Eurocurrency artitficial kept alive?
The Euro seems stabile again – but is the Euro has much worth as it sais at the markets?
EU’s central Bank has been keeping the currency alive. Read a good post on Economist Worldwide’s blog:
- http://economistworldwide.blogspot.com/
Remember to use Porters 5 forces
Porter’s 5 forces is a model that gives you and your business an overview of your situation. You get to know what affects the competition at your market and thereby makes it possible for you to prepare yourself for heavy competition.
Economist Worldwide has just released a post about Porter’s 5 Forces – as an reminder of how important this model can be.
See it here: http://economistworldwide.blogspot.com
New 10 step guide available on http://bit.ly/cXgeIQ
Economist Worldwide has published a 10 step guide for how to establish a small business from scratch.
http://bit.ly/cXgeIQ
International Politics publishing on new page too!
Follow our articles about business and finance on this new blog:
- 10 tips before starting small business
- Investment Guide
- How to avoid speculations at the stock markets
- Business Guide
- Articles and news about global economy changes
- Alternative energy and growth
- Politics
http://economistworldwide.blogspot.com
Politicians worldwide have saved global economy
At the beginning of the financial crisis economists were discussing whether governments should invest money or stay out of trouble. Some believed that the markets needed an economic downturn. This way many banks with bad loans would be separated from the healthy ones, allowing the financial sector to grow again – in a healthy way.
Politicians would do so. Obama decided to lend money to great banks and also General Motors. The result of that was a ”socialistic” American government with Obama as the leader. During these days Europe shows good signs of recovery. The bailout plans have worked – most and for all in Germany.
The German company BMW worked with very negative scenarios at the beginning of the financial crisis. Factories were sat on standby – cars from the luxury class wouldn’t sell on the global market. But then the German government invested money – billions of Euros. They didn’t just buy companies with bad loans – they made loans for over 700 billion euro. That’s equal to 4% of Germany’s BNP.
Today BMW’s production is booming. Sales rose with nearly 30% since the beginning of 2009.
The Euro-crisis might even have helped European industry – export to Dollar dominated countries rose because of the cheap Euro.
But still – the capitalistic system is about to reach its limits. Worldwide loans are rising faster than the BGP – which indicates that loans are getting more and more risky. At the end many economist agree: We will suffer several financial crises in near future. This statement is base don the continued and unchanged acting by the big banks. Speculations have returned to the markets. They help the economy recover but also make another crisis possible. Politicians have to make clear statements now. They have helped the financial sector with historic investments. Now it’s about time that politicians act as rulers.
The once involved in the oil industry
The once involved in the oil industry
The BP oil spill has generated a lot focus on the oil industry. But who are the once involved when oil is being pumped up from deep under the surface and turned into plastic, petrol and so on?
BP, Exxon, Shell, and Statoil – all these companies are among the greatest in the world. But that’s not the only reason why the oil industry is so important when it comes to politics. So what is the oil industry?
1) Oil companies owned by governments: The greatest oil companies are owned by governments, united in OPEC. Countries in the Middle East and South America, most and for all Saudi Arabia and Venezuela own these companies. These governments are not only interested in making a good business – they too have to fulfill a political purpose. When OPEC decides that they want to have a higher price for their oil stock markets have to follow. Lately Saudi Arabia is loosing some of its power while the Russian company Gazprom is gaining strength and political influence – mostly in Europe.
2) Oil companies with national responsibility: Even though British Petrol no longer is in governmental hands, they still face a lot of political pressure.
3) Supercomanpanies: Even though Shell, Exxon and BP are among the greatest companies in the world, they can’t face the pressure coming from governmental companies from South America, Middle East and China. They therefore invest money into for example the production of plastic.
4) Oil refineries: Here raw oil is transformed into petrol, diesel and lot’s of other oil products. For this process a lot gas is required. Oil companies and governments own these oil refineries.
5) Beginners: New technology has turned new nations into oil suppliers. Latest example: Canada. Here a very oily sand mixture is turned into oil products on new refineries. This new process is very non-climate friendly but still profitable – since the oil price is rising.
6) Explorers: Someone has to find out where the oil is located. Lot’s of companies earn their money this way.
7) Special engineers: When the oil has been located, someone has to find out how to drill for oil. How much will it cost? How long will it take to get there? What are the risks? BP latest crisis with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico shows how important good special engineers are for the oil industry.
8) Security: Oil companies have drill for oil in regions with terrorism, poverty and war. Lots of money goes to security – mostly American security companies.
Tour de France 2010 – Best tour ever seen?
The Tour de France 2010 was exciting right from the beginning. Favorites were marked right from the beginning. Armstrong was by far not the tourminator we saw in his previous races. This too made this years Tour the most exciting ever.
It all become at the drawing board. The Tour de France administration did their best to make this years Tour worth watching. Fewer time trials and more mountains to climb almost at the beginning of this year’s tour forced both Contador and Schleck to show what they were made of almost from day one. Also Menchov and Sanchez were able to climb well – the only ones disappointing were Armstrong, Klöden and Leipheimer.
Timing couldn’t have been better when looking at cycling as a sport. Doping has been a shadow that has haunted cycling for the past years and made the sport extremely unpopular in certain regions. German national television even questioned whether they were going to show the tour or not. Teams and races were closed down and sponsors weren’t interested that much in this year’s tour. That meant: Financial insecurity and a questionable future for pro-cycling teams around the world.
Whether this year’s tour is able to make cycling popular again is uncertain at the moment of speaking. A remarkable fact, which we were able to observe during this years tour, was the fact that cycling-stars as Armstrong, Leipheimer and Klöden disappointed – all of them have been accused for taking illegal drugs.
BP is not that bad – when you look at the others
BP will publish it’s result before tax and interest for the past 3 months tomorrow. BP has lost more than 50% of it’s value since the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. First reactions on the global stock markets made investors tremble with fear and it first seemed as if the trend at the stock market would never take it’s end. Now, investors have become slightly more interested and hopeful.
20 Billion US Dollars – this was the amount that BP had to pay for their mistakes in the Gulf of Mexico. First it seemed as if BP would find further investors to fill the gap, but now this no longer seems possible. Will BP shift owners yet again – due to an oil spill? Is BP’s downturn being accelerated by the media and by public anger?
Even though the television has been focusing on BP and the mistakes made by the foreign governmental owned oil company, oil spills are happening far more often than people think. The Dutch oil company Shell has invested billions of dollars in the poor country Niger. Here people live under horrific conditions – caused by oil spills on land. Scenes one might not think possible. Scenes reminding one of hell. Children walk around in a huge pool of oil – high enough to reach their knees.
So way does the media focus on BP’s oil spill? Is it because it’s close to the USA? Or is it because politicians and people in nations as Niger don’t have resources and influence to push the right buttons? Fact is that BP isn’t the only oil company in the world that makes terrible mistakes – and that nature and people always become victims. So why does BP have to pay 20 Billion US Dollars while Shell continues as always?
When investors, politicians and owners meet tomorrow, they have to remind themselves of the social responsibility that BP has been taking serious in the past decades. BP workers are proud of being part of BP – even though this might have changed in the past months. If anyone should believe or hope that oil companies without black chapters exist then they have to ignore information gathered by organizations such as Green Peace. Shell, Exxon, BP, Gazprom – all of them have made huge mistakes and been responsible for great oil spills – off- but also onshore. Never the less ships carrying raw oil have been lacking oil into the ocean many times. But those oil spills don’t even get 2 minutes of coverage in the daily TV news.
BP has made mistakes, but the greatest mistake was to be so unlucky. The oil spill came at the wrong time and at the wrong place. Obama made the crisis his own. He is the great winner and BP the great looser.
In the ”ghettos” of Berlin young immigrants watch Mesut Özil and look up to him as an idol. Mesut Özil has become much more than a good soccer player.
Even though Sebastian Schweinsteiger has to be the best German player during this FIFA 2010 World Cup, Mesut Özil has become much more known in the German media.
Mesut Özil: A young and friendly man. Born into difficult social surroundings he made his way to the top of society. He is young, prominent and already an Idol for many German immigrants: ”If Mesut could do it I should be able to establish a good life myself!” – thoughts brought to earth by this significant player.
Soccer is much more than just a sport. The FIFA 2010 World Cup was and is as every other World Cup an international and multicultural experience. Soccer fans from different cultures meet and party together. Cultural differences during a World Cup don’t become barricades – they become interesting.
Mesut Özil has not only repainted the German picture – he has also motivated many young boys to do something about their lives.
Angela Merkel, overhead of the German government, is the perfect example on how politicians use soccer and the FIFA World Cup to improve their own popularity and political career.
It all began in year 2006. At that time the FIFA World Cup was hosted by Germany and Angela Merkel was already by that time overhead of the German Christian-Conservative government. Germany didn’t reach the final but won the game against Portugal 3 – 1 which assured the German soccer team the 3rd place.
The World Cup is very emotional – mostly in a positive way. Parties and the come together of different cultures and social classes make the World Cup a place of national unity. It’s obvious that politicians want to be associated with all these things that are connected to the FIFA World Cup. If a politician appears as a supporter of the national team he comes one and the same with many of the other fans. They will identify him as a part and member of themselves. Next time, when elections are hold, this specific politician will profit from the time were he had been a fan and appeared together with soccer-stars. Angela Merkel was one of the first German politicians who seriously took advantage of this possibility and since then many other politicians had followed.
During this year’s FIFA World Cup Germany met England. Instead of discussing serious problems within European, British and German economy, Angela Merkel and the British Prime Minister were sitting and watching the game – surrounded by the media. Good PR for those two guys – a sad thing for German and English taxpayers.
How far will we allow this political PR-stunt to evolve? Politics have become more and more the business of PR-management than a matter of clever and wise decisions. Instead of choosing a politician of great honesty we choose a politician who sits and watches soccer instead of discussing national economy.
