Boulder to London

The past week has produced a number of headlines that make me cringe.  It’s hard to pick one that is most concerning, but here are a few of my favorites…

‘Two subs, dozens of nuclear warheads, one huge ocean - and a stroke of bad luck - This article reports on the collision between two nuclear submarines in the Atlantic.  Supposedly each sub had state-of-the-art sonar to detect all things underwater as well as the ability to become ‘invisible’ to all underwater detection.  I guess the ‘invisible’ technology is a little better than the detection technology.

“Auto Bailout - GM, Chrysler request billions more in federal assistance” - So how bad is it to be an automaker these days?  Just two months ago you request emergency federal funding on the pemise that you will not survive without governement loans.  After you get the first round, you come back with your new plans and a new story saying that things are actually much worse that you thought.  As a tax payer and someone who works in the field of restructuring and cost optimisation, I’d like to have a look at any plans they submitted before writing another check to this industry.

“Eastern Europe crisis poses risks for Western firms - Wide range of industries exposed to region that could be on brink of collapse” - Apparently the risk associated with emerging markets is becoming a reality very quickly.  One article stated that this could be as bad as both the Asian currency crisis of the late 90’s and the Argentinian Peso collpase in 2002.  I believe I also read that the IMF may not have enough funds to provide the support required to prevent a total collapse.