ExpoElettronica Forlì
la ‘Grande Fiera’ dell’elettronica!
Fiera di Forlì, 5 e 6 dicembre, sono le coordinate della tappa di livello nazionale di ExpoElettronica.
Questi i dati tecnici: 20.000 mq di esposizione, oltre 400 espositori di livello nazionale, oltre 29.000 i visitatori attesi.
Questi numeri, la qualità e la quantità dell’offerta merceologica, i filoni tematici che arricchiscono la kermesse, la rendono la ‘grande fiera dell’elettronica’ per eccellenza!
Enorme la miriade di prodotti che soddisfa i gusti di tutti: esperti, neofiti, elettro-riparatori, radioamatori, appassionati del “fai da te”, giovani e adulti in cerca di buone occasioni, pezzi rari e, perché no, idee regalo originali e utili per Natale ormai alle porte.
L’imbarazzo che si crea è quello della scelta: elettronica analogica, digitale e wireless; pc nuovi ed usati, periferiche, accessori e ricambi; attrezzature, schede e componenti per riparare o addirittura costruire da soli svariati dispositivi elettronici; telefonia; lettori mp4 e il nuovissimo mp5, masterizzatori cd/dvd, TV, decoder, proiettori, parabole, net working, videosorveglianza, consolle per giochi…in pratica tutto quello che è “home entertainment” e non solo!
Accanto alla mostra mercato, nucleo della manifestazione, interessanti filoni tematici collaterali la rendono ineguagliabile per interesse e proposte di riflessione:
- Radio Expò, mercatino dell’usato, un settore rivolto a CB e radioamatori con trasmettitori, antenne, componenti e gloriose radio d’epoca che riscuotono sempre un grande successo, a metà fra elettronica, bricolage e collezionismo.
- Il Salone dell’Astronomia amatoriale l’unico evento che riunisce aziende di settore, rivenditori e tantissimi club di astrofili provenienti da tutta Italia.
Due giornate intense di conferenze e convegni, imperdibili per gli addetti ai lavori, attraenti per i neofiti del mondo ‘stellato’
- Photo Cine Video, rassegna dedicata a tutti i fotoamatori con macchine fotografiche analogiche e digitali, obiettivi ed accessori nuovi, usati e da collezione e ben due sala pose allestite per la manifestazione. Una, ad ingresso gratuito con due modelle e l’altra, dedicata all “Glamour”, a pagamento e su prenotazione.
- Il concorso dell’Inventore Elettrico- Elettronico, come in un “Portobello” del XXI secolo, chiunque abbia un’idea innovativa ed inedita, in ambito elettronico, può iscriversi gratuitamente e sottoporre la propria invenzione ad una giuria di esperti; ai primi 5 classificati verrà riservato uno spazio espositivo in occasione della Fiera. Nello spazio espositivo sarà possibile mostrare eventuali prototipi dell’invenzione.
Sono previsti premi per i primi tre classificati: 1° classificato, lettore DVD e recensione del progetto sulla rivista Fare Elettronica; 2° classificato, lettore MP3; 3° classificato, chiave Flash Memory USB, e premi di partecipazione per tutti i partecipanti. Da non dimenticare che in questi anni diverse “scoperte” presentate al concorso sono poi state prodotte dagli stessi inventori o dal mondo dell’industria.
In collaborazione con la rivista Fare Elettronica, sarà offerto un corso gratuito di elettronica per principianti, ai visitatori di ExpoElettronica.
Non di minore interesse la presenza dell’Associazione FoLug di Forlì, che introdurrà i visitatori nel mondo di Linux e dell’Open Source, con dimostrazioni pratiche per i visitatori di ExpoElettronica

COLPO D’OCCHIO SU EXPO ELETTRONICA FORLI: Organizzazione: Blu Nautilus Srl; Luogo: Fiera di Forlì – Via Punta di Ferro; Ingresso: operatori e pubblico; Biglietto Ingresso- valido per tutti i settori espositivi: euro 10,00 (intero), euro 8,00 (ridotto – scaricabile dal sito www.expoelettronica.it); Orari: 9.00-18.00 ; Info: 0541 439573; website: www.expoelettronica.it

Surplus: Terrorized into being consumers is a 2003 Swedish documentary film on consumerism and globalization, created by director Erik Gandini and editor Johan Söderberg. It looks at the arguments for capitalism and technology, such as greater efficiency, more time and less work, and argues that these are not being fulfilled. Surplus goes looking for answers to questions like ”why does the privilege to be able to buy everything not automatically lead to happiness?” and ”why all this emptiness despite our prosperity”.

International Documentary Film Festival

This film is about consumerism totally consumed us. It used the language of music video, propagenda and commercial advertising as a response to the forces of globalisation. It fights fire with fire. The questions it raises are ultimately more important than any answers it might suggest. For it’s originality, sense of humour, irony, forcefulness and visual virtuosity, the Silver Wolf Award goes to Surplus: Terrorized into being consumers. – Amsterdam, Nov. 2003.

Hemen pixkat aipatutzen nuen Toby Hemenway-en artikulu batera itzultzen naiz. Hortan permakulturaren hirugarren arau etikoa (gaineratikoei buruzkoa) lehengo biak (“lurra zaindu” eta “jendeak zaindu”) baino era nahiko korapilatsuago batean errana dela, eta horrek gaineratikoen arazoaz permakulturazaleen aise eskasa adierazten duela oroitarazten ditu.

Bertze artikulu batean, gaineratikoen arazoa urritasun sentipenari lotzen du. Halere urritasun sentipen hori argitzeko denboraren ikusmoldeaz erraten duena, zizklo- edo lerro formazkoa, ez zait oso sinesgarri iduri. Kultura gehienetan bi ikusmoldeak direla iduritzen zait, bata zikliko edo aurreikusgarri dena (egun/gau, ilargialdiak, ondoz ondoko urtaroak) adierazteko, bertzea lerro-formakoa edo berezia (hazi eta zahartzea, ondoz ondoko urteen arteko ezberdintasunak).
Izatezko larritasuna, “jainkotiarrarekiko lotura”, eta Jainkoei edo apezei gaineratikoen ematearen artean egiten dituen loturak nahiko korapilatsu iruditzen zaizkit ere.

Urritasun sentipena, mail haundi batean, gure bizi baldintzen funtsatzeko erabiltzen ditugun aukeren aniztasunaren menpe iduritzen zait. Gure bizi baldintzak gauza gutitan oinarritzen badire, urritasuna somatuko dugu gauza horietarik bat noizbait eskas egonen denean. Alderantziz, gure bizi baldintzak aniztasun nahikotan oinarrituz, noizbait osaki baten eskasa errexki ordainduko du(te) bertze osaki batek edo batzuk.
Bi muturreko adibideak hartzeko, lur eremu batean oloa bakarrik hazten bada, gosetian izateko zori nahiko haundia izanen dugu (uzta txarra izatekotan) edo gaineratiko kopuru haundi bat (uzta ona izatekotan). Bertzalde, eremu berean oihan-laborantza gaztaindi batean eginez, eta horrez gain baratze biointensiba, oilozaintza estensiba eta putzutan arrain haztea, oroaren ekoizpena ez da hainbertze aldatuko kopurutan, osaki ezberdinen aldaketak elkar ordaintzen ahalko baitire ; zorte oso txarra egon beharko zen osaki bakoitzarentzat urte txarra izateko, era berean ez liteke ohizkoa urte oso on bat osaki guzientzat. Horrez gain, aniztasuna bera egonkortasun faktore bat da, gora-behera horiek leunduko dituena.
Orduan urritasun sentipena eta gaineratikoak gordetzeko beharra, baratze sistemei baino gehiago laborantza sistemei lotuak dire, azken horiek haien aniztasun murriztuarengatik ekoizpen “kopuru anomaliak” maizagotan jasotzen dituztela eta.
Laborantzak elitearen eskuetan poterearen biltzerat eramaten du beti. Laborantzaren bihotzean dagoen gaineratiko gordegarri haundien ondorio saihestezina da. Bertzaldetik kultura berri baten sortzeko beharra izaten ahalko ginuke, hontan gaineratikoa, baita hori nahigarri egiten duten beldurra eta gutizia, ez legokete gure ohituren egiturezko emaitza erraten digu Hemenway-ek

Jendarteko hartu-emanetan beldurra eta gutiziaren eragina murrizteari dagokionez, gizarte ezberdinetan Marcel Mauss-ek ematearen inguruan egin zituen behaketa interesgarri batzuk aipatzen ditu. Horietan, emateek sorturiko pertsonen arteko loturak, emandako gauzak baino garrantzitsuagoak dire. Kasu batzutan ere nork nori zenbat eman zion jakitea ezinezkoa izateko trikimailuak daude, preseski kontatze zehatz batengatik emateen jarioa murriztua ez izateko. Deun lagunak aipatzen dituen emate kiribiletan bezala.
Emate-kiribil horiek ohizkoak dire, berehalako erabiltzezko gauzak (janari, tresna, oinarrizko laguntzak) ekoizten diren elkarte ttikitan, nun ere elkar laguntza ta fidantzia aski barneratuak diren harremanak formalizatu beharrik ez izateko.
Bertzela izaten da lurretik kanpoko bizimodu batean, hortan gure zereginak gainespezializatuak baitire eta gutitan berehalako erabiltzezko gauzak ekoizten baitituzte, eta jendarteko loturak nahiko hotz eta gogortuak bihurtu baitire. lerro-lerro bagoaz, anaitasunari oraindik beldurra dion desfilean, bulego, biltegi, pabilioi, idazkaritza, ikasgela, denda gainontzeko eremu hesituetara gure hatsa, eta izerdiz, eta keinuz, eta begiradez, eta zitaltasunez, eta goxotasunez ere tarteka, eta ezjakintasunez uneoro zein ezinegonez, eta inertzi amankomun nekagarri nardagarriaz gure mugimenduak elbarritzera, prostituzioari maitasunari baino zilegitasun gehiago emanaz konbentzioei ausardiari baino legeei zuzenbideari baino
Jendarteko loturen gogortasunak, lurretik kanpoko bizimodu batean, ezjabetasun sentipena sendotzen baitu ere. Von Foersterek zion bezala, gizakien arteko loturak hainbat eta gogorragoak izanez, oroaren joera, osatzen duten gizakiei gero eta menperatu ezin duten dinamika berezi batekoa ageriko zaie.
Permakulturaren garapenak gaineratikoen mugitze informalarekin bat egin behar du, informaltasun hori giza-eskalako hartu-emanetan baizik izaten ezin dela.

Hemen gelditzen naiz (oraingoz) hiru arau horiek pixkat aldatuz :
1. Gure ingurua eta bere aniztasuna zaindu
2. Jendeak zaindu, norberetik hasiz
3. Gaineratikoak mugitzen ahal diren loturak sortu

À propos du troisième principe

Il me semble que le sentiment de rareté dépend surtout de la largeur du champ des possibles sur lesquels on envisage de baser notre subsistance. Plus cette subsistance se base sur un petit nombre de choses, plus on percevra la rareté, lorsque l’une ou l’autre de ces choses viendra à nous faire défaut à un moment donné. En revanche, en basant notre subsistance sur une diversité suffisante, la raréfaction d’un élément à un moment donné pourra plus facilement être compensée par les autres.
Pour prendre deux cas extrêmes, si sur un terrain donné on fait de la monoculture d’avoine on aura un certain risque d’être en situation de famine (en cas de mauvaise récolte) ou d’avoir de gros surplus sur les bras (en cas de bonne récolte). À l’inverse, si on fait sur la même surface de l’agroforesterie basée sur châtaigneraie, associée à de la biointensive, de l’élevage de volailles en parcours extensif, et de l’aquaculture, la production de l’ensemble sera relativement plus constante en quantité, car les fluctuations des rendements des divers éléments tendront à se compenser entre elles ; il faudrait vraiment avoir la poisse pour que tout foire ensemble, de même il serait peu probable qu’une saison soit exceptionnelle pour tous les éléments. Par ailleurs la diversité elle-même est un facteur de stabilité, stabilité qui atténuera les fluctuations en question (c’est une des propritétés émergentes des écosystèmes).
En ce sens, le sentiment de rareté et la nécessité de stocker des surplus sont a priori plutôt liés aux systèmes agricoles qu’aux systèmes horticoles, les premiers étant de par leur diversité réduite plus sujets à des “anomalies quantitatives” de production.
L’agriculture amène, toujours, à une concentration du pouvoir par l’élite. C’est le résultat inévitable de l’existence de gros surplus stockables, qui est au coeur de l’agriculture, et nous pourrions avoir besoin de créer une culture où le surplus, ainsi que la peur et la cupidité qui le rendent desirable, ne sont plus les résultats structurels de nos pratiques culturelles, nous dit Hemenway.

S’agissant de réduire l’influence de la peur et la cupidité sur les échanges humains, il fait une référence intéressante à des observations de Marcel Mauss sur les pratiques de dons dans différentes sociétés, où les liens personnels créés par les dons sont bien plus importants que les objets donnés en eux-mêmes. Dans certains cas se sont même développées des méthodes empêchant de pouvoir calculer qui avait donné combien à qui, précisément pour éviter qu’une comptabilité trop précise restreigne le flux des dons. Comme dans le cas des spirales de dons que rapporte Deun.
Ces spirales de dons sont courantes dans des communautés de petite taille dont les membres produisent des choses d’utilité immédiate (aliments, matériel, services basiques) et où l’entraide et la confiance sont suffisamment intégrées pour ne pas avoir à formaliser les termes des échanges.
Il en est tout autrement dans la vie hors-sol, où nos activités sont hyperspécialiées et produisent rarement des choses d’utilité immédiate, et où les liens humains sont bien plus distants et rigides. Nous allons alignés, dans ce défilé qui a encore peur de la fraternité, vers les bureaux, entrepôts, pavillons, secrétariats, classes, magasins et autres espaces clôturés, pour, par notre haleine, et par notre sueur, et par nos gestes, et par nos regards, et par notre bassesse, et par notre tendresse aussi parfois, et par autant d’ignorance que d’inquiétude constamment, d’abominable et fatigante inertie commune, mutiler nos mouvements, en rendant plus licite la prostitution que l’amour, les conventions que le courage, les lois que le droit.
La rigidité des liens humains dans un cadre de vie hors-sol contribue d’ailleurs à accentuer le sentiment de dépossession. Car comme disait Von Foerster, plus les relations interindividuelles sont rigides, plus le comportement de la totalité apparaîtra aux éléments individuels qui la composent comme doté d’une dynamique propre qui échappe à leur maîtrise.
Bref le développement de la permaculture doit aller de pair avec une informalité dans la circulation des surplus, cette informalité ne pouvant exister que dans des échanges à échelle humaine.

Je m’arrête ici (pour l’instant) en revisitant un peu les trois principes en question :
1. Prendre soin de notre milieu et de sa diversité
2. Prendre soin des gens, en commençant par soi-même
3. Créer des liens par lesquels les surplus peuvent circuler

We can evaluate loss and benefit from the economic policies by the government. Now we will discuss the gain and loss in consumer surplus due to tax and subsidies. We can understand the loss in consumer surplus by imposing the indirect tax with an example. Indirect tax is the tax that we pay when we are paying the price for a commodity. Suppose the supply is perfectly elastic for scooters, the demand curve for scooter is downward sloping.

In the above figure, the number of scooters sold shown on X-axis and the price of scooters is shown on Y-axis. OP is the price and OQ is the number of scooters sold. The consumer surplus price OP is DCP. Now, if indirect tax is imposed on scooter, the price will increase to OP1 and the number of scooter sold decreases to OQ1. Thus the consumer surplus will decrease to DP1A. There is a decrease in consumer surplus by P1ACP. There are two parts in this is a decrease in Consumer Surplus P1ACP.

P1ABP – This decrease in consumer surplus is because of increase in price.

ABC – This decrease in consumer surplus is because of decrease in the number of scooters sold.

ABC is the extra burden due to the sales tax. P1ABP is the loss in consumer surplus which goes to the government as revenue. But ABC is excess burden or net loss in welfare, which is called Dead weight loss. This part of loss in welfare goes nowhere. Indirect tax distorts the price of scooter and decrease the demand for scooter. So the burden of indirect tax is more than direct tax.

Direct tax is superior to indirect tax because if the government takes away P1ACP by direct tax then the loss equal to ABC would not be born by the public. This evolution is followed in property market also.

Cost Benefit analysis is done for the public investment projects. This is used to judge the desirability of public investment of any public products or investment. In this, we don’t analyze the money cost and money benefit; but real cost and real benefit. Here it is concerned with social benefit and social cost. Cost benefit analysis is done for the public products to analysis the social benefits from the public investments. Let us take up an example of construction of a subway.

In the above figure, on the X axis we measure the number of journeys made per week and on Y axis cost per journey. DD shows the demand curve for the journey on that route.

If OP1 is the cost per journey, two wheelers are ready to pay OD as price. So, the consumer surplus is P1AD. This is the situation before the construction of a subway. Now, when a public investment on subway is decided, then the cost benefit analysis is done to see whether this particular investment is beneficial to the society. After the construction of the subway the price of the cost per journey will come to OP2 and the number of journeys will increase to OQ2 which shows that the consumer surplus will increase after the construction of the subway. Before the construction of subway consumer surplus is P1AD and after the subway it will be P2CD. This shows that there is increase in consumer surplus that will be P1ACP2.

There are two parts of the increase in consumer surplus P2 CAP1

P2BAP – increase surplus is due to decrease in the price of cost per journey.

ABC – the increase in consumer surplus due to the increase in number of journeys on that route.

The cost saving segment is the main component to the consumer surplus.

WASHINGTON?Inclusion of a provision to streamline the regulation of surplus lines insurers in a comprehensive financial regulatory reform bill is drawing plaudits from industry observers.

Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., included the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act as part of the 1,136-page discussion draft of the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2009, which he unveiled Tuesday. The measure also would establish an Office of National Insurance within the Treasury Department.

Among other things, the bill would make it easier for risk managers to access the surplus lines market and set a uniform system of allocating and remitting surplus lines premium taxes.

The bill also would simplify reinsurance regulation by eliminating extraterritorial application of state reinsurance laws and make the domiciliary state the lone regulator of financial solvency.

The House unanimously passed its version of the act in September.

The proposed National Insurance Office would act as an adviser to the Treasury Department on domestic and international insurance issues and oversee the federal terrorism insurance program. It also would have the power to pre-empt state insurance regulators in some circumstances.

Insurance is only a small part of the bill. Among other things, the measure calls for establishing an Agency for Financial Stability that would monitor systemic risk and have the authority to break up large, complex financial institutions if they threaten the country?s financial stability.

The New York-based Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc. ?is extremely pleased that the draft bill circulated by Chairman Dodd includes several of our legislative priorities,? said Nikolas Kapatos, chairman of RIMS? external affairs committee and senior vp and enterprise risk manager for Houston-based Sterling Bancshares Inc. ?Chief among those would be a bill addressing the surplus lines or nonadmitted insurance market.? He noted that Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and former Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., had introduced the measure as free-standing bill earlier.

?It included provisions permitting ?qualified risk managers? more direct access to the nonadmitted market than current law allows,? said Mr. Kapatos. ?The House has passed its version no fewer than three times most recently this year. With the Senate regulatory modernization bill incorporating the Bayh-Martinez legislation, we believe we stand a good chance of finally getting this much-needed legislation passed into law.?

Mr. Kapatos said RIMS also supports inclusion of the federal insurance office concept in the bill. ?Also, we view this legislation as precursor to the society?s long-held position in support of an optional federal charter for commercial property/casualty insurers.?

?The Senate Banking Committee?s action is a giant step toward realizing the goal of a more efficient process for transacting surplus lines business for both consumers and insurance professionals,? Marshall Kath, president of the Kansas City, Mo.-based National Assn. of Professional Surplus Lines Offices Ltd. and chairman and chief executive officer of Dallas-based Colemont Brokerage Group Inc., said in a statement.

The Washington-based Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers is ?extremely grateful that Chairman Dodd has included the surplus lines provisions in his discussion draft,? said Joel Wood, senior vp at the CIAB. ?While this bill has vast implications that will likely take months to work through, we think the chairman has struck the right notes on insurance regulation.?

Mr. Wood added that commercial insurance buyers ?will benefit tremendously from the efficiencies and savings associated with the passage of provisions to apply home-state rules to access the surplus lines marketplace for multistate risks.?

While hailing inclusion of the surplus lines reform language, a representative of another property/casualty insurance trade group raised questions about other parts of the measure.

?Sen. Dodd has proposed historic sweeping restructure of the financial regulatory system,? said Jimi Grande, senior vp in the National Assn. of Mutual Insurance Cos.? Washington office. ?We were pleased that he included the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act. That?s a simple yet concrete step toward streamlining insurance regulation.

?We do have concerns with several other areas of the legislation,? said Mr. Grande. ?When it comes to systemic risk, we continue to believe that nearly every examination of financial crises concludes that insurance played no significant role in the crisis. Another provision we have some concerns with is the creation of the Office of National Insurance. We want to ensure that there are no duplicative regulatory requirements. We don?t fundamentally have a problem with the idea of the office; the problem comes in with how the office gets defined, powers granted to the office, and any regulatory duplication of what?s already being done in the states.?

Copyright © 2009 Crain Communications, Inc.

Harrington Briefs Capitol Hill on AIG, the Economic Collapse and Regulatory ReformSurplus Lines Bill Passage May Give Us Problems, Say E&S Execs

Ci sono pensieri e opere di per sé neutri. Chi si propone di ricavar quattrini dal suo impegno non fa male a nessuno, né fa danni un concetto di formazione e conoscenza che escluda dai propri orizzonti il profitto. Per decenni questi due principi hanno saputo convivere pacificamente e, nonostante limiti, ritardi e insufficienza, scienza economica, prassi politica e dottrine della formazione accettavano l’idea fondante di un modello di crescita sociale che non un bolscevico, ma don Milani, uomo di scuola e di chiesa, aveva riassunto in una formula che aveva la forza dì un assioma: “chi si preoccupa di formazione e istruzione e trascura invece le occasioni di tirar l’acqua al proprio mulino non può far male mai“.
Acqua n’è passata sotto i ponti e, tra la caduta del muro di Berlino e la fiction delle “Torri Gemelle”, un modello di “eversione dall’alto” ha prodotto il collasso di Istituzioni democratiche partorite con segni di cianosi e a stento sopravvissute alla liquidazione della Resistenza e al riciclaggio del fascismo. Nonostante il naufragio del neoliberismo, da anni una spinta reazionaria di giacobini che hanno in odio il popolo ha rovesciato persino i valori cari alla “borghesia illuminata“, sicché conoscenza e formazione sono ormai diventate un attraente “valore di mercato” e, di fronte all’idillio Gelmini-rettori, folgorati sulla via di Damasco, settori minoritari dell’università scoprono dalla sera alla mattina la privatizzazione dell’accademia, contro la quale da tempo si sono scatenate le demagogiche piazzate mediatiche sul “fannullonismo” e le sforbiciate “meritocratiche” subite dai fondi per la ricerca. Gli storici diranno domani quale peso hanno avuto sulla Waterloo le oscure concertazioni e l’attendismo dimostrato, mentre la scuola, abbandonata a se stessa, affondava. E’ vero. Qualche Laocoonte reduce dalle piazze in subbuglio, dalle scuole e dagli atenei occupati, aveva previsto la debacle, ma l’idra multicefala degli interessi di parrocchia, una concezione aristocratica e asindacale del ruolo dei docenti universitari ne ha decretato l’immediato sacrificio e la coscienza civile non s’è svegliata nemmeno quando, in combutta con quei campioni della legalità che, dalla mattanza di Genova agli omicidi Aldovrandi e Cucchi, fanno temere una svolta autoritaria, il neofascismo s’è schierato contro gli studenti a Piazza Navona e in Parlamento.
Cassandra l’aveva previsto – ma si sa, Cassandra è pazza – che il modello aziendale non poneva alla scuola semplicemente la discutibile questione della ricerca di un “compromesso” tra le preoccupazioni dei nostri “sani imprenditori” e le finalità di “sviluppo integrale” di tutte le classi sociali, figlie delle lotte del Sessantotto. Cassandra aveva “visto” che, in realtà, la pretesa era un’altra: subordinare la conoscenza alle leggi autoreferenziali del mercato e del profitto. Cassandra però è dannata a non esser creduta e, d’altra parte, da tempo la sinistra rabbrividisce quando sente parlare di conoscenza e cultura come “ricchezza che – sosteneva il Che – appartiene al mondo, è forse, come il linguaggio, qualcosa che appartiene alla specie umana“.
Nell’assoluta indifferenza dell’accademia, da cui dovrebbe peraltro venire un qualche pensiero pedagogico, l’attacco alla scuola statale ha potuto puntare dritto al “prodotto finito“: non si vuole pensiero critico, ma militi disciplinati del capitale. L’etica dell’insegnamento scientifico ha ceduto terreno alla verità di fede del neoclericalismo, la formazione come strumento di emancipazione è stata accantonata per tornare alla trasmissione dei dogmi della cultura dominante, l’autoritarismo ha annichilito l’autorità dell’autorevolezza, alcune delle chiavi di volta della scuola moderna sono state spezzate, la didattica modulare è stata messa da parte per tornare al “maestro unico“; sparita ogni forma di continuità didattica, il respiro universale del concetto di conoscenza è stato sacrificato sull’altare del più gretto localismo leghista e un attacco selvaggio ha fatto terra bruciata dell’aggiornamento dei docenti, della formazione permanente e del rispetto dei ritmi di apprendimento. Nel silenzio complice dell’accademia, si sono riprese le crociate e s’è riaperto lo scontro tra guelfi e ghibellini.
Una mattina di pochi giorni fa pezzi di università, usciti dal sonno della ragione, hanno “scoperto” che più difficile è il contesto in cui operano, meno risorse otterranno, che il “valore della conoscenza” non è rappresentato dal bisogno che ne sente la società – lo stesso che rende preziosa l’aria – ma segue il corso d’una qualunque merce e sopravvive solo se offre opportunità di guadagno a sponsor, strutture private e nicchie di mercato. E’ apparso così chiaro che dietro l’attacco al Sessantotto, si nascondeva un principio di carattere puramente economico: un largo accesso al mondo della conoscenza – esito del diritto allo studio – equivale a un eccesso di produzione che svaluta la “merce” e mette a rischio il saggio di profitto. Come accade per il surplus di pomodori, si fa ricorso al macero. Meno facoltà statali, meno cattedre, meno ricercatori, meno fondi e, di conseguenza, meno ricerca nella formazione pubblica, tutto questo moltiplica la domanda nel privato e fa lievitare i prezzi. Due piccioni in una fava: costi alle stelle in una società classista, con una manovalanza d’ignoranti da trasformare agevolmente in clienti, crumiri e massa di manovra che, per dirla con Antonio Labriola, faccia da “bestiame votante“. Con buona pace della sia pur asfittica democrazia borghese.
Tanto “valeva” il muro di Berlino, tanto paghiamo l’incapacità dei partiti storici di ispirazione marxista di trovare un’uscita a sinistra per la crisi del “socialismo reale“.

Uscito sul “Manifesto” il 17 novembre 2009, su “Sardegna democratica” il 15 novembre, su ”Fuoriregistro” il 13 novembre 2009, e su “Report on line” il 12 novembre 2009.

This Post is a sequel to – Surplus

I couldn’t resist it, so here is a list of things I have pondered on regarding where we might redirect the surplus wealth of our societies in order to achieve better outcomes.

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This is a tricky subject because it involves telling people who have money and power, and who in general have acquired it from the skill in which they have handled their assets, what and where they should be doing with it. That could be a dangerous exercise on several levels. What makes you think you have any better idea or any right to tell them what to do with their money?  Additionally, if you are going to interfere with their security and wealth, you are likely to provoke an antagonistic response.

Lets be clear though, not everyone lives their life trying to accumulate as much power and money as possible. There are people that do, and fair enough if that rocks their boat. But just because that is their thing that doesn’t mean the rest of us want everything to be all about money. Somewhere, somehow, there needs to be a balance between all the competing interests and factions, such that the actions of one group don’t improperly impact upon the interests of another, and that works both ways.

Capital needs to flow where it is needed and commerce needs to occur without excessive socialism leaching off the system. Capital needs to be constrained from intruding into social relationships where it is inappropriate. And most especially, gambling needs to be excluded from anywhere it has the potential to disrupt the normal business of commerce and society.

You are simply not going to be able to stop gambling, and why even bother, but it is critical that the surplus wealth that is available to gamblers isn’t allowed to become a market force that games the system in an attempt to manoeuvre advantage from momentum trading or other like “investment” strategies. They are not investment strategies at all of course, they are simply trying to play the market and swing money into any situation where there might appear to be a momentary advantage in the volatility of prices. Even better if your trading action can provoke such volatility and open the opportunity to increase the profit from the resulting even larger swings. Better for the trader that is. But it is gambling in the same sense that card counting in a casino is gambling. If you have markets that were established for the express purpose of providing investment funds for productive enterprises, why on earth would you want gamblers swamping the system with excess cash and interested only in provoking price swings that they can take a percentage cut from. Investment Banks like Goldman Sachs and all the big and small Hedge Funds you have never heard of, but which have been surging monumental amounts of money around the world for the last decade, have morphed from investors into just such gamblers. I will be writing a post on ‘Money’ shortly which will cover this, so I will try here to stick more specifically to the matter of redirecting surplus into genuinely productive endeavours and enterprises. Suffice to say at this point, Gambling needs to be something actively excluded from the normal process of investment of surplus capital and resources (albeit investing in new and unproven businesses is a gamble too of a different sort). So to that end we are left with defining those activities which do fall within the definition of productive and useful.

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One approach to that is start with the negative, eliminate those things you don’t want and see what you have left – I have probably already covered the things we don’t want done sufficiently for the meantime. Another approach is to look at the things we already do, but not very well and really rather need to do a lot better at. That would include: healthcare, education, pensions, prisons, housing, transport and communications. Finally that leaves the things we aren’t doing at all and yet we need to be.

Just a very quick recap on the first point though. We don’t need gambling on our capital markets or on our commodity markets. We don’t need speculation on asset classes blowing up into price bubbles. And we don’t need financial institutions growing so large that they become “too big to fail”. We could also probably do without a lot of the fluff and nonsense that is luxury brands too, but that’s not a fight you are ever likely to win and then who’s to say what people can or can’t spend their own money on…!

On point two: We do need investment and sound management in all the things we currently do. Unfortunately we don’t seem to be able to manage to achieve that very regularly. And yet, why not? Its not like it is really that complicated. A lot of the problem is vested interests and conflicting agenda’s. That can infact be settled reasonably simply with an appropriate regulatory regime. But it would require a significant adjustment process and acclimatisation to the new environment. Additionally it would need to be handled pretty comprehensively and concurrently. So a revolution is probably the only way you could get a big enough and fast enough change happening to be effective.

Arguably we already invest all the money we need to into our various social enterprises and it is the management of them that is the issue, not the money. However on the other hand there is the golden rule, the person with the gold makes the rules, so if the current manager isn’t doing the job well, then restructure the situation so that some-one else’s money and therefore rules operate. Better still, open the situation up so that there are a multitude of operators and providers. Most mismanagement comes about because there is a monopoly situation or there is no cost or penalty to mismanagement. There absolutely needs to be accountability for getting it wrong. Businesses or bureaucracies must be bankrupted or disestablished if they fail. Far too often they are bailed out or otherwise protected because no-one wants to pay the price of the failure. Of course you do still pay that price anyway, but it is just spread out in other directions and isn’t so obvious any more. That is a phenomena that needs to be crushed ruthlessly. Not only does it continue to provide a bad service, it ultimately costs more too. So, in respect of our term of reference – productive and useful – we can start first with the stuff we already do but need to do better.

My quick checklist was: healthcare, education, pensions, prisons, housing, transport and communications.

Healthcare: private capital can provide the bricks and mortar infrastructure easily enough and should be encouraged to do so. There is very little justification for having a state body being property managers or owners (this argument applies equally to schools, prisons or any other institution). The only caveat to that is that the State has often taken ownership onto itself in order to stop unreasonable cost escalations. That is a genuine issue, but the solution to it is to find a solution, not to just throw your hands in the air, say it’s too difficult and return to the status quo. Just as a for instance, Americans complain about the cost of medications in their country and point across the border to Canada where there is a system in place not too dissimilar from here in NZ and medications are much, much cheaper. Between unfettered capitalism and a particular regulatory regime, the cost of medicines in the US have climbed away to ridiculous extremes. Other countries have managed to harness capitalism and competition to their advantage and driven down the cost of medicines. Quite obviously it can be done. That same approach can, and needs, to be applied to the provision of all of the services I have listed. Of course that would also mean that government oversight and contracting would need to be of the best quality, but paying more for better managers would save far more than it cost.

Staffing of medical facilities could also be provided by private organisations. Indeed in NZ many healthcare providers are already just such institutions and businesses working alongside the public/state system. Just recently we have had an interesting example of a healthcare service here being contracted out to a private provider over the incumbent private provider after a competitive contract negotiation. Medical specimens and blood collection and testing has been transferred to the new provider to the tune of a nominal saving of some $14 million. The transition hasn’t been without its hiccups, but at least it is steps in the right direction and everyone should get better at the process with practise. So we have private hospitals, we have private medical service providers, we have private specialists and we have a public system. There is no reason why they cannot all get along well together, the only issue is cost control and that resides more to questions of monopolies and institutional capture than anything else. Therefore, let the private capital flow into the healthcare system and let the state concentrate on standards, regulation and transparency, not on trying to own and operate it all with a centralised bureaucracy. Yes you will have the occasional failure, but obvious and public failings can be noticed and addressed quickly, whereas previously the failures were unnoticed and ignored.

In general then the NZ healthcare system is actually slowly evolving in quite a positive direction. True, it could be substantially accelerated, but at least the philosophy is correct. In that respect, eduction and prisons can also be the subject of much the same process. There are other issues involved with these sectors which I will address in specific posts on them, but once again, the bricks and mortar doesn’t necessarily need to be owned by the state, let private investment flow into this were it can and reserve government to the management and oversight roles as appropriate.

The significant point is to direct private capital into as many areas as is practical and thereby both soaking up some surplus capital and also limiting the amount of tax dollar funding that is needed. It becomes a whole lifecycle cost equation and is not a trivial exercise, but there are a multitude of benefits and opening up the process to competition will do more to control costs than anything.

Transport and communications has its own tricky set of problems, mostly pertaining to the barriers to entry of capital and technical requirements. But competition is still possible and there is the potential to pour huge amounts of capital into such infrastructure projects. If you are looking at ways and means to soak up surplus capital, then here is a big opportunity, and even better it is patently useful economically. Telecommunications in NZ is already a large-scale industry, which invests staggering sums of money within a competitive commercial environment. The government is involved basically only insofar as regulating the industry. While any changes often seem glacial, that is probably just in the nature of large and capital intensive industries. There is another sector that has had proposals for private investment and which also seems subject to glacial movement, that is the building of privately financed roads. It was proposed that where there is an existing state owned road that is reaching the limit of its capacity and in need of upgrading or replacement, then there was the opportunity for a private sector company to invest in building an alternative second route that they could then charge a toll on. The public would get the option of a new and better route for a cost, or the free use of the old route with its attendant problems. Several corollaries were imagined with such a scheme. If it wasn’t planned and executed well, then the private owners could take a loss on it, so that would be a big incentive to plan and execute properly. Additionally it was conceived that the tolls would only last for so long as it took to recoup the initial investment, maintenance cost, plus an agreed return on that investment, and that when that was achieved the road would revert to state ownership. Such a project could have a lifetime of twenty or more years for the investors and be a very secure investment for the life of the contract as well.

I have left pensions and housing for last and bracketed then together for a reason. Anyone who is relying on governments to provide pensions into the future is dreaming. We already know that the statistical models used are either not truly sustainable, or point blank state that the funding mechanisms will be in deficit alarmingly quickly. Relying on taxing the current working population to fund the existing retired does not add up when projected into the future. Therefore the only sort of scheme that has any chance of success is a contributory savings scheme, such as ‘Kiwi-saver’ nominally is. Unfortunately Kiwi-saver does have a few issues of its own, but on the positive side at least they are things that can be rectified through intelligent policy. One criticism that was directed at a proposal for Kiwi-saver was that it should not be constrained by having to invest any particular percentage of its funds within NZ. That was actually a pretty stupid comment quite frankly. The most significant feature of Kiwi-saver is that it can be a vehicle for directing long term and stable investment into the NZ economy. NZ has always suffered from a lack of sufficient internal capital and Kiwi-saver could kill two birds with one stone here. On the one hand it is a large scale national savings plan, and on the other hand it needs stable and secure investments it can put its money into. Investing in overseas equities markets is not a stable and secure plan, it merely offers the potential for higher returns, which is what the critics were so interested in when they were looking to be allowed to invest off shore at will. If they can manage to swing a few good years of higher than average returns from that, then more people would be inclined to choose them as their approved Kiwi-saver provider and that would mean higher commissions and fees for the managers. Ultimately that is really only about skewing the playing field so as to favour the money men over everyone else, because you can be sure that the losses that might come along wouldn’t be born by them. We have had rather too much of that sort of behaviour already thankyou very much.

What is needed is for our national savings, our surplus, to be invested in something that usefully helps the economy and society as a whole and provides a secure return for those savings in retirement schemes. Those funds are currently directed into a number of areas by the finance companies who manager the schemes, and in general most are perfectly acceptable investments. But I have a suggestion for an investment destination that can deal with several domestic fiscal issues, killing two birds with one stone. We need to develop substantial investment within NZ and we need to address the situation where real-estate has become such a problematic financial component of the NZ economy. It has left us with both a bubble in housing prices and quite frankly a substandard stock of housing. Houses here are in general both badly built and unreasonably expensive. Somehow that dynamic needs to be reversed and corrected, thankfully it can be. It just wont be popular because it would directly impact on the kiwi love of speculating on property and houses. However ultimately it would benefit everyone.

My proposal is that NZ’s entire stock of rental accommodation should come under some new and very stringent regulations that would mean that essentially all existing dwellings would fail the rules and would not be eligible to be rented out as accommodation. The new rules would cover high standards of building, insulation, double-glazing, amenities and facilities, parking and security. Yes, that sounds like arrant nonsense, but only on the face of it, look deeper. Firstly it wouldn’t be applied over-night, but would have a transition period of some years, between maybe 5 and 10. All dwellings that could not be brought up to specification by that time would not legally be able to be rented. Either a landlord would have to invest the money required to improve the property to code or more likely would probably need to sell it off. That has benefits in several directions, no-one is left renting in substandard accommodation any longer, it increases the supply of houses onto the market for people looking to buy their own house, and it is a direct stimulus to the building industry. There would be a huge demand for newly built accommodation that meets the new and improved standards and that building program could be tied in with new local body rules that directed development into new higher density housing that worked in concert with public transport planning and improvements. Endless suburban and exurban developments are not in any public interest at all. Properly planned urban and inner-city apartment developments could contribute substantially to improved quality of life, reduction in traffic volumes, reduction in fuel and energy use and reduced Utility overheads. This would be a gigantic and stable investment opportunity for Kiwi-saver and other pension fund schemes, as well as any other managed fund scheme that wanted to be involved. It wouldn’t though do anything for your fly by night property developers who have just loved chopping up yet another outlying rural farm and putting up ticky-tacky boxes they call houses. Well tough, I have no sympathy for them anyway. As for existing suburbs, anyone who desperately wanted their own slice of quarter acre paradise would then be much more able to afford it, if that was their desire, as demand for that would have reduced.

Over say a 5 to 10 year period (or maybe even 10 to 20?) the building industry would go into overdrive to provide the dwellings that the new codes and regulations required. That would be a huge stimulus to the economy and would bring the average age of the nations housing down with a bang. Most of the material for that building work would be sourced domestically and the labour must inherently be domestically employed also, so there couldn’t be any of the outsourcing that has happened in other industries. The financial sector would of necessity be heavily involved too, which would provide the stability they need to mitigate the effects of the current financial crisis. A critical component of this scheme is that most existing houses would not only not meet the code requirements in the first place, they would be prohibitively expensive to retrofit for most landlords.

As it happen, most landlords should not be landlords anyway, they are undercapitalised and/or incompetent. Typically they are also likely to sell the property out from under a tenant whenever it suits them. At which point the new owner is likely to want vacant possession and the tenant is forced to pack up and move. That simply would not be tolerated in much of Europe and rightly so. There, rental accommodation is rental accommodation. If you own it you may sell it but the new owner is fully of the understanding that they are buying a rental property with a sitting tenant who is under no obligation to move. In fact the tenant has very clearly defined legal rights to the safe occupancy of their dwelling and I would advocate for the same here in NZ. Currently what we have is a situation where Joe Blogs with a half-arsed home loan buys a dingy old shack down the road, rents it out to a poor family and hopes that between the rent sort of covering the mortgage and some capital appreciation there might be a quick buck to be made. Rental accommodation needs to be a properly organised and professional business with adequate capital and management and the residences, houses and apartments need to be of good quality and maintained properly. It needs to be regulated properly by central and local government. And it is an industry that that has the potential to match the requirements of the pension fund business for stable long-term investment with a social requirement for housing that is equally stable and long-term. They are a natural match together.

What it is not however is a passport to high and glittering returns and profits. That is a mindset we all need to get over as soon as possible. Regular commerce and other practical, useful enterprises actually return maybe 10% per annum. Get used to it, that is normal life. All the rest was gambling and funny money that only ever existed on paper anyway. It was a bill of goods sold by the shysters to the credible and gullible which, wonder of wonders, hasn’t actually panned out per the prospectus.

On the final point regarding investing and allocation of our surplus to useful endeavours: doing things we aren’t doing at all but should be. I have some personal favourites: energy efficiency, alternative energy, distributed micro generation, intelligent power transmission networks, intelligent traffic control systems, R&D and expended business education initiatives. It can basically be categorised as innovation and initiative and comes on many levels, from research and development within a big enterprise to some-one starting a small business out of the back room of their house. In some ways that’s easy enough, R&D for instance can encouraged with a variety of mechanisms to facilitate investment. On the other hand, financing the start up of a new business is notoriously difficult. It would be lovely to think that surplus money and other resources could be channelled into supporting and incubating the next big thing, and maybe enterprise crèches could be a part of that. Too often though the new entrepreneur has grossly inflated ideas of what their business is worth, grossly inflated ideas of their own competence and a business plan that is sadly lacking. Sorting the nuggets from the dross is pretty much a case of having to leave it to natural selection to kill off the weak and incompetent. Harsh but realistic. The corollary of directing surplus resources to useful enterprises is that they need to actually be useful, in other words to make a profit. There are any number of activities we could or maybe even should be supporting, but this can get intensely political and if all it ends up doing is pissing money down a hole then that is actually some-ones hard labour and endeavours we are wasting.

What we should be doing is a very tricky concept really, treat it with caution and respect.

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Mit dem heutigen Tag hat der Abverkauf der restlichen Change.Me-Deckel als letzter Akt der Einstellung der beliebten Handtaschen-Kollektion “Change.Me” begonnen. Nur in meinem Onlineshop finden sich in der Rubrik “Schnäppchen” die vergünstigten Einzelstücke.

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Experts and laymen alike have looked upon the pyramids of ancient Egypt and wondered at their size and precision, impressed with the engineering involved. However I don’t think the miracle lies so much in the laying of blocks one upon another, as much as it is in the organisation of manpower and resources required. The pharaohs were able to channel huge amounts of intellect, equipment, labour, and rations – into piling up a giant heap of rocks. The size of those piles still impresses us today, so we are not talking small beer …so to speak. The crux of all this though, is that all the resources that went into building the pyramids had to have been a surplus over and above what it took to just keep their society running.

Today, we have far more people, far more food, far more technology, knowledge and power. So theoretically as societies we should have far more surplus available for national projects, and in fact we do. Twice in the last hundred years we have had world wide wars. Apparently there was so many spare resources lying around there didn’t seem to be any particular reason not to just burn them off in an orgy of destruction. It was the equivalent of burning money because you can. Except it wasn’t just money, it was fuel, buildings, ships, planes, munitions, food and lives. It would seem there was too much of all of them, so it was necessary to eliminate the surplus. It could be argued that there were other and better things that could have been done with that surplus, but apparently not, or they wouldn’t have gone and done it all again a second time, only bigger and better.

The proof of just how productive modern societies are and how huge the surpluses they can make is the examples of Germany and Japan (should we call them Deutschland and Nihon?). Both of these countries were bombed back into the stone-age, and yet miracle of miracles, within 30-40 years they have returned as world leaders of economic power. Hmmm…! That’s half of a human lifetime, from destitution and rubble to power and prosperity. Apparently if you put your mind to it and have a clear plan, you can move mountains, or build one and call it a pyramid. So how come we don’t seem to be able to come up with a plan and the resources to make the health system, education, or ACC run properly? How come the pension system is crumbling and unsustainable? What is the actual problem here, is it the resources available, or is it the organisation and planning?

Well, it is the organisation and planning of course. There is no question about that. The only question is: organisation of what, planning of what? And here’s my answer, it is about the organisation of our whole society and the planning of our whole financial system. Communism had a bit of a grievance with all that too, and had a bit of a go at reorganising it all in order to create the ideal workers paradise. Lets just say that it wasn’t a conspicuous success. Apart from the fact that surpluses, such as they were, got diverted off into competing in an arms race with the capitalist societies, communism never really got the hang of encouraging people to strive and endeavour to achieve and succeed. Capitalism works far better in that regard. When Japan and Germany were struggling to rebuild, there were incentives and rewards for individually and collectively contributing to the cause. During that whole reconstruction phase, capitalism worked really well. It doesn’t seem to work so well when it’s a mature system though, somehow the rot seems to set in and the focus and utility gets lost.

Actually, that’s probably not too hard to explain. Rebuilding your society from scratch means that there is pretty much a lack of everything. Anything you build is going to be needed, and all the industry sectors, big and little, will have a crying need for capital investment. Investment, labour and planning all flow into recreating the essential infrastructure and services that a modern, technical society needs. There is no particular intellect required to see what needs to be done and no particularly sophisticated financial planning needed to balance and sustain a complex and mature system. But once you have rebuilt all the basics and a lot of the luxuries, what is left to do and where do you go next?

That actually requires some very serious thought and planning. Otherwise the money-go-round will start to get distorted and corrupted. Money chases after spurious projects and schemes in order to maintain the desired return, and inevitably it morphs into a bubble economy. Too much money chasing not enough to do and consequently serially inflating the prices of one asset class after another. The economy falls into a boom bust cycle and everyone’s lives gets whipsawed backwards and forwards by the tidal waves of too much surplus resources surging around looking for a home. Those surpluses need to be managed intelligently, channelled productively, utilised efficiently and distributed equitably. In other words, exactly what is not happening currently. The control of society’s surpluses is incrementally being restricted to fewer and fewer people and institutions, that have no interest or idea what they are doing, beyond increasing and maintaining their wealth and position.

Ponzi schemes, outrageous wealth for a privileged few, and waste, have become the motif of our age, and no-one seems to have a plan or conception of what to do about it. Our very wealth has created the problems we now face. Ironically we are going to starve in the midst of plenty because our systems and organisation are so right royally screwed up. At this point I don’t think there is any option other than revolution, because the “powers that be” are simply not going to give up their control or amend their habits when that has been so immensely profitable to them. The system works – for them – for the rest of us it is an oppression and a torment, a leach and a trap. The tragedy of it is that it doesn’t need to be at all. All our wealth and power as societies could be put to so much better effect. And in the macro sense, it isn’t a difficult fix at all. There would have to be a reorganisation of power for it to work, but the thing that would make our societies work properly again is straightforward enough.

Investment needs to flow into productive and useful enterprises.

Real estate speculation, condominium developments, casino’s, Banks, financial schemes and hedge- funds are NOT productive and useful enterprises. They are just very profitable ones when they are operating within a corrupted and misguided economic system.

To that list you can add, entertainment networks, professional sports teams, luxury hotels and resorts, tourism, haut couture, jewellery, fashion handbags and shoes, supercars and superyatchs, private jets… These are all things you have and do when you have too much time and money on your hands and not enough real work to do.

So, what are productive enterprises, what should we be constraining capital flows towards and into? Well, I can think of a few things, and education would be fairly high on that list, but I don’t need to lay out a prescription here for you. Use your own imagination and common sense. What would YOU invest money, our surplus resources, into in order to create something better for the future.  ~ and don’t say a pyramid, LOL

For in the end, the decision and the future IS going to be in your hands, so it behoves you to think about what you want to make of it. The resources are there, we just need to apply them intelligently and wisely to useful endeavours.

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“Imagine you’re the Un-imaginable. What would you imagine?”

What has our society taught us? Have they taught us how to want. We all want things such as a new car, new phone, or even for everything to go our way. Perhaps in our dreams we think about how great it would be to have everything. What then? What happens if you get all of that?

Imagine you’ve gotten all your wishes granted. What then would you wish for? Naturally you’d wish for the very thing you don’t have. Nothing.

This article from the FT contains a number of Chinese points of view, from Beijing think tanks, worth getting to grips with as the picture around imbalances doesn’t appear to be getting any clearer.

In the background, another big idea has been gathering support, with much more potential to have an impact soon. A growing number in Beijing are calling for some of the reserves to be channelled to the Bric nations – Brazil, Russia, India and China – and other developing countries. This is not just about snapping up oilfields and copper mines on the cheap, as China has been doing all decade. The stated goal is much bigger: to use the reserves to help stimulate a new cycle of development and trade between China and with the developing world.

It  is clear that China is in it for the long haul in the developing world and that at the moment, it is not really sure how to, nor under pressure to, use its surpluses. Would it make  sense to pump it into, say, Brazilian infrastructure upgrading? Well, yes. Helping to boost consumer demand through civil infrastructure projects, while at the same time improving industrial infrastructure  – and easing of access to commodities – will let China share over the long term in Brazil’s growing prosperity.

The article, though admitting limitations of this type of idea, goes on to explain its current attraction:

Yet the idea is potentially powerful because it goes with the grain of big shifts in the global economic map that are already taking place. China is at the centre of powerful economic new links between developing countries. In the past Brazil’s economy would have been felled by a US crisis but Brazil could in fact grow this year. Fifteen years of sound economic policies have helped but it is no coincidence that China has this year become Brazil’s biggest trading partner. South Africa tells a similar story.

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BERLIN (AFP) – Germany’s trade surplus plunged 43 percent in August compared to July after a drop in exports from Europe’s biggest economy, official data showed on Friday.

The trade surplus, meaning that Germany exported more goods than it imported, was 8.1 billion euros (12.0 billion dollars) in August, down from 14.1 billion euros in July, the national statistics office said.

Visitors examine a display at a motor show in Frankfurt am Main in September. (AFP photo)

Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a much smaller surplus of 12.5 billion euros.

Exports fell to 60.4 billion euros from 70.5 billion euros in July, while imports slipped to 52.2 billion euros from 56.4 billion euros, according to the office’s preliminary figures.

Compared to August 2008, exports were down by 20.0 percent and imports were 19.3 percent lower.

As one of the world’s biggest exporters and one of the few large economies to have a trade surplus, Germany has been hit hard by the global recession, with its output forecast to shrink four to five percent this year.

Simplifier sa vie

“Et si, finalement, on se débrouillait avec ce qu’on a!” Vous imaginez-vous en train d’annoncer cette incroyable nouvelle à votre famille?

Pourtant, ne pas faire les courses peut être une expérience extraordinaire. Pendant cette courte pause dans le temps de consommation, vous pouvez économiser le stress et l’argent des courses tout en allégeant les placards, le frigidaire et le congélateur du surplus.

Si vous êtes en famille, présentez l’opération comme un jeu: faites l’inventaire de ce qui vous reste et développez votre créativité en trouvant toutes les bonnes idées pour utiliser ce que vous avez.

A soft market, the recession and underwriting and investment losses took a bite out of the U.S. surplus lines industry?s underwriting and operating results in 2008, according to a recent report from A.M. Best Co. Inc.

Direct written premiums for the industry fell 6% in 2008 to $34.4 billion?the largest percent decline since 1988, said Oldwick, N.J.-based Best. The rating agency attributed the decline to persistent soft market conditions and the effect of the U.S. recession, which has resulted in less insurance being purchased, along with declining payrolls and revenues.

At the same time, admitted insurers continue to compete on surplus lines risks, and efforts by American International Group Inc.?s surplus lines insurers to protect their renewals also contributed to the sustained competitiveness in the market, Best said.

Despite this, the surplus lines industry reported a $1.16 billion profit in 2008. Net income, however, was off 67% from 2007.

The industry?s combined ratio rose more than 10 percentage points in 2008?to 93.6% from 76.1% in 2007?due to weather-related losses on natural catastrophe-exposed business, Best said.

Copyright © 2009 Crain Communications, Inc.

U.S. P/C insurers’ net income drops 87% in quarterProperty/casualty rate drop continues

Surplus Computer Equipment can about manufacturers, overstock and slightly obsolete inventories in large quantities, the bulk is sitting idle losing value as each day passes. It is also a project gone awry, where equipment was purchased, and is no longer necessary. Coming from a surplus can put Dealer shelved product and customer returns stuck. Excess material can be come a foortune downsizing 500 and update themselves throuigh backruptcy or easy.

Technology, like a car;over time loses its original value. Technology loses its value due to newer technology hardware and the constant updates to remain up to date with the trends of the market. Bigger, better, faster! What this means for a buyer of surplus equipment, is of course discounted prices at any volume purchase! Basically, the more you buy, the lower the cost of the buyer.

There was a time where these great values were only for high-volume authorized buyers, dealers and corporate IT, MISBuyers and sellers. Today in the computer aftermarket, if a collector as "green, cash, money, funds," they can make a deal a flip a bang on their initial money. The sellers of surplus discounted computer hardware offer tremendous savings to resellers of volume computer equipment.

If you remember, says in the liquidation business, a familiar proverb, "one mans trash is another mans treasure". Many tier-one manufacturer band marks theinclude IBM, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba and Sony surplus equipment flooding the resale market. Volume desktop PCs, laptops, notebooks, barebones, computer systems, networking equipment, accessories and spare parts can make a quick dollar in the liquidation market. Retail, IT, MIS managers in corporate America can not get away from the fear of customer returns and equipment depreceiting sitting stagnant in value. Surplus goods, which must be in good condition and are completely soldliquidated and quickly to recoup assets.

Corporate companies use nationwide auctioneers, liquidators and asset recovery service providers when surplus equipment must be removed, recycled and quickly resold. These liquidators buy high-tech hardware equipment outright and cash to the seller. Sometimes, the surplus product is refurbished, evaluated, tested, working and for shipment and resale at awesome discounted prices, repackaged. Discounted surplus computer equipmentif it is sold listed first and spots are made available so that they value customer research. Equipment can be used, open box with original packaging, new and refurbished.

The secondary Gray B2B marketplace offers retailers and is an ideal place for large lots of equipment to sell quickly. Online aggregators like Spintradeexchange.com offer volume suppliers, manufacturers, traders, brokers, wholesalers, and U.S. companies a place to both buy, sell and trade surplusEquipment interested buyers. Wholesalers in a real fight by the seller to get a high return on their original investment. The asset recovery liquidation marketplace is a place where buyers bid and negotiate on bulk lot technology equipment. Online liquidation marketplaces have the ability to reach qualified buyers globally. AZ Computer Liquidators has more than 10,000 subscribed buyers with zeal for PC and network hardware data-pay income.

Naturally LiquidatorsAZ computer liquidators to sell as their surpluses to large quantity buyers and not sell to the public at large tonsils can expect twoosie products. The average individual trying to sell her or his laptop should be based on the traditional methods of resale, such as Craigslist, Ebay and sell.com. If you are a customer interested in high-end data networking hardware prices reduced the discount surplus equipment is tired. When you hear the term "used in the secondary market, which is very importantClaim of the seller and the equipment they sell.

IT equipment is often sold "new" out-of-the-box at liquidation prices. If you presented for instance with a Cisco router new out of the box to a 50% discounted price, this should be a big red flag. Protect yourself from "vaporware" product that allegedly abroad or on land that does not exist and product that is a forgery. Qualify Seller! Companies like AZ Computers and Applied Quality Test have been more than aDecade have developed strong, easily verified relationships. If you have an Information Technology Manger with equipment that is sitting idle in a warehouse or to be stored to understand; that your equipment like a car to go as the days, loses its value. You can turn a profit from idle IT equipment no longer by the sale to a wholesaler, liquidator of surplus IT equipment used

The Lakeland Ledger reports an Associated Press story highlighting the negative cash flow in Social Security.

Applications for retirement benefits are 23 percent higher than last year, while disability claims have risen by about 20 percent. Social Security officials had expected applications to increase from the growing number of baby boomers reaching retirement, but they didn’t expect the increase to be so large.

What happened? The recession hit and many older workers suddenly found themselves laid off with no place to turn but Social Security.

Job losses are forcing more retirements even though an increasing number of older people want to keep working. Many can’t afford to retire, especially after the financial collapse demolished their nest eggs. Some have no choice.

Nearly 2.2 million people applied for Social Security retirement benefits from start of the budget year in October through July, compared with just under 1.8 million in the same period last year.

The increase in early retirements is hurting Social Security’s short-term finances, already strained from the loss of 6.9 million U.S. jobs. Social Security is funded through payroll taxes, which are down because of so many lost jobs.

The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes next year and in 2011, a first since the early 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security.

Social Security Cash Flow Negative [Lakeland Ledger via Associated Press]

The trade balance was almost twice as bad as expected, with economists generally forecasting a deficit of about $880 million, after June’s $538 million deficit.

It is the fourth month of deficit in a row, after Australia recorded a surprisingly large surplus of $1.9 billion in March, which helped keep the economy out of technical recession.

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Australia on World Map

However, today’s figures are more a return to situation normal than an anomalous event. The string of trade surpluses that started in August last year, and stretched for 7 of the 8 months to March, represented Australia’s first surpluses since 2002, driven largely by resources contracts signed at the peak of commodity prices last year.

Today’s $1.56 billion dollar deficit is also dwarfed by Australia’s largest trade deficit of $3 billion that was recorded in October 2007.

Helen Kevans, an economist with JP Morgan, says the figure was much bigger than she was expecting, but does tend to be volatile month to month.

“It’s not surprising that we are seeing a lot of strength in imports, consumption goods in particular have been very well supported by the impact of the Government fiscal stimulus package, and we expect that continue for a couple of months but probably fade out throughout the second half of the year,” she said.

Imports rose 4 per cent, and there was no disputing the effect of resilient consumer spending over the first half of the year, which pushed consumption good imports up 2 per cent.

Better-than-expected business investment drove a 5 per cent rise in capital goods imports, however Westpac’s economists note that much of this was accounted for by a large rise in the value of aircraft purchased.

The cost of fuel and lubricant imports surged 21 per cent as international oil prices recovered.

However, Helen Kevans says the export figures were surprising.

Increasing metal ore and mineral exports were one of the few positives for Australia's trade balance (user submitted: Terry Sherwen)

“The fall in exports is something unexpected, so we will look for some stabilisation on the export front going forward.”

The fall in exports was broadly based, but among the worst sectors were gold (which slipped 27 per cent) and cereal grain exports (which slid 17 per cent), while the main offsetting factor preventing a bigger decline was a 5 per cent rise in the metal ores and minerals component of exports.

Helen Kevans is broadly optimistic that Australia’s trade balance will stabilise over the coming months as the decline in Government stimulus and possible interest rate rises slow demand for consumption goods.

“I think, going forward, we can expect that the deficit will narrow, exports should soon start to stabilise, given that prices for our key commodity exports are beginning to level out,” she said.

“Imports, on the other hand, will probably ease off a little bit as domestic demand pulls back, we do think domestic demand will soften through the second half of the year as the unemployment rate rises.”

However, Helen Kevans says a rise in interest rates is likely to keep the Australian dollar strong, which will put pressure on exporters and make imports relatively cheaper than locally made goods.

“The strength of the Aussie dollar is a key risk to our export outlook, it will, if it continues to strengthen, weigh on the competitiveness of our exporters.”

The Australian dollar fell 0.2 US cents immediately after the trade data was released, but regained all of those losses by just after midday (AEST).

By Online business reporter Michael Janda

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