It is no big secret that Egypt has been scrounging around the Middle East for emergency funding insofar as it has been unable to conclude an IMF deal. Famously, mercurial Qatar has stepped into the breach, but has been unwilling to extend more money as of late. More good money after bad and all that jazz. We can only presume it too would welcome (surprise!) an IMF deal that would indicate that Egypt is truly committed to shaping up even if there will be turmoil over conditionalities that involve, among other things, trimming healthy food and energy subsidies at a time of crisis.
Nevertheless, this one took me by surprise. So Iraq has energy revenues that Egypt practically has none of. Still, the near-civil war situation in Iraq among Shia, Sunni and Kurdish factions doesn't strike me as a particularly stable status quo: Apropos for the season, if Iraq can't save itself, how can it save others? Hard as it may be to fathom, though, talks are ongoing between Iraq and Egypt over...
Island Lovin': Chasing Revenue in Cyprus, Falklands
No pina coladas for you I'm afraid. On today's blogging menu are--can you believe it--tax cheats and squid. In the past I've enumerated the generic ways island nations or protectorates generate revenues:
tourism
tax havens (paradis fiscaux)
offshore gambling sites
flags of convenience
nationality for sale
How it managed to get into the EU despite unresolved conflicts between its Greek and Turkish parts aside, there is not much of a mystery about what is happening in Cyprus. Like that of Greece which it highly resembles, Cyprus has few competitive advantages. What's more, after the global financial crisis, it has not been...
No Steenkin' Tourists Please, We're Saudi Arabia
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Middle East,Travel
at 3/24/2013 09:51:00 AM
To be sure, Saudi Arabia has a unique tourist monopoly insofar as all Muslim men and women who can do so are obliged to visit Mecca during their lifetimes. Pilgrims aside, though, there is not really a Saudi "tourist" industry as we understand the term--especially for leisure travellers. The problem is especially acute for would-be Western tourists interested in the rich cultural heritage of Saudi Arabia. To be sure, Saudi Arabia is a hard sell for your typical freedom-loving Western traveller: No alcohol. Women of all religions are required to be covered nearly from head to toe despite the extreme heat. They cannot...
Have the Youth Ever Had It So Bad? (UK Edition)
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Europe
at 3/20/2013 01:53:00 PM
In 1957, then-British Prime Minister made the statement that his compatriots "never had it so good" amid the prosperity and plenty of the postwar years. A half century later, everything seems to have come undone that a recent BBC feature asks of the young people if they ever had it so bad in the future looking utterly bleak. It is no new to today's youth in rich countries that they are screwed. Dismal job prospects, the skyrocketing cost of higher education, falling wages and bearing the burden of maintaining welfare systems that previous generations will surely exhaust before current generations can benefit all add to the general gloominess. No sane persons aside from self-serving politicians will admit it, but today's generation of young adults are likely to have a lower standard living than their parents. Sorry, but that's the way it is.
I needn't expound on the elaborate and quite frankly laughable hoax called the "American dream" which only the most delusional cling to....
Enter Big Government, S Korean Welfare State?
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in South Korea
at 3/18/2013 09:27:00 AM
One of the unspoken things many Asians feel has contributed to Western malaise is the ubiquity of extensive welfare states. With the so-called baby boom of those born in the immediate post-WWII era reaching retirement age, these countries are beginning to feel the massive fiscal pressure of providing for pensions and health care for those no longer working. Think of those hapless uber-bankrupts in the United States who cannot roll back promises made long ago that they cannot possibly meet--more so now given America's utterly pathetic growth rate.
Why, then, would leading Asian countries flirt with consigning themselves to a similar fate? Apparently, this is the very question facing South Korea--your archetypal success story. Needless to say, this success has not benefited everyone equally, hence calls to reform the Korean system away from massive industries (chaebol) and provide more opportunities for others not fortunate enough to be so favoured:
From
childcare to old-age...
Baseball's Team USA: Symbol of American Decline
Puerto Rico celebrates annihilating the US in the US
You kind of expected this result but it's worth mentioning anyway as a fine metaphor for American decline: For the third straight World Baseball Classic (WBC)--held in the United States for the third consecutive time, no less--Team USA has been thoroughly spanked at what America claims is its "national pastime." They came, they saw, they got their behinds whupped by teams displaying superior unity. How unlamented is this situation? Even the pop culture commentator of note for uncritical USA#1-style boosterism is oddly silent. At any rate, what we have here is sporting...
Pope Francis & Liberation Theology's Latin Shadow
Well, well, I suppose this is a halfway decent result: Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, is someone from the third world even if he is a child of (white) Italian immigrants. As I suggested, it's partly a concession to the still-strong Italian contingent. Supposedly the runner-up from last time around before being bested by Benedict XVI, this time around he has the task of running the world's largest single denomination.
The choice of a Latin American pope, despite not hailing from the fastest-growing regions of Africa and Asia, is also an exercise in shoring up the faith in countries that are becoming increasingly...
USA v the World: Political Economy of Accounting
♠ Posted by Emmanuel
at 3/12/2013 05:54:00 AM
One of the more arcane debates in international political economy I am aware of from taking lots of accounting courses over the years is that which concerns adoption of accounting standards. Basel III capital adequacy standards notwithstanding, this subject matter is admittedly dull but quite important in the sense that it matters which standard is followed for corporate financial reporting to make these comparable worldwide.
For the longest time, the United States has followed its own standard known as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The GAAP was perfectly alright in the past insofar as much economic activity worldwide was conducted by American MNCs. With the rise of the rest, however--especially the equally standards-happy European Union--there has been the emergence of a rival global standard known as the (surprise!) International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
The logic of harmonizing accounting standards is similar in that the goal is to reduce...
A Bit Less Lame Than US-EU FTA: Japan in TPP
After the "who cares" of the US-EU FTA, here's something marginally more significant. There is no doubt that Japanese PM Shinzo Abe is seeking American favour in a very big way. The postwar US-Japan relationship has been characterized by lopsided deals to the former's advantage. Think of limiting Japanese exports to the US--consumer electronics, automobiles, you name it--when American producers could not compete. It was probably only a matter of time then that the LDP would lead Japan down this same road in US-led negotiations to enlarge the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
We now receive word that PM Abe will make an announcement concerning Japan's TPP plans next week. It appears it's the same old, same old as far as the US goes in fearing Japanese auto exports in the event they are able to be exported tariff-free to the US. And just like then olden days when Japan was willing to strike unfair economic bargains since the US effectively left it with limited means of protecting...
Americans Who Hate America: Latino Sports Fans
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Latin America,Sports
at 3/09/2013 01:35:00 PM
One of the more interesting aspects of the increasingly Hispanic population of the United States is their dislike of American national teams when they face those of Mexico. This phenomenon has been going on for years when football's (soccer's) Team USA faces--or, more accurately, get its butt whupped--by Mexico in Los Angeles. The scene is always the same: rabidly pro-Mexico crowds emanating mostly from the United States cheer on Mexico and boo America lustily. So we can identify a number of portents about the future: They will vote Democratic given the Republican dislike of amnesty for migrants. They will also root for...
Neymar! Reducing Brazil's Football 'Trade Surplus'
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Latin America,Migration
at 3/07/2013 12:38:00 PM
It's time for another sporting feature since we haven't had one for quite some time now. Fortunately, there's interesting stuff courtesy of TIME Magazine about the changing complexion of "the beautiful game." Even if the Brazilian economy has cooled off markedly in recent times, it has had a strong run-up and most folks remain optimistic about its economy's future. Contrast its fate with that of the European football powerhouses that traditionally import South American players in droves--especially Portugal, Spain,and the United Kingdom--and you begin to understand the reduced "trade surplus" of Brazil sending away its best...
The World According to Lee Kuan Yew, Aged 89
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Southeast Asia
at 3/02/2013 03:13:00 PM
There is a vast difference between an electioneer and a statesman. Barack Obama is in many ways a master electioneer--very good at winning elections but very poor at running a country. A vapid and superficial character, he unfailingly exemplifies the "free lunch with extra sidings" American society which produced him and returns him to office time and again as a true reflection of itself. In the final analysis, his horrendous presidency will not amount to much other than a continuation of the slide into the abyss started by his predecessor and double act--the BushBama years. On the other hand, "Harry" Lee Kuan Yew represents...
I [Heart] Sequester Even if US is Still Screwed
♠ Posted by Emmanuel
at 3/01/2013 08:41:00 AM
Once upon a time, the great American soul singer James Brown styled himself as Soul Brother #1. In these days of America being flushed down the toilet of history [whooosh], they alas have replaced this great entertainer of the past with a great appeaser of the present who caters to every infantile whim of the American public: Deficits don't matter; we can borrow all we want without consequence, etc. (Go read Krugman for more of that Kool-Aid if it floats your boat.) However, it appears the "we don't want to be Japan" crowd that has championed massive American deficit spending is finally getting a measure of comeuppance from an unlikely source: Debt Lover #1 Barack Obama. This soul- and funk-free appeaser of free-lunch types who has never managed to run a budget deficit of less than a trillion denies coming up with the sequester. Despite attempting to bully veteran reporter Bob Woodward into saying otherwise, it was Obama's idea all along.
The utterly pathetic nature of the...