Multi trillion dollar deficits be damned, the credit rating of the USA remains AAA. There is a “warning” attached to this rating that the deficit must be addressed or the recovery must come quicker than expected, (www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/weekinreview/07sanger) but the perception of the USA as a credit worthy investment is remarkable. The news last week that Greece, Spain and Portugal may default on some of their obligations caused more of a ripple in the world’s markets than the down turn of the American economy.
The USA has never defaulted on a loan, and the world is betting they won’t end that record in the near future. There is no longer talk about when Japan might overtake the US as the world’s biggest economy. The talk now is when China might overtake Japan for the number two spot. It is another sign that things are never as bad as they seem in low times nor never as good as they seem in high times.
By Myron Gushlak
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Text Me
Perhaps you missed a new phenomenon in the wake of the Haiti earthquake. It is hard to find something positive to say about such a disaster, but $22 million dollars was donated to the relief effort in just five days through the use of text messaging.
(www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june10/haiti4_01-18.html) That amount of money is staggering, and is a huge component of a charitable wave that eclipses the response to the tsunami of the past decade.
Robert Lowe, a Red Cross spokesman said, “I need a better word than unprecedented or amazing to describe what’s happened with the text-message program.” What we’re seeing here is a virtual earthquake in the charitable donation business comparable to the earthquake it rallies around. Every now and then something happens that really hits you over the head with the message that we really are in a new age. Unlike a lot of those messages, this one happens to be beneficial.
By Myron Gushlak
(www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june10/haiti4_01-18.html) That amount of money is staggering, and is a huge component of a charitable wave that eclipses the response to the tsunami of the past decade.
Robert Lowe, a Red Cross spokesman said, “I need a better word than unprecedented or amazing to describe what’s happened with the text-message program.” What we’re seeing here is a virtual earthquake in the charitable donation business comparable to the earthquake it rallies around. Every now and then something happens that really hits you over the head with the message that we really are in a new age. Unlike a lot of those messages, this one happens to be beneficial.
By Myron Gushlak
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