MA & PhD in Critical Thinking Blog

During the decade after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, China was generally seen throughout East Asia as a friendly alternative power-center to the American-led Washington-consensus.

But in the last couple of years, some of China’s neighbours are beginning to wonder if ‘friendly uncle’ is more of a ‘roaring dragon’ — one which, ironically, its own people might have the most to fear from.

We thought we’d cut President Obama some slack this week, altho once again his ill-conceived reliance on incredibly unreliable middle-men reinforces our uncertainty about his whole approach,

and take a look at some of the issues that are complicating the search for the holy grail of clean /renewable / safe energy …

Indeed, in a global economic scene dominated by continuing uncertainty, one of the few ’sure bets’ has SEEMED to be the ‘green tech / clean tech’ – whatever you want to call it – sector.

But in the last weeks, significant bumps have appeared in what has almost universally been considered one of the few relatively unblocked roads to ‘certain’ prosperity.

Hey, all … …

Congratulations to President Obama on his Nobel Peace Prize, notwithstanding the deeply mixed reaction to it coming from many parts of the world …

That behind us, the most urgent question is whether Obama is, in fact, becoming increasingly irrelevant to the process / solutions to the problems now confronting America and the world …

That, sadly, is not very clear …

On four key policy fronts, Obama is making the same mistake.

From the Too Big to Fail Banks / to the health “care” debate / and from the collapse of the housing market / to the mystifying “double-down” on Afghanistan,

Obama is relying on middlemen who are not committed to his agenda to carry out his policies.

And while he begs them for help, they ignore even the most minimal exhortations to act in the nation’s interest — rather than their own immediate / short-term benefit –

and chortle into their Veuve Cliquot … making it a joke for them, but not so funny for everyone else …

Back from a fabulous — if insanely busy and, at certain moments, stressful — nearly-two months in the US,

and now back on track with my colleague Keith Timimi at Economy Watch … …

Hope you “enjoy” this piece about how the chief problem for the US ECONOMY is its sadly broken and corrupt POLITICAL system … …

More to come …

Well, everyone, greetings from San Francisco, which, despite its GENERALLY crummy weather — too cold / windy / foggy too much of the time — has been BEAUTIFUL and sunny and warm-ish … …

However great Singapore is, it’s just too hot and humid ALL the time … … even given how well they have designed a system-wide response that minimizes the discomfort caused people by that fact … …

So it’s wonderful to be here … … and so far, SF doesn’t seem in bad economic shape, altho my friends in the East Bay are deeply affected,

namely because the University of California — CAL — is such a significant employer there, and Cal-eee – ’s political self-immolation is having serious economic effects that ripple outward there …

We’ll see how that aspect of things continues to unfold … …

Anyway, here’s a piece I wrote the night before I left Singapore, at the behest of Keith Tamimi, who is TRULY one of — if not the — best person to work with in that very special jewel at the tip of South East Asia … …

As Hyman Roth says on the roof of the hotel in Cuba, “Michael, I wish you had brought this up in private” …

Oh, wait, that’s not what he said … or, rather, it IS what he said … but the line I want remember in this context is,

“Enjoy !!!” — especially if you don’t live in, or aren’t affected, by what happens in China, Japan or the US … …

So I guess, what I REALLY mean is what they say in that OTHER gambling den, Las Vegas,

about which, btw, the movie THE HANGOVER is not just the best statement, but is ALSO one of the most briliantly written American films ever … …

and shows how Texas hold-’em has become THE key “game” of our sad sad period … …

“Shuffle up and deal !!!”

As many of you know, I’m on my way to San Francisco, for the start of a multi-week business trip to the US,

which is why I haven’t been posting as much as usual … for which I beg your forgiveness … …

Will take a few days to adjust — in many ways — to SF / being back in the States,

but we’ll be right back on things soon … …

Thanks for understanding … …

Kind of a bummer to start the week with this, but the unemployment picture in the US looks worse than at any time in recent memory …

and, for a variety of reasons, seems most unlikely to improve any time soon …

But the piece will probably make you smile anyway , albeit NOT because there’s much good news to be had … …

Well, this is one week that I’m more than happy to see over, altho despite all the craziness, things seem to have ended about as well as could be expected, under the circumstances … …

But we’ll see what next week – which will conclude with my departing Singapore for San Francisco and the start of a multi-week visit to the reeling US — holds …

All I wanted, therefore, for the end of this week was a simple blog post, continuing with our week-long “Asia” theme, and get to sleep early for a change … …

But then, as the latest blog post in Economy Watch notes, I decided to do a scan of the latest news, just to see if anything was happening,

and the next thing I knew I was writing the longest post yet, referencing five different pieces, all of which COULD have been subjects on their own, and going to sleep WAAAY too late, even for me … …

So I hope you all find this interesting, as it draws together what might otherwise seem unrelated, if significant, topics under what is, I think, an unexpectedly unified rubric –

namely, the lack of leadership almost everywhere, despite the on-going and not-un-connected financial and ecological crises … …

One of the few relatively recession-proof industries is education, especially higher education, for adults in particular.

With exponentially growing numbers of Chinese and Indians being willing and able to buy English-language higher education,

Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia are looking to capitalize on that demand,

as this latest piece in Economy Watch points out … …