Immigration an Issue

Powered by Qumana

Super Bowl Ads

Yesterday we watched the Steelers beat the SeaHawks, in a game full of bad passes and many calls. The game was ok, nothing really exciting happened and Steelers did win. Pretty good for the wildcard team and their 5th SuperBowl.

What was a big loss were the ads. Always hyped and worth watching yesterday's, with few exceptions were definitely blah to bad, the worst of them all General Motors' Hummer - wow someone should be fired for that one !

The Budweiser ads "Magic Fridge" and "Bear Attack" funny and as always animals are cute, except for the streaking sheep - pretty lousy. Sierra Mist and the "Security Wand was hilarious and pokes fun at a lot of things as was Sprint's "Crime Deterrent."

Only time and revenues {or is it inflated egos} will tell us which were the best and which were successful.

You can see the ads at http://video.google.com/superbowl.html

Election Update

Chile - President elect Michelle Bachelet, won Chile's top job January 15th, 2006, defeating her rival in a second election run-off. Madam Bachelet is expected to continue to run her country along the same lines as Chile's outgoing President Ricardo Lagos.

Can Latin America Compete?

In today's ever smaller world, can Latin America compete with lower cost regions and high tech markets or are they destined to remain in an quasi-development-catch-up phase ?

Do politics affect the way they are doing business and if so what can be expected in 2006?

Your comments are welcome.

Latin American Currency Exchanges

Currency Per US Dollar

Argentine Peso 3.03700
Bolivian Boliviano 7.99500
Brazilian Real 2.27200
Canadian Dollar 1.16230
Chilean Peso 522.54997
Colombian Peso 2,274.00006
Ecuador Sucre 25,000.00063
Guatemalan Quetzal 7.62500
Mexican Peso 10.57810
Peruvian Nuevo Sol 3.44530
Venezualan Bolivar 2,145.00001

1/13/2006 9:27 AM eastern time

Latin American Election Update

COUNTRY & DATE (see Nov. 25th)

Honduras - Nov 2005. President elect Manuel Zelaya Rosales .
Chile - Dec 2005. Election run off January 15. Michelle Bachelet and Sebastián Piñera. Madam Bachelet obtained 46% of the votes last December 11, 2005 and Piñera 25.4%.
Bolivia - Dec 2005. President elect Evo Morales, leftist anti-USA. Morales has already scheduled his trip around the world. Starting with Cuba and Venezuela, he is scheduled to visit, among others, France and South Africa. Morales has a huge challenge ahead of him, as he must now prove to those who elected him that he can in fact lead Bolivia and bring economic stability to that poor nation.
Haiti - Jan 2006. A mess, elections postponed again, for the fourth time, as those in charge have not distributed 3.5 million voter ID cards and 35 presidential candidates will certainly mean a run-off. In the meantime Justices have been fired, havoc reigns and South Florida suffers.

Whether or not the results of the election will impact the rest of Latin America remains to be seen. Venezuela's Chavez has, while certainly a loud mouth, has used the threat of oil to control his position and is already at odds with Mexico and maintains a polite rapport with Colombia.

Strike in New York

Today is the second day public transit workers in New York City strike, illegally. Taking a lesson from the French they have decided to strike - you got it- during the busiest time in the city. Amazingly, the union leader that is firing the "misled" masses isn't even US born and in this age this quite old fashioned individual has extreme left tendencies. Ah, the beauty of living in a democracy.

-Does this so called "leader" realize that his actions are causing more grievances than he is worth and that, like most stubborn managers, his union is being penalized $1 million per day not to mention that labor will be fined 2 days wages for everyday they are not back on the job ?

Maybe he doesn't care. As Andy Warhol said, everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame. In today's fast paced world it could very well be 15 seconds.

Latin American Elections

COUNTRY & DATE
Honduras - Nov 2005
Chile - Dec 2005
Bolivia - Dec 2005
Haiti - Jan 2006
Costa Rica - Feb 2006
Peru - Apr 2006
Colombia - May 2006
Mexico - Jul 2006
Brazil - Oct 2006
Ecuador - Oct 2006
Nicaragua - Nov 2006
Venezuela -Nov/Dec 2006

News from around the world

Argentina - David Nalbandian wins the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, defeating top ranked Swiss Roger Federer in a 4 hour and 33 minute match. Two other Argentine tennis players, Guillermo Coria and Gastón Gaudio also fared quite well and are now ranked among the top ten tennis players in the world. Tennis fans will also remember Argentine Guillermo Vilas, who won 62 career singles from 1973 to 1986.

China - Chinese President Hu Jintao met with his Chilean counterpart Ricardo Lagos on November 18 to attend the signing ceremony of a free trade agreement between the two countries. Chile will enjoy immediate duty free access to China for its exports of copper, some agricultural products and some wood products. Among the Chinese exports expected to benefit from the FTA are machinery, computers, cars, cell phones, DVD's and printers.

USA - The world's largest carmaker, General Motors, has announced that it will cut 30,000 jobs in an effort to save $2.5 billion a year. Are they right focusing on efforts to "save" or should GM be focusing on ways to improve their business and market share ?

Mexico - Incumbent President Vicente Fox continues to spar with Venezuela President Hugo Chavez over free trade efforts in the Americas. While Chile, Colombia, Peru and Panama support free trade with the USA, Chavez opposes it and is doing his best to defeat all efforts in lieu of his own trade agreement. Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay are opposed to free trade with the USA but are not convinced that Chavez' plans are the best. Should free trade exist ?

Media and the News

Are television news networks reporting news or are they turning events into "sensationalism" in order to generate more viewers ?

Paris Day 15

CNN reports that Australia, Austria, Britain, Germany and Hungary have advised their citizens to exercise care in France, joining the United States and Russia in warning tourists to stay away from violence-hit areas in Paris, France and other cities in that country.

"It seems that young rioters are using blog messages to incite violence and cell phones to organize attacks in guerrilla-like tactics they have copied from anti-globalization protesters, security experts say."

In its 15th day of rioting, fires, looting and burning cars......in their own neighborhhoods. How sad that this happens in one of the most beautiful cities ever.

FEMA - Interesting

This is very interesting, [former FEMA Director] Brown, apparently fired for incompetence and slow response to Katrina, is staying on FEMA's payroll for one more month (AP) at his $148,000 annual salary. Supposedly to advise the agency on his experience with Katrina.

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Mississippi., whose coastal district was among the hardest hit by Katrina, said the contract extension is an insult to taxpayers, particularly those Gulf Coast residents "whose lives were in danger in the aftermath of that storm because of Mike Brown's incompetence."

"I've got tens of thousands of people living in two-man igloo tents tonight, and less than a quarter of the people who have asked for FEMA travel trailers have gotten them," Taylor said. "And at the same time they can find $140,000 a year to pay this incompetent son of a gun; that's ridiculous."

Wilma

Wilma cut a path through Florida and while it didn't leave as much destruction as Katrina did in Louisiana, the damage was extensive. Flood waters and strong winds borught South Florida to a halt.

Florida Power & Light reported that 3.2 million of its business and residential customers were without power and likely to remain without power for 2 or 3 weeks ! They also brought in crews form other states to help repair the damages. In total there are over 6 million [in Southern Florida] without power.

The situation in Miami-Dade and Broward counties is still bearable. There are very long lines to get gasoline, water and ice, and some phones don't work. Several supermarkets are open and continue to sell non-perishable foods.

About oil speculators

Is the price of oil going back up ? It was $59.90 last night in London, actually down from previous highs earlier in the week and in September. The question however remains if there's a reason for prices to continue to hold, will they go higher and if they do is this attributable to actual shortages i.e. supply and demand or speculation by a small group (oil companies too) of greedy traders watching the weather channel? Open for discussion.

I had two good wines this past week (reds of course).

The first a Biltmore Estate Cardinal's Crest Red Table Wine from North Carolina (USA). Earthy with a wood flavor at end.

The second, a gift from a very good friend, a Grand Vin 2002 Chateau Lavergne-Dulong (France) Bordeaux Superieur bottle No. 061338. Superb, rich and well balanced.

World News

Colombia - the Constitutional Court has approved the reelection process clearing the way for incumbent President Alvaro Uribe to seek a second term in 2006.

Mexico - Hurricane Wilma clobbering vacation resorts Cozumel and Cancun, one good thing, most homes and buildings are concrete, brick and mortar hence less damage than wood sstructures.

USA - Florida preparing for Hurricane Wilma. Most homes built of wood. Huff and puff more floods and damaged homes.


Brazil - state owned oil company Petrobras will invest 732 million US dollars in 96 potential new oil fields, 55% of the fields could probably be good producers of natural gas, a priority product for Petrobras.

Wilma

Newly formed Hurricane Wilma, a Category 5 storm, threatens Mexico, Cuba and Florida. The path is unpredicatable and the damage will be enormous, not only from the winds and water but from huge wave surges.

Animal News

Chile - the huemule (Hippocamelus bisulcus) is a rare deer that lives only in Argentina and Chile. It is believed that there are less than 2,000 left in both countries and efforts are underway to reintroduce these rare animals to protected park lands.

One Tall Bridge

The 21st century bridge !
This amazing construction in Southern France's route A75.


Viaduc de Millau

The World on Saturday

Pakistan - hundreds die in India and Pakistan following a 7.6 (Richter scale) earthquake, this follows last week's jolt in Peru and an underwater quake off the Pacific coast of Central America. The aftershocks still going on. At least 18,000 are expected to have died.

USA

• Delphi the largest auto parts maker in the USA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for itself and 38 U.S. units. Wow what is wrong with US car makers ?
• the Yankees lost ! Shocker, they lost at home to LA Angels and are down 2-1. Today's game has been postponed on account of rain.

Russia - A satellite, launched by the European Space Agency on a converted ballistic missile blew up in flight. The satellite was going to be used to collect data on polar ice.

Guatemala - damages caused by rising flood waters following Hurricane Stan include mayor landslides and loss of life. Authorities expect over 1,000 may have perished.

Brazil - water levels in the Amazon region have fallen to a 30-year low, creating difficulties for river transport - in many cases the only way of moving people and goods. Experts are blaming climate cycles, not global warming, for the drought, which has also led to enormous fires.