Category Archives: Global Macro Trends

Swan diving version two: We need a plan

Posted on November 4, 2008 by

Version two of the Skilling/Weldon document Swan Dive or Belly Flop is now released. The document reflects a more considered response, based on more research and analysis, along with reader and blogger comments and, it seems, just more effort. Good … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Global Macro Trends, media, NZ Business | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Invest now – but only in quality businesses

Posted on October 29, 2008 by

Linked in just raised US$76m from some strategic investors, while over in Western Australia Tanami Gold grabbed AU$12m from almost all exisiting shareholders. In Canada vBrick systems got $11.9m – they make enterprise video systems, and managed to get Menlo … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Macro Trends, Internet Business, Investing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Three Rules of Life – and why not to break them

Posted on October 27, 2008 by

I have a few rules of life that have generally served me well: 1: Never drink anything that is on fire 2: Never annoy people that cook or serve you food and never send food back Coogee Bay Hotel ‘served … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Macro Trends, Life, media | 1 Comment

Mia Farrow sleeps with only a rope. In Darfur.

Posted on August 7, 2008 by

Who knew? Turns out Mia Farrow has been travelling to Darfur, Chad and CAR for a while now. Here’s NYTimes columnist Nicholas Krstof, who has been there a few times himself, and been one of the main people that has … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Macro Trends, Life, media | 1 Comment

Digicell – getting bigger and bigger by helping people

Posted on August 5, 2008 by

Digicell is cleaning up – earning dollars by targeting poor countries with their mobile phone services, and earning kudos for liberating their populations from inefficient and often corrupt Governments and incumbents. Owner Denis O’Brien’s motto (via Forbes): Give phones to … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Macro Trends, Internet Business, telecom | 4 Comments

Internet still reigns as the cheapest ad dollar spend

Posted on July 29, 2008 by

It’s the big one – the one that moves industries, creates new ones and destroys old ones. Just how much time are people spending on the internet versus other forms of media? You see when the news finally hits that … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Global Macro Trends, Internet Business, media, NZ Business | Leave a comment

Four more factoids from the NZ Internet Report

Posted on July 29, 2008 by

At the bottom of the Wolrd Internet Project – NZ Report are some nice cross tab charts. I find these interesting not just for the internet data, but also for some of the other insights. 1: Wealthier people spend more … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Macro Trends, Internet Business, Life, media, NZ Business | Leave a comment

Top ten findings from the Internet In New Zealand 2007 report

Posted on July 29, 2008 by

The World Internet Project New Zealand report came out. Worth a look as it is part of a great world-wide project, and will hopefully provide great trends going forward.. Sadly the data is old. Really old in internet time. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Macro Trends, Internet Business, Life, media, NZ Business | 2 Comments

Portfolio Judgement Day

Posted on July 25, 2008 by

I was long on Apple when it went up, shorted Citigroup (Citibank) as it went down, and was recovering my portfolio YTD returns to the heights of a month ago. Then came judgement day. Judgement days do come in stock … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Global Macro Trends, Investing | 1 Comment

Banks? Real estate? the worst is yet to come

Posted on July 7, 2008 by

a Little bank story for kids, courtesy of the WSJ, and as told to writer Brian M Carney by billionaire and Private Equity pioneer Ted Forstmann. Once upon a time, when credit conditions and the costs of borrowing money were … Continue reading →

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Rent, don’t buy

Posted on June 25, 2008 by

Via Paul Krugman’s blog in the NYTimes: a salient graph if you are thinking of buying a house. Remember the US market is ahead of most of the rest of the world – the big falls re yet to come … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Macro Trends | Tagged | 1 Comment

Yale’s expansion is great for foreign students

Posted on June 11, 2008 by

Each year 5300 or so people attend Yale College – the 4 year undergraduate part of Yale University. For the 2007-8 undergraduate class, there were 19,323 applicants – and a huge porportion of them deserve to go to Yale, or … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Macro Trends, Life | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Making (more) money from the falling housing market

Posted on May 28, 2008 by

US housing prices fell 14% March 2008 on March 2007. 14% is larger than the downpayment component of many US mortgages. Would your mortgage be greater than your house value if the house fell by 14%? How about in your … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Global Macro Trends, Investing, Life | 7 Comments

Global official aid falls – NZ languishes at the back

Posted on April 9, 2008 by

Pathetic. Official development aid worldwide actually fell by 8.4%, in real terms, last year. This meant a drop from 0.31% to 0.28% of OECD member’s GNI, rather than rising up towards the 0.7% of GNI agreed to at the Gleneagles … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Macro Trends, Life, Politics | 4 Comments

China: all but wheat, sugar and rice

Posted on April 8, 2008 by

Wheat, sugar and rice, along with “certain paper products” those are the items that will remain subject to tarrifs when we export them to China. They represent about 4% of our exports to China, so not a bad outcome. All … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Global Macro Trends, NZ Business, Politics | 1 Comment