INTERESTING TIMES

China has never been high on my list because I don't like noise or being crowded. I know that is very American of me. She posted a video of the traffic out her window on her blogspot.

In its “downside scenario,” the fund said that a continued rise in European government borrowing rates and a worsening of problems with the region’s banks would push the world into recession.

“The current environment...provides fertile ground for self-perpetuating pessimism,” the fund wrote.

Their calculations predict the global downward trend in spite of the booming economies of China and India. Want to move there? I don't.

SOURCE
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/imf-report-global-economy-to-hit-mild-recession/2012/01/24/gIQAWR6SNQ_story.html?wpisrc=al_comboNE_b

According to the World Economic Forum, that is. The US held second until last month, now Sweden and Singapore have passed the US. Switzerland just passed the US to take the #1 spot last year. China's moving up and has reached #27. Germany's also climbing the scale, now in the #5 spot. Japan's #6. Finland is #7 and Denmark is #9 putting Scandinavia as a whole in the top 10. Netherlands is #8 and Canada is #10. At the moment. Things are definitely shifting.

The rating is based on 12 variables: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication, and innovation.

SOURCE
http://www.weforum.org/en/media/Latest%20News%20Releases/NR_GCR10

(but not associated with anxiety)

"People who are susceptible to depression are already more prone to social isolation and withdrawal and therefore more likely to develop problematic Internet usage because the Internet provides an outlet for them," Dr. Christakis observed. "So the findings from the study are highly plausible, and because it was longitudinal and adjusted for baseline levels of depression and Internet use, the findings are both novel and robust."
( notes from medscape article )

His main message is a heads up that our current system is not sustainable, our planet is already over capacity, and we are eradicating the species that could sustain us and the peoples who know know about them. His solution is science. It bears on the way I'd like to practice medicine.
( notes )

I heard this on the radio this morning, and then swift on its heels a statement from Obama telling the Chinese to shop more. He wants Chinese people to become as blatantly materialist as Americans are, so that we can sell them things. What? Interesting times indeed. The Cuban leader is ahead of the American leader in recognizing the reality of the crisis that confronts our planet, and the solution to it. Maybe I'll move to Cuba. Much as I adore Obama for his cultural sensitivity and ability to bring previously disenfranchised groups to the table, he is still flunking on the economy. In the long run it may be incredibly beneficial to Cuba to not be sucked into the American paradigm of wealth. The embargo is a blessing in disguise.

We have now officially lost the original sacrament of tobacco. The new product is an electronic device that emits a "nicotene-infused mist", coming to you from Beijing, so that you can quit smoking. Yeah. It even looks like a cigarette.

SOURCE:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29435175/

China now has more citizens with internet access than America, 253 million to 223.1 million.
The Hispanic population in America will outnumber whites in less than 100 years, if census trends continue.

What do you think? Should we?

This Oregon Libertarian, Wes Wagner, speaks sense on the matter: