обновить медиану

роскошь

кью

ещё не...

...слышал ни об одной стране из BRIC, жители которой не жаловались бы на вопиющую коррупцию. Вот и новоприбывшие южноафриканцы туда же.

Here’s the thing– political corruption is rampant everywhere. In the developed world of North America and Western Europe, though, politicians are skillfully subtle at their corruption.

...In South Africa, though, the corruption is blatantly obvious. It’s almost insulting. The politicians here must think their citizens are so stupid, they won’t notice massive financial aberrations.


http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/south-africa-electricity-corruption/

Etymological observations

The different articulations of the word for tea into the two main groups: "te-derived" (Min Chinese dialects) and "cha-derived" (Mandarin, Cantonese and other non-Min Chinese dialects) reveals the particular Chinese local cultures where non-Chinese nations acquired their tea and tea culture.

• India and the Arab world most likely got their tea cultures from the Cantonese or the Southwestern Mandarin speakers.
• Russia encountered tea via the northern Mandarin speakers.
• The Portuguese, the first Europeans to import the herb in large amounts, took the Cantonese form "chá," as used in their trading posts in the south of China, especially Macau.
• Western Europeans who copied the Min articulation "teh" probably traded with the Hokkienese while in Southeast Asia.

theory and practice

ex-ECB chief economist ottmar issing on Euro-bonds

Auch vor Eurobonds, also gemeinsamen Anleihen der Eurozone, warnte der Ökonom. "Wer Eurobonds will, wird sich als Totengräber eines stabilen Euro erweisen", sagte Issing. "Am Ende drohen bislang solide Länder in einem Verschuldungsstrudel zu versinken. Dann würde auch Deutschland finanzpolitisch ersticken. Dann ist das Projekt stabiler Euro gestorben."


http://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/news/issings-prognose-fuer-griechenland-schuldenschnitt-und-raus-aus-dem-euro-1732987.html

frugga bugga

forex ergonomics

Indeed, a reserve currency might almost be defined by its appeal to criminals. Of the €900 billion-worth of euro notes in circulation, a third by value comes in the form of the pink and purple €500 note. Cynics say it was issued to capture a share of the international black market from the dollar, for which the largest denomination is $100. An illegal stash of €500 bills would be lighter, easier to conceal and easier to count. The €500 note was withdrawn by banks in Britain after police said its main use was in organised crime. That is a compliment of sorts to the euro. When Somali pirates or Russian gangsters demand payment in yuan, it will be the surest sign that economic power has shifted to China.


http://www.economist.com/node/21528988

struggling with an adequate capture

в этот раз без венесуэлы

nassim taleb on investing

There’s something called action bias. People think that doing something is necessary. Like in medicine and a lot of places. Like every time I have an MBA—except those from Wharton, because they know what’s going on!—they tell me, “Give me something actionable.” And when I was telling them, “Don’t sell out-of-the-money options,” when I give them negative advice, they don’t think it’s actionable. So they say, “Tell me what to do.” All these guys are bust. They don’t understand: you live long by not dying, you win in chess by not losing—by letting the other person lose. So negative investment is not a sissy strategy. It is an active one.


http://www.sas.upenn.edu/ppe/Events/Goldstone/Goldstone2011.htm

mckinsey on debt and deleveraging

The historic episodes of deleveraging fit into one of four archetypes: 1) austerity (or 'belt-tightening'), in which credit growth lags behind GDP growth for many years; 2) massive defaults; 3) high inflation; or 4) growing out of debt through very rapid real GDP growth caused by a war effort, a 'peace dividend' following war, or an oil boom [for oil-producing countries].

http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/reports/freepass_pdfs/debt_and_deleveraging/debt_and_deleveraging_full_report.pdf