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Money matters:
Graham Macdonald
MBMG International Ltd.
Nominated for the Lorenzo Natali Prize
Is everything as bad as some people say? Part 1
Let’s look at the facts:
- In Q1 the amount of money in America dropped from USD14.2
trillion to USD13.9 trillion which is a reduction of nearly ten percent.
- The M3 figures for the US have been going steadily downhill
for the last year or so.
- Assets held by institutional funds fell by nearly forty
percent which is the biggest fall ever.
- The UK Telegraph quoted Professor Tim Congdon, who is with
International Monetary Research as saying, “It’s frightening, the plunge in M3
has no precedent since the Great Depression. The dominant reason for this is
that regulators across the world are pressing banks to raise capital asset
ratios and to shrink their risk assets. This is why the US is not recovering
properly.”
- The International Monetary Fund has warned that the Gross
Public Debt in America will reach 97% of GDP in 2011 and 110% by 2015.
- Larry Summers, the US President’s economic advisor, has
asked US Congress for another USD200 billion because what they have given
already is not enough.
- The US is almost 8,000,000 jobs short of normal employment.
- As shown by the S&P Case-Schiller Index, house prices in
America continue to fall (3.2% in Q1) and mortgage applications are lower now
than they have been for over thirteen years.
- The ECRI index of American economic activity has been on a
continuous downward slope since October last year.
- Deficit spending leaves America vulnerable to foreign
creditors.
- America is hampered by almost zero interest rates.
- As Frederick Thayer of George Washington University has
pointed out, there have been six periods in American history of substantial debt
reduction, in each case followed by a depression: “From 1817 to 1821, the
national debt was reduced by 29 percent to $90 million, and our first major
depression began in 1819; From 1823 to 1836, the national debt was reduced by
99.7 percent to $38,000, and a major depression began in 1837; From 1852 to
1857, the national debt was reduced by 59 percent to $28.7 million and was
followed by a major depression in 1857; From 1867 to 1873, the national debt was
lowered by 27 percent to $2.2 billion, and a major depression began in 1873;
From 1880 to 1893, the national debt was reduced by 57 percent to $1 billion and
was followed by a major depression in 1893; From 1920 to 1930, the national debt
was reduced by 36 percent to $16.2 billion; our sixth major crisis - the Great
Depression - began in 1929.”
- The US fiscal policy is heading the world towards a
double-dip recession as it has failed.
- In 2010 the U.S. government is projected to issue almost as
much new debt as the rest of the governments of the world combined.
- It is being projected that the U.S. government will have a
budget deficit of approximately 1.6 trillion dollars in 2010.
- If you went out and spent one dollar every single second,
it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend a trillion dollars. In fact,
if you spent one million dollars every single day since the birth of Christ, you
still would not have spent one trillion dollars by now.
- Total U.S. government debt is now up to 90 percent of gross
domestic product.
- Total credit market debt in the United States, including
government, corporate and personal debt, has reached 360 percent of GDP.
- U.S. corporate income tax receipts were down 55% (to $138
billion) for the year ending September 30th, 2009.
- There are now 8 counties in the state of California that
have unemployment rates of over 20 percent and in the area around Sacramento,
California there is one closed business for every six that are still open.
- In February, there were 5.5 unemployed Americans for every
job opening.
- According to a Pew Research Center study, approximately 37%
of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 have either been unemployed or
underemployed at some point during the recession.
- More than 40% of those employed in the United States are
now working in low-wage service jobs.
- According to one new survey, 24% of American workers say
that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
- Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in
2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008. Not only that, more
Americans filed for bankruptcy in March 2010 than during any month since U.S.
bankruptcy law was tightened in October 2005.
To be continued…
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The above data and research was compiled from sources
believed to be reliable. However, neither MBMG International Ltd nor its
officers can accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the above
article nor bear any responsibility for any losses achieved as a result of any
actions taken or not taken as a consequence of reading the above article. For
more information please contact Graham Macdonald on [email protected]
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Snap Shots: by Harry Flashman
Digital photography shutter speed control
A new generation of photographers is upon us old “film” folk. However,
there seems to be a very common notion that ‘somehow’ digital
photography is totally different from the old fashioned film
photography. I do not know how this happened, but let me assure you that
digital cameras and film cameras do exactly the same job. It is only
where the light falls and how it is stored and recorded that is
different.
Photo by Joseph Nicéphore Ni้pce.
First, a few basics. All photography, since the
French inventor Joseph Nic้phore Ni้pce first invented it in 1826, has
worked on the principle of allowing the light carrying the image to go
through a lens and then fall on to a sensitized surface. Originally this
was a glass plate coated with silver compounds which got darker when
exposed to light. The degree of darkness depended upon how much light
came through the lens, and for what length of time. This is the
principle covering aperture (or lens opening), and shutter speed (in
other words, how long the aperture is left open).
That principle still holds good today. Originally,
the aperture was literally as large as you could get, and the time was
measured in hours. This was because the sensitized material was really
not too sensitive at all, but we improved with the silver plates.
The first improvement came in the lens design. These
could let more light through in a shorter period of time, and the
aperture only needed to be left open for a few minutes, rather than
hours.
The next major development was the sensitized film,
which could record an image in fractions of a second. Photography as we
went into the 1900s was very similar to the technology today. You could
capture an image at an aperture size of f 11 open for 1/60th of a
second, on the film of the day, which was rated at around 100 ASA
(sensitivity rating of the film).
During the next 100 years, lenses got better and gave
less distortion, film became more sensitive and gave clearer, sharper
images, and the mechanical shutter speeds approached 1/4000th of a
second. This was enough to stop a speeding railway train, without the
aid of Superman!
And then came what people have recently considered to
be the “digital revolution”. A completely new way of photography,
requiring special new cameras which could show you the image you had
just taken, immediately! No more agonizing waits at the film processing
shop. Instant gratification for the “gimme, gimme, me now” generation.
However, this is where the misnomer occurred. It was
not a “revolution” it was merely an “evolution”. The principles of
photography (sometimes called ‘painting with light’ by the romantics)
were just the same. And the application of them was just the same. A
lens let in the light, for a proscribed length of time, and this was
recorded by light sensitive electronic “film”. The difference was that
you did not have to develop this new electronic “film” in chemicals. It
could be viewed immediately by using electronic processing. Really,
there was no difference.
Now, just as the old film cameras had aperture and
shutter speed controls that were adjustable by the photographer, guess
what? The new digital cameras have apertures and shutter speeds that are
adjustable by the photographer as well. And in the same way, you can get
creative results from your digital camera, exactly the same as you could
with your film camera.
This is where some differences occur, however. With
the ‘old fashioned’ film cameras you rotate a dial on the lens barrel to
open or close the diameter of the aperture, and you had a dial on the
top of the camera that you rotated to give you shutter speeds from
usually 1 second through to 1/1000th of a second. The two factors could
be operated independently, and this was called Fully Manual Mode.
However, they could also be operated in conjunction with each other,
called Aperture Priority if the aperture was set first, or Shutter
Priority, if the shutter speed was set first.
Try setting fast shutter speeds in Shutter Priority
mode this weekend and stop the action.
Modern Medicine:
by Dr. Iain Corness, Consultant
SuperSight Surgery - Read all about it!
Are you over 50 and using spectacles to read this article? Do
you hate your reading glasses? If so, keep them on and keep reading, help is
at hand! It is called SuperSight Surgery (not to be confused with LASIK).
SuperSight Surgery is in the forefront of ophthalmic
procedures. The world leader in this is Dr. Somchai Trakoolshokesatian and
he consults out of the Bangkok Hospital Pattaya. He has been carrying out
this procedure for eight years on 3000 patients and has perfected the
technique to ensure good results for each individual patient, with success
and satisfaction rates of almost 100 percent.
Unfortunately, the need for reading glasses is a natural
progression of aging. The first signs are the fact that you have to hold
this newspaper further away to be able to read it, and you also find that
you need a good light to be able to see the words clearly. Eventually you
succumb and buy reading glasses, to which you become a slave. Eventually you
keep one pair at home, another in the car and another in the office. And
your nose gets funny indentations either side of the bridge, where the
spectacles settle.
As you get older, all the ‘elastic’ tissues in your body
become less pliable. Knees, lower back, fingers, neck, the list is endless.
However, you have to add to that list, the lens in your eye. The fiddly
little lens, supplied at birth as a standard feature, does not have a fixed
focus, but under your control you can make it focus close up (to read) and
then also focus at a distance. The way you do this is by ‘bending’ the lens
to be able to focus on near objects. Unfortunately, as the lens becomes less
pliable, the muscles in your eye become unable to bend the stiffening lens
enough to produce the near point focus. The near point moves further away,
until you have run out of arms, as described previously. We call this
condition ‘Presbyopia’.
Unfortunately there is yet another result of aging that
occurs in the lens of the eye. This is a gradual cloudiness which lowers the
visual acuity, and eventually brings on blindness. This is called a
cataract. So not only can you not see well enough to read the magazines, but
you also begin to lose your distance vision. Welcome to the wonderful world
of white sticks and woofing Labrador dogs. Even the World Health
Organization says there are currently between 12 and 15 million people blind
from cataracts.
The initial method of treating this was by removal of the
now optically inefficient natural lens, and attempting to return some usable
vision through the introduction of very thick and heavy spectacles placed
before the eye. These glasses looked as if the lenses were made from the
bottom of Coca-Cola bottles (registered trade mark and all), and were just
as heavy. The patient could see again, but reading required even thicker
lenses, or hand-held magnifying glasses. Not all that comfortable, but beats
the alternative.
So we come to the latest development in intra-ocular
lenses (IOLs), where the hardened lenses are replaced by other, very special
lenses. These can be focusable lenses, under the control of the patient’s
own intra-ocular (ciliary) muscles, or multi-focal lenses, with the brain
picking the necessary focus as required. This is SuperSight Surgery and with
these lenses you can read your golf scorecard with your near vision, focus
on the ball on the tee with your intermediate vision and then using your
distance vision watch it gently arcing into the water hazard. (These new
IOLs can improve your sight, but not your golf.)
Dr. Somchai says, “We can’t offer guarantees. While
SuperSight Surgery does not promise perfect vision, it does hold the promise
of reducing your dependence on contact lenses or glasses. After an initial
consultation, we will be able to give you a clear indication as to what you
should expect and the likelihood of your achieving it.”
If you want to know more, Dr. Somchai is chairing a free
seminar on September 28 at 2 p.m. at the Bangkok Hospital Pattaya. You may
reserve your place by phoning 038 259 999 ext. 6057.
Heart to Heart with Hillary
Dear Hillary,
Haven’t written you for a while because I have been very busy with moving and
sending my youngest son to college and all, but you’re still as sharp as ever.
In this age of these reality shows (and god knows it’s way too many of them
around), you should have a spin off like a book or something, you will be making
a fortune. Your advice is always to the point with a bit of a punch, just enough
to bring most of these love sick gentlemen back to reality. Love your column,
keep up the good work.
Your fan from the USA
Dear Your fan from the USA,
Thank you for the lovely note, and in it you brought something out of great
value for everyone - reality shows. We don’t have any here, as life in Thailand
is always one of make-believe - just sit in any bar and listen to the chattering
expats. Or even better, listen to the chattering bar girls as they spin their
make-believe hard luck stories to the unsuspecting punter. There are more sick
buffalos in Isaan than there are buffalos in grand total in the whole of
Thailand. A right sickly lot they are up there, no wonder these poor girls need
continuing financial support.
A book? Goodness me, what a good idea, but I’ll have to
run it past the editor (he of the long pockets and short arms) I’m afraid, and
if it costs money that will be the end of it. I don’t think poor little Hillary
will ever be another J.K. Rowling and ‘rolling’ in millions. Not even baht!
Please keep writing, in between lion taming (AKA child
rearing) and other domestic chores. And if you have been moving, you will spend
the next six months trying to find everything. I have a similar problem, trying
to find something I used yesterday, but that is probably what they call a
‘senior moment’. Only problem is I seem to get ‘senior hours’ these days…
Dear Hillary,
You were asked a similar question to this one of mine a few years ago, but I
can’t remember just what you suggested, and of course I can’t remember the date
either to go looking for it in back issues. Like many husbands over here, I am
very much older than my wife, which is not a problem for us, even though the
constant referrals to my wife as being supposed to be a bar girl were annoying
at first, but we have been together now for 15 years. The problem I have is with
our 12 year old son. Not that he is a problem, in fact he is a good lad, it is
the people and the snide remarks we get when we are out together. He is a big
lad for his age and the innuendo is that I must be a pedophile out with an
underage boy. I mean I used to have problems when my wife and I used to go out,
with remarks behind our backs that she was a bar girl and the like, but we got
used to that and ignored it. This is different with the boy. He shouldn’t have
to go through that sort of embarrassment. This is something we cannot just
ignore and hope that it goes away. What do we do, Hillary?
Jeff
Dear Jeff,
I am sorry, I can remember the letter, but I can’t remember what I advised then
either! Unfortunately, there are plenty of ignorant people in this world, my
Petal, and ones who point fingers are exceptionally ignorant. We certainly seem
to have more than our fair share. You have to eventually get to the stage you
reached when out with your wife, “we got used to that and ignored it.” In the
meantime, why don’t you get a couple of T-shirts printed up? Yours reads “He is
my son” and the boy’s T-shirt says “He is my Dad”. But if you really want to rub
their noses in it, make the first line “Before you make a fool of yourself” and
then “He is my son” underneath.
Dear Hillary,
I have a mate coming up from Aussie for a couple of weeks on his holidays. Last
year he made a right proper ass of himself with the girls in bars and had to cut
his holiday short as he had run out of money. I don’t want to see that happening
again, although I obviously want him to enjoy himself, but not to the same
degree as before. How do I get him to slow down?
The Aussie’s Mate
Dear The Aussie’s Mate,
So we had a bit of the kid in the sweet shop last year, eh? You don’t say how
old your friend is, but it sounds as if he is pretty young, but even young
Aussie’s should be able to benefit from experience. I would suggest you sit him
down on the first night he is here and openly discuss what happened last year on
his holiday, and discuss methods whereby he can avoid all the pitfalls. Have fun
acting as chaperone, I fear.
Let’s go to the movies:
by Mark Gernpy
Now playing in Pattaya
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives:
Thai, Comedy/ Fantasy – The winner of the prestigious
Palme d’Or at Cannes, the highest prize awarded to competing films, by
Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Only showing once a day now at
Pattaya Beach; it’s not a film that pays its way! The story, if there is
one, is about Boonmee who, close to the end of his current life,
recollects how this one went by, with the help of ghosts and the spirits
of the forest where he lives. He can go back and forth into his past and
future lives and recount the memories of his experiences. Like others by
this director, the film divides the audience. Those who are not willing
to let themselves go freely into the movie’s dream will be left
confounded and unhappy, but a small percentage will leave the cinema
stunned by the experience.
Also, keep your eye out for “Mundane History”, a 2009
Thai drama by Anocha Suwichakornpong, which might show up at Pattaya
Beach. This multi-prize-winning film was Anocha’s first feature; it’s a
family drama about the friendship that develops between a young
paralyzed man from a wealthy Bangkok family and his male nurse from Isan.
The film is also a commentary on Thailand’s class-based society and the
frailty of life.
Piranha 3-D: US, Action/ Horror/ Thriller – Terror
on the lake. “Boobs and blood,” that’s what Director Alexandre Aja
promised and that’s what he delivers in spades. Don’t even think about
trying to count the kills, or the boobies. Rated R in the US for
sequences of strong bloody horror violence and gore, graphic nudity,
sexual content, language, and some drug use; 18+ in Thailand. Mixed or
average reviews. In 3D only at Pattaya Beach, but it’s not real 3D; 3D
effects were added in post production. Also in 2D at Pattaya Beach and
elsewhere, and Thai-dubbed only at Big C.
Please, if you go, don’t bring the kiddies!! In
the US there’s been considerable controversy because parents haven’t
taken the R rating seriously, and have ended up with traumatized kids.
Probably for life.
The sort-of plot: After a sudden underwater tremor sets
free scores of prehistoric man-eating fish, a group of strangers band
together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the summer
resort area’s new razor-toothed residents. “The most irresistibly sick
movie in years.” With Richard Dreyfuss in the cast – you remember him,
the original battler of things in the water that bite, Jaws.
Brown Sugar / Nam Tan Dang: Thai, Drama/
Erotic – This Thai film is Part 1 of 6 short erotic stories of love,
greed, wrath, and obsession presented in several genres: thriller,
action, drama, romance, and comedy. Here we get the first three,
including one already infamous for an extended, unbroken scene of female
masturbation that lasts ten minutes. Rated 18+. You need to
check at the last minute to be sure it’s really playing.
The Expendables: US, Action/ Adventure/ Thriller –
Directed by Sylvester Stallone and starring him and bunch of his old
action buddies – Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren,
and even token appearances by Bruce Willis and California governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger. A team of mercenaries head to South America on a
mission to overthrow a dictator. Rated R in the US for strong action and
bloody violence throughout, and for some language; 18+ in Thailand.
Mixed or average reviews. Thai-dubbed at Big C.
Splice: Canada/ France/ US, Horror/ Sci-Fi/
Thriller – Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) are two young,
rebellious, and to me repulsive scientists who defy legal and ethical
boundaries to forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together
human and animal DNA to create a new organism. Named “Dren,” the
creature rapidly develops from a deformed female infant into a beautiful
but dangerous winged human-chimera, who forges a bond with both of her
creators - only to have that bond turn deadly. If your wife has sex with
a creature that was 50% her daughter but is now 50% her son, is that
incest or bestiality? Is this a serious moral quandary? If questions
like that keep you awake nights, this movie is for you. I found the two
leads disgusting human beings and their relationship with each other a
dismaying demonstration of the worst in human behavior. And the female
is sick, sick, sick! Rated R in the US for disturbing elements including
strong sexuality, nudity, sci-fi violence, and language. My views are in
the minority, because it’s gotten generally favorable reviews. Not at
Big C.
The female of the couple, Sarah Polley, did not read one
of her lines of dialogue believably. Among those which could be
understood, that is; most of the dialogue was very sloppily delivered,
and not really understandable. And she was way too noisy when she was
screaming, which she did a lot of. A very awful person to watch carry
on. She and her husband, Adrien Brody, kept noisily chomping on junk
foods in a disgusting manner. I think that was supposed to reveal
character. Maybe they can explain their repulsive behavior as caused by
fast foods – the old “junk food” defense. Anyway, the food they are
forever chomping on is definitely unhealthy, and so are they.
Perhaps it’s for the best that so much of the dialogue is
not understood, because it’s an idiotic script. Not only the words but
the actions. At one point, out of the blue, never explained, the
woman/wife has an epileptic fit. Just thrown in. Just one idiotic
sequence among many. They are unbelievable scientists who have idiotic,
unbelievable conversations and do idiotic and unbelievable things. She
is a noisy screaming female and he a spineless, stupid male.
I finally realized that I was taking it all too
seriously, as though it were meant to make sense. In reality, it’s just
a schlock horror gore fest, and not deserving of any attention. Maybe I
was making too much of it because the creature, from birth to childhood
to adolescence, is really well done, using the motion-capture process.
The creature was quite believable, more so than any human in the film.
Altogether a most unpleasant movie.
Toy Story 3: US, Animation/ Adventure/ Comedy/
Family/ Fantasy – Do see this! It’s truly entertainment! Andy, the boy
who owns the toys, is now 17 and ready to head off to college, leaving
the toy-box gang to ponder their uncertain futures. Starring the voices
of Tom Hanks and many other talented actors; there are 302 characters in
the film! Has the same Pixar genius as WALL•E, and the heart of
2009’s Up. If you enjoyed those, don’t miss this. It’s inspired,
and I loved every minute of it. Shown in 3D and in 2D, only at Pattaya
Beach. Reviews: Universal acclaim.
Kuan Muen Ho / Hello Stranger: Thai, Comedy/
Romance – Riding the local wave of fascination in all things Korean (but
especially the boy-band, pop-star craze), comes another rom-com about
Thais in that country of wonder that seems to breed only cute muppets.
Currently the top film in Thailand.
Inception: US/ UK, Drama/ Mystery/ Sci-Fi/
Thriller – A brilliant and extraordinarily challenging film that has
gotten ecstatic reviews from those attuned to director Christopher
Nolan’s brand of mind games. For them, a not-to-be-missed event. Highly
recommended. At Pattaya Beach only. Generally favorable reviews.
Salt: US, Action/ Thriller – Engrossing, quite
entertaining, and skillfully done. Just fun. And Angelina Jolie is
magnetic, a true wonder, a star in the real sense of the word. She plays
a CIA officer on the run, accused of being a spy, using all her skills
and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture and prove
her innocence. A bombastic, complicated, old-school spy action-thriller.
Not at Big C. Generally favorable reviews.
Luang Pee Teng III / The Holy Man III: Thai,
Comedy/ Drama – The continuing misadventures of a young, self-confident,
and stubborn monk who, in trying to escape from a world of confusion,
only finds more confusion.
Sing Lek Lek / Little Thing Called Love / First Love:
Thai, Comedy/ Romance – A young and ordinary high school girl has a big
crush on a heartthrob senior at school, played by for-real heartthrob
Mario Maurer. To make him see that she exists in his world, the girl
tries to improve her physical looks and tries to become a star at
school.
Step Up 3D: US, Drama/ Music/ Romance –
Breakdancers! Third installment of the Step Up series, popular
with fans of dance films. Showing in 2D only, at Pattaya Beach and
Major.
Staying happy in Paradise - the Counseling Cornerr
Psychotherapy - only for losers?
Richard L. Fellner
‘Counseling: who needs such a thing?’ This is
about the view some veteran personalities express when the issue comes
to psychotherapy or counseling. Psychotherapy still has a dubious image
- people who need it would have to be losers or people who don’t have
control over their lives.
But a look outside the box shows that in progressive
and self-critical, competitive societies, approaches such as
psychotherapy, coaching or counseling are well accepted aids in
difficult situations of life. Celebrities talk openly about how they
learned more about themselves in psychotherapy, and managers report
about achieving new momentum through coaching on a regular basis for
their challenging job.
To see the potential of counseling, one has to
understand that a person’s ability to help and ‘advise’ herself is
actually quite limited. Each of us has a very personal way to deal with
problems: again and again we apply pretty much the same strategies - and
even if they fail, most of us tend to just try harder, even at the risk
of a disaster. Counseling and therapy, however, primarily bring in
neutral and unbiased feedback from a professional not stuck in the
dilemma - often, he can also introduce new perspectives and establish
new and creative ways of dealing with the challenge to ease overcoming
the obstacles for a solution.
In this sense, seeking counseling, coaching or
psychotherapy is a sign of foresight and intelligence: that someone
considers himself and his life so valuable that he no longer accepts
feeling unhappy or wastes time by just relying on his own ways of
thinking.
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Live the happy life you planned!
Richard L. Fellner is head of the Counseling Center Pattaya
in Soi Kopai and offers consultations in English and German
languages after making an appointment at 0854 370 470. |
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