Oil prices rise

I have grumbled consecutively since last five posts about the Dubai trouble but the Dubai government reassuring steps and the immediate action taken by Dubai's central bank have acted so as to curb the growing fears of the world. It is due to these steps that oil has rebounded to near $77 a barrel Monday in Asia. Benchmark crude for January delivery was up 52 cents to $76.57 at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.91 to settle at $76.05 on Friday.The United Arab Emirates central bank took steps to avert any run on banks by panicked depositors, pledging Sunday to offer additional money to foreign and domestic banks in the emirates amid concerns that UAE banks have some of the biggest exposure to Dubai World's debts.The promise of cheap funds signaled to global investors that the country's federal government -- backed by oil money -- will do what it can to limit the fallout from the indebted Dubai emirate.The weakening dollar and the strengthening of Asian markets today have also helped create the rise in oil prices.

Ignored warnings hit Harvard hard

Here is an article about how the people including Summers, one of the greatest economist did not pay heed to to growing market concerns and ended up jeopardizing the world's largest college endowment.
Who cares about the finanial crisis, we have $36 billion

Global GDP trends

I have found this extremely interesting graph of the changing contributions of different regions to the world's GDP and it shows some pretty interesting trends, I t seems that Asia, with ever-growing economies of China, Malaysia, Taiwan etc is showing the greatest positive trend. Wish I could name Pakistan in these countries also but alas! my wishful thinking.

Oil rises to near $77 as Dubai debt fears ease

I have grumbled consecutively since last five posts about the Dubai trouble but the Dubai government reassuring steps and the immediate action taken by Dubai's central bank have acted so as to curb the growing fears of the world. It is due to these steps that oil has rebounded to near $77 a barrel Monday in Asia. Benchmark crude for January delivery was up 52 cents to $76.57 at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.91 to settle at $76.05 on Friday.The United Arab Emirates central bank took steps to avert any run on banks by panicked depositors, pledging Sunday to offer additional money to foreign and domestic banks in the emirates amid concerns that UAE banks have some of the biggest exposure to Dubai World's debts.The promise of cheap funds signaled to global investors that the country's federal government -- backed by oil money -- will do what it can to limit the fallout from the indebted Dubai emirate.The weakening dollar and the strengthening of Asian markets today have also helped create the rise in oil prices.

European stocks down as Dubai debt worries linger

I have been bemoaning the far-reaching impact of Dubai's problems for quite some time now and even though it seemed obvious that its effects are going to hurt around for some time, every latest news increases anxiety and concerns. European stock markets have fallen again today amid concerns about Dubai's debt problems, even after the United Arab Emirates' central bank pledged to make extra funding available to all banks in the country, including foreign institutions with local branches. Asian markets rebounded by around 3 percent after tumbling heavily on Friday, when European and U.S. stock markets had regained their poise.Investors in Europe, a different story altogether (fussy as they are!!) , continued to worry about the fallout from Dubai World's announcement last week that it wanted to postpone forthcoming debt payments until May. Much of the $60 billion debts held by the government investment company are thought to be with European banks, particularly those in Britain and so, it seems, they are going to continue crying for some time.

Most expensive college

Going to college is a major investment. It can cost anything between $200 (government subsidized colleges) to upward of $55000(some top colleges in the US).Even though I am a strong supporter of good education,I truly believe that it is the individual's opinion that counts as to whether such hefty spending on college is warranted. Only an individual can decide whether he is content with a state subsidized college or only a private expensive college would do.Here I post a link to a website which lists the 100 most expensive college is the US. Although the page states US but as I have come to realise that education is most expensive in the US, so we can assume that they are the most expensive colleges in the world with a few exceptions here and there.
Most expensive colleges

Continuation

I will now point out what I think are flaws in the Telegraph article. First, the author assumes that the future developments would be common enough that they will be even able to fulfill the requirements of the super-rich. Although, I seem to be inadvertently underscoring the author's line of reasoning and one might point out that this shortage would in itself trigger the rationing function of price and might induce even more exclusivity but this logic can only be applied to the assumption-filled textbook world. Here I can quote the example of body parts such as kisneys which suffer from inefficient allocation creating black markets and smuggling; many people who can pay the market price even can not buy the parts. Also there is no guarantee that the future developments would be free of side-effects, which is a major deterrent even today to consumers endorsing and using advances in bio-technology (O! I wont eat that genetically engineered tomato even if it is the yummiest; there are rumors of endowed antibiotic resistance in those things).Moreover, we are nowhere fully cognizant of our genetics to be able to categorically list out the diseases to which we are prone. We may have been able to isolate all our genes but we do not know the functions of the majority and it seems unlikely that we will be able to in next 20 years. Here, the author also assumes little to no role played by the government in the near future to reduce this disparity. I find this assumptions unwarranted as even as early as the present, groups are pressurizing government to keep a watchful eye on the implications of ongoing research on genetics. So I would not go on to say that the scenario is not possible but it does not seem likely and this post is not intended to be derogatory to the author as I wholeheartedly accept her to be more qualified and experienced than me.