The talk of the web
ISSUE #6 - Wednesday, 1st October 2008
- Ben Macintyre, The Times
"Wall Street's Masters of the Universe are dethroned"
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/article4856942.ece
DJR's gist: The only news that matters continues to be the ongoing credit crisis, with journalists and commenators queuing up to take a swing at big business, corporate fat cats, regulators, governments, the US Congress, and capitalism itself. But regardless of who's to blame, there is a strong possibility that it the globalised world of today, the actions and outcomes that have emanated from the US in the last two weeks may fundamentally shift where economic power lies in the world. In the interim alone it has shifted from New York City to Washington, D.C., but in the longer run it is hard to see who will be willing to let US ideology prevail again. In the meantime, the all-conquering investment banks have made many people smile by biting the dust.
- Camilla Cavendish, The Times
"Congress is the best advert for dictatorship"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/camilla_cavendish/article4856393.ece
DJR's gist: In a somewhat unique take on who's to blame for the present financial crisis, Cavendish takes a wild swing at the US Congress, and by extension the superpower status of the USA. Whereas European finance ministers have acted decisively having "learned from American's mistakes", the US Congress have given an illustrative example of what happens when elected politicians, with conflicting preferences, end up making decisions in which the best choice isn't the popular choice. It is times like these when democracy fails, to the extent that Cavendish has "never felt more attracted to benign dictatorship...It should come as a desperate irony to every American that the only grown-ups today are in the capitals of Europe. Europeans are forging the way ahead as Washington's childish sulk brings America to a new nadir."
- Andrew Buncombe, The Independent
"Brothers in court: billionaire blood feud"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/brothers-in-court-billionaire-blood-feud-942801.html
DJR gist: Whichever way you look at this, it's ridiculous. A man is suing his elder sibling because the elder sibling may have suggested he did the occasional bad thing. Or, the sixth richest man in the world, whose $42bn wealth is about the equivalent of the GDP of Equador, is suing the fifth richest man in the world, whose $43bn wealth is about the same as the GDP of Slovenia. The settlement, of Rs.100,000,000,000/- (£1.2bn) would be substantially more than the entire annual GDP of the Central African Republic. It is silly money being bandied about by silly brothers. Their Mum should do what any good mother would do, and give them two good smacks.
- The Times of India
"Tax dept asks Microsoft to pay up Rs 256 crore"
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Tax_dept_asks_MS_to_pay_up_Rs_256_cr/articleshow/3532472.cms
DJR gist: In what is certainly not their first run-in with the Indian government, Microsoft has today been fined Rs256 crores (approximately £32m/$55m) for tax evasion. It appears that one of their offices who claimed to be conducting marketing activities directed at Singapore were, in fact, marketing directly to the Indian consumer. The Indian government never resist the opportunity to bash a foreign multi-national (remember Coca-Cola?), and immediately slapped them with a solid fine. Happy days all-round.
Speaking of getting slapped, this link was indirectly provided by "Chouders the Vicissitudinous Ayatollah of Misogyny". Any time soon, he might get off his lazy arse and post his own notes, instead of complaining when other people forget to cite him. We shall see...
- Robin Harding, Financial Times - Technology Blog
"The joys of magnetic tape"
http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2008/10/is-that-a-window-or-a-tv-aerial/
DJR gist: Cassettes may have been replaced with CDs, video may have made way for DVDs, and digital cameras are about to finish off photo film. What happens to the film-making companies? They invent film-coated glass that can act as a giant antenna... or as a heat-proof wall. Ingenious.
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