2010-07-04

Musings Among Friends With Cigars

I was at wedding last night. It wasn't the first time I'd been to this particular reception hall. As usually is the case with this place, we ate like kings. Top notch food. Ritz Carlton and the Queen E is nothing next to this place - and a couple of other banquet halls for that matter. The aforementioned are steeped in Montreal tradition but I've rarely enjoyed eating there. The price is in the name but not the food.

In addition to talking about stupidities, we talked a little politics and history.

My friend in foreign affairs was telling us how the policy makers and political leaders within the OECD were struggling how to integrate China within its structure. The problem is they know China is disinterested in playing fairly within the established norms of the OECD but they also feel they should be brought in. China can cause quite a problem they fear. The same story with, to a lesser extent, India and Brazil. You're damned if you do or don't when it comes to China.

Another friend is financial analyst and he was basically saying the financial structure on the planet is so Byzantium and messed up, he feels it'll all implode. Things are not good at all. He suspects interest rates will explode in the next five years. This loose fiscal policy can't go on forever.

If you're one of these people who think the solution is tax companies and people more, that's unfortunate. That's the worst thing to do in this economy. Just because "tax cuts" have been associated with Reagan and all sorts of problems, it doesn't mean it can't work in a different setting. You have to let people and business pull itself out of the mess. Standing in the way only prolongs the problem.

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