Melamine
China must have re-invented itself on the eyes of international community via the spectacular Olympic Games. But barely two months since that grandiose showcase comes one devastating event that must have reversed whatever positive image they gained.
The milk scandal that is currently hitting the headlines can tarnish reputation of the Chinese products – and in the process the entire Chinese nation - once again. Babies dying from infant formula laced with melamine is such a painful picture being splashed over tv screens all over the world. Recent reports also said that the lethal melamine is also found in other liquid milk products as well as ice cream.
This puts the quality, not only of milk, infant formulas and ice cream, but the entire Chinese consumer products in question. And that is bad news for the Chinese trading economy with billions of dollars worth of Chinese products being dumped in every corner of the globe.
I, myself, would be very careful to see labels of products I’m buying, specially food items. Most probably, anything made in China will not make it’s way to my shopping cart. At least for now.
Shorting
The recent crash of Lehman Brothers, the US’ largest credit bank, created such huge ripple across global stock markets. And in the last few days, government of the nation’s wealthiest nations started injecting billions of dollars to soften the impact of the credit crunch.
I’m no economist and I barely understand all these stocks brouhaha. But according to Veronica Pedros
a on her report this morning in Al-Jazeera, this crash of the stock markets came from an illegal trading practice called Short-Selling or, simply, shorting. As Veronica explained, shorting is obviously a dirty trick used by greedy stock brokers to make quick bucks at the expense of the stock market.
What baffles me is that this shorting has already caused major stocks crash during the 20’s. And now it’s happening again. Maybe the technocrats and politicians should come up with more stringent measures to prevent it happening all over again. Hang the crooks right above the trading floor and let them die of noise pollution.
What do I care in this stocks collapse you might say? Well, if the economy of the wealthiest nations collapse, specially US, we are sure to suffer since our economy is helplessly dependent on these giants. A slight fever on their stock markets can send convulsion to our very frail economy. And that is where we all would suffer.
The Presidentiables
McCain and Obama is already trading barbs on the US Presidential race. They have to - election is just a couple of months away. But it's nothing compared to what's happening in the Philippines. It’s still 2 years before the Filipinos select another President (that is, if Gloria’s ChaCha takes the wron
g steps before 2010) but the president-wannabes are already at it.
Villar who’s consistently leading popularity survey is making the headlines lately, all for the wrong reasons. He is said to be responsible for billions of pesos worth of projects spuriously inserted into the national budget.
Lacson, another wanna-be is the person behind the ‘expose’, directly accusing Villar of the questionable insertions. What more, Lacson is also including other prominent senators in his accusation.
China must have re-invented itself on the eyes of international community via the spectacular Olympic Games. But barely two months since that grandiose showcase comes one devastating event that must have reversed whatever positive image they gained.
The milk scandal that is currently hitting the headlines can tarnish reputation of the Chinese products – and in the process the entire Chinese nation - once again. Babies dying from infant formula laced with melamine is such a painful picture being splashed over tv screens all over the world. Recent reports also said that the lethal melamine is also found in other liquid milk products as well as ice cream.
This puts the quality, not only of milk, infant formulas and ice cream, but the entire Chinese consumer products in question. And that is bad news for the Chinese trading economy with billions of dollars worth of Chinese products being dumped in every corner of the globe.
I, myself, would be very careful to see labels of products I’m buying, specially food items. Most probably, anything made in China will not make it’s way to my shopping cart. At least for now.
Shorting
The recent crash of Lehman Brothers, the US’ largest credit bank, created such huge ripple across global stock markets. And in the last few days, government of the nation’s wealthiest nations started injecting billions of dollars to soften the impact of the credit crunch.
I’m no economist and I barely understand all these stocks brouhaha. But according to Veronica Pedros
a on her report this morning in Al-Jazeera, this crash of the stock markets came from an illegal trading practice called Short-Selling or, simply, shorting. As Veronica explained, shorting is obviously a dirty trick used by greedy stock brokers to make quick bucks at the expense of the stock market.What baffles me is that this shorting has already caused major stocks crash during the 20’s. And now it’s happening again. Maybe the technocrats and politicians should come up with more stringent measures to prevent it happening all over again. Hang the crooks right above the trading floor and let them die of noise pollution.
What do I care in this stocks collapse you might say? Well, if the economy of the wealthiest nations collapse, specially US, we are sure to suffer since our economy is helplessly dependent on these giants. A slight fever on their stock markets can send convulsion to our very frail economy. And that is where we all would suffer.
The Presidentiables
McCain and Obama is already trading barbs on the US Presidential race. They have to - election is just a couple of months away. But it's nothing compared to what's happening in the Philippines. It’s still 2 years before the Filipinos select another President (that is, if Gloria’s ChaCha takes the wron
g steps before 2010) but the president-wannabes are already at it.Villar who’s consistently leading popularity survey is making the headlines lately, all for the wrong reasons. He is said to be responsible for billions of pesos worth of projects spuriously inserted into the national budget.
Lacson, another wanna-be is the person behind the ‘expose’, directly accusing Villar of the questionable insertions. What more, Lacson is also including other prominent senators in his accusation.
Filipinos can look at it in two ways. Those who are pro-Villar will say it’s a demolition tactic by Lacson to besmirch the reputation of Villar who is obviously the one to beat in the 2010 presidential race.
For those who are pro-Lacson, they will say it’s Lacson’s tough and hard-hitting expos
es that will save us from making another mistake in choosing our President.But for me, I’m just sick and tired of all these politicians. It doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong. It doesn’t matter who’s mudslinging who. To me, they are all one and the same.
Only those who can step up and do the job will earn my respect. Those who can rally the nation’s economy to prosperity, rid the government of greedy officials and bring the Philippines to it’s maximum potential as one of Asia’s powerful countries.
Until it happens, these politicians may slug it out on the boxing ring, use each other as dart boards or wrestle each other on the murky waters of pasig - for all I care.
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