Archiv ‘USA’

Donnerstag, 8. Mai 2008

Woran Weltreiche krank(t)en …

As a business model, Rome’s strategy was obviously flawed; like a credit bubble, it required constant expansion. Still it was nice in the beginning. The early days of the Roman Empire were like the early days of the British Empire or the American Hegemony. Expansion opened up new markets and brought in new supplies of raw materials at better prices. Not only was there booty; there were also slaves.

Quelle: No Modern Government Policy is So Stupid that the Romans Didn’t Think of it First

Doch das Ende war und ist immer rasch absehbar:

[…] the Romans had a solution for every problem. And every solution brought new problems…until the weight of them crushed the whole empire.

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Labels: USA, Wirtschaft

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Donnerstag, 8. Mai 2008

Nach dem Subprime-Debakel nun auch noch dieser Tinu Liechti

A top banker at UBS has been „briefly detained“ by the US authorities investigating whether the Swiss bank helped its American customers evade tax. […] It refused to name the banker but the Financial Times identified him as Martin Liechti, head of UBS’s wealth management operations in North and South America.

Quelle: Top UBS banker detained in US

Für ein paar Rappen Bonus würden diese UBS-Banker wohl auch noch ihre Schwiegermütter Panini-Bildchen Goldfischchen im Aquarium verkaufen …

Wie sagt man so schön: „Ist der Ruf erst ruiniert, lebt sich’s völlig ungeniert.“

Nachtrag

Wie immer ganz interessant die Kommentare dazu auf reddit:

A Swiss bank helped Americans evade taxes… isn’t this what Swiss banks are FOR?

Quelle: A top banker at UBS has been „briefly detained“ by the US authorities investigating whether the Swiss bank helped its American customers evade tax.

Selbstverständlich fällt die Diskussion rasch auf das Heimatland des Steuerflüchtlings zurück – erst die dortige Situation zwingt den quasi in Notwehr handelnden Steuerhinterzieher dazu, sein geliebtes Geld aus dem Land zu schaffen:

I am interested to see redditor’s opinions on tax evasion. On one hand the evasion of the wealthy to pay taxes puts the burden on those who can’t afford swiss banks, yet on the other hand it could be almost patriotic at this point to be denying the government your taxes.

Wobei ich mich dieser Meinung – bezüglich der USA – für einmal anschliessen kann (schliesslich sind wir ja in der USA-Bash-Week) …

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Labels: Schweiz, USA

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Mittwoch, 7. Mai 2008

Marketing richtet alles

MBA – Mal Besser Arbeitslos?

What’s clear is that Sprint is run by MBA-trained executives who see everything as a general “business” problem. In their minds, the same things apply to selling phones as toothpaste. How about this idea: Take $100 million and use it to design a better phone?

Quelle: Sprint Spending $100 Million to Advertise iPhone Knock-Off

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Labels: Apple, Funny, USA, Wirtschaft

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Dienstag, 6. Mai 2008

Hillary spinnt und will OPEC verklagen

Runde 999 im USA-Bashing:

[…] the great part of Hillary’s proposal. She’s going to change the law so Americans can sue OPEC! Here changes would, „Allow OPEC Production Decisions to Be Challenged Under U.S. Anti-Trust Law – Currently, OPEC countries cannot be challenged under U.S. anti-trust laws, even when they are engaged in coordinated, commercial activity to control the global oil market.“

Quelle: Hillary ‘Big Govt.’ Clinton Wants America to Sue OPEC

Meine Meinung deckt sich mit derjenigen von Dan Denning:

[…] OPEC nations have to manage their resource-and not for the benefit of American consumers, but for themselves.

Es hat die USA niemand gezwungen, gedankenlos Suburbia in das grüne Feld zu bauen (Fahrzeit zum Job: 1-2 Stunden) und jedermann SUVs kaufen zu lassen.

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Labels: Energie, USA, Wirtschaft

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Montag, 5. Mai 2008

Das USA-Bashing geht weiter

Da es mittlerweile selbst unter den Yankees schick ist, das eigene Land in den Dreck zu ziehen, zitiere ich hier schön brav weiter:

If all Americans could compare Berlin’s luxurious central train station today with the grimy, decrepit Penn Station in New York City, they would swear we were the ones who lost World War II.

Quelle: Who Will Tell the People?

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Labels: USA, Wirtschaft

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Montag, 5. Mai 2008

Der Fall einer Supermacht

Die vielen von Diebesbanden leergeräumten und nun unbewohnt verlotternden Suprime-Häusle in den USA sind ein Sinnbild der ganzen Nation:

The world has shifted from anti-Americanism to post-Americanism.

Quelle: The Rise of the Rest

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Labels: USA

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Montag, 5. Mai 2008

The world’s largest shit-magnet

Risk, as a pure abstraction unconnected to any real capital activity, is all that’s left to buy and sell after all other plausibly practical vehicles for finance have failed. […]

One feature of the risk economy is the Federal Reserve’s new willingness to absorb any sort of crap collateral in exchange for massive cheap loans to insolvent companies and institutions. The Fed has, in effect, made itself the world’s largest financial shit-magnet.

Quelle: THE RISK ECONOMY

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Labels: Funny, USA, Wirtschaft

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Sonntag, 4. Mai 2008

Die Mutter aller Blasen?

Next came the Bush bubbles—in housing, equity funds, commercial real estate, and hedge funds that have been deflating while threatening to destroy altogether the economic viability of what was once the world’s greatest industrial democracy.

After this, the only bubble left for an economy that appears to be entering terminal depression may be the current fuel/food bubble that could result in the starvation of millions worldwide.

Quelle: Extraordinary Times, Intentional Collapse, and Takedown of the USA – Part 1

Drüben bei Kunstler hingegen:

Risk, as a pure abstraction unconnected to any real capital activity, is all that’s left to buy and sell after all other plausibly practical vehicles for finance have failed.

Quelle: THE RISK ECONOMY

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Labels: USA, Wirtschaft

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Sonntag, 4. Mai 2008

Lehrerin mit Nebenjob

Tiffany Shepherd, a Biology high school teacher from Port St Lucie in Florida was fired from her job last week after school administration learned that she was also working part time as a bikini girl on charter fishing boats, where hostess would sometimes walk around topless.

Quelle: Tiffany Shepherd, a high school teacher, was fired after these…

Mal abgesehen von den auf der Web-Site angezeigten Bildern gibt es noch zwei Bemerkungen zum Fall, an denen wohl noch niemand herumstudiert hat:

  • US-Amerikanische LehrerInnen haben zu wenig zu tun, langweilen sich und nehmen deshalb Nebenjobs an. Schön, dass die Lehrer hierzulande besser ausgelastet sind und sich keine Nebenbeschäftigungen suchen müssen …
  • LehrerInnen verdienen in den USA derart wenig, dass sie ohne Nebenjob nicht auskommen …

Ich tippe auf Letzteres.

Labels: Funny, Gesellschaft, USA

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Sonntag, 4. Mai 2008

Chinesen stehlen den Amis das Öl

From California comes word that foreclosures are running 327% ahead of last year. Drivers are cutting back on gasoline use – for the first time in U.S. history they have to compete with the Chinese for every gallon. They’re „feeling squeezed,“ says an AP report.

Quelle: The United States Matters Less and Less to the Oil Market

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Labels: USA, Wirtschaft

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