Rings & Receipts
Nothing but Gold, Oil and the end of the US$. Oh, and some talk about Gold, Oil and the end of the US$ thrown in there over the last couple of days as well - just for fun. As the US currency takes quite a battering (now -3% in 3 days) at the hands of almost every other major currency (UK’s GBP the only more pathetic-looking piece of paper out there) political discussion and rhetoric has kicked-off in the land of the Greenback, with Obama’s incredible list of “serious”-problems not getting any shorter. The imminent UK elections will likely do little to stem the increasing talk of a fall for the GBP into the Euro – even with the Conservatives at the helm. Markets have been mixing gains with losses throughout the last few trading days, Australia’s surprise rate-rise the cause of some fluctuation across Asia, even as China remains shut for its week of celebration. Earnings season in the US fully anticipating the latest from the financials, as a raft of analyst upgrades sets clear division lines between the anticipated winners and losers – without naming the obvious “losers”, those with continuing consumer-debt concerns looming, the most likely to disappoint now and going forwards.
In the always fun-filled political world (you can’t write this stuff – as Hollywood is finding out to its demise, see below) our favourite lothario has failed to charm his way through Italy’s legal system, strangely running out of enough cash to bribe enough judges to prevent a verdict declaring him un-immune from prosecution for crimes allegedly committed during his reign as prime minister. Let’s see how many fawning young ladies show up to support him during a possible trial, and which lucky girl will visit him with a pot-of-pasta if he ever gets sent behind bars. Displaying an altogether different style of leadership, Obama has offered a glimpse into his art taste (not sure Bush had anything except dead animals’ trophy-heads on his walls) in what may be an effort to deflect some recent policy criticisms concerning healthcare reforms, the faltering economy and other little matters, and re-focus on more central issues such as his family’s favourite foods and movies – all is well again in the White House.
Saudi’s King Abdallah is due to visit the once-shunned Syrian President, in an interesting move following recent overtures by the US administration to re-entertain into the Levant fold. Could it have something to do with the thawing of relations all across the GCC and Mid East after a series of very public and very embarrassing childish-spats earlier this year? Middle East diplomacy has never been a very straightforward affair, but discussions with Iran and western powers regarding the nuclear element making it easier for Saudi to talk to its de-coupled westerly neighbour.
A bit further out from the immediate geography of things (anyone kept a track of the clown in space? Reckon he’s still wearing that red-nose?) the discovery of a new “ring” encircling Saturn creating some excitement amongst those most “cool” of groups - astronomers. That’s great and everything, but is anyone else slightly confused how after Saturn’s original “discovery” in 1661 it has taken almost another 350yrs for those cool astronomers (always convincing us they are masters of their heavenly domain) to notice this new ring? Were they too busy partying around their telescopes or something?
Movie-no-goers…
A few months ago we examined the state of the entertainment industry – where the widely considered “recession-proof” business was going from strength-to-strength as its movie-making business churned out hit after hit. Some disappointing news then, following a disastrous summer “blockbuster” period, in a reflection of the troubled times we are living through and a dearth of originality, resulting in an entire collection of executives at the top studios being “shuffled around” in a surprisingly vicious period of culling. Falls in DVD sales, down 13.5% YoY, not helping matters.
In fact one commentator reckons more changes have been made in the last 18mths across the normally sleepy corridors of movie-powerdom than the last 18yrs! Wow, that is quite cut-throat. Compare that to the world of investment banking, where even those great giants of the financial world making losses of hundreds of billions of (rapidly becoming worthless) dollars manage to sit-around and hold on to their jobs – I guess when it’s something as essential as the time-honoured and oh-so-preciously-important-entertainment-industry, things get more serious – we wouldn’t want Julia Roberts having to do her own nails now would we, or George Clooney having to sell that lovely Laco di Como villa now huh? It’s seemingly more tolerable for Mr and Mrs Average to suffer the loss of their home than even consider a $100m special-effect laden extravaganza to “open” with less than a $50m box-office receipt.
Could it be that those scheming tinsel-town executives are working in tandem with Wall Street? Maybe they’re hoping more movie-goers will be forced to sit in darkened theatres rather than lay back on their couches, watching proper-acting-and-imaginative-storylines on HBO in the comfort of their now re-possessed homes?
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