachs and Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. cited a divergence from overseas orders in a manufacturing index.
Smaller trade gains could signal a less robust recovery from a seven-quarter slowdown just as Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan says the economic rebound is a sign of improving global demand. Accurate statistics from the world's second-biggest economy are increasingly important for domestic and foreign investors and for China's government, ANZ's Liu Li-Gang says.
“China's influence on the global economy has become bigger, so not only Chinese policy makers but also business people and the rest of the world need better data,” said Liu, Hong Kong- based chief economist for Greater China, who formerly worked for the World Bank. “Unreliable data could have a negative impact on resource allocation and business planning.”