Ireland:from one of the poorest to one of the most prosperous countries.(worth reading!!!!)

The economic performance of Europe is nothing to get excited about. Yet there is one European member state that seems to defy the law of economic gravity: Ireland also called the Celtic Tiger.

Recently the economic performance of several European countries has been compared(based in Belgium).The comparison was mainly between Belgium and Ireland(1984 - 2002)It was found out that there were a surprising amount of large differences in economic growth and GNP(gross national product) per capita.Researches showed that Belgian real growth over this 18 year period amounted to 42%.Ireland managed to get an incredible 167%! Really how Ireland managed to become one of the most prosperous countries????
n 1985, the economy of Ireland was in shambles. It faced excessive budget deficits and minimal growth.Irish unemployment stood at 17% against 10% for Belgium. Until 1985 both countries followed similar Keynesian policies of deficit spending. In 1983 Belgian public spending exceeded 50% of GNP.The first move Ireland did was in 1985:It drastically lowered the tax burden, and all wasteful government spending was eliminated.When taxes were lowered many big companies took the initiative and opened their central buildings for Europe there. Also in three years, public spending was reduced by 20%.The result was that Ireland entered a period of explosive GNP growth, averaging 5.6% from 1985 to 2002. This is roughly three times the Belgian growth rate.By doing this new jobs were created.Ireland has now more resources available for all sorts of social, cultural and environmental initiatives than Belgium does.
At first Ireland was been funded by the E.U.The aim of this funding was to "make the economy of Ireland better".In 2002 E.U. stoped funding Ireland because of this rapid and excellent economic growth the country had...

Ireland is now one of the most prosperous countries,tyrkey's economy is growing rapidly,belgium also,china's economy grew 11.5% in first 9 months...
Maybe we should all wonder...Is Greece going to do anything???

Turkey's Economy: A Future Full of Promise

Mr Ziogas talked about an advertisement of Turkey..i didnt find it but i found an article about Tyrkey's economy..

The country's progress in recent years has been remarkable. The benefits of the government's commitment to its economic program are clearly visible.This year's Forum has a forward-looking theme, and rightly so. Much has been achieved since the current reform program was started. The challenge now is to build on those achievements and exploit Turkey's potential as a rapidly-growing and increasingly sophisticated economy.The strongest argument for economic reforms is that they will improve the lives of Turkey's citizens.What Turkey needs to do now is raise the potential growth rate of the economy.

The rest article is here:
http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2005/050505.htm

China: Economy grows 11.5% in first 9 months

The Chinese economy continued its robust growth driven by rapid expansion in investment and credit, while inflation pressure eased slightly, official figures showed.
The gross domestic product (GDP) increased 11.5 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier.


Picture:A worker drives a vehicle past cargo containers at Beijing airport October 23, 2007. The Chinese economy continued its robust growth driven by rapid expansion in investment and credit, while inflation pressure eased slightly, official figures showed.

Third World Economic Development

The development experiences of Third World countries since the fifties have been staggeringly diverse—and hence very informative. Forty years ago the developing countries looked a lot more like each other than they do today. Take India and South Korea. By any standards, both countries were extremely poor: India's income per capita was about $150 (in 1980 dollars) and South Korea's was about $350. Life expectancy was about forty years and fifty years respectively. In both countries roughly 70 percent of the people worked on the land, and farming accounted for 40 percent of national income. The two countries were so far behind the industrial world that it seemed nearly inconceivable that either could ever attain reasonable standards of living, let alone catch up.

If anything, India had the edge. Its savings rate was 12 percent of GNP while Korea's was only 8 percent. India had natural resources. Its size gave its industries a huge domestic market as a platform for growth. Its former colonial masters, the British, left behind railways and other infrastructure that were good by Third World standards. The country had a competent judiciary and civil service, manned by a highly educated elite. Korea lacked all that. In the fifties the U.S. government thought it so unlikely that Korea would achieve any increase in living standards at all that its policy was to provide "sustaining aid" to stop them falling even further.

Iraq: The war is good for some...

While Americans and Iraqis argue over the merits and defects of private security companies in Iraq, for David Golola, a former private in the Ugandan army, Iraq's war means seed money for his mango-juice business. For he is one of 3,000-odd Ugandans who have been working in Iraq as security guards on American military bases, thanks to a contract with EOD Technology, a Tennessee-based firm that specialises in dealing with unexploded bombs and provides general security services to the Pentagon.
Like the other Ugandans who have been in Iraq, mostly former soldiers and policemen, Mr Golola considers himself lucky. Many have used their salaries of around $1,000 a month, about ten times that of a private in the Ugandan army, for starting businesses and buying property. One began a maize-grinding plant; another now has his own soap factory.
Not everyone, however, is keen to pack off thousands of Ugandans to guard American soldiers in a dangerous and distant desert President Yoweri Museveni, the only leader among the 53 countries of the African Union to send peacekeepers to Somalia as well as Darfur, has been criticised by some Ugandans for putting his soldiers in harm's way to curry favour with the Americans in their proclaimed fight against global terror. To make matters worse, a scandal involving alleged underpayment and bad treatment of the security guards has dogged several of the Ugandan firms (one of them close to the president) that have been chosen by the government to recruit the men.
All the same, thousands of eager Ugandan men have put themselves on the waiting list to join the firms. "Even though it's a war zone," explains a guard back home on leave, with plans to start a dairy, "Iraq is a better option than Uganda." None, so far, has been killed.

Afrika and the internet:A hudge digital gap between them

Now in 2007 where our planet is based on technology and computing power the gap between Afrika and the broadband is still a Grand Canyon. Only a 4% of Africans have access to the internet.The prices for a one month low speed connection are between $250-300 a month..

The article is here--->

http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9990626

What is climate change??

Our planet is surrounded by a blanket of gases which keeps the surface of the earth warm and able to sustain life. This blanket is getting thicker, trapping in heat as we release greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels for energy and as we cut down forests and replace them with agricultural land. As a result, our climate is starting to change.

Scientific research indicates that, because of climate change, we may experience more intense and more frequent extreme weather events. A gradual increase in temperature also has major implications for ecosystems, growing seasons, animals and their habitats.

Some changes to the climate are inevitable – even if we stop emitting gases now, the gases we have already released will have an effect. However, we must do everything we can to avoid further changes and to adapt to the new situation we find ourselves in.

Available videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzjOcOcQ90U

Europe leads the fight against climate change

Climate change is real

Bolivia Coca Trade

Bolivia's economy is one of the poorest in the Americas, ranking
ahead of only Haiti. Bolivia is the world's second largest producer of coca leaf
after Peru and the second largest producer of cocaine after
Colombia.  Most of the cocaine refined from  Bolivian coca leaf is
consumed in the United States.
The coca plant,the source for the illegal drug cocaine brings millions
of dollars to the informal sector of economy. BUT it is also the only provider of work for thousands of poor people that live there.
The production of coca in the countryside has
become almost unstoppable, where hundreds of hectares of forest are
being cut yearly for the cultivation of the plant.
The government, with assistance from the United States, is
trying to curtail the expansion of coca but with little success.
One of the major challenges or problems that the government of
Bolivia faces is the fact that many people in Bolivia consider the
coca growing a part of their culture and a necessity for their
economic survival.
   The original version of what we now know as Coca-Cola, drew on
the medicinal benefits of coca.  Now, as the Coca-Cola company
points out, any trace of an addictive drug has been taken out of
its product, but the company still buys coca from Bolivia to be
used as flavoring.  The flavoring of coca is non-addictive, since
most of the chemicals that cause addiction are removed from the
product.

What the world looks like...?!

This is a humorous approach in americans' view of the world...!