In comes Joe Stiglitz. The regular reader of this website will know him (for the others: Stiglitz is one of the most renowned economists globally and Nobel price winner). He just published a slide presentation where he effectively slams the European politics and policy and he proposes a way out of this mess. His main message: the eurocrisis is not over contrary to what politicians now shout from the rooftops. Some of the proof can be found below but I do recommend anyone that wants to cast an informed vote to go through the full presentation.
Not that I agree with (all) his proposed solutions but his analysis does give plenty of food for thought. And, be careful, he also says that the US will never have a eurocrisis because the US can print as many dollars as they want. Of course he is right, but what he fails to mention is that every time, and throughout history there has been NO exception, any nation that has printed money in the amounts the US is doing now at least one of the following (and often all of the following) happened: inflation, hyperinflation, recession, breakdown of the financial and economic system, war.
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| All slides from Joe Stiglitz presentation |
Two weeks ago the main Flemish economic newspaper offered a small book to its readers that came with the weekend edition. The title: Modern Minds. The subject: is our brain coping with the ever increasing speed of society, work, technological developments? Because after all, our brain has not developed any further since we were living in caves. So this caveman brain that we still have, is it able to cope with today's world? And, won't we be overpowered soon by computers? Will computers not be smarter than us humans? There is too much in the book to explain it all here, but a few things jumped out for me. Firstly, we seem to be able to cope with maximum 100 to 150 social contacts. Anything bigger we can't manage. I've read this before in another book (Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell) and some companies organise themselves such that any business unit is never bigger than 150 people. Secondly, recent studies have shown that we daydream about one third of the time. The thing is, when we daydream our brains become very active! It is often when we stop putting pressure on our brain (by thinking intensively about a certain problem) that suddenly out of the blue the solution pops up in a 'eureka' moment. Seems that what is happening in our brains when we relax and daydream, our grey cells light up like a Christmas tree in Harrods. What is happening is that we see some kind of chaotic behaviour that suddenly creates something new (in this case an idea or a solution). And I have read about this in another very recommendable book: 'The Edge of Chaos' by Mitchell Waldrop. Isn't it wonderful when pieces fall together! All this to say that Modern Minds is a very enjoyable little book that makes you think... which is not good because our brains perform better in idle!I had the chance to wonder around the Airbus 350-900 this week and found myself staring at what is possibly the most beautiful piece of design on any airplane in the last decades. The curved winglet appeals to anyone with a sense for geometry, style and design. I would have to see a drawing of it to do some calculations but I wouldn't be surprised if the golden ratio is hidden in its dimensions (golden ratio: if the ratio of two quantities is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities).
Marcel Dassault once said that if an airplane looks good, it flies good. If that is the case, the 350 will be one smooth ride!
