اخبار 1

Corporate battles are usually hard fought, but this really is the limit. McDonald's is blacklisting Heinz because they had the temerity to appoint the ex chief of Burger King as their CEO. Sure, some rivalries are legendary - Coke vs Pepsi, P&G vs Unilever, Apple vs Microsoft, Walmart vs every other retailer, and indeed McDonald's vs anybody else who sold burgers. But isn't this a step too far ? HJ Heinz, the makers of Heinz Ketchup were recently bought out by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathway. The new owners appointed Bernando Hees as the CEO. The trouble is that Bernando is the ex CEO of Burger KIng. Apparently McDonald's is finding this objectionable. So the next time you buy a Big Mac they wouldn't give you those sachets of Heinz - one if you buy in in India, two in China and a fistful in the US !  Presumably it would be somebody else's - maybe Hunt's or whatever. Yes, corporate rivalries are taken seriously. If you work for Pepsi and are seen dr...

The old have declared war on the young. Few dare say this, but the other day Alan Milburn did just  that. This is an emotive issue and there are bound to be strong and passionate feelings. But this blogger, who is himself more in the old category rather than the young,  is in agreement with this premise. Alan Milburn,  a former UK government minister and an advisor to the current government,  has said that there is a fairness deficit between generations . He thinks that the elderly should lose some of their benefits to make life easier for the young.  It might sound callous, but if you sit back and reflect, there is much merit in what he is saying. In the West, much of the budget deficits and the debt problem is because of  disproportionate spending on the elderly. Health care costs which are largely consumed by the elderly, are a huge burden on the economies of most nations. Ditto pensions - promised very liberally a long time ago. Medicare and Social Security are the greatest ticking...

Initial Placement Offer (IPO), is the first sale of shares in a company to the public - remember Facebook's IPO and now coming on, Twitter's IPO. It is when successful entrepreneurs who have built a good business cash their millions, along with those who invested early in their company. We've heard of company IPOs. But have you heard of an individual IPOing himself ! That's is what is about to happen - where else ? in the US of A. An American Football player (remember this is American football; not soccer), is trying to do just that.  Arian Foster is a running back with the Houston Texans, a NFL team. NFL players are paid a fair few millions - being considered more valuable than surgeons or distinguished professors (Profs J and Khe please note !). Now football players are better known for exercising their brawn and are not necessarily top notch in the brains department. Enter financial advisers, brokers, agents, managers and all sorts  who want to touch and feel all tha...

If there was, the dollar would be kaput. But there is really no alternative. So it has to be the dollar as the world's reserve currency. It would be useful to go back to basics and understand what a currency really is.  A currency is really nothing more than a piece of paper backed by the promise of  a government. If you believe in the promise of the government , you hold that currency. If not, it is worthless. Remember the promise is only an act of faith - there is no backing of gold or a real asset behind the currency. Take out an Indian rupee note - any rupee note. It will say "I promise to pay the bearer the sum of xxx rupees" under the seal of the government of India. That's what it is - a promise. Governments have the licence to print money. But if they simply keep printing on, it will lose its value. Beyond a point, the population will simply lose faith in that currency and resort to barter or to some other currency. That is precisely what happened in Zimbabwe ...

The French have an advanced case of obsession with "culture". At least the French government does - the French people are probably as willing to dance Gangnam style or shop at Walmart as ogle at the impossibly unaffordable haute couture ! The French government doesn't like American soap, doesn't like English words stealing into French, doesn't even like their steel company to be bought by foreigners. Now they are picking up a new fight. They want to protect French book stores against  big bad Amazon. The fight goes somewhat like this. Apparently small book stores are an integral part of French culture ! As with everywhere else, small bookshops are going out of business. The first threat came some 20 years ago with the arrival of the supermarket chains selling books. Promptly the French parliament passed a law "limiting discounts that can be given on books".  This was to protect the 2000 odd book shops in France so that they can continue to charge high pr...