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ZOEKEN
Privileges and principles
The international financial and economical crisis is changing the world. I am still wondering what is going to happen next. Many questions and only few answers so far from my part.
But while finding our way out of this mess and repairing our economical, social and environmental compass I think we can find some inspiration in a statement that Dwight D. Eisenhower made in his Inaugural Address on January 20, 1953. He said:
Especially now: accelerate, don’t downsize your sustainability efforts
The impact of the financial crisis is getting bigger and bigger. The “real” economy is unlikely to escape a severe hit. At many head offices the financial people are stepping on the breaks. Cost reductions, job cuts, delays of investments, divestments. Everything is done to prepare for the storm; Ike was a summer breeze in comparison with what we will get now.
The economic reflex in such times often includes
The value of aid instead of the cost of aid
Mark Rutte, leader of the Dutch liberal party VVD, presented a plan last week in which he advocates a 50% reduction of the Dutch Development Cooperation budget. The VVD attacks the Dutch Development Cooperation Minister Mr. Bert Koenders and believes that his international aid is ineffective, supports dictatorial regimes rather than it fights them and makes poor countries addicted to international aid.
Mr. Rutte is right when he says that the international
Chain reactions on financial markets: example of private equity investment
As I have stated last week, the situation on the financial markets is terrible. The deep links and connections within the global economy are causing an unprecedented chain reaction.
In the discussion on financial investments and chain reactions, private equity investors are regularly blamed for playing a negative role. We have advocated before that this criticism often is too black and white.
Hema, a famous
Lessons from financial sector disaster?
Normally, when a problem or challenge arises, one tends to have a sense of what the solution will be. It may not be exactly spot on, but it is likely to be “directionally right”. However, I notice that my intuition is “jammed” when I think of the current financial crisis. In amazement and shock I’m observing the way this disaster is impacting the global financial sector. No intuitive answer from me, but many questions… and I’m not only flabbergasted but also fascinated.
The one thing that fascinates me most is how
