Flying pigs, saucisson and flu

Bless you.

Yes it is certainly not the time to sneeze in public! The swine flu is swining, and the world is going crazy...

But is it really? When watching the different major media broadcasters the last couple of days, I have been fairly surprised at the discrepancies between the different views on the flu. Pandemic, not pandemic, a mere spring flu? Where is the fine line?

I have looked at the big guys like Financial Times or BBC or even Bloomberg, and after feeling a bit scared of this pandemikeria I actually understood that things weren't that bad in fact. The WHO is trying to prevent countries to close their borders and impose travel restrictions, for it would be no help anyways.

But the Nile ain't just a river, as one would say! I was looking at this editorial from the Asia Times by Chan Akya, and his view is quite interesting. I was actually wondering about the same thing just before reading his article, that is the link between the current economic crisis and flying pigs. As the markets struggle to go on, government and most of the major news agencies have produced a rainfall of good looking new in the past couple of months,with slogans such as "the worst is over" and such. But as I was writing in a previous post, the worst ain't over! And a pandemic certainly wouldn't make things easier.

Is that why the WHO headmaster, Mr Fukuda, repeatedly said that there was no risk of pandemikeria? How can there be no risk when now 7 countries around the world have confirmed cases, and out of over 2000 people infected in Mexico 150 have died. That's a pretty bad rate! Yesterday (2th of April) on Al Jazeera, however, the interview of the head of the medical research council based in London clearly stated that

"it is clearly serious because we are dealing here with a flu virus that has picked up some of the genetic material from pig flu viruses but it is embedded in essence of human virus that can spread rapidly from man to man and that sets up all the potential for a pandemic."

A bigger picture of the flying infected pigs...
But who knows? Maybe a good pandemic is what we need to realize that something must be done. I had hopes that with the economic crisis there would be a change in the wind, but no such change happened. There are indeed signs that in a few remote corners of the financial world some are trying to bring a fairer world, but "cold warriors" from Washington and their bastions of neo-liberals are fighting hard. And they are strong.
So as I said, maybe the good pandemic could actually bring the world in such a bad shape that a new order could emerge from it? Lets dream...

A glimpse of hope for the IMF?

The International Monetary Found, what a great thing. Some rightly wondered if its sole purpose was really to assert the North's supremacy on the South, nothing more. It might be true but it also might not. Let's not let our vision be troubled by the dark cloud of world conspiracy theories.

At least the recent developments of the economic crisis and etc are suggesting some sparkles of hope for change!

The last G20 meeting in London ended with big promises of renewed funds to the IMF and the World Bank of a total of $500 billions. This money is then supposed to be "given" to countries all around the world to help them struggle in these tough economic times.
Well, we'll see about that.

But in the meantime the major contributors are quite reticent to hand in the billions of dollars. Apparently, the Obama is trying to get the Congress to pledge $100 billions, the EU has promised another $100 billions, China $40 billions, and etc... But it still falls short of over $200 billions. Countries like Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia and other are thus being asked a contribution.

And while this is not entirely unseemly, what is new is that these new donors are expecting something back! Brazil, among others, have already voiced its demand for reforms on the weighting voting system of the IMF. Many [most] have been unhappy with the IMF for a long time, but never the South have had a proper bargaining tool. I guess we will soon see what comes out of the IMF and the World Bank's early spring meeting on Monday in Washington...

A parliamentarian day in Ottawa...

Yes, that was something. A wonderful parliamentarian experience with Aurelia, Thomas, and Sabrina of course.

Rough path...

It seems indeed a rough path when looking at the DJ index of the past months... But it also seems that we have already gone through the worst. And yet The Economist was saying today that the road ahead is long and dark. Indeed most numbers apparently suggest that the worst is over only in the sense that the path down to recession has slowed down. But it's still going down.

I liked these simple numbers, that quietly calm down the optimists:

Between 1929 and 1932, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared by more than 20% four times, only to fall back below its previous lows. Today’s crisis has seen five separate rallies in which share prices rose more than 10% only to subside again.

Well well, we'll see. In the meantime we shall bury our head in the ground as ostriches wisely do. Because although the global economy might get a brighter look by the end of this year, for what matters to the actual people (we, the people) unemployment is still rising, big times. GM just announced that it might close it's factories for 9 weeks this summer, while it has until June to decide what part of the production will be shut down for real so GM can get a new bailout for its healthy half. It won't be fun for American workers this summer.

Jesus Sucks at Le Cagibi

On Sunday Sabrina and I went to her favorite cafe, Le Cagibi, to have some kind of lunch and study...

So I brought my laptop, and of course I connected myself to the wireless, and this is what I found.
Click on the image to get it bigger and you'll see the network called "jesus sucks"...

Pretty funny. It always makes me happy to see some kind of rebellion against any dogma....

Pain au Chocolat.

Breakfast plate, pain au chocolat, good coffee, everything. And the Obliterated Pigeon. Last week Sabrina dragged me to the Ceramic Cafe to make a plate, but I was terribly hangover. Here is the result.

Oh Kim!

From The Economist.