As we watch the currencies sway wildly against each other, remember the words of a wise man, …
“Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world. Fiat money in extremis, is accepted by nobody. Gold is always accepted.”
Alan Greenspan, US Federal Reserve Chairman, May 1999
Food for thought indeed.
Considering investing in print or online media? Make sure you know what its future plans are or you could wind up invested in a different media to the one you expected.
We all know that media empires are built joining TV and Radio, or TV and print and a lot of those have moved online. The others are on the way.
So, why would new Internet start-ups be looking at old technology?
If in the age of clicks to bricks we can finally accept that the online world hasn’t removed the need for bricks, that mortar and clicks are not mutually exclusive (I can live in my shop-house-business building but not the web-site that promotes it) we should agree the two (i.e. physical world and online) are or at least can be complementary, overlap or co-exist.
No breaking news there, but take another look at how those old world businesses got started, whether bookstore, print magazine, radio station, cable or TV they all had one thing in common – fairly steep capital requirements from the outset.
Now take a look at the Internet and realise that with public access to Internet from libraries, it is possible to start an online business for $0.00 or $10 a year if you want a domain name, and of course you can add more over time.
They key point here is that business start-up costs has been driven about as low as it possibly can, given a wide source of sweat equity.
We’ve already seen Internet radio stations and now they sweat in fear of royalty increases – will they be forced to close or enter the “real” world of radio-wave transmission – no wi-fi doesn’t count here …?
We’ve been able to see movies and TV programming over our broadband connection for some time already and with the advent of YouTube seemingly endless amounts of online-destined content creation. Now TVs that can pull in movies from the Internet and we have come full circle.
It’s only a matter of time before some of the home-grown blogs, or 2 man startups that gain critical mass on the Internet foray into the print world.
I like, no I love online media. But print is powerful. It’s still there after the computer crashes, in a power cut, or when my friend’s check their email.
I have several blogs in mind, the endpoint of which - in my mind at least – is in print and maybe even a radio then cable TV show.
I did it before – its wasn’t sleek like a Lynx – my first print newsletter mailed free to customers was first created in e-form on my 2-line dial-up support BBS (bulletin board system.) just a few years before Netscape and the wonderful ‘Trumpet Winsock’.
The inspiration for this article was here in another post at BahtSaver.
Will the smoking ban hit only individual, small outlets such as bars and discos, or will it really affect the economy as a whole – for example keeping tourists away from Thailand?
Germany recently had its smoking ban overturned (in some cases)
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Excerpts of a recent story here:
KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) – A German ban on smoking in indoor public places should be overturned for small bars, the country’s highest court ruled on Wednesday.
The Karlsruhe-based Federal Constitutional Court said smallbars were at an unfair disadvantage due to the ban, renderingit in breach of the constitution. The measures came into effectin most of Germany’s 16 states at the start of the year.
The ruling upheld a complaint lodged by the owners of twosmall bars in Berlin and a disco operator in the southwesternstate of Baden-Wuerttemberg, who argued the anti-smokinglegislation had put their business at risk.
Almost a third of the population smokes in Germany, wherelighting up became a badge of freedom and tolerance afterHitler’s Nazi regime cracked down on the habit in the 1930s.
An attempt by the federal government to introduce anationwide ban failed in 2006, and many bars and restaurants inBerlin flouted the ban when it came into force in January.
Hans-Juergen Papier, the court’s president, said the lawwould need to be redrawn by the end of 2009. Until then,smoking should be allowed in bars and restaurants of less than75 square metres that lack a separate smokers’ area, he said.
In the case of the disco, the court said the ban should berepealed for discos open only to adults.
As most of Germany’s states have similar smoking laws toBerlin and Baden-Wuerttemberg, the ruling is likely to set aprecedent for future complaints.
For the full story:
Germany’s highest court rules against smoking ban – 30/07/08 – elEconomista.es
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. unemployment rate hit its highest in four years during July as employers cut jobs for a seventh straight month, though less severely than predicted, a Labor Department report showed on Friday.
The rising toll of job losses and plunging new-car sales in July fueled worry that a recession may be unavoidable and helped drive stock prices lower again.
The jobless rate climbed to 5.7 percent from 5.5 percent in June as 51,000 jobs were eliminated in July, bringing losses for the year to 463,000. Economists had expected 75,000 jobs would be cut last month but had forecast the unemployment rate would rise only to 5.6 percent.
In a separate report, the Institute for Supply Management said manufacturing activity held steady in July and noted some moderation in inflation pressures. Its index of national factory activity slipped a bit to 50 from 50.2 in June — with 50 being the dividing line between expansion and contraction.
For the full story:Jobless rate highest in 4 years, payrolls drop – 1/08/08 – EcoDiario.es
