Models, China, and the Struggling Dollar

This article from SPIEGEL ONLINE says a lot about the dollar's state. I won't even elaborate anymore.

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SPIEGEL ONLINE - November 13, 2007, 02:18 PM URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,517060,00.html

WEST WING

A Pearl Harbor without War
By Gabor Steingart in Washington, D.C.

The dollar crisis has politicians alarmed worldwide. The US currency has lost 24 percent of its value since the introduction of the euro, and now there is even a chance that China could abandon its policy of pegging its currency to the dollar -- a problem the United States should take very seriously.

Patricia Bündchen, the twin sister and manager of the world's top model, announced that Gisele now prefers to be paid in euros rather than dollars. Almost simultaneously, the Chinese central bank predicted that the dollar is likely to lose its status as the world's leading currency.

One could easily overlook a supermodel's currency preferences, but China is a different story. It's the beast breathing down America's neck.

The most important country in the world for the United States isn't Great Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia or Iraq. China holds that dubious distinction, because it is also the country the US can least do without. Without its willingness to buy an almost unlimited supply of US treasury bonds, there would be no American spending miracle. Without a spending miracle there would be no economic growth. In other words, without China the US superpower would lose a significant share of its economic clout.

Pacquiao's Paycheck

$7 million or 308 million pesos.

That's how much money Manny the Pacman made after his fight with Antonio Barrera last Sunday. (Inquirer story here.)

Not bad for a day in the ring, eh?

I just hope he won't hurt his body too much.

Peso seen to hit P43:$1

According to visiting HSBC economist, Frederic Neumann, our peso would hit P43 against the dollar by the end of this year. He also added that by next year it would hit P41 and would further rally to P40 towards 2009. (Inquirer story here.)

The rise of the peso is mainly driven by the huge inflow of dollars due to remittances of Filipino workers overseas.

Well, this is good news for some...

1. Importers
2. Travellers (to US)
3. Consumers

Bad news for the others...

1. Exporters
2. Families relying on dollar remittances
3. People with dollar funds.

Men with deep voices father more babies

Now this one's interesting...

According to a recent study, men with deep toned voices tend to father more children than their high-pitched counterparts.

Coren Apicella, a Harvard University anthropology student, spent six months studying the Hadza, a nomadic hunter-gatherer population from Tanzania. For her, they were ideal because they "provide a window to our past."

Hadza still sleep under the stars. Women gather berries and tubers while men hunt using the bow and the arrow. The Hadza are monogamous (but divorce rate is high) and they choose their own partners. They don't use birth control methods either, so they are what we can call a natural fertility population.

The study was pretty simple. It involved collecting voice recordings of 49 men and 52 women between ages 18 to 55 from nine different camps. They were made to say "Hujambo", meaning "hello" into a microphone.

Some analysis here, analysis there, and the conclusion (or maybe speculation?) was this. The reason why men with deep voices fathered more children is probably because they attract more women with their voice than their tenor counterpart.

Hmmm...

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Here's the full article by BBC News.

Enough of the NBN Deal

As Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago put it, "it's a squabble over kickbacks, a waste of time."

Hay salamat. Somebody in the Senate finally said it. (Here's Inquirer's story.)

The NBN Deal brouhaha is taking up precious time from the Senate. They could have actually done something more useful with their time. I mean, the first hearing lasted until 9pm!

Personally, I don't think we need this anyway. $329 million for a broadband network, exclusive for the government is way too much, don't you think?

Stocks Slides Down, and so?

'Stocks continue to slide" <--- www.inquirer.net Business section headline

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And so are my mutual funds. What do I do?

An investor overcome by emotion loses. I have incurred paper losses, yes, but common sense, of course, tells me not to sell.

Why? Because, if I do, I would convert my paper losses into real monetary losses. Yikes!

Generally, I was not affected by the stock market scare last week. I am not a trader but a long term investor. So as long as I have decent returns when it's ripe for me to redeem my shares then I will be fine.

Yep. Optimism really helps. :-)

Holiday Economics - a new law

Yep! The practice of shifting legal holidays to the nearest Monday is now a law. Hooray for employees like me!

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Republic Act 9492, "an act rationalizing the celebration of holidays", into law yesterday.

However, not all holidays are included in this law. Exempted are religious holidays: Christmas Day (December 25), New Year’s Eve (December 31), New Year’s Day (January 1), Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Eid’l Fitre (October 13) and All Saints Day (November 1).

Click here for the whole story.