Aftermath 2022 Blog

Juarez is dangerous

2012-02-10T04:45:00.000-08:00

"Aurora, Colorado (CNN) Tania Nava has one piece of advice for anyone seeking to come out of the shadows and pursue a path to U.S. citizenship: don't do it.

She says her decision to become a legal citizen is one of the reasons her husband was murdered.

"I should've stayed illegal this whole time," the 21-year old widow said. "Jake would still be here."

Jake Reyes-Neal, an American citizen, had traveled to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, last year to protect his wife as she waited for the long, complicated process to attain U.S. citizenship. Instead, Reyes-Neal -- who had never been to Mexico and didn't speak Spanish -- became one of the thousands of homicide victims in Juarez as his family watched helplessly."
--http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/09/us/juarez-dangerous-marriage/index.html

NASA abandons Mars

2012-02-10T03:31:00.000-08:00

"With limited money for science and an over-budget new space telescope, the space agency essentially had to make a choice in where it wanted to explore: the neighboring planet or the far-off cosmos.
Based on the advance word about NASA's budget for the coming year, Mars lost out.
Two scientists who were briefed on the 2013 NASA budget, due to be released on Monday, said the space agency is eliminating two proposed joint missions with Europeans to explore Mars in 2016 and 2018."
--http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46334188/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Switzerland - a rougue nation?

2012-02-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

Safe deposit boxes in Switzerland are being filled with CHF 1,000 notes. 59% of all Swiss banknotes outstanding are 1000 notes. These are being used for tax evasion and probably terrorism and drug deals, with the knowledge of the SNB.

CBO: Don't worry, be happy! Redux

2012-02-09T04:40:00.000-08:00

Did you know that our current recession is scheduled to be completely over by October 1, 2012? The mighty Obama has commanded it and thus it will be so. Revenues will increase from 2302B in FY2011 to 2988B in FY2013, an increase of 686B/year or 30%, spending will decrease by 25B/year or .7%, and the deficits will drop from the trillion dollar range to a "sustainable" 500-600B/year amount before dipping lower.

Don't worry, be happy!

Modified From: http://aftermath2022.blogspot.com/2010/09/cbo-dont-worry-be-happy.html

Michael Pento on interest rates

2012-02-08T23:10:00.001-08:00

How long does it take to spend $1 trillion?

2012-02-08T22:51:00.000-08:00

On 8/1/2011, the deficit was $14.342 trillion. On 2/2/2012, the deficit was $15.351 trillion. So the answer is only 6 months. The last time I asked this question, the answer was also 6 months.

New Projection: 2036

2012-02-08T22:24:00.000-08:00

I couldn't help myself and ran a new projection. First, start with the most recent CBO baseline, just released. The CBO projects deficits as low as 196 billion in 2018. I think the CBO is smoking crack, and I don't see the deficit ever dipping below $1 trillion/year.

I take the revenues as given, but adjust them for tax cuts extensions and AMT patch, as stated by the CRFB. I accept the projections for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid through 2022, except for 2012 when the CBO projects a decrease in Medicaid spending. After 2022, I project Social Security and Medicare increasing by 7% per year, and Medicaid increasing by 8.3%. For other spending I project it increasing by 1% per year through 2022, and then 4.4% thereafter. Sorry, I just don't see spending actually decreasing.

I project nominal GDP as increasing by 4.4%/year after 2022, and revenue as maxing out at 20% of GDP and also increasing by 4.4%/year after 2022. There are some other assumptions I made which are not mentioned.

I assume that the dollar is stronger than previously assumed and will be stable until the net debt hits 150% of GDP. The tipping point is reached in 2036. The problem is that Social spending will continue to increase faster than revenue, and interest rates will skyrocket from 1.7% of GDP in 2012 to 8.4% of GDP in 2036.

I have previously opined that the dollar could survive as long as there was no alternative. Well, I think an alternative will emerge out of necessity.

Is there any way of forestalling this? Yes, a combination of higher revenue, caps on social spending, and continued low interest rates.

Deficit only $27 billion in January

2012-02-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

The treasury had $235 (billion) of revenues, $263 (billion) of outlays, for a deficit of only $27 billion in January 2012. That's the lowest it has been in quite a while.

Freaking out about the National Debt in 1881

2012-02-08T18:35:00.000-08:00

Somebody in 1881 was very concerned about the national debt, which ballooned to more than $2 billion (because of the Civil War), from only $90 million in 1861. Can you imagine - 2 BILLION dollars? That's a lot of money, even today, but now the debt increases by more than this amount every single day.

Kazakhstan a model for Iran

2012-02-08T18:26:00.000-08:00

"one country that used to have the fourth-largest inventory of nuclear weapons in the world decided to give them up, and says it has no regrets. Kazakhstan was a republic in the old Soviet Union. After the USSR fell apart in 1991 its president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, transferred all nuclear weapons to Russia and closed the country's nuclear testing sites.
Last September at the United Nations, he urged all countries to sign a declaration for a nuclear-free world.

It was a "courageous decision" to give up nuclear weapons, Kazakhstani Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov told CNN Wednesday, but it paid off. Last year, in the midst of the world economic crisis, Kazakhstan's GDP growth was 7.5%.
In an interview in Washington, just before a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Kazykhanov said Kazakhstan should be an example to other countries. "Over the period of 20 years," he said, "we managed to attract foreign direct investment in the amount of $150 billion, so I think this speaks for itself. We chose the right way to develop. We chose to get rid of nuclear weapons and we managed to build a vibrant economy and we are sending these messages to all our neighbors."
--security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/02/kazakhstan-no-regrets-over-nukes/

History of Science Blog

2012-02-07T23:15:00.000-08:00

For future reference, check this out: http://longstreet.typepad.com. It has a lot of interesting entries about such topics as the atomic bomb and science fiction in 1900. A treasure trove of steampunk historiana.

New Urbanism developments in the Denver area

2012-02-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the top "New Urbanism" developments in the Denver Area. All of these have flaws, and thus are not perfect examples of New Urbanism, but also have interesting designs:

Belmar (Lakewood, former Villa Italia). website
Stapleton (Denver, former Stapleton airport site). website
Lowry (Denver, former Lowry air force base). website
Prospect (Longmont) website
Bradburn Village (Westminster) website
Highlands Garden Village (Denver, former Elitch Gardens amusement park) website
Arista (Broomfield) website
Streets at Southglenn (Centennial, redeveloped Southglenn mall) website
Olde Town Arvada (Arvada) website. Not really new, except for new condos and restaurants.
CityCenter Englewood (Englewood) website
The District (Denver) website. Apartment complex near light-rail and shopping.
The Gardens on Havana (Aurora, former Buckingham Square mall) website.
Reunion (Commerce City) website
Village of Five Parks (Arvada)

The mother of all domestic financial battles is coming

2012-02-07T07:57:00.000-08:00

The US had a debt ceiling crisis from May until July 2011, when the situation was resolved by the debt vigilantes backing down. The debt ceiling was raised from $14.294 trillion to $16.394 trillion in 3 steps.

Well, the nation's credit card will be maxed out again, probably by about October 1, and the battle to raise the debt limit will begin again. But that's not all: the Bush tax cuts will also expire and ObamaCare taxes will kick in. The mortgage interest deduction may disappear, and if so, expect house prices to drop even more. The extra taxes will spent just as fast as they come in. If Obama wins, he will claim a mandate for his policies.

The genius of layaway

2012-02-06T20:47:00.000-08:00

"The key to understanding the appeal of layaway is that most layaway programs require shoppers to make regular payments. Typically, you pick out the product you want, make a down payment, pay a service fee (typically five dollars), and then make regularly scheduled payments over a period of time until you’ve paid off the full price. There are no interest payments, and if you don’t make all the payments you get your money back, minus a cancellation fee. It’s the exact opposite of installment credit, where you get the product, and then pay for it.
From a strictly financial perspective, layaway looks foolish. As critics point out, if you were to put the purchase on a credit card instead and pay off the amount in full by the time that the layaway period would have elapsed, you could well pay less in interest than the five-dollar service fee that most stores charge. Alternatively, if you don’t have a credit card, you could put the money you’re going to spend on the product into a savings account or under your mattress. That would save you the service fee and eliminate the risk that you’ll have to pay a cancellation fee if you end up not making all the layaway payments. What this analysis leaves out, however, is the way people actually behave. Even people who can pay off their credit cards often don’t, since the whole structure of the credit-card industry is designed to make you irresponsible—as long as you make a small monthly payment, the bank will carry you. In fact, that’s what the bank wants: the profits in the credit-card business come from “revolvers,” people who pay a small amount each month and rack up big interest charges—far more than the five bucks they’d have spent on a layaway service fee. Layaway, by contrast, fosters virtue: it forces you to save, because if you don’t make the payment you don’t get the product. It’s what psychologists call a “commitment device,” a way to get yourself to do something that you want to do but know you’ll have a hard time doing if left purely to your own devices.

Mitt Romney and Jim Carey

2012-02-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

Mitt Romney, candidate for President, born 1947

Jim Carrey, comedian, born 1962

Mario Draghi and Bob Saget

2012-02-05T21:26:00.000-08:00

Another celebrity lookalike contest:

Mario Draghi, president of the ECB, born 1947

Bob Saget, US actor, born 1956

David Cameron, Edward Norton and Matthew Perry

2012-02-05T21:08:00.000-08:00

I'm on a roll here. Compare these three blokes:

David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, born 1966

Edward Norton, US actor, born August 18, 1969

Matthew Perry, US actor, born August 19, 1969

Jean Claude Trichet and Michael Douglas

2012-02-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

Another set of twins.

Jean Claude Trichet, former president of the ECB, born 1942

Michael Douglas, US actor, born 1944

Gold Coast

2012-02-05T20:09:00.001-08:00

The Miami of Australia

AUD to hit US$1.70 by 2014

2012-02-05T18:44:00.001-08:00

The Australian dollar is a safe haven

2012-02-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

"MELBOURNE -- Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Wednesday warned the Aussie dollar would likely remain at a high level for years as it came to be seen as a “safe haven” amid global turmoil.

The currency has soared past parity with the greenback on the back of Australia's commodities boom and relatively high interest rates over the past two years, reaching its highest levels since it was first floated in 1983.

Gillard said as European economies suffered — with even traditional currency strongholds such as Switzerland affected — “for the first time in history Australia is being referred to as something of a global 'safe haven.'
There's another driver: investors looking to the Australian dollar as a substitute for betting directly on growth in our region — especially in China.”
The flipside was that the high currency had hurt some sectors badly, including tourism, education exports and manufacturing, she said. “The level of the dollar — and the pace of its rise — has broken some business models and forced economic restructuring.”
But she said the strong dollar was driving change and in doing so making the economy leaner and stronger."
--http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/asia/australia/2012/02/02/330349/Australian-dollar.htm

It doesn't sound like there are any imminent plans on devaluing the AUD.

Julia Gillard and Jodie Foster

2012-02-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

The prime minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, looks exactly like Jodie Foster.

Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, born in 1961, never married

Jodie Foster, U.S. actress, born in 1962, never married

Competitive Devaluation

2012-02-05T10:57:00.000-08:00

The US dollar keeps dropping in value, but other countries devalue their currencies as well to prop up the dollar. So they are enabling the status quo. With competitive devaluation, exports are cheaper. "Increased demand for products in other countries due to lower prices can also mean more jobs and lower unemployment rates at home."

First, the yuan. "Reuters suggested that both China and the United States were "winning" the currency war, holding down their currencies while pushing up the value of the Euro, the Yen, and the currencies of many emerging economies. Martin Wolf, an economics leader writer with the Financial Times, has suggested there may be advantages in western economies taking a more confrontational approach against China, which in recent years has been by far the biggest practitioner of competitive devaluation." The yuan seems to have an upper level of about 0.16 USD.

Next, the Swiss franc. The SNB has announced that they will not allow the franc to be worth more than 0.8333 euros. On about September 6, the franc dropped about 10% in reaction to the announcement. The franc is very close to that level since it is now trading at .8299.

Third the yen. The Japanese will not let the yen drop to less than 76 yen/dollar.

Fourth, Brazil has intervened in order to weaken the real. "Brazil is capitulating as well, stepping up its actions to weaken the value of the real and prop up the U.S. dollar.

Britain has engaged in quantitative easing to weaken the pound, buying up 200 billion pounds worth of gilts last summer.

Europe is launching a massive quantitative easing program with trillions of newly printed euros. They do it indirectly, by lending to banks which then buy up government debt, but the effect is the same.

Canada engages in quantitative easing as well. "Cue Mark Carney, head of Canada’s Central Bank, who has announced that Canada will “adopt a much milder version of the U.S. and U.K. strategy of printing more money to fight the recession."

The only major currencies that have not intervened to weaken their currencies, to my knowledge, are the Australian and New Zealand dollars, the Swedish krona and the Norwegian krone.

However the krona and krone both have liquidity problems. "Alistair Cotton of Currencies Direct says: “In theory a robust domestic economy translates into a strong currency, but safe haven status is as much about liquidity as it is about economics, and in that respect the krona and krone do not come close to the dollar, yen or Swiss franc.” In fact, he thinks “the relative safety of the krona and krone would almost certainly be eroded if they saw huge inflows, because the relatively small size of both markets means if everyone ran for the doors at the same time – as usually happens in currency markets – both currencies would see massive levels of volatility to the downside.” The liquidity problem also affects the New Zealand dollar, which is less frequently traded than the Swedish krona.

This leaves the Australian dollar as the only credible alternative to the US dollar.

Transportation in Almaty

2012-02-04T22:05:00.001-08:00

This video is more than 3 years old but still interesting.

Why did the Australian dollar collapse in 2008?

2012-02-04T17:41:00.000-08:00

The AUD dropped 40% over a 3 month period in 2008. Why did it fall? Could this happen again?

This article explains the 2008 situation very well: Why the Australian dollar has tumbled and the U.S. dollar has not. The short answer is panic.

"When enough people panic, the contagion of panic spreads around the world and all investments start to look dodgy. People start to really think about where they put their money because they might not get it back. So, what do people do when they aren’t sure where to turn to?
They tend to take back their money out of wherever they have it invested, bring it back home, and stick it under their mattresses. Except that you can’t really stick a billion dollars in cash under a mattress (apart from reasons of physical space, it won’t earn any interest). So people put it into the next best thing: government bonds of the world’s largest economy.
...
The USD is unique in that it’s the world’s “reserve currency.” Countries around the world keep their foreign exchange reserves in USD. Not sure of where else to turn to, people will just bring their money home by converting it to USD so they can stick it into bonds and also service the debt they have owing which also is denominated in USD. Being a reserve currency means that central banks from around the world can support the value of the USD as well."

Soyuz spacecraft lands in Kazakhstan

2012-02-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

This happened about November 3, 2011.

Kazakhstan has the only manned spaceflight program in the world. NASA uses its facilities when it sends astronauts to the ISS.

Kazakhstan propaganda

2012-02-03T17:02:00.000-08:00

Investors shift from yuan to dollar

2012-02-03T12:52:00.000-08:00

"The yuan market in Hong Kong, China's laboratory for liberalizing its currency, has taken off since Beijing relaxed rules for the use of yuan in the city in July 2010. Deposits in yuan grew briskly, fueled by expectations that the currency will appreciate rapidly.

In recent months, however, the growth in yuan deposits in Hong Kong has almost halted as investors shifted to the safe-haven U.S. dollar as markets gyrated in response to the euro-zone debt crisis and U.S. credit-rating downgrade in August.

By the end of December 2011, yuan funds parked in Hong Kong totaled 588.5 billion yuan ($93.2 billion), down 6.2% from 627.3 billion yuan, or renminbi, in November, according to figures the Hong Kong Monetary Authority released Tuesday."
--http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203920204577194712177573668.html

Top Asia Pacific Cities of the Future

2012-02-03T12:35:00.000-08:00

Singapore
Shanghai
Seoul
Shenzhen
Taipei
Hong Kong
Beijing
Melbourne
Tokyo
Sydney

"The ranking focuses on a mixture of data and expert opinion to rank cities which have the best prospects for inward investment, economic development and business expansion."
--http://www.china.org.cn/top10/2011-12/20/content_24203998.htm

Elevated runway in Fort Lauderdale

2012-02-03T12:13:00.000-08:00

"The new runway, expected to be operational by September 2014, will stretch 8,000 feet parallel to Griffin Road. But here’s what makes it really interesting: It will also be elevated 60 feet off the ground, in order for trains and trucks to comfortably pass in tunnels underneath."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/23/2604194/work-on-new-fort-lauderdale-airport.html

Aktau, Kazakhstan

2012-02-03T11:44:00.000-08:00

Aktau, Kazahstan. Source: http://koetterkim.com

The Berlaymonster

2012-02-03T11:07:00.000-08:00

The Berlaymont is the iconic headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels. It is in the shape of a cross.

NATO Headquarters

2012-02-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

New NATO headquarters in Brussels expected to be completed in 2015.

Capital of the North American Union

2012-02-02T22:21:00.000-08:00

If the North American Union actually is formed, what city should be the capital? Here are the leading contenders, in my opinion:

1. San Antonio. This is probably the most "Mexicanized" of the major U.S. cities.
2. Kansas City. Centrally located.
3. Santa Fe. Lots of history and culture here.
4. New Orleans
5. Dallas
6. Colorado Springs
7. Monterrey. This is probably the most "Americanized" of the Mexican cities.
8. El Paso
9. Austin
10. Chicago
11. Toronto
12. Tucson
13. Oklahoma City
14. San Diego
15. Ottawa
16. San Francisco
17. Denver
18. Memphis
19. Houston
20. Las Vegas

Almost all of these are US cities, and the US would have the most to gain.

Kansas City

2012-02-02T18:32:00.001-08:00

Top International Cities

2012-02-02T14:54:00.001-08:00

This is my list of cities that have the most international political power, based on international organizations that are based there.

1. New York. Headquarters of the UN.
2. Geneva. 2nd largest site of UN. Former capital of the League of Nations. HQ of WTO.
3. Vienna. Location of many UN organizations. Headquarters of the OSCE.
4. The Hague, Netherlands. International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court and more than 150 international organizations located there.
5. Brussels, Belgium. Capital of the European Union and NATO.
6. Strasbourg, France. Headquarters for the Council of Europe.
7. Nairobi, Kenya. Headquarters of United Nations Environment Programme, and many regional United Nations offices.
8. Paris, France. HQ of UNESCO, OECD and other international organizations. Also headquarters of the French Community.
9. Rome. Some UN offices. Also, Roman Catholic Church. Location of Treaty of Rome.
10. Lausanne, Switzerland. Headquarters of the IOC and other international sports organizations.
11. Washington DC. HQ of the World Bank.
12. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. HQ of the African Union
13. London. Headquarters of the Commonwealth of Nations.
14. Singapore. Headquarters off the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
15. Lyon, France. Headquarters of Interpol.
16. Bonn, Germany. HQ of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
17. Bern, Switzerland. HQ of the Universal Postal Union
18. Montevideo, Uruguay. HQ of Mercosur
19. Tokyo. HQ of United Nations University
20. Cairo. HQ of the Arab League.
21. Lisbon, Portugal. HQ of the Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking countries)
22. Beijing. HQ of the Shanghai Cooperation Organzation (made up of China, Russia, Kazahkstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan)
23. Abuja, Nigeria. HQ of ECOWAS
24. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. HQ of Gulf Cooperation Council.
25. Oslo, Norway. Home of the Nobel Peace Prize. Also location of some UN offices.

New African Union headquarters opens in Addis Ababa

2012-02-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-01/30/content_14502354.htm

It was paid for by the Chinese government.

The Centurion

2012-02-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

The Centurion is only 17 stories tall, but it is one of the most elegant buildings in the world. Watch at least the opening statement by I.M. Pei: "New York is the most exciting city in the world. It's not the most beautiful. Paris is more beautiful, London is more beautiful, but New York is exciting. It has life. New York is constantly changing."

"Located at 33 West 56th Street off Fifth Avenue, The Centurion is the first
ground-up residential condominium project in New York designed by the
internationally renowned Pei Partnership with I.M. Pei. Pei is known for elegant,
understated architecture, and his signature shows in this property. “It
feels very old world, especially in the context of the neighborhood,” says Amy
Williamson, sales director with The Centurion and vice president of sales for
Prodigy Network. “There’s been a significant trend in recent years toward
condo buildings that are tall glass towers, and it seems there is increasingly
a reaction against that, toward more elegant buildings. You can’t get more
elegant than The Centurion.”
--http://centurioncondo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/PromenadeMagazine-The-Centurion-Spring-2011.pdf

ZIRP is harming the economy

2012-02-02T09:31:00.000-08:00

As background read:
http://www.pimco.com/EN/Insights/Pages/Life-and-Death-Proposition.aspx

Where does credit go when it dies? It goes back to where it came from. It delevers, it slows and inhibits economic growth, and it turns economic theory upside down, ultimately challenging the wisdom of policymakers. We’ll all be making this up as we go along for what may seem like an eternity. A 30-50 year virtuous cycle of credit expansion which has produced outsize paranormal returns for financial assets – bonds, stocks, real estate and commodities alike – is now delevering because of excessive “risk” and the “price” of money at the zero-bound. We are witnessing the death of abundance and the borning of austerity, for what may be a long, long time.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46220487
http://gonzalolira.blogspot.com/2012/02/perniciousness-of-zirp.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/01/us-usa-debt-refunding-idUSTRE81023720120201

"In response to clamor from investors, the Treasury said on Wednesday it was looking closely at allowing negative-yield auctions."

The only entity benefiting from 0% interest rates is the Treasury, which can keep its interest costs low. This encourages the government to grow even larger, to replace the spending which isn't otherwise occurring. Investors are harmed by the low interest rates. A 2% difference in interest rates will make no difference to a borrower, who is primarily focused on how the economy will be in the future. In addition, a lower interest rate harms the US dollar externally vs. other currencies, like the Australian dollar. The Fed should immediately raise the Fed Funds rate to at least 2%. Otherwise, the US economy will fall into the zombie debt-trap that Japan is in and be stuck in neutral for the next 25 years.

Why are the Chinese buying gold?

2012-01-30T22:53:00.000-08:00

" The best explanation is that individuals in China are using gold as a substitute for capital flight. .. Not every Chinese citizen is in the position to export cash, so the next best tactic for the nervous is to buy gold, a refuge from plunging property prices and declining stock markets as well as an anticipated depreciation of their currency."
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2012/01/29/why-are-the-chinese-buying-record-quantities-of-gold/

Will Argentina invade the Falklands again?

2012-01-29T23:34:00.000-08:00

"In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, the former head of the army, General Sir Michael Jackson, says defence cuts have made it "impossible" to win the islands back after a successful invasion, in the way the British task force did in 1982. "
--http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/falklandislands/9046826/Britain-could-not-reclaim-the-Falklands-if-Argentina-invades-warns-General-Sir-Michael-Jackson.html

The ultra-rich do their part to help the economy

2012-01-29T23:05:00.000-08:00

"As the country tightens it's belt, Britain's super rich - the 1% of the 1% - are spending like never before. Why? Because someone has to ...
The yachts, the mansions, the handbags are so much more than decadent fripperies. They plough hundreds of millions into the British economy, employing thousands. Listen to Roxburgh, the triumphant party organiser of 2011: “One very charming client said to me that she viewed entertaining as the new philanthropy. She said: ‘I know that if I spend hundreds of thousands on an event, I am not just entertaining my guests, I am paying the mortgages of everyone working there. I could keep the money in the bank, helping nobody. At least this way I know the florist is feeding his children.’ ”
--http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/recession/9025468/The-recession-deniers.html

GDP and the national debt

2012-01-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

The GDP of the US is now $15,294 billion. The national debt is now at $15,236 billion. So the debt hasn't yet hit 100% of GDP but it will any day now.

Update: The national debt hit $15,295 billion on 1/30/2012. So yesterday the national debt officially hit 100% of GDP.

Top 60 Cities, Version 6

2012-01-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

Another listing, influenced by the Knight Report. 60 seems like a better number than 50 to list all the important cities.

New York City (1)
London (7)
Tokyo (2)
Singapore (9)
Shanghai (3)
Beijing (11)
Paris (12)
Toronto (13)
Seoul (4)
Chicago (5)
Hong Kong (6)
Washington DC (16)
Sao Paulo (8)
Los Angeles (18)
Moscow (10)
San Francisco (15)
Mexico City (19)
Sydney (23)
Mumbai (14)
Zurich (20)
Taipei (26)
Buenos Aires (17)
Osaka (21)
Berlin (29)
Brussels (30)
Boston (22)
Frankfurt (32)
Guangzhou (24)
Istanbul (34)
Madrid (25)
Miami (36)
Dallas (27)
Houston (28)
Montreal (33)
Vancouver (35)
Rio de Janeiro (31)
Philadelphia (37)
Dubai (43)
Delhi (38)
Atlanta (39)
Melbourne (40)
Vienna (41)
Geneva (42)
Munich (48)
Kuala Lumpur (50)
Amsterdam (44)
Stockholm (45)
Cairo (53)
Bogota (55)
Jakarta (54)
Jersey (46)
Shenzhen (47)
Bangkok (57)
Barcelona (49)
Milan (60)
Manila (51)
Johannesburg (58)
Dublin (80)
Santiago (59)
Copenhagen (77)

Space Industry in the Isle of Man

2012-01-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

"THE space industry is a sector that until the 21st century would not have been associated with the Isle of Man.

But things have certainly changed in a big way during the past decade.

Tim Craine, Director of the Business Development Agency for the Isle of Man Government, admits the talk of the Island being associated with space commerce would have been "science fiction" just a few years ago.

But the truth is stranger than fiction - and can be far more interesting.

Mr Craine gave a fascinating presentation to the Junior Chamber of Commerce last night at the Claremount Hotel, Douglas, about the development of the space industry.

There are numerous firms now based here and one of them - Excalibur Almaz - plans to offer trips round the moon and back for space tourists at a cost of $31m.

Recently aerospace market and consultancy analyst firm ASCEND declared the Island the fifth most likely nation to return to the moon.

Meanwhile a report by the Economic Policy Centre said the UK should follow the example of the Isle of Man and the US when it comes to its space industry.

Mr Craine outlined that it was back in 2000 when the Isle of Man Government entered into an agreement with ManSat to file for orbital slots.

And in 2003 it appointed ManSat's chairman and CEO Chris Stott as the Island's honorary respresentative to the space industry.

The following year zero corporate tax was introduced for space activities.

The Isle of Man Government has attracted firms here due to the zero per cent corporate tax, government grants, the Island's political stability, commercially friendly legislation and its state of the art telecommuncations infrastructure.

Over the years the industry has grown and last year the world's five largest satellite operators established the Space Data Association in the Isle of Man.

Between 2005 to 2013 it is estimated the exchequer will benefit £34,944,363 from the space industry while it is estimated that between 2011 to 2013 the private sector income would be £1,194,604,558.

What may surprise some is that despite a number of space commerce firms having a presence in the Island, the industry only employs the equivalent of 16 full time jobs here at the moment.

But the Island's reputation has spread - the Google Lunar X Prize team summit was held here last week with the majority of 22 registered teams from around the world visiting.

The ensuing media coverage was worth - in advertising terms - just under £250,000.

And even the world's second ever space tourist is a resident in the Isle of Man.

So it is fair to say that the Island's rise as a space super power has been truly out of this world."
--http://www.isleofman.com/news/article.aspx?article=29870

Worldwide Centers of Commerce

2012-01-28T18:56:00.000-08:00

London
New York
Tokyo
Singapore
Chicago
Hong Kong
Paris
Frankfurt
Seoul
Amsterdam
Madrid
Sydney
Toronto
Copenhagen
Zurich
Stockholm
Los Angeles
Philadelphia
Osaka
Milan
Boston
Taipei
Berlin
Shanghai
Atlanta
Vienna
Munich
San Francisco
Miami
Brussels
Dublin
Montreal
Hamburg
Houston
Dallas
Washington DC
Vancouver
Barcelona
Dusseldorf
Geneva
Melbourne
Bangkok
Edinburgh
Dubai
Tel Aviv
Lisbon
Rome
Mumbai
Prague
Kuala Lumpur
Moscow
Budapest
Santiago
Mexico City
Athens
Sao Paulo
Beijing
Johannesburg
Warsaw
Shenzhen
New Delhi
Bogota
Buenos Aires
Istanbul
Rio de Janeiro
Bangalore
St. Petersburg
Jakarta
Riyadh
Cairo
Manila
Chengdu
Chongqing
Beirut
Caracas

From: http://www.mastercard.com/us/company/en/insights/pdfs/2008/MCWW_WCoC-Report_2008.pdf

Yet Another List of the Top Global Cities

2012-01-28T17:17:00.000-08:00

New York
London
Paris
Tokyo
Brussels
Los Angeles
Singapore
Beijing
Toronto
Berlin
Chicago
Washington DC
Seoul
Frankfurt
Sydney
San Francisco
Hong Kong
Shanghai
Mexico City
Bangkok
Moscow
Zurich
Munich
Taipei
Sao Paulo
Buenos Aires
Istanbul
Milan
Boston
Miami
Cairo
Dubai
Kuala Lumpur
Tel Aviv
Bogota
Rio de Janeiro
New Delhi
Mumbai
Jakarta
Johannesburg

Source: http://www.knightfrank.com/wealthreport/2011/global-cities-survey/

Top 50 Cities, Version 5

2012-01-28T15:33:00.000-08:00

Here is yet another list of the top cities. I was going to do the top 200 but this is a lot of work and I lost interest. This is based heavily on population, but each city's ranking must be within 5 of the previous list. The number in brackets is the population of the metro area, in thousands.

Jersey is listed as 46 here. The only reason it is listed is that it was ranked 21 on the list of top Global Financial Centres. Likewise, Geneva, here 42, was listed as 13 of the GFCs.

It is interesting to see the changes in the composition of the top 50.
List 1 to List 2: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Copenhagen, Cairo dropped. Melbourne, Guernsey and Isle of Man added.
List 2 to List 3: Rome dropped, Edinburgh re-added.
List 3 to List 4: Edinburgh re-dropped, Isle of Man dropped. Shenzhen and Munich added.
List 4 to List 5: Guernsey dropped, Kuala Lumpur added.

New York City (2) [19,425]
Tokyo (7) [36,669]
Shanghai (5) [16,575]
Seoul (8) [9,773]
Chicago (3) [9,204]
Hong Kong (1) [7,069]
London (6) [8,631]
Sao Paulo (13) [20,262]
Singapore (4) [4,837]
Moscow (12) [10,550]
Beijing (16) [12,385]
Paris (14) [10,485]
Toronto (9) [5,449]
Mumbai (19) [20,041]
San Francisco (10) [3,541]
Washington DC (11) [4,460]
Buenos Aires (22) [13,074]
Los Angeles (21) [12,762]
Mexico City (24) [19,460]
Zurich (15) [2,000]
Osaka-Kobe (20) [11,337]
Boston (17) [4,593]
Sydney (18) [4,429]
Guangzhou (26)[8,884]
Madrid (28) [5,851]
Taipei (31) [6,900]
Dallas (29) [4,951]
Houston (23) [4,605]
Berlin (32) [4,430]
Brussels (25) [1,090]
Rio de Janeiro (35) [11,950]
Frankfurt (27) [2,300]
Montreal (33) [3,783]
Istanbul (39) [10,525]
Vancouver (30) [2,117]
Miami (34) [5,750]
Philadelphia (42) [5,626]
Delhi (43) [22,157]
Atlanta (36) [4,691]
Melbourne (38) [3,853]
Vienna (45) [2400]
Geneva (37) [191]
Dubai (40) [2262]
Amsterdam (46) [2159]
Stockholm (44) [2100]
Jersey (41) [98]
Shenzhen (48) [9,005]
Munich (49) [1353]
Barcelona (50) [5,083]
Kuala Lumpur (54) [7200]
Manila (58) [11,628]
Guernsey (47)
Cairo (66) [11,001]
Jakarta (56) [9,210]
Bogota (67) [8,500]

Top 50 GFCs that are not in my list are: Wellington(NZ), Luxembourg, Qatar, Guernsey, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki, Isle of Man, Hamilton (Bermuda), Dublin, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, and Milan.

There are replaced (not in the same order) by cities that I think are more global cities: Moscow, Mumbai, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Guangzhou, Dallas, Houston, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Miami, Philadelphia, Delhi, Atlanta, Barcelona.

Alpha World Cities that are not on my list are: Milan, Bangkok, Dublin, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Lisbon, Santiago, and Warsaw. Cities on my list that are not Alpha World Cities are: Osaka, Guangzhou, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Houston, Montreal, Vancouver, Geneva, Stockholm, Jersey, Shenzhen

Top 175 Cities

2012-01-27T22:03:00.000-08:00

This is based heavily on the skyline ratings.

Hong Kong (3)
New York City (2)
Chicago (7)
Singapore (4)
Shanghai (9)
London (1)
Tokyo (6)
Seoul (13)
Toronto (12)
San Francisco (8)
Washington DC (9)
Moscow (17)
São Paulo (18)
Paris (10)
Zurich (11)
Beijing (21)
Boston (14)
Sydney (15)
Mumbai (24)
Osaka (23)
Los Angeles (16)
Buenos Aires (25)
Houston (26)
Mexico City (19)
Brussels (20)
Guangzhou (28)
Frankfurt (22)
Madrid (27)
Dallas/Ft Worth (32)
Vancouver (35)
Taipei (30)
Berlin (29)
Montreal (31)
Miami (34)
Rio de Janeiro (37)
Atlanta (39)
Geneva (33)
Melbourne (43)
Istanbul (44)
Dubai (45)
Jersey (36)
Philadelphia (40)
Delhi/New Delhi (38)
Stockholm (41)
Vienna (46)
Amsterdam (44)
Guernsey (42)
Shenzhen (53)
Munich (52)
Barcelona (50)
Bangkok (65)
Edinburgh (49)
Isle of Man (48)
Kuala Lumpur (59)
Glasgow (51)
Jakarta (66)
Tianjin (72)
Manila (67)
Santiago (84)
Seattle (69)
Honolulu (86)
Doha/Lusail, Qatar (77)
Tel Aviv / Yaffo (71)
Denver (76)
Minneapolis (74)
Cairo (68)
Bogota (89)
Caracas (93)
Calgary (91)
Pittsburgh (90)
Detroit (94)
Johannesburg (63)
Brisbane (98)
Wellington (54)
Rome (55)
Luxembourg (56)
Copenhagen (57)
Oslo (58)
Helsinki (60)
Dublin (61)
Milan (62)
Manama, Bahrain (64)
St. Petersburg (107)
Phoenix (70)
San Diego/Tijuana (75)
Warsaw (80)
Prague (81)
Riyadh (82)
Auckland (83)
Hamburg (85)
Dusseldorf (87)
Abu Dhabi (113)
Kolkata (88)
Jeddah (95)
Hamilton, Bermuda (73)
Busan (119)
Lima (96)
Brasilia (97)
Brisbane (98)
Stuttgart (99)
Portland, OR (100)
Road Town, British Virgin Islands (78)
George Town, Cayman Islands (79)
Chongqing (122)
Macao (128)
Yokohama (129)
Kuwait City (127)
Gibraltar (101)
Monaco (102)
Lisbon (103)
Talinn (104)
Port Louis, Mauritius (105)
Malta (106)
Nassau, Bahamas (108)
Budapest (109)
Reykjavik (110)
Athens (111)
Bangalore (112)
Panama City (144)
Karachi (114)
Monterrey (115)
Charlotte, NC (116)
Cape Town (117)
Ho Chi Min City (118)
Chennai, India (120)
St. Louis, MO (121)
Wuhan, China (146)
Gold Coast City (147)
Curitiba, Brazil (none)
Las Vegas (143)
Nanjing, China (none)
Dalian, China (none)
Xiamen, China (none)
Kyiv, Ukraine (none)
Fortaleza, Brazil (none)
Incheon, South Korea (149)
Benidorm, Spain (none)
Salvador, Brazil (none)
Qingdao, China (none)
Penang Island, Malaysia (150)
Chengu, China (none)
Sharjah, UAE (none)
Shenyang, China (none)
Kaohsiung, Taiwan (none)
Hangzhou, China (none)
Campinas, Brazil (none)
Yekaterinburg, Russia (none)
Belo Horizonte, Brazil (none)
Ankara, Turkey (none)
Belneario Camboriu, Brazil (none)
Rotterdam (none)
Xian, China (none)
Porto Alegre, Brazil (none)
Harbin, China (none)
Rosario, Argentina (none)
Minsk, Belarus (none)
Tampa, FL (113)
Hyderabad, India (124)
Bern, Switzerland (125)
Lyon, France (130)
Ottawa (131)
Lagos (132)
Brunei (133)
Sacramento, CA (134)
Kansas City, MO (135)
Brakin (Brazzaville-Kinshasa) (136)
Durban, South Africa (137)
Nairobi, Kenya (138)
San Antonio, TX (139)
Orlando, FL (140)
Cincinnati, OH (141)
Cleveland, OH (142)
Recife, Brazil (145)
Daegu, South Korea (148)
Perth, Australia (none)

Top 150 Cities

2012-01-27T19:13:00.000-08:00

This is based heavily on the Global Financial Center Rankings. Cities in the top 50 on the previous list do not change more than 5 places, and other cities do not change more than 25. Previous ranking in parenthesis.

London (4)
New York City (1)
Hong Kong (3)
Singapore (7)
Shanghai (9)
Tokyo (2)
Chicago (6)
San Francisco (10)
Washington DC (5)
Paris (8)
Zurich (16)
Toronto (17)
Seoul (14)
Boston (12)
Sydney (13)
Los Angeles (11)
Moscow (18)
Sao Paolo (19)
Mexico City (20)
Brussels (15)
Beijing (24)
Frankfurt (27)
Osaka (23)
Mumbai (21)
Buenos Aires (22)
Houston (25)
Madrid (26)
Guangzhou (28)
Berlin (29)
Taipei (35)
Montreal (36)
Dallas/Ft Worth (30)
Geneva (38)
Miami (31)
Vancouver (40)
Jersey (41)
Rio de Janeiro (32)
Delhi/New Delhi (33)
Atlanta (34)
Philadelphia (37)
Stockholm (46)
Guernsey (42)
Melbourne (48)
Istanbul (39)
Dubai (49)
Vienna (45)
Amsterdam (44)
Isle of Man (43)
Edinburgh (51)
Barcelona (47)
Glasgow (52)
Munich (57)
Shenzhen (60)
Wellington (62)
Rome (50)
Luxembourg (63)
Copenhagen (53)
Oslo (74)
Kuala Lumpur (58)
Helsinki (70)
Dublin (66)
Milan (69)
Johannesburg (61)
Manama, Bahrain (85)
Bangkok (65)
Jakarta (59)
Manila (55)
Cairo (54)
Seattle (56)
Phoenix (64)
Tel Aviv (67)
Tianjin (68)
Hamilton, Bermuda (91)
Minneapolis (72)
San Diego/Tijuana (73)
Denver (71)
Doha/Lusail, Qatar (101)
Road Town, British Virgin Islands (93)
George Town, Cayman Islands (94)
Warsaw (114)
Prague (116)
Riyadh (92)
Auckland (75)
Santiago (76)
Hamburg (77)
Honolulu (79)
Dusseldorf (80)
Kolkata (81)
Bogota (82)
Pittsburgh (83)
Calgary (84)
Tehran (86)
Caracas (87)
Detroit (88)
Jeddah (90)
Lima (95)
Brasilia (96)
Brisbane (97)
Stuttgart (98)
Portland, OR (99)
Gibraltar (none)
Monaco (none)
Lisbon (none)
Talinn (none)
Port Louis, Mauritius (none)
Malta (none)
St. Petersburg (121)
Nassau, Bahamas (none)
Budapest (none)
Reykjavik (none)
Athens (none)
Bangalore (100)
Abu Dhabi (102)
Karachi (103)
Monterrey (105)
Charlotte, NC (106)
Cape Town (107)
Ho Chi Min City (88)
Busan (90)
Chennai, India(110)
St. Louis, MO (92)
Chonqing, China (112)
Tampa, FL (113)
Hyderabad, India (115)
Bern, Switzerland (117)
Dhaka, Bangladesh (118)
Kuwait City (119)
Macao (120)
Yokohama (122)
Lyon, France (123)
Ottawa (124)
Lagos (125)
Brunei (none)
Sacramento, CA (none)
Kansas City, MO (none)
Brakin (Brazzaville-Kinshasa) (none)
Durban, South Africa (none)
Nairobi, Kenya (none)
San Antonio, TX (none)
Orlando, FL (none)
Cincinnati, OH (none)
Cleveland, OH (none)
Las Vegas, NV (none)
Panama City (none)
Recife, Brazil (none)
Wuhan (none)
Gold Coast City, Australia (none)
Daegu, South Korea (none)
Incheon, South Korea (none)
Penang Island, Malaysia (none)

The top 50 economies of the world in 2050

2012-01-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

#1 China $25.3 tn (apparently includes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan)
#2 United States $22.3 tn
#3 India $8.1 tn
#4 Japan $6.4 tn
#5 Germany $3.7 tn
#6 United Kingdom $3.6 tn
#7 Brazil $3.0 tn
#8 Mexico $2.8 tn
#9 France $2.8 tn
#10 Canada $2.3 tn
#11 Italy $2.2 tn
#12 Turkey $2.1 tn
#13 South Korea $2.1 tn
#14 Spain $2.0 tn
#15 Russia $1.9 tn
#16 Philippines $1.7 tn
#17 Indonesia $1.5 tn
#18 Australia $1.5 tn
#19 Argentina $1.5 tn
#20 Egypt $1.2 tn
#21 Malaysia $1.2 tn
#22 Saudi Arabia $1.1 trillion
#23 Thailand $856 bn
#24 Netherlands $798 bn
#25 Poland $786 bn
#26 Peru $735 bn
#27 Iran $732 bn
#28 Colombia $725 bn
#29 Switzerland $711 bn
#30 Pakistan $675 bn
#31 Bangladesh $673 bn
#32 Chile $592 bn
#33 Venezuela $558 bn
#34 Algeria: $538 bn
#35 South Africa $529 bn
#36 Austria $520 bn
#37 Nigeria $515 bn
#38 Sweden: $507 bn
#39 Belgium: $481 bn
#40 Ukraine: $462 bn
#41 Vietnam: $451 bn
#42 Singapore: $441 bn
#43 Greece: $424 bn
#44 Israel: $402 bn
#45 Ireland: $386 bn
#46 Romania: $377 bn
#47 United Arab Emirates: $360 bn
#48 Norway: $352 bn
#49 Czech Republic $342 billion
#50 Portugal: $336 billion

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/these-economies-will-dominate-the-world-in-2050-2012-1#

City-States are the future

2012-01-27T02:34:00.000-08:00

"In his book The End of the Nation State, Japanese business guru Kenichi Ohmae speaks of a borderless economy. He argues that, in the future, you might have several hundred city states which will replace nation states. If you consider Hong Kong, for example, as an illustration, or Barcelona, or London, or indeed New York. These are global cities; they point outwards into the global marketplace. They do not have that much to do with the hinterland, the nation of which they are a part."
--http://www.fathom.com/course/10701014/session2.html

Moscow 2042

2012-01-26T20:15:00.001-08:00

Top 125 Cities

2012-01-26T14:57:00.000-08:00

Revised List. Cities in the top 50 on the previous list will not change more than 5 places. Cities in the top 100 will not change more than 25 places. Previous ranking in parenthesis.

New York City (1)
Tokyo (4)
Hong Kong (5)
London (2)
Washington DC (3)
Chicago (7)
Singapore (9)
Paris (8)
Shanghai (11)
San Francisco (12)
Los Angeles (6)
Boston (15)
Sydney (18) [Ranked #15 as a GFC]
Seoul (19)
Brussels (10)
Zurich (13) [Ranked #8 as a GFC]
Toronto/Mississauga (22)
Moscow (20)
Sao Paolo (14)
Mexico City (16)
Mumbai (26)
Buenos Aires (17)
Osaka (27)
Beijing (21)
Houston (29)
Madrid (25)
Frankfurt (23) [Ranked #16 as a GFC]
Guangzhou (33)
Berlin (24)
Dallas/Ft Worth (31)
Miami (36)
Rio de Janeiro (35)
Delhi/New Delhi (28)
Atlanta (34)
Taipei (30)
Montreal (39)
Philadelphia (32)
Geneva (37) [Ranked #13 as a GFC]
Istanbul (41)
Vancouver (42) [Ranked #17 as a GFC]
Jersey (38) [Ranked #21 as a GFC]
Guernsey (38) [Ranked #31 as a GFC]
Isle of Man (38)[Ranked #40 as a GFC]
Amsterdam (43)
Vienna (40)
Stockholm (44)
Barcelona (45)
Melbourne (52) [Ranked #18 as a GFC]
Dubai (46) [Ranked #36 as a GFC]
Rome (47)
Edinburgh (48) [Ranked #32 as a GFC]
Glasgow (48) [Ranked #33 as a GFC]
Copenhagen (49)
Cairo (50)
Manila (51)
Seattle (53)
Munich (55)
Kuala Lumpur (56)
Jakarta (65)
Shenzhen (66)
Johannesburg (77)
Wellington, New Zealand (60) [Ranked #27 as a GFC]
Luxembourg (75) [Ranked #29 as a GFC]
Phoenix (58)
Bangkok (64)
Dublin (78)
Tel Aviv (81)
Tianjin (68)
Milan (89)
Helsinki (83)
Denver (67)
Minneapolis (54)
San Diego/Tijuana (59)
Oslo (82)
Auckland (60)
Santiago (73)
Hamburg (none)
Minneapolis (54)
Honolulu (none)
Dusseldorf (none)
Kolkata, India (57)
Bogota (80)
Pittsburgh (none)
Calgary (none)
Manama, Bahrain (61) [Ranked #55 as a GFC]
Tehran, Iran (62)
Caracas, Venezuela (none)
Detroit (87)
Jakarta, Indonesia (65)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (none)
Hamilton, Bermuda (70) [Ranked #41 as a GFC]
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (69)
Road Town, BVI (70) [Ranked #45 as a GFC]
George Town, Cayman Islands (70) [Ranked #46 as a GFC]
Lima, Peru (71)
Brasilia, Brazil (72)
Brisbane, Australia (none)
Stuttgart, Germany (none)
Portland, OR (99)
Bangalore (76)
Doha, Qatar (93) [Ranked #30 as a GFC]
Abu Dhabi (98)
Karachi, Pakastan (79)
Bogota, Colombia (80)
Monterrey, Mexico (84)
Charlotte, NC (85)
Cape Town, South Africa (86)
Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam (88)
Busan, Korea (90)
Chennai, India (91)
St. Louis, MO (92)
Chonqing, China (94)
Tampa, FL (95)
Warsaw (96)
Hyderabad, India (97)
Prague (100)
Bern, Switzerland (none)
Dhaka, Bangladesh (none)
Kuwait City (none)
Macao (none)
St. Petersburg, Russia (none)
Yokohama (none)
Lyon, France (none)
Ottawa, Canada (none)
Lagos, Nigeria (none)

Largest Cities in Africa

2012-01-25T22:43:00.000-08:00

These are in reverse order, with the largest at the bottom:

50 - N'Djamena, Chad
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Monrovia, Liberia
Maiduguri, Nigeria
Fes, Morocco
Cotonou, Benin
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Tripoli, Libya
Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Benin City, Nigeria
Oran, Algeria
Brazzaville, Congo
Mogadishu, Somalia
Mbuji Mayi, DR Congo
Lubumbashi, DR Congo
Kumasi, Ghana
Kaduna, Nigeria
Conakry, Guinea
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Yaounde, Cameroon
Lusaka, Zambia
Antananarivo, Madagascar
Rabat, Moroco
Maputo, Mozambique
Bamako, Mali
Kampala, Uganda
Abuja, Nigeria
Douala, Cameroon
Harare, Zimbabwe
Tunis, Tunisia
Pretoria, South Africa
Dakar, Senegal
Luanda, Angola
Algiers, Algeria
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Ibadan, Nigeria
Kano, Nigeria
Nairobi, Kenya
Accra, Ghana
Durban, South Africa
Cape Town, South Africa
Casablanca, Morocco
Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
Alexandria, Egypt
Khartoum, Sudan
Johannesburg, South Africa
Kinshasa, DR Congo
Lagos, Nigeria
1. Cairo, Egypt

Best Cities in America

2012-01-25T12:05:00.000-08:00

Raleigh, NC
Arlington, VA
Honolulu, HI
Scottsdale, AZ
Irvine, CA
Washington, DC
San Diego, CA
Virginia Beach, VA
San Francisco, CA
Anchorage, AK
Plano, TX
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
New York City, NY
Albuquerque, NM
Boston, MA
Madison, WI
Colorado Springs, CO
Portland, OR
Charlotte, NC
Chesapeake, VA
Lincoln, NE
San Jose, CA
Pittsburgh, PA
Lexington, KY
Jacksonville, FL
Denver, CO
Nashville, TN
New Orleans, LA
Minneapolis, MN
Greensboro, NC
Atlanta, GA
Boise, ID
Omaha, NE
Houston, TX
Oklahoma City, OK
Durham, NC
Henderson (Las Vegas), NV
St. Paul, MN
San Antonio, TX
Gilbert (Phoenix), AZ
Dallas, TX
Kansas City, MO
Reno, NV
Chandler (Phoenix), AZ
Winston-Salem, NC
Tampa, FL
Oakland, CA
Phoenix, AZ
Irving, TX

Source: http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20110920/america-s-50-best-cities/slides/2

Global Financial Cities Index

2012-01-25T11:41:00.000-08:00

Yet another list of the top cities:

1 London
2 United States
3 Hong Kong
4 Singapore
5 Shanghai
6 Tokyo
7 Chicago
8 Zurich
9 San Francisco
10 Toronto
11 Seoul
12 Boston
13 Geneva
14 Washington, D.C.
15 Sydney
16 Frankfurt am Main
17 Vancouver
18 Melbourne
19 Beijing
20 Montreal
21 Jersey
22 Munich
23 Taipei
24 Paris
25 Shenzhen
26 Osaka
27 Wellington
28 Stockholm
29 Luxembourg
30 Doha

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Financial_Centres_Index

Most Economically Powerful Cities

2012-01-25T11:27:00.000-08:00

Tokyo
New York
London
Chicago
Paris
Boston
Hong Kong
Osaka
Washington DC
Seoul
Sydney
Toronto
Beijing
Madrid
Sao Paulo
Mexico City
Melbourne
Singapore
Montreal
Vancouver
Vienna
Shanghai
Buenos Aires
Stockholm
Dublin

Source: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2011/09/25-most-economically-powerful-cities-world/109/#slide1

Best Places to Live

2012-01-25T11:15:00.000-08:00

1 Vienna
2 Zurich
3 Auckland
4 Munich
5 Düsseldorf
6 Vancouver
7 Frankfurt
8 Geneva
9 Bern
9 Copenhagen
11 Sydney
12 Amsterdam
13 Wellington
14 Ottawa
15 Toronto
16 Hamburg
17 Berlin
18 Melbourne
19 Luxembourg
20 Stockholm
21 Perth
22 Brussels
23 Montreal
24 Nurnberg
25 Singapore
26 Canberra
27 Dublin
28 Stuttgart
29 Honolulu, HI
30 Adelaide
31 Paris
32 San Francisco, CA
33 Calgary
34 Oslo
35 Helsinki
36 Boston, MA
37 Brisbane
38 London
39 Lyon
40 Barcelona
41 Lisbon
42 Milan
43 Chicago, IL
44 Madrid
45 Washington, DC
46 Tokyo
47 New York City, NY
48 Seattle, WA
49 Kobe
50 Pittsburgh, PA
51 Yokohama

Site: http://www.mercer.com/press-releases/quality-of-living-report-2011

Countries with the most millionaires

2012-01-25T11:01:00.001-08:00

1. US 4,715,000
2. Japan 1,230,000
3. China 670,000
4. United Kingdom 485,000
5. Germany 430,000
6. Italy 300,000
7. Switzerland 283,000
8. France 280,000
9. Taiwan 230,000
10. Hong Kong 205,000
11. Canada 162,000
12. Belgium 158,000
13. Netherlands 152,000
14. Spain 148,000
15. India 140,000
16. Australia 137,000
17. Brazil 127,000
18. Singapore 123,000
19. Saudi Arabia 117,000
20. South Korea 92,000

Source: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/10/06/0615_global_millionaires/

Most Billionaires per City

2012-01-25T10:47:00.000-08:00

These cities have the most number of billionaires:

1. New York
2. Moscow
3. London
4. Hong Kong
5. Mumbai
6. Istanbul
7. San Francisco
8. Shanghai
9. Paris
10. Beijing
11. Chicago
12. Shenzhen
13. Los Angeles
14. Houston
15. Dallas – Fort Worth
16. Tokyo
17. Guangzhou
18. Dubai
19. Singapore
20. Jeddah
21. Sao Paulo
22. Taipei
23. Amsterdam
24. Riyadh
25. Hangzhou

Source: http://www.spearswms.com/spears-world/wire/29532/wealthinsight-dubai-billionaire-capital-of-middle-east.thtml

=================
Here is another list of cities with the most billionaires:
1. Moscow
2. New York
3. London
4. Hong Kong
5. Istanbul
6. Mumbai
7. Sao Paulo
8. Taipei
9. Los Angeles
10. Beijing
11. San Francisco
12. Dallas
13. Shanghai
14. Seoul
15. Tokyo

Source: http://www.forbes.com/2011/05/17/cities-with-most-billionaires_slide.html

Three colossal museums to be built in Abu Dhabi

2012-01-24T21:55:00.000-08:00

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — A long-delayed project to build three colossal museums on an arid Persian Gulf island will be finished by 2017, officials say, realizing the designs of some of the world’s leading architects while underlining the ambitions of this city to emerge as a global capital.

The new date, which will be announced Wednesday, serves as a declaration that Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, will move ahead with one of the most remarkable art and culture projects in the world, despite protests prompted by workers’ conditions, fears of a financial bubble like the one that hit neighboring Dubai and qualms over a vision, both at home and abroad, that one architect called the artistic equivalent of “shock and awe.”

A veil of secrecy has concealed deliberations over the museums, a branch of the Guggenheim designed by Frank Gehry, an outpost of the Louvre planned by Jean Nouvel and a national museum rendered by Lord Norman Foster, all part of a $27 billion cultural and tourism project known as Saadiyat Island. The silence was so stark that not even employees of the lead government agency knew when the museums would be built.

But even if the museums move forward as promised — the planned sites are still sandy lots save for work on the concrete and steel foundations — the question that has bedeviled the most ambitious Persian Gulf emirates since oil was discovered remains: Can atomized cities with money and abundant vision will into existence their standing as world capitals? And now, can they do so at a time of deep unease in the region and local fears of losing their cultural identity?
--http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/world/middleeast/abu-dhabi-reaffirms-its-grand-plan-for-museums.html

World's tallest skyscraper to be built in Azerbaijan

2012-01-24T21:37:00.000-08:00

"A local investor is hoping to build a 185-storey building in Sahil (formerly Primorsk) in the southwestern suburbs of Baku. The State Committee for Construction and Architecture has not yet received an offical application from the developer, the committee's deputy chairman, Dovlatkhan Dovlatkhanov, told Fineko.
He said that local investor Haji Ibrahim had started preliminary work on the project.
"As far as we know, the investor has already hired an architect, who has designed the initial sketch of the project which encompasses an offshore area in addition to the coastal zone and envisages the construction of artificial islands," Dovletkhanov said.

"The construction of a 185-floor building in the Baku settlement of Sahil is technically feasible. More detailed information will be provided after the fully developed project has been reviewed by specialists of the State Committee and the Ministry for Emergency Situations's evaluation committee," Dovletkhanov said.

A source in the Emergencies Ministry confirmed to Fineko that the project would be technically possible, but questioned whether it was needed at all.

Azerbaijan has experience of creating artificial land mass. Back in 1925 Lenin’s Cove, as it was then known, in Bibi Heybat was filled in. If Haji Ibrahim's project sees the light of day, the Baku (Sahil) skyscraper will be taller than the world's tallest building - the Burj Khalifa in Dubai."
--http://www.news.az/articles/society/52073

Reserve currency tipping point hypothesis

2012-01-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

Ok, here is another crazy thought. The only thing keeping the US dollar from collapsing right now is the fact that it is the global currency and no replacement is in sight.

But what if there is a replacement? What if the combined currencies from my hypothetical South Pacific Confederation become the replacement? So my hypothesis is that if the combined South Pacific currencies are used more than the US dollar, then that will be a tipping point causing abandonment of faith in the dollar, and then hyperinflation of the dollar into oblivion.

What if the South Pacific currencies (as well as the yuan) increase by 10% per year, and the US dollar decreases by 2/3 of that (with the other 1/3 decrease coming from the use of the euro, yen and pound). When would the tipping point occur?

As a starting point, here are the daily share of traded currencies (from Wikipedia):
US dollar 84.9%
Euro 39.1%
Japanese yen 19.0%
UK pound 12.9%
Australian dollar 7.6%
Hong Kong dollar 2.4%
New Zealand dollar 1.6%
South Korean won 1.5%
Singapore dollar 1.4%

I calculate this will occur in 2027. At that point 61% of all Forex transactions will use the Australian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, South Korean won, or Chinese yuan. The US dollar will be used in only 54% of transactions. The euro, yen and pound combined will be used in 56% of transactions, and other currencies will be used in 30% of transactions. (The total equals 200% because we are looking at both sides of the currency pair).

At that point the US dollar will no longer be an essential part of the world economy. It will still be a major player, but our unlimited license to print money card will be revoked.

=====================
Update: The trend is definitely happening, but it is a lot slower than I stated above. Better numbers are that the South Pacific currencies will increase by 3.2% per year, with the US dollar decreasing by 2/3 of that. Using these figures, the tipping point will occur in 2051, when the US dollar will account for only 57.1% of all transactions, and the South Pacific currencies accounting for 57.5%.

See http://www.bis.org/publ/rpfxf10t.htm for data on currencies.

=============
Upon further reflection, I don't think this is a valid way of looking at things. A basket of currencies will not be a replacement for the dollar. For there to be a threat, there needs to be a single currency that is credible enough to be a replacement. And I don't think the Australian dollar will ever be that currency. It is an interesting thought experiment though.

Lira on Keiser

2012-01-22T20:15:00.001-08:00

The Perth Mint

2012-01-22T19:44:00.001-08:00

The Australian Dollar as a proxy currency

2012-01-22T19:26:00.000-08:00

I think the Australian Dollar can be seen as a proxy or representative currency of all the other currencies of countries in my proposed South Pacific Confederation. Here are the other currencies and their exchange rates:

AUD/USD: 1.0474, UP from .9871 1 year ago
AUD/HKD: 8.129, UP from 7.773 1 year ago
AUD/KRW: 1186.8, UP from 1118.0 1 year ago
AUD/MYR: 3.2529, UP from 3.0471 1 year ago
AUD/NZD: 1.2989, DOWN from 1.3028 1 year ago
AUD/SGD: 1.3327, UP from 1.2701 1 year ago
AUD/TWD: 31.38, UP from 28.9 1 year ago
AUD/XPF: 96.997, UP from 86.88 1 year ago

Most Free Countries

2012-01-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

Here is the list of the Top 20 Free Countries

Hong Kong
Singapore
Australia
New Zealand
Switzerland
Canada
Chile
Mauritius
Ireland
United States
Denmark
Bahrain
Luxembourg
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Estonia
Finland
Taiwan
Macau
Cyprus

--http://www.heritage.org/Index/ranking

Top Cities in the South Pacific

2012-01-22T17:42:00.000-08:00

Here are the top 20 cities in my proposed South Pacific Confederation. The ranking is somewhat arbitrary, but cities with more skyscrapers and population are ranked higher, in general.

Hong Kong *
Singapore *
Sydney *
Seoul
Taipei*
Melbourne
Kuala Lumpur*
Honolulu
Busan, South Korea*
Auckland
Macau
Gold Coast City
Daegu-Gyeongbuk, South Korea
Incheon, South Korea
Brisbane
Penang Island, Malaysia
Perth
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Wellington*
Adelaide

* has stock exchange

The South Pacific Confederation

2012-01-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

This is my idea for a proposed political and economic alliance in the South Pacific, called the South Pacific Confederation. It is made up of 13 countries and territories which are all highly developed. I have "cherry-picked" the countries, excluding countries and territories which are too large (Indonesia) or too small or too poor (Philippines).

I think of this as the "Australian Empire". It is a region that is connected with the rise of China, but is independent of it.

Countries:

Australia
Brunei
French Polynesia (French territory)
Guam (U.S. territory)
Hawaii (U.S. state)
Hong Kong (Chinese S.A.R.)
Macau (Chinese S.A.R.)
Malaysia
New Caledonia (French territory)
New Zealand
Singapore
South Korea
Taiwan

Total Population: 143 million
Total GDP(ppp): $4.6 trillion

The political capital is Singapore. The financial capital is Sydney, and the military capital is Honolulu. I exclude Hong Kong because of its tenuous political situation.

The currency used is the Australian dollar (AUD). This is because the Australian economy is the second largest of the group (behind only South Korea), and the AUD is more frequently traded than the won.

Preppers

2012-01-21T16:46:00.000-08:00

"A former Army intelligence officer, [James] Rawles has written fiction and non-fiction books on end-of-civilization topics, including "How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It," which is also known as the preppers' Bible.
"We could see a cascade of higher interest rates, margin calls, stock market collapses, bank runs, currency revaluations, mass street protests, and riots," he told Reuters. "The worst-case end result would be a Third World War, mass inflation, currency collapses, and long term power grid failures."
A sense of "suffering and being afraid" is usually at the root of this kind of thinking, according to Cathy Gutierrez, an expert on end-times beliefs at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Such feelings are not unnatural in a time of economic recession and concerns about a growing national debt, she said.
"With our current dependence on things from the electric grid to the Internet, things that people have absolutely no control over, there is a feeling that a collapse scenario can easily emerge, with a belief that the end is coming, and it is all out of the individual's control," she told Reuters."
--http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/21/us-usa-civilization-collapse-idUSTRE80K0LA20120121

Could the Australian dollar be a reserve currency?

2012-01-21T14:57:00.000-08:00

The Australian dollar is the 5th or 6th most traded currency behind the US dollar, euro, yen, pound and maybe the Swiss franc. Australia has much less debt per person ($12,470) than the countries behind the other currencies.

"The rational reaction of sovereign holders of US dollars who see the writing on the wall (that is, that the value of their US assets is likely to fall) and, furthermore, recognise that we are currently experiencing a major shift in the global centre of economic gravity away from the North Atlantic economies to Asia. ...

And since it is hard to trade the Chinese currency, one of the next best things is a proximate, lowly leveraged, and politically stable economy that has a liquid exchange rate and is highly integrated with the Middle Kingdom's fortunes. Yes, you guessed, it – the Sunburnt Country".
--http://www.switzer.com.au/the-experts/christopher-joye/is-the-aussie-dollar-becoming-a-global-reserve-currency/

"The Australian dollar is attractive to central banks because it has solid public finances, unlike the US, UK, and certain euro zone members. Moreover, Australia is a big exporter of raw materials to several emerging market economies. For these countries, buying the Australia dollar is grabbing a claim on Australia’s bountiful natural resources."
--http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/137346/20110422/australian-dollar-reserve-currency.htm

"in Aussie dollars, gold is worth the same today as it was two years ago"
--http://scottgrannis.blogspot.com/2011/04/central-bank-update-fed-is-behind-curve.html

"The ascent of the Australian dollar has largely been at the expense of the US dollar. America has been flooding global financial markets with US dollars, thereby reducing its value. It is part of a last ditch attempt to stimulate markets by providing easy money.

The chief currency strategist at Westpac Robert Rennie blames the US Federal Reserve for pumping so many extra US dollars into the global financial system. "The ultimate source of this liquidity really is the Fed. As the Fed increases the size of its balance sheet and pumps money into the US economy and the global financial system, one of the areas that it ends up in is in the demand for the Australian dollar," he explained.

Robert Rennie says that has put the Australian dollar front and centre on the international stage."

--http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-20/russian-central-bank-buys-up-aussie-dollars/2764936

"Australia owes its popularity among currency traders to 3 G's – geology, geography and government policy. Geology has given the company a wealth of natural resources that are in high demand, including oil, gold, agricultural products, diamonds, iron ore, uranium, nickel and coal. Geography has positioned the company as a choice trading partner for many fast-growing Asian economies with nearly insatiable resource demands. Government policy has led to fairly stable high interest rates, a stable government and economy, a lack of intervention in the currency markets, and a Western approach to business and the rule of law that has not always been typical in the region."

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/11/aud-fx-traders-should-know.asp

==============
Update: The AUD/USD is the 4th most traded currency pair.

How to fix the Arc de Triomphe

2012-01-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

Traffic around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris is insane, because of poor planning. Here is my suggestion for fixing it.

First, split the the roundabout into two parts, the outer circle and the inner circle. The inner circle would be used only by traffic from the Champs Elysees/Grand-Armee. All other traffic would have to use the outer circle.

There would be 2 intersections on either side of the Arc, and there would need to be 3 stoplights at each intersection. On green, incoming traffic from the Champs Elysees could enter, and could choose either the inner circle or outer circle. Synchronized with this, a green would allow traffic in the inner circle to exit. When these are red, the outer circle light would be green, and the outer traffic could either turn right to exit, go straight, or enter the inner circle.

Proposed Russian Lunar Base

2012-01-19T12:01:00.000-08:00

"Russia is talking with the US and Europe on plans to create a manned research base on the moon, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Thursday.

Roscosmos is discussing the possibilities for a permanent moon base with officials from NASA and the European Space Agency, the agency's chief, Vladimir Popovkin said.

"We don't want man to just step on the moon," Popovkin told Vesti FM radio station, according to the Ria Novosti news agency. "Today, we know enough about it, we know that there is water in its polar areas ... we are now discussing how to begin [the moon's] exploration with NASA and the European Space Agency."

He said the plan was either to set up a base on the moon or launch a station to orbit around it.

Russia also is planning to send two unmanned mission to the moon by 2020, Popovkin said."

Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpps/news/russia-us-moon-base-nasa-dpgonc-20110119-to-_17194074

Umka

2012-01-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

Russia plans to build a city deep inside the arctic circle housing 5000 residents, under a vast dome.

"The Umka designs are based on the International Space Station, but it is vast by comparison - just short of one mile long and 800 yards wide.

'So far it's the only project in the world with an artificial climate and integral life support - just like on the space station. Not only is it a new word in architecture, but in human living too. We have used aero and space technologies while creating it.'

Electricity will be supplied by a floating nuclear power station."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2052862/Russia-plans-build-frozen-community-1-000-miles-North-Pole.html

Bangkok, city of modern ruins

2012-01-18T09:59:00.000-08:00

"But many of those who failed in the crisis either can't be bothered or can't afford to restart their building projects, leaving Bangkok with more modern ruins than probably any other big city in the world, according to architectural experts.

..Engineers say many incomplete towers can't survive much longer than 10 years in Bangkok's blistering tropical heat and rain before suffering significant structural damage. The buildings won't necessarily fall down, but the cost of repairing or reinforcing their rusted-out beams becomes prohibitively high."
--http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=2990280

Shanghai Tower

2012-01-18T09:09:00.001-08:00

One of the coolest things about it is the wind turbines near the top.

Modern day ghost towns

2012-01-18T00:06:00.001-08:00

The empty city of Ordos

2012-01-17T23:27:00.001-08:00

More empty skyscrapers

Underground Helsinki

2012-01-17T21:19:00.001-08:00

Sewage at the Burj Khalifa

2012-01-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

The tallest building in the world isn't connected to a sewage system. Instead they haul the sewage away in trucks.

See: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/11/the-tallest-building-in-the-world-would-be-poop-without-trucks/
http://boingboing.net/2011/11/08/what-happens-when-you-flush-a-toilet-in-the-worlds-tallest-building.html

====================
The Burj Khalifa is practically empty:

"This symbol of the pre-financial crisis building boom opened practically empty, after all. In late 2010, according to local business reports, about 825 of its 900 condos were unoccupied. ...for now at least, it is plainly no towering achievement in urban planning."
--http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2012/01/isthe-worlds-tallest-buildinghaving-its-king-kong-moment-two-years-afterdubais-burj-khalifa-opened-amida-blaze-of-fireworks.html

Skyline Ranking

2012-01-16T22:27:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong
New York City
Chicago
Singapore
São Paulo
Seoul
Dubai
Shanghai
Bangkok
Tokyo
Guangzhou
Moscow
Toronto
Shenzhen
Chongqing
Kuala Lumpur
Beijing
Rio de Janeiro
Mumbai
Macao
Osaka
Jakarta
Buenos Aires
Istanbul
Recife
Miami
Sydney
Panama City
Melbourne
Wuhan
Vancouver
Houston
Honolulu
Busan
Gold Coast City
London
Mexico City
Curitiba
Los Angeles
Tianjin
Atlanta
Caracas
Makati (Manila)
Las Vegas
St. Petersburg
Nanjing
San Francisco
Dallas
Paris
Santiago

Source: http://www.emporis.com/statistics/skyline-ranking

Mecca Clock Tower

2012-01-16T21:48:00.000-08:00

Officially named Abraj Al Bait, this is the second tallest building in the world at 1,972 feet, behind only the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It is the largest building in the world by floor space at 1.5 million square meters. The clock face is 43 meters in diameter (about 141 feet).

Jeddah

2012-01-14T12:10:00.001-08:00

Miapolis

2012-01-14T12:00:00.001-08:00

Roundabout in Normal, Illinois

2012-01-14T11:49:00.002-08:00

Doha, Qatar

2012-01-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

Lusail, Qatar

2012-01-14T11:05:00.001-08:00

Dholera, India

2012-01-14T10:15:00.001-08:00

Elevated walkway planned for Dubai

2012-01-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

"The glass tube-like walkway will connect the skyscraper and the adjoining Dubai Mall to the nearby metro station, as Emirates 24/7 reports. The walkway will be roughly 820 meters long, with a central pedestrian passage flanked on each side by five moving walkways (or as Emirates 24/7 awesomely calls them, “travelators”). Emaar Properties, developer of Downtown Dubai, estimates that its new walkway can handle a peak capacity of 13,500 pedestrians per hour."
--http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/01/plans-air-conditioned-stroll-burj-khalifa-dubai-metro/887/

Best countries for business

2012-01-14T00:04:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong SAR
United States
United Kingdom
Singapore
Australia
Canada
Netherlands
Japan
Switzerland
Norway
Sweden
France
Belgium
Germany
Denmark
Malaysia
Spain
Korea, Rep.
China
Austria
Finland
Ireland
Saudi Arabia
Bahrain
United Arab Emirates
Israel
Italy
Kuwait
South Africa
Brazil

Source: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_FinancialDevelopmentReport_2011.pdf

Largest Cities of the World

2012-01-13T17:13:00.000-08:00

1. Tokyo, Japan - 32,450,000
2. Seóul, South Korea - 20,550,000
3. Mexico City, Mexico - 20,450,000
4. New York City, USA - 19,750,000
5. Mumbai, India - 19,200,000
6. Jakarta, Indonesia - 18,900,000
7. Sáo Paulo, Brazil - 18,850,000
8. Delhi, India - 18,680,000
9. Õsaka/Kobe, Japan - 17,350,000
10. Shanghai, China - 16,650,000
11. Manila, Philippines - 16,300,000
12. Los Angeles, USA - 15,250,000
13. Calcutta, India - 15,100,000
14. Moscow, Russian Fed. - 15,000,000
15. Cairo, Egypt - 14,450,000
16. Lagos, Nigeria - 13,488,000
17. Buenos Aires, Argentina - 13,170,000
18. London, United Kingdom - 12,875,000
19. Beijing, China - 12,500,000
20. Karachi, Pakistan - 11,800,000
21. Dhaka, Bangladesh - 10,979,000
22. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 10,556,000
23. Tianjin, China - 10,239,000
24. Paris, France - 9,638,000
25. Istanbul, Turkey - 9,413,000
26. Lima, Peru - 7,443,000
27. Tehrãn, Iran - 7,380,000
28. Bangkok, Thailand - 7,221,000
29. Chicago, USA - 6,945,000
30. Bogotá, Colombia - 6,834,000
31. Hyderabad, India - 6,833,000
32. Chennai, India - 6,639,000
33. Essen, Germany - 6,559,000
34. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - 6,424,519
35. Hangzhou, China - 6,389,000
36. Hong Kong, China - 6,097,000
37. Lahore, Pakistan - 6,030,000
38. Shenyang, China - 5,681,000
39. Changchun, China - 5,566,000
40. Bangalore, India - 5,544,000
41. Harbin, China - 5,475,000
42. Chengdu, China - 5,293,000
43. Santiago, Chile - 5,261,000
44. Guangzhou, China - 5,162,000
45. St. Petersburg, Russian Fed. - 5,132,000
46. Kinshasa, DRC - 5,068,000
47. Baghdãd, Iraq - 4,796,000
48. Jinan, China - 4,789,000
49. Houston, USA - 4,750,000
50. Toronto, Canada - 4,657,000
51. Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) - 4,458,000
52. Alger, Algeria - 4,447,000
53. Philadelphia, USA - 4,398,000
54. Qingdao, China - 4,376,000
55. Milano, Italy - 4,251,000
56. Pusan, South Korea - 4,239,000
57. Belo Horizonte, Brazil - 4,160,000
58. Almadabad, India - 4,154,000
59. Madrid, Spain - 4,072,000
60. San Francisco, USA - 4,051,000
61. Alexandria, Egypt - 3,995,000
62. Washington DC, USA - 3,927,000
63. Wuhan, China - 3,918,000
64. Dallas, USA - 3,912,000
65. Guadalajara, Mexico - 3,908,000
66. Chongging, China - 3,896,000
67. Medellin, Colombia - 3,831,000
68. Detroit, USA - 3,785,000
69. Handan, China - 3,763,000
70. Frankfurt, Germany - 3,700,000
71. Porto Alegre, Brazil - 3,699,000
72. Hanoi, Vietnam - 3,678,000
73. Sydney, Australia - 3,665,000
74. Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. - 3,601,000
75. Singapore, Singapore - 3,587,000
76. Casablanca, Morocco - 3,535,000
77. Katowice, Poland - 3,488,000
78. Pune, India - 3,485,000
79. Bangdung, Indonesia - 3,420,000
80. Monterrey, Mexico - 3,416,000
81. Montréal, Canada - 3,401,000
82. Nagoya, Japan - 3,377,000
83. Nanjing, China - 3,375,000
84. Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire - 3,359,000
85. Xi'an, China - 3,352,000
86. Berlin, Germany - 3,337,000
87. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - 3,328,000
88. Recife, Brazil - 3,307,000
89. Dusseldorf, Germany - 3,251,000
90. Ankara, Turkey - 3,190,000
91. Melbourne, Australia - 3,188,000
92. Salvador, Brazil - 3,180,000
93. Dalian, China - 3,153,000
94. Caracas, Venezuela - 3,153,000
95. Adis Abeba, Ethiopia - 3,112,000
96. Athina, Greece - 3,103,000
97. Cape Town, South Africa - 3,092,000
98. Koln, Germany - 3.067,000
99. Maputo, Mozambique - 3,017,000
100. Napoli, Italy - 3,012,000

Source: http://www.worldatlas.com/citypops.htm

Global Cities Index

2012-01-13T16:25:00.000-08:00

Another list of the top global cities.

New York
London
Tokyo
Paris
Hong Kong
Chicago
Los Angeles
Singapore
Sydney
Seoul
Brussels
San Francisco
Washington DC
Toronto
Beijing
Berlin
Madrid
Vienna
Boston
Frankfurt
Shanghai
Buenos Aires
Stockholm
Zurich
Moscow
Barcelona
Dubai
Rome
Amsterdam
Mexico City
Montreal
Geneva
Munich
Miami
Sao Paulo
Bangkok
Copenhagen
Houston
Taipei
Atlanta
Istanbul
Milan
Cairo
Dublin
New Delhi
Mumbai
Osaka
Kuala Lumpur
Rio de Janeiro
Tel Aviv
Manila
Johannesburg
Jakarta
Bogota
Caracas
Nairobi
Guangzhou
Bangalore
Lagos
Karachi
Ho Chi Minh City
Shenzhen
Kolkata
Dhaka
Chongqing

Source: http://www.atkearney.com/images/global/pdf/Urban_Elite-GCI_2010.pdf

Petrodollar warfare hypothesis

2012-01-13T08:29:00.000-08:00

"Most oil sales throughout the world are denominated in US Dollars, and according to proponents of the petrodollar warfare hypothesis, because most countries rely on oil imports, they are forced to maintain large stockpiles of Dollars in order to continue imports.

This creates a consistent demand for US Dollars and upwards pressure on its value, regardless of economic conditions in the United States. This in turn allows the US government to gain revenues through seignorage and by issuing bonds at lower interest rates than they otherwise would be able to. As a result the US government can run higher budget deficits at a more sustainable level than can most other countries."
--http://newamerica-now.blogspot.com/2012/01/russian-move-against-us-called-first.html

Baluarte Bridge

2012-01-12T14:18:00.000-08:00

The Baluarte Bridge in Mexico was inaugurated on Januar 5, 2012. It is the world's tallest at 1322 feet above the ravine below.

Epic Failure - Fontainebleau

2012-01-12T11:46:00.000-08:00

Fontainebleau Las Vegas was a massive 3900 room casino that originally was supposed to open in October 2009. More than $1.6 billion has already been spent on the project.

However, the developer ran out of money in 2009. Carl Icahn purchased the project at a bankruptcy sale for only $150 million. It will cost at least $1 billion to finish the project.

Construction was halted with only a couple of floors left to enclose the curtain wall at the top. Birds have infiltrated the top 2 floors. Extensive water damage has occurred. The building will likely sit for about 10 years before it is demolished.

Epic failure!

Another Masdar Video

2012-01-11T15:24:00.001-08:00

PRT in Amritsar, India

2012-01-11T14:18:00.000-08:00

Source: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/pod-cars-are-poised-to-transform-an-indian-citys-streetscape-and-skyline/

Most Futuristic Cities

2012-01-11T12:15:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on this, but here is the start of the list:

1. Abu Dhabi/Masdar City
Masdar City is only 11 miles from Abu Dhabi, so it is fair to combine them. Definitely the most futuristic city on earth.
Site: http://www.masdarcity.ae/en/28/abu-dhabi-economic-vision-2030/

2. Tianjin Eco-City
This is a joint project of China and Singapore. Very cool pictures. (See also the proposed Jingwu Eco City.)
Site: http://www.tianjinecocity.gov.sg/

3. Astana, Kazakhstan
Playground of Norman Foster.
Site: http://www.astana.kz/en/

4. Dubai

5. King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) / Jazan Economic City
Two very cool projects, combined for now because it is not clear how much has actually been constructed.

6. Doha / Lusail, Qatar

7. Iskandar, Malaysia
New city to be built near Singapore

8. Dholera, India
See also Gujarat International Finance Tec (G.I.F.T..) City, and Gandhinagar.

9. Yongsan / Songdo, South Korea

10. Gold Coast City, Australia

11. Kuwait City

12. Baku, Azerbaijan

13. Brasilia / Curitaba, Brazil
Two different futuristic cities in Brazil.

To be continued...

The Shard

2012-01-11T10:59:00.000-08:00

"Indeed, the Shard -- essentially London's first genuine skyscraper, has broken a taboo. It's the first building to alter the city's character, one that shrinks the old Roman city of London down to a picturesque stage set.

Irvine Sellar likes it that way. Sitting on the building's 15th floor, where parquet flooring and carpeting are already installed, he points out the view over London. "From here," he says, "you can look out on more than a thousand years of history." Sellar is a real estate developer and the man behind the tower that makes everything else in this city of 8 million -- the history, the architecture and, or course, the people -- appear small and insignificant. Sellar says his skyscraper will change London -- and not just for today or tomorrow, "but for centuries."

From: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,806785,00.html