Thursday 9 October 2008

How often do you say "Thank You"?

In this deceptively simple 3-minute talk, Laura Trice muses on the power of the magic words "thank you" -- to deepen a friendship, to repair a bond, to make sure another person knows what they mean to you. Try it. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 03:34.)  (Thanks to TED.com)


Sunday 5 October 2008

Silver lining in the financial crisis cloud

So the US congress pulled its' finger out, or should I say, pork barrelled its way out of total financial melt down hysteria, and passed the "confidence restoration" $700 billion USD Wall Street bail out.

Because some people are saying that the banks have liquidity i.e. credit to lend; they just don't trust anyone anymore, not even each other.  Now there's confidence for you.

The people who loaned money like it was created out of thin air so they could loan it to anyone who asked for it, have now decided they don't trust each other, so the rest of us pay the price?

Whether the bail out, err ... liquidity confidence building,  actually does anything, remains to be seen in the reactions from the NZ and Asia openings tomorrow, what with Australia being closed for the (ironic smirk) Labour Day holiday long weekend.

Anyways, a different buzz seems to be happening now, with talk generally turning to funding "nation building" projects rather than credit bail outs, to avert another Great Depression scenario.

Some visionaries have long been talking about the green economy.  And now pundits seem to be jumping on the "green collar" jobs bandwagon, and the opportunities for transformation of the polluting sectors of the world economy into low carbon emission economic drivers.

More recently in the Australian industrial heartlands, we've seen union leaders finally get the message.

In the words of noted industrialist, Henry J Kaiser;"Problems are opportunities in work clothes".

And let's face it, right now we're (collectively) facing a couple of doozies!  The global warming crisis and the global financial crisis.

What an opportunity!

Links of interest:
But not from this mob .... (see also "Nation Building and the Future Economy", Address to the Infrastructure Association of Queensland, by Treasurer Wayne Swan 09/09/08)