where curious minds meet
From the category archives:
Früh is a pretty famous brewery in Cologne, Germany. On their website, they have archived all their billboard campaigns, organized by year.
At the very bottom of the list, there’s a separate category called Düsseldorf, which is a rival city.
Those ads poke fun at Düsseldorf, with taunting taglines like “Now also in small villages around Cologne”, “line up”, “for relief, now available in A3 (German highway outside Düsseldorf)”.
Full archive here.
Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of Singapore’s Lee Kwan Yew School of International Affairs, has written a stern piece on how Europe just “does not get it” in three strategic areas.
The greatest strategic challenge to Europe is the Islamic one. It exists within the body politic of many European societies. And the fastest-rising Islamic demographic is on Europe’s doorstep. Europe should, therefore, see it in its long-term interest to defuse Islamic anger. Instead, it has shown moral cowardice on the Israel-Palestine issue, refusing even to admit that an unbalanced American policy will hurt European interests more than American interests. No major European leader has the moral courage to speak truth to power on this issue.
Europe’s second error is to ignore its No. 1 strategic opportunity: Asia. [Asians] do expect Europeans to treat them with respect, not cultural condescension. This is another thing Europeans do not get. The protests in European capitals before the Beijing Olympics, the efforts to dictate human-rights clauses in the India-E.U. cooperation agreement and the obsession with Burma show both a lack of sensitivity and of strategic thinking. If Europe does not act fast, it will miss the boat on Asia.
The third strategic error is to remain obsessed with the transatlantic relationship. It is difficult to capture in a few words the strange mix of European attitudes towards America: admiration and resentment of American hyperpower, respect and condescension towards U.S. culture, dependence on and discomfort with American leadership. At the core of this is a deep European belief that culture is destiny and that the common Judeo-Christian heritage and common Enlightenment values will ensure an eternal commonality of interests. America will always put Europe first because Europe, not Asia, exists in American hearts.
Over the long run, geography — when combined with economic shifts of power — determines destiny. America’s interests in Asia are rising while its interests in Europe are declining. A growing Hispanic population will make Latin America more important. This is why the time has come for Europeans to think the unthinkable: the “natural” transatlantic partnership may someday come to an end.
From the Economist, on three factors that sets the British apart from its continental cousins.
One, a history of trading (as opposed to French farming, for example), common law system, and early industrialization.
Historians describe the English (more than the British) as unusually individualist and market-minded since medieval times, working for wages and trading property. England has had a central system of common law for centuries. It industrialised early. It has not been occupied in a long while. All this matters.
Two, the fact that the British has other options – part geography, part history.
These are all reasons why the British are different. Why, though, is Britain unique? The Nordics are free-traders who joined late and believe their national standards to be higher than Europe’s. Lots of east Europeans look to America for their security. Germany and Austria have their own Brussels-bashing tabloids. Sweden and Denmark both declined to join the euro.
The difference is that, although many of the others dislike aspects of the EU, they feel they have no real alternative. On many fronts, the British think they do. If a common EU foreign policy fails, Britain is still on the UN Security Council. If the euro collapses, Britain has the pound. Should EU regulation get too burdensome, there is always the chance of opt-outs.
Three, Britain does not share in the collective defeatist sentiment from WWII (except for the imperial decline part) as those on the continent.
To de Gaulle’s generation, the EU was a solution to the “German problem”, above all. Yet the post-war cry of “never again” resounds less in Britain. But it matters greatly that, almost uniquely in Europe, the second world war is a positive memory in Britain—and that Britain has not been invaded for centuries.
But smugness and schadenfreude aside, few in even the most reactionary corner of the British press could deny that, like it or not, UK and the EU are stuck with each other for the foreseeable future.
Europe’s lingering hostility towards the market economy which sways from suspicion to outright resentment is rearing its head again, and has Tony Barber fuming.
One reason why the eurozone is sliding into ever deeper trouble is because its political and bureaucratic elites do not like, do not understand and have no wish to understand financial markets.
In the last few weeks, European leadership has alternately attacked everything from hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, to now rating agencies. On the surface, it might resemble same kind of populist outbursts American politicians served up on a plate when confronted with public outrage during the bail-out and ensuring bonus debate. But in a European context, the public rage has been largely directed towards rising unemployment and prospects of potential cutbacks. The leadership on the other hand, have been largely playing victims to the boogeyman that is financial market participants.
In the meantime, British and American analysts are racing to decipher the long-term implications of what took place over the last few weeks.
First stab: Germany is clearly emerging from its WWII guilt-ridden, Euro-centric, and multi-lateral stance, to a national psyche that is more focused on self-preservation. It will have its fiscal sustainability, within or without the Eurozone.
Characteristically, one of the key terms of fiscal conservatism in Germany is borrowed from environmental politics: Nachhaltigkeit or sustainability. Unsustainable debts are associated rhetorically with a diffuse and contradictory bundle of future-angst – worries ranging from climate change to Germany’s declining population. Quirky it may be, but it would be wrong to deny that this eco-enhanced fiscal conservatism does have some grip on reality.
Secondly, part of the fiscal imbalance within the Eurozone itself, in which northern and southern Europe more or less mirror the financial co-dependence between China and the US, needs to be addressed. Opinions differ as to just exactly what Germany’s options are, aside from its long-term pursuit of and export-led model, given its demographics and fiscal conservatism.
I don’t normally write about Canada, usually because it is always blissfully uneventful back home. But it looks as though I missed out on a couple of pieces of news the past week that might have suggest almost certain changes in the Canadian healthcare system for the foreseeable future (h/t to my mom!).
First off, facing steep demographic declines and consecutively higher spending on health care for the past decades, the government of Quebec has proposed a $25-per-visit charge for doctor’s visit.
While I am not all that familiar with Quebec’s health-care system, as each province has the mandate to run its own, the concept of paying (somewhat) for healthcare is no longer new to the rest of the country. A number of provinces, including Ontario, for the past few years, has put in place an income-based healthcare contribution, usually paid at tax times. The amount is income-tested, and does not exceeds more than a few hundred dollars even for the richest. However, the idea of a per-visit co-pay rings a bit too American to most Canadians, but that’s really the least of our worries here.
What it does signify is a shift in practice from the ideals of universal healthcare, so troubling to some that some claim it contravene the Canada Health Act. Whether that will be challenged in a court of law once the law comes into place is still to be seen. But what the proposals do reflect is the economic realities of our times – more pensioners supported by a healthcare system buckling under its weight.
The rest of the country is watching this development with keen interest and little smugness, knowing fully well that despite appearance of healthy budgets, we are all going down that road of re-visiting the feasibility of free health care, with Quebec leading the pack.
The second piece of news has to do with the Ontario government’s attempt to cut the price of generic drugs sold in the province, by eliminating a middle-men fee between the generic drug makers and the pharmacies.
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I love it when mainstream newspapers fills up their weekly columns by getting well-known, and somewhat off-kilter politicians to regularly digress on seemingly mundane subject matters, but occasionally trip up and caught spewing out some truly ignorant garbage.
Take the Telegraph from a few days ago that featured this piece of gem from London’s esteemed mayor.
In a testament to the effect those Scandinavians have had on this impressionable young man, Johnson was “completely gripped by the mystery” of Swedish detective Wallander during some post-Christmas special on BBC. So much so that he spends a dozen paragraphs during this essay, tracing the history of Nordic detective genre. Intoxicated by its awesomeness, Johnson soon reached his liberal-social-democratic-loving climax.
In his special sort of self-involved prose, Johnson wondered why those Nordics seemed specially adapt at churning out such “powerful landscapes of the imagination?”
While there are some perfectly reasonable explanations out there, this one, for example, attributes it in large part to (gasp!) commercialism and accessibility of crime novels (it sells!), not to mention the path paved by previously successful English crime-writers such as Agatha Christie.
But not satisfied by such shallow answers, Johnson journeys on with his inquiry.
He praises the Nordic’s “earnestness, the deep, pale-eyed sincerity”, pines over their “virtuous” societies, and can only be imagined to salivate over their reputation as “global goody-goodies”.
While doing so, I suppose he overlooks their obsession over eugenics, the interventionist state, growing problems with its Muslims, the mediocrity and uniformity of everyday life, not to mention its high suicide and alcoholism rates.
But what’s all that, if they can build “slimline mobile phones, and still look after the poor”?
Clearly blinded by the sparks flying out of his eyes, Johnson adds, “there is the way these Nordic types are like us … They look roughly the same. They speak English almost like us.”
To which a female black chair of the London assembly retorts:
Politically, and economically.
Over the past three decades, states that privatized alongside the Chicago school doctrine, and doggedly pursued market solutions, particularly ones in the west, such as the US, UK, and Iceland, have experienced the most violent internal convulsions.
That’s no news.
But countries that resisted the so-called Anglo-Saxon model are now smug and ready to regulate. Within the EU, this means one thing:
[T]he French and the Germans are in the ascendancy in Europe, while the British influence is fading.
[The British] fear France and Germany are out for revenge, leading to a flood of new Europe-wide regulation aimed at preventing a future crisis that will drive banks out of the City of London and overwhelm UK businesses with red tape.
Image via Wikipedia
Like other pockets of Europe, Ireland experienced phenomenal growth in the 2000s.
Like Iceland for example, both relatively poor before major economic changes took place, soared to unimaginable heights during the boom, and now shot down to earth and licking their wounds.
But are the Irish more mentally equipped to deal with the recession, given their not-so-distant memories of poverty and hardship?
We have a long and proud history of poverty, I don’t know if that helps. When I was growing up, you never asked another Irish person what they did for a living, and you never turned a beggar from the door. These are lyrical and dangerous clichés, of course (though incidentally true): Ireland was by no means a classless society. Even so, I do see differences from other countries in the play of rage, entitlement and delight around money: who has it, who deserves it, who gets cross.
An insightful narrative of the recession months, as seen by the Irish.
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Jim Rogers moved to Singapore, so his daughters can learn Chinese! Never mind the fact that Singaporeans speak debatable Chinese, as well as an amusing form of staccato English.
But now, it turns out that mastering this insanely difficult language will not guarantee you riches or any semblance of a respectable career! Just listen to this ex-expat.
Everybody comes to China with a plan to strike it rich. Rather than a fortune and a new career, most expats seem to return home with little more than a thicker waistline, a prodigious collection of DVD’s, and possibly a new spouse.
Ouch.
The simple fact is however, mastery of Chinese, no matter how good you are, is NOT a golden ticket to employment in the United States.
Although Chinese may in fact be in high demand, what’s equally important is to factor in is the supply of Chinese speakers. According to the US census, in 2006 there were 2.5 million people in the United States who speak Chinese at home. That’s more than any language other than English and Spanish.
Bottom line: simply mastering Chinese is not the golden meal ticket, and will not guarantee you a career, anywhere, in any way.
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