Can China Move Past the Middle?

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Stefan Wagstyl, FT emerging markets editor, and James Kynge, editor of China Confidential discuss the highlights of a special FT debate looking at the choices that lie ahead for the world’s second largest economy.

Click here or on the image below to watch the video.

Source: Financial Times, October 1, 2011.

Tags: Ahead, China Confidential, Choices, Debate, Economy, Emerging Markets, Financial Times, Image, James Kynge, Source Financial, Video Source
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10 Truths I Wish I’d Known Sooner, and more Weekend Reading

Friday, December 11th, 2009

 Here is this weekend’s reading selections. Happy Holiday Shopping. Have a Great Weekend!

10 Truths I Wish I’d Known Sooner

 Occasionally, being better informed leads to better decisions. Mostly, though, I think we make choices based on who we are, not what we know. The lessons here are things that people who knew and loved me tried to tell me. So thank you to my relatives who scolded me in four languages, and to my high school English teacher who watched over me like Cupid with a Ph.D., and to my best friend, who taught me patience. These people did their best to make me smarter in the ways that count. If I had been willing and able to understand them, their words might have tilted me more (and sooner) in the right direction. If I could have, they might have. Or, as my father often said, if your grandmother had balls, she would be your grandfather.

What Does Your Handwriting Say About You?

How you craft letters and words can indicate more than 5,000 different personality traits, according to the science of graphology, also known as handwriting analysis. To introduce students to the field, graphologist Kathi McKnight has them write She sells seashells by the seashore in cursive. Why cursive? Graphologists say it gives them a better read on a person. Try writing the same sentence now in cursive (even if you usually print), then read on to see how graphologists might characterize you. (Note: Each analysis corresponds to the handwriting sample to its right.)

Tara Stiles: 10 Steps To Getting What You Want

Everything we need is already there. The challenge is letting go of all our stuff in the way.

 The Benefits of Assertiveness: Manage Stress, Improve Relationships and More!

What Is Assertiveness?:

Assertiveness is the ability to express one’s feelings and assert one’s rights while respecting the feelings and rights of others. Assertive communication is appropriately direct, open and honest, and clarifies one’s needs to the other person. Assertiveness comes naturally to some, but is a skill that can be learned. People who have mastered the skill of assertiveness are able to greatly reduce the level of interpersonal conflict in their lives, thereby reducing a major source of stress.

Soren Gordhamer: Video Games And Children — What’s The Right Amount?

“Dad, I really want a PSP,” my seven-year-old son Navarre recently said to me.

Eating well boosts immune system

This fall, many of us are looking for ways to keep our immune systems strong and healthy. The good news is that many healthy lifestyle habits — such as good nutrition, stress management, regular physical activity and sleep — nourish our bodies and our immunity. These habits have a powerful effect on our ongoing fight against potentially harmful invaders

Improving on the Latke – NYTimes.com

Take grated potatoes, onions and a little salt and pepper, mold them into perfect little pancakes and fry them in hot oil to a deep, golden brown crisp, and you have the much loved Hanukkah treat: the latke.

“How Hanukkah Works”

Hanukkah is an eight-night celebration. The Hanukkah celebration includes lighting the candles of the Hanukiyah (in English-speaking countries this is often called a Menorah, which is the Hebrew word for a candelabra) on each day of the holiday, playing with the dreidel, eating latkes and exchanging Hanukkah gelt.

Tags: Assertive Communication, Balls, Best Friend, Canadian Market, Choices, Cursive, English Teacher, Feelings, Gold, Grandmother, Handwriting Analysis, Happy Holiday, Holiday Shopping, oil, Patience, Personality Traits, Reading Selections, Relatives, Right Direction, Seashore, Tara Stiles, Weekend Reading, What Is Assertiveness
Posted in Canadian Market, Energy & Natural Resources, Markets | 1 Comment »

Hugh Hendry: Commodities Stocks to Remain Weak?

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Hugh Hendry, the eloquent and outspoken CIO, Eclectica Asset Management, in an appearance on CNBC’s PowerLunch (Dec. 10) shares his thoughts on agriculture commodities stocks such as Potash, and Syngenta.

Among other things, Hendry makes a forthright confession that he was wrong earlier this year to make the call to be long commodities stocks. He continues on to say that when he realized he was wrong, he promptly sold them too. Hendry runs a long-only Agriculture fund, as well as his primary hedge fund, and has been controversial in some of his choices to oppose his funds’  mandates at times in favour of cash or government securities.

His main quid pro quo is his caution that although commodity stocks  could revisit highs, we could be waiting as many as 10 years for it. Its a must watch.

In a 7-minute segment earlier the same day, Hendry discussed the idea that as the financial crisis deepens, civil liberties are curtailed by governments eager to put an end to falls in share prices and economies. This is an insightful discussion, a must-watch.

“The government has gone to war, it is an economic war. And in a war the government takes a larger and larger role in the society. That’s fine, you have to accept that,” Hendry said. “What is concerning is the erosion of civil liberties.”

The ban on short-selling financial securities in the UK is one example of erosion of civil liberties, another is a statement made in parliament last week which opens the way to silencing the press during financial crises.

The Treasury Select Committee said that it will look at the role of the media in financial stability and whether financial journalists “should operate under any form of reporting restrictions during banking crises”.

“We’re only a year into this and suddenly, already, our liberties are being brought back, brought in,” Hendry said.

Tags: Agriculture Commodities, Array, Asset Management, Caution, Choices, Civil Liberties, Cnbc, Commodity Stocks, Confession, Eclectica Asset Management, Economic War, eloquent and outspoken CIO, Erosion, Favour, Financial Crises, Financial Crisis, Financial Journalists, Financial Securities, Financial Stability, government securities, Hedge Fund, Hugh Hendry, Mandates, Minute Segment, Potash, Powerlunch, Role Of The Media, Share Prices, Syngenta, Treasury Select Committee, United Kingdom
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