Folks, Fasten Your Seat Belts!

Posted on April 28, 2010 | by Markus Stocker

“Greek Debt Rating Cut to ‘Junk’ Status” goes the headline of the New York Times; “Die Schuldenkrise verschärft sich” the German Frankfurter Allgemeine; “Griechenland wankt immer mehr” the Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung, “Grecia declassata a livello ‘spazzatura’ Portogallo trema sotto il peso del debito” the Italian La Repubblica, faithfully echoing ‘Junk’ status. As per April [...]

«It’s The Bank Secrecy Law, Stupid!»

Posted on February 7, 2010 | by Markus Stocker

The German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has spoken: “Switzerland’s bank secrecy law has no place in the 21st century.” For starters, what in Switzerland in German is called Bankkundengeheimnis — bank client confidentiality– is the safeguard of financial privacy, not the secrecy of the bank, as I argued almost a year ago. I’m sure Mr. Schäuble [...]

Avaaz And Copenhagen

Posted on December 23, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

There are many opinions one may have about activist movements and I’m sure they vary between movements and even between missions within a single movement. Typically, when I’m confronted with a movement or a mission I try to have an open ear towards the statement and every now and then I “support” some with my [...]

The Rationale Of Burning Profits

Posted on October 31, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

Today I have yet another post on external costs and how they may lead to potentially irrational decisions with disastrous effects. The discussion is based on the flaring of natural gas by Shell in Nigeria. BBC reported on this awhile ago. In a nutshell. The natural gas — a by-product of crude oil extraction — [...]

International Day Of Climate Action

Posted on October 24, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

Ahead of the UN Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen in December, today, is the International Day Of Climate Action, or 350, i.e. the “most important number in the world” aka the “safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.” As far as I know we are now at 390 ppm carbon dioxide; guys, we need to [...]

Hope. Defrauded.

Posted on October 16, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

Today, on my daily walk to the office, I was thinking about something; I’m afraid I don’t recall what … However, I vividly recall how what I thought lead to think about hope; it must have been something that inspired hope, was hopeful, at least to me. As soon as I materialized the word hope [...]

Listen, Leaders Are Talking

Posted on September 26, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

What an interesting day. Listen, world, listen: The World Leaders have expressed their opinions. Please, applaud, A New World Order has emerged. On one occasion, three leaders stand on a podium, with serious faces, wearing each an anthracite-black suit, tie and almost certainly well polished black shoes — hopefully without white socks. They accuse Iran [...]

Some 100 Heads Are Talking

Posted on September 22, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

As you might know this week is, among lots of other things of course, Climate Week NY°C — not quite sure if the NY°C logo is ingenious or ridiculous. According to some, Obama was apparently not specific enough, nice talk with no substance. You might argue, rightly so, the 100 heads will work on the specifics [...]

Getting The Price Right

Posted on September 20, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

I think, economists generally argue that the market is the most promising tool we have at hand to allocate the right price to traded goods. Some argue, only a free market is likely to minimize inefficiencies and, thus, get it right while others argue, without regulation we are all doomed towards a global race to [...]

Do We Need Perfect Information?

Posted on August 15, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

Last year a friend suggested to me “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” as a must see for what had been called my own personal documentary film festival. After having seen “The Corporation” almost a year ago, this was the second documentary for this festival. I still have at least three to go. This [...]

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