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Stubborn China and the impending currency war
An excellent column from Martin Wolf about fighting the currency wars with stubborn China. China has become the nation with largest current account surplus in the world. It amassed more than $2.5tn reserves which are growing at $300bn per year. The impact on other high income countries, notably US, who are net importers of capital is devastating. Major economies are…
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Business in India – A bumpier but freer road
A good economist article about the state of business in India. India has a long list of plus points that are driving up the GDP. Yet the shoddy infrastructure, ineffective governance and skill shortage could play spoil sport. In the long run, the article says India will be a better bet than China, something I…
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The New American Normal – NYTimes
Op-Ed Columnist – The New American Normal – A great column in NY Times about the uncertainty facing the US economy today. Clearly, there is no new direction emerging from the current economic trends. No one is sure where the unemployment is heading or whether there is a need for further stimulus or not. The…
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Lucy Kellaway – Words to describe the glory of Apple
Words to describe the glory of Apple is a comical dig at the almost unreadable business language. In this case Apple has come up with legal guidelines that are fun to read and easy to understand. We all puff up the language in presentations and reports to make it look polished and specialized. It can…
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The Dog Days – Forbes.com
A good article in Forbes about how US, UK and Germany are approaching economic recovery. Germany and UK have put forth fiscal sustainability (read spending cuts) at the top. Other countries like Spain and Greece had to do it by force. US, on the contrary, opted for massive spending with no plan for spending cuts.…
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Turbocharged Germany
Turbocharged Germany is a relief to the faltering EU economies. At a time when the Europe debt crisis is threatening the economic recovery, Germany posted their strongest growth since unification – backed by strong demand from emerging economies for heavy machinery and luxury cars. Although the optimism is not shared by all countries, especially Greece,…
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MNCs are in for a long haul in rural India
Knowledge@Wharton came up with a report about how MNCs are doing in rural India. For starters, rural India is complex, fragmented, diverse and with shifting consumer tastes. In this market, MNCs have the difficult task of designing customized products and selling them at wafer thin margins. But on the positive side this is the heart…
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India is not alone in higher fiscal deficits
An interesting graphic from NYTimes shows the risind debt levels in Euro zone. India currently has a debt-to-GDP ratio 80%. Luckily, close to 85% of the debt is domestic and hence has less exposure to currency risk or recall risk. It turns out that Euro zone is doing equally bad. The debt-to-GDP ratio, is more…