the economist: the world in 2008.

MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2008

the economist: the world in 2008.

yeah it's monday, and i have a lot of free time before my only class at 6:30pm. so that's why i'm blogging. well i have been meaning to write about this for a while but i couldn't find the proper window of time to dedicate to it. on january 2nd, while flying back to texas from sweden, i stopped by the magazine shop at the copenhagen airport. i found a perfect read for the 12+ hours i would spend in the air. the economist: the world in 2008. the mag was thicker than usual with sharp and brainy articles for the 2008 world outlook. you need to go pick it up at the closest bookstore asap.

some good articles:

not enough people in china: fascinating to find out that the number one concern for chinese senior executives for 2008 will be the shortage of talent. this lack of skill is due to china's education system which has failed to keep up with the constantly growing labor market. reasons for fear in regards to the lack of qualifications: 1. investment. chinese firms are expanding and going global but they lack skill. also, there is not enough time to educate so there will be a need for non-chinese staff who are knowledgeable. 2. demographics. the one-child policy is now screwing china in terms of the late 20s work force. this age group is shrinking, and businesses need to look elsewhere for talent. 3. migrant workers. inland workers will no longer be trekking to coastal cities for work. so what does china do? the human resources departments at chinese companies will need to concentrate on retention and inviting chinese returnees.
history lessons for the markets: this article was great at touching on the effects of the upcoming presidential election on the financial markets for 2008. a large concern for the new year is the currency carry trade and its durability. good news: a weaker $ and a slower american economic growth should reduce the trade deficit, which has caused an imbalance in the global economy.
the great melt: thank goodness for this new program called international polar year, which will start 200 research projects with the involvement of more than 60 countries to address the issues with global warming in the arctic. what is scary as hell is that some computer models believe all of the arctic summer ice will be gone by 2040. the need for information is now. we need to know what the arctic is going to do next because it isn't predictable with just a rise in temperatures. there are also other variables like currents, wind and the layered frozen ocean. data will be fundamental and vital in 2008.
freeconomics: i liked the "creative disruption" part of this article. it discusses the idea of everything becoming free. well, youtube gave us bandwith. skype is changing the phone industry. gmail gave us more email capacity. all for FREE. the internet is all about making money by giving stuff away. information is the primary free "thing" on the web. services, gossip, entertainment and music are all available without the need for a dime. so what does 2008 hold for this type of free-dom? well, yahoo will be offering infinite space for their email users. music labels will be giving away music as promotions (like radiohead.) so basically, you're smart if you don't charge your customer anything. because you'll get it back in the long run.

oh yeah and don't expect me to touch on the political articles in this mag till another post...i don't have the patience to talk about that right now. off to class now. to talk about the gangs in the us.