Click Stadium for more poverty.

China is one of the richest countries on earth with a huge amount of cash at it’s disposal. Plus the US owes China loads of money as well.

But still China is a poor country: it’s infrastructure still needs loads of work, concrete and still before it’s anywhere near European or American standards. Social security, pensions and the health systems are in shambles too.

Sure China has a huge Army, but today’s wars are fought with technology, not huge masses of soldiers.

Is anyone surprised why China’s bloody communists are so ruthlessly pushing the country forward and are not in the mood for any compromises on human rights or the environment. They finally want China to finish the Great Leap Forward that Mao and his comrades fucked up many years ago …

But for the sake of progress no tyranny is acceptable. Not even capitalistic communism …

Business magazines like the great Economist already talked about a weak economy last year - and also about the chance for a recession. Sure, some indicators in the US showing signs of weakness, but overall the global economy is running quite nice.

The burst of the credit bubble was a nasty event, but still not big enough to bring the whole economic system down.

But the real  ‘panic’ started once the presidential candidates used the ‘R’ fear to get votes. Now everybody started talking and most of all worrying about a ‘Recession’.

Stock Brokers are like sheep in any other profession- they easily panic and follow the herd. Although the economy didn’t really crash or some nasty event like 9/11 happened they panicked.

The American economy might be a bit wobbly, bit it’s not bad. The rest of the world is running quite nicely - so can we please stop that panic and WORK on a better economy instead of crashing it?

Since 1st January of 2002 the Euro is the official currency for most members of the European Union. After a lot of protests and grumbling it is now widely established, loved and a very stable currency. A true competition for the American Dollar.

I think it’s still a great idea to have different backsides for each coin and country. There are many great designs out there - and some new ones will be coming some day (I am talking to you - you lousy and hesitant Brits and Swedes):

Click image to get a MUCH larger collection.

Did the Euro hurt Europe and it’s economies? So far nobody has a definitive answers. Germany is slowly recovering - but not from the Euro, but the cost of reunification. Italy is down, but because of Berlusconi’s bad  economic policies. France is picking up speed, Spain is doing well, so are Austria, Holland and Belgium.

The strong Euro helps European to cope with high oil prices and cheapens import. But it doesn’t help exports much. Still Europe is doing well …

Happy Euro-Day everyone! Collect as much Euros as you can - there is is only a limited supply … good thing European don’t get their money from a private institutions like Americans and their privately held Federal Reserve Bank.

The next generation of Credit Cards could include a small keyboard to enter your PIN for transaction - which means it has it’s own communication and computing power ‘on board’. Great!

Anything with a computer can crash, have communication problems and can be hacked.

‘Excuse me, I need to reboot my credit card - it just crashed.’

What a Nightmare!

Thanks Edosan for sending this one.