What an Ending

Retweet this button on every post blogger I wanted to start by saying "he should have seen it coming" but it would be appropriate because obviously he did see it coming that's why he was able to dodge it, watch below;

Now you might think that i posted this video out of my hate to America, but that's not true, i don't hate America or the American, not even bush as a person, it's just that it's funny, and it carries a message, What You Seed Is What You Harvest.

The World Food Crisis

Retweet this button on every post blogger In the past few days there were a lot of talking about the world going, in addition to financial crisis, in a food crisis. It wasn’t just a breaking headline, news TV’s were focusing on that subject big time, and were interviewing experts to find a solution for this crisis.

Now let’s look at some facts a got from the World Food Program’s (WFP) site:

* Top international experts say millions of people are being pushed deeper into poverty and hunger by high food prices. According to the World Bank, the number is at least 100 million. WFP’s research indicates that it could be as high as 130 million.

* On international commodity markets, food prices have gone up 54 percent over the last year, with cereal prices soaring 92 percent. (Source: FAO – World Food Situation).

* Over the first four months of 2008 WFP paid an average of US$430 for a metric ton of wheat, compared to US$207 for the same period of 2007, an increase of 108 percent.

* WFP is also paying more for other key elements in its food basket: 33 percent more for maize, 50 percent more for rice, 73 percent more for vegetable oil and 61 percent more for pulses.

* World cereal reserves are expected to fall 5 percent this year, to their lowest point for 25 years. (Source: FAO - Crop Prospects).

* Approximately 1 billion people still live on less than US$ 1 dollar a day, the threshold defined by the international community as absolute poverty, below which survival is in question.

In the interviews there were a lot of reasons causing the crisis mentioned, the developing countries’ economics growth, higher energy prices, the growth of bio-fuel production, and the climatic conditions resulting in flooding the crops. But out of this darkness I still can find something to laugh at, in the matter of fact it’s even extremely funny or extremely sad, that thing was, non of the experts interviewed, or at least those I watched, came to mention the civil wars in the hungry countries.

Let’s look at the most affected countries by the crisis and see if the civil wars have anything to do with that or not. These countries are, Somalia, Central Africa, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. Other countries like Philippines, Sudan, India, and Sri Lanka, have got their shares of poverty too.

Now let’s try to find the solution, in my opinion, stopping the emerging countries from developing will not solve the problem, although this is the “first world” target, but it’s just stupid. Higher energy prices have something to do with the solution that I’m going to propose. Bio-fuel production takes only 5% of the world cereal production, so stop stressing that point just because Brazil is the world largest producer not the USA.

In the end, I think that the solution is stopping the civil wars, so Europe and America, stop feeding your dogs of war, they will die, and innocent people will live.

Illinois governor arrested

Retweet this button on every post blogger The west and especially the USA keeps accusing the Arab governments of corruption and faulty acts, while it looks they are more corrupted than our governments, in the matter of fact I believe that you will not be able to be a big player in any government unless you are a big liar and prove that you can fool anyone at any time, I mean after all that’s what politics is all about.

The governor of Illinois was arrested on Tuesday and accused of trying to sell Obama’s senate seat. If you have enough money to buy the seat, you will be a player in the team, and if you show good skills and pay more money, who knows what position you might end up filling, maybe the “president”.

This incident brings to my mind the old saying “If you are living in a house of glass, don’t through stones on your neighbors’ windows”. But after all I have to be fair to the Americans, at least this guy has got arrested, will he be convicted? Depends on his relationships with the higher powers, which doesn’t seem to be strong as far as I read. But, how many of those got arrested in our countries? I’ve never heard of any. Who knows? Maybe we don’t have corruption….!!!!!!!

Oil price hits a low of $40.5 pb.

Retweet this button on every post blogger On Friday’s trading session the West Texas Light Sweet Crude Oil price has hit a low of $40.5 pb, a price that was people’s nightmare 5 years ago and the sweetest dream of all just 6 months ago.

Now, let’s go back in history and find out why crude oil prices has raised to more than $140 pb and why did it fall back to these levels.

When the prices were raising the annalists said it’s because of China’s and India’s economic growth, which was true actually. Other annalists added the political uncertainty in the Middle East, which in my opinion is partly true, because political uncertainty proved to be a short term driver, while we have seen a 5 year rally for the crude oil prices, the political uncertainty still exists and the prices keep falling. The most interesting analysis, the one that I don’t buy, is that we are running out of oil, it’s not that it’s unlikely to happen, it’s just the way this analysis was presented, it was never clear how they got to the numbers they presented to us. And we shouldn’t forget the most important short term market players, brokers and scalpers.

It’s important to distinguish between the long term drivers and the short term ones. In my opinion, economic growth and oil reserves are the most important factors to look at, if we are talking about investing or strategic planning.

I personally wish that oil prices fall even more, I don’t know it just makes life sound easier when oil prices are low.

Top former Fannie, Freddie excutives to testify

Retweet this button on every post blogger 4 former Fannie, Freddie executives to be grilled at House hearing on companies' collapse
Alan Zibel, AP Real Estate Writer
Tuesday December 9, 2008, 12:02 am EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawmakers are poised to trade barbs Tuesday about who deserves most of the blame for the collapse and government takeover of mortgage finance titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The two companies, which were seized by federal regulators in September, have become highly charged political targets in the debate over what caused the U.S. housing crisis and the resulting financial fallout.

Four former top executives are scheduled to be grilled at the hearing, which is being led by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. But there are doubts about whether the hearing will produce any solid conclusions or will just devolve into partisan bickering.

"I think we're going to get a lot of finger-pointing, which will be totally unproductive," said Bert Ely, a banking industry consultant in Alexandria, Va.

Fannie and Freddie, which own or guarantee around half the $11.5 trillion in U.S. outstanding home loan debt, long used their lobbying muscle in Washington to thwart efforts to impose tighter regulation.

Washington-based Fannie and McLean, Virginia-based Freddie are the engines behind a complex process of buying, bundling and selling mortgages as investments.

They traditionally backed the safest loans, 30-year fixed rate mortgages that required a down payment of at least 20 percent. But in recent years, they lowered their standards, matching a decline fueled by Wall Street banks that backed the now-defunct subprime lending industry.

Republicans blame Fannie and Freddie, and the effort to promote homeownership under the Clinton administration for sowing the seeds of the financial meltdown. Democrats defend the companies' role in encouraging homeownership and note that Wall Street banks -- not Fannie and Freddie -- led a dramatic decline in lending standards.

Both companies have been asked to turn over a long list of documents and e-mail messages concerning the risks they took in their mortgage investments, accounting, and compensation for the companies' former CEOs.

For full story please visit http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Top-former-Fannie-Freddie-apf-13778762.html

Today’s dose of wisdom: Motivational Quotes

Retweet this button on every post blogger Take a lesson from the mosquito. It never waits for an opening; it makes one.

When we wake up in the morning, we have two simple choices: go back to sleep and dream, or wake up and chase those dreams.

Success is not permanent and failure is not final! So, never stop working after success and never stop trying after failure!

Investment in people brings the highest return in life.

Life is an experiment. It could end in disaster one day, puts you on top of the world the next day and will leave you wondering what happens, the next. The challenge is to turn the experiment into a life, well experimented.

Push yourself past your own expectations and those of others. Once you think you have had enough, push a little harder.

The best compliment a leader can receive is not from their leader, but from those they lead.

for more please visit
http://www.motivateus.com/