Round Conference Tables

Commercial-Men sitting around a boardroom table? There is a commercial its all these men sitting around a boardroom table and they're like "as director of operations..i agree".."as senior vice director of operations..*I* agree".."as senior director as operations..*i* agree" etc. Does anyone know what this is a commercial for, so that I could find a clip of it? Thanks.

Cheapest place to buy boardroom table and chairs!!?!?!?!?!?!? i need a boardroom table and chairs, i know ebay is a good option but is there any places or websites that would be of use? cheers

Using multiple wireless microphones on a boardroom table?? I have a boardroom style set up and one wireless microphone. Without incurring more costs to set up wireless microphones along the length of the boardroom table and a new control tower with feedback prevention system, can I purchase more of the same existing wireless microphone, program it to the same frequency and lay those out along the table?

In which commercial a guy knocks himself out on a file cabinet and another guy hits his chin off a table? What commercial is that whit a guy knocking himself out when a file cabinet opens and then another guy hitting his chin off a boardroom table?

can anybody tell me what song is playing in the boardroom shootout scene in the first crow movie.? okay well you know when eric draven comes after skank and theres that song playing and there all sitting around a table? and the song is coming from the club below? its been killing me for years now to know what that song is everytime i watch the movie which is alot i google it and can never find it. so hopefully somebody knows! thanks.

Do you think when Donald Rumsfeld passes away? they should strip his flesh from his bones and mix it in a vat of filth from soiled diapers and the scrapings from the bottom of cages in a pet store then pour the mess all over the boardroom table at Halliburton?

Should the last portion of this article be called SCORES in the boardroom? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125634088127304905.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Wouldn't it be really amusing if the RA in the catsuit in the boardroom on the conference table was actually an employee at SCORES??? Employees at Galleon recall some unusual scenes. Last summer, Mr. Rajaratnam asked a junior female analyst to buy a black spandex outfit from retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. as part of a research project into the company, a hotly traded stock. He then asked the analyst to wear the outfit at the firm's morning meeting, said people who were there. As employees giggled, Mr. Rajaratnam made the point that few consumers would pay so much money for the expensive outfit in a recession, these people said. Mr. Rajaratnam then asked the analyst to walk back and forth on top of the conference table, said the people who attended. At that point, the firm's chief financial officer, Rich Scutte, urged the presentation to stop At least Scutte was thinking with his big brain at the potential of lawsuits from all female employees for gender discrimination and harrasment. I believe if Raj had donned a spandex catsuit also and a pair of 5 inch man-heels and joined the RA on top of the conference table he might have reduced potential liability to Galleon. Of course that would have caused much more than nervous giggles at the morning meeting - I hope everyone had their cameraphones out and that the meeting was being podcast to Raj's affiliate offices.These days everyone has cameras on their laptops also so a full lenghth presentation can be burned and sent to whomever.

Would you speak to her husband? For the past 8 months (to my knowledge), possibly longer, my personal secretary has been having an affair with one of our trainee quantity surveyors. She is married with 3 children and in her late forties, he is in his early twenties. We had always joked and poked fun at the rumours until recently, when video evidence was obtained of their infidility. They had apparently become involved in the habit of "working late" (which is a laugh considering I barely have her doing any work) and doing their business on our boardroom table, what they and most do not know, is that a mounted Kudu head on one of our boardroom walls has a hidden camera which we only use occassionally for recording sensitive BEE and joint venture partner meetings, she had stayed late to "clean up" after such a meeting and when viewing the meetings material some time later we noted one such encounter.... My boss now wants me to "sort it out" to avoid any future problems, convince her to resign and let her husband know.. what they have been up to. I have no problem with forcing her to resign but feel uncomfortable phoning her husband who I have never met and do not know from a bar of soap. If you were in my shoes would you make the call or be satisfied with a resignation? Sins - No, he was subject to a farse hearing and meaningless disciplinary warning but in reality is now somewhat of a "hero" amongst the company directors. Malcom T - That is my problem, I am not the boss and fail to see why this is my problem, I had no say in her interview and placement so why should I be the one to end her employment? Ayiza - Please keep the township mentality to yourself. I never asked for another of your low IQ ramblings. Cakes - That's my problem with the whole debacle. Decided in any event, I'm not going to lift a finger.

I got mad at this guy - need advice? So ive been talking to this guy for a few weeks and we have messed around once (but no sex and we didnt go very far at all). Anyway i explained to him that im not ready to have sex yet and we had a few conversations after that about other things and he seemed to understand and it was fine. So today im in the shopping centre and i had planned to meet him and he sends me this text saying to come to his office as there is no one there. So I asked what he meant by that and he said he was expecting sex and something about bending me over a boardroom table. I was so annoyed. So i didnt want to meet him anymore and texted his this - 'I thouht u already understood i wasnt ready for that after we tallked about it. Let me know if u want to see me for something beside sex.' Is what i said ok? Also hes a sex addict if that helps

Why is this man mucking me around? I fancy this guy at work. We're both in our early 30's. He likes me as well as as a joke said that he would show me his juggling skills if I danced on the boardroom table after work. So I said ok then and then he said maybe we should do it somewhere more private. I said great idea but when I pulled him up on it later on in the day he said he's changed his mind then stopped talking to me. Considering he was the one that made all the moves I think this is bang out of order. I'm really hurt and upset.

Sexual harassment is required in order to ensure the continuation of the species? This is old news, I know, but who cares. "The unnamed executive, a 22-year-old from St Petersburg, had been hoping to become only the third woman in Russia's history to bring a successful sexual harassment action against a male employer. She alleged she had been locked out of her office after she refused to have intimate relations with her 47-year-old boss. "He always demanded that female workers signalled to him with their eyes that they desperately wanted to be laid on the boardroom table as soon as he gave the word," she earlier told the court. "I didn't realise at first that he wasn't speaking metaphorically." The judge said he threw out the case not through lack of evidence but because the employer had acted gallantly rather than criminally. "If we had no sexual harassment we would have no children," the judge ruled. " http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/2470310/Sexual-harrassment-okay-as-it-ensures-humans-breed-Russian-judge-rules.html @Messiah: Good point

The wrong people got your message...what was the message, and who got it? A regional sales manager at a company where I used to work left a voice mail for a friend in the company - "Every since the new CEO got here, they've got us so busy we don't even have time to wipe our azzes!" - but he mistakenly copied everyone in the ENTIRE COMPANY, including the CEO himself, lol - when he showed up at the office for the next sales meeting, he walked in to find the entire table in the boardroom stacked with toilet paper (courtesy of the new CEO, who did at least have a sense of humor.) Got any funny stories?

Have you had a job interview that was more difficult than the average interview ? I once answered an ad for a machinist and when I attended the interview it was for a much higher position than the one I had applied for . I was taken to a boardroom and questioned by a table of 8 different people and it was very unexpected and lasted for quite some time.

How is this so? 10 pts. to right answer!? Willco has a meeting. There are 12 board members but when they arrive at the boardroom, there are only 11 chairs at the table. The meeting organizer has a solution. He seats the 1st board member in the first chair. He then seats the 2nd board on the 1st one's lap. He then proceeds to seat the 3rd member in the second seat, the 4th in the third seat, the 5th in the fourth seat and so on. After he seats the last one, the 2nd board member gets up off the lap of the 1st and takes the final seat. All 12 are now seated.How is this possible? --no one brought in another chair Finally, the answer!! The board member who temporarily sits on the 1st board member's lap is board member #2. By the time the 12th board member is seated, the meeting organizer has forgotten(as did you) the member's number and counts him as number 12. The actual 12th board member does not get to the table at all. Member #2 simply gets up and moves around to sit in the 12th chair!! Points go to the closest!! What's with the turtle? Should read by the time the 11th member was seated..

Did Alec Baldwin pop up in a skit on SNL April 14 2007? I thought I saw him in a skit where a bunch of guys were sitting in a boardroom(?) having a meeting. Wearing a fake beard. He was at the head of the table directing the meeting. My kids swear I dreamt this.

Summarize in four sentences? Lois Gibbs found her voice at Love Canal. Thirty years later, in her latest crusade, she has Fortune 500 companies rolling over faster than she can create her hit list. In 1978 Lois Gibbs was a 27-year-old housewife with two young children, living in a subdivision in Niagara Falls, New York. Her husband worked in a nearby chemical plant, which emitted an acrid smoke that crept over the homes and lapped at doors and windows. Nobody minded the odor--it was the smell of jobs. The community's future looked bright--until Gibbs and her neighbors were told that the land beneath them contained more than 21,000 tons of chemical waste buried by the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation (now the Occidental Chemical Corporation). She immediately wondered whether the Love Canal waste dump was linked to the serious, unexplained illnesses suffered by her children--asthma, epileptic seizures, liver and urinary tract problems. Gibbs soon discovered many families were ill, and her anger transformed the shy housewife into one of the nation's strongest voices for environmental justice. You might call her the Rosa Parks of the environmental movement. "She was an ordinary citizen, but she had enormous natural leadership qualities," says Linda Greet, director of the health program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Her organizing set the tone and scope of what was to become the 1980 Superfund bill." In the preface to Gibbs's autobiography, Ralph Nader wrote, "Lois Gibbs proved that an 'average' person could become empowered enough to change not only her life but the fives of others. [She is] a role model for people struggling for social justice around the world." It turned out Love Canal was just the beginning for Gibbs. The tragedy set off a firestorm of phone calls from citizens concerned that they; too, were suffering from toxic atrocities in their own communities. "Three thousand people called the Love Canal Homeowners Association near the end of our struggle," says Gibbs. "They were saying, 'Oh, my God, I have one of those sites.' Or, 'They want to put one in my backyard.' I remember thinking, 'I have to help them.'" The petite brunette, whom we remember with a placard in her hand and a three-year-old daughter balanced on her hip, had no idea how to create a national nonprofit organization. "Before Love Canal my biggest decision was what to make for supper," she says with a laugh. But by 1981 she had $20,000 in hand to found the Citizen's Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, which has since been renamed the Center for Health, Environment and Justice and is located in Falls Church, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Today Gibbs is a 57-year-old mother of four with the girl-next-door appearance of Sally Field and the strong-willed spunk of Erin Brockovich. She is as comfortable negotiating in the boardroom as she is sitting around the dining room table alongside working-class families. With a $1.5 million budget, and 14 full-time staff, her group is taking on one seemingly invincible corporation after another--and winning. McDonald's felt her early wrath when she hatched the "McToxics" campaign in 1987 to persuade the fast-food chain to stop using wasteful Styrofoam clamshell containers, which carry suspected carcinogens. "When you burn Styrofoam it releases greenhouse gases and dioxin," says Gibbs, "and when it's buried it doesn't ever degrade." Instead of launching a boycott, her group simply requested that McDonald's wrap sandwiches in paper. Gibbs's foot soldiers were the company's most valued customers: children. Recruited through scout groups and parent-teacher associations, they poured into their local McDonald's at rush hour with television crews and newspaper reporters in tow. When a segment of a boy crying because a McDonald's manager wouldn't let him have his burger wrapped in paper was aired on prime-time TV news, "it launched us into a national arena," says Gibbs. "McDonald's rolled over, and most of the fast-food industry fell in line." The same tactic worked when her group revealed "Victoria's Dirty Little Secret," a cleverly named campaign (duplicated by activists protesting the forests logged for catalogues) that aimed to stop the angelwinged lingerie icon's parent company, Intimate Brands, from using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bottles for its bath gels, lotions, and body sprays. At first Gibbs approached politely, contacting the company's executives and public relations representatives. She explained why it would be socially responsible to stop using toxic PVC, a plastic that, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is hazardous to the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system; increases the risk of cancer; and has been linked to reproductive problems. Next she teamed up with Greenpeace and reached out to the company's core customers: women 18 to 22 years old, a time in their fives when studies show that they're apt to develop lifel

Do you have a problem with laughing when you shouldn't? I have a funny bone. The smallest things can tickle me. I'm not a giggler but I will bust out laughing at the drop of a hat. For Example: I'm sitting in the board room & the general counsel was at the head of the table asking questions about a case. He went around the table asking each member of the legal team their opinion about it. Well, when he gets to Ross, an older gentleman, he was KNOCKED OUT SLEEP. Breathing heavily and everything. "Ross?" my boss said. "Ross!" he insisted. I was about to lose it. Ross's secretary, who was sitting next to him, nudged him. He startled and awakened totally disoriented. Eyes bucked and red as crimson. That did it for me. I busted out laughing. I got up and nearly ran out of the boardroom waving my hand as if to say "I'm sorry yall." I know it was totally unprofessional, but I couldn't help it. This happens all the time. At church, in court or anywhere I should NOT be laughing. Sh!t I'm cracking up right now. Does this happen to you? Example 2: @ my G-father's funeral (burial site) the Green Beret were doing a 12 gun salute. They were all old vets. You know how they cock the guns b4 shooting, right. Well one guy was having a hard time. So the other soldiers had to wait for him b4 shooting. It was taking a long time. He was struggling bad. Then the the seargent (the guy who calls out the commands) quickly says in a low, frustrated, mean voice, "forget it!" I almost collapsed I was so overwhelmed with laughter. My brother, who knew I was laughing, grabbed me & I buried my head in his chest. I laughed for about 30 minutes. Everyone thought I was crying. I felt like I was the worse person in the world. Silent laughs are the worse. I have to mask those by pretending to cough. I'm a teary laugher to it shows all over my face. I loose a composure. I really need help!

Does anybody remember this commercial? It dates back to about 2002. Three executives are walking toward a boardroom for a major presentation. The one exec asks the other if he remembers all of what's he's going to say. He points to his head and says it's all up here -- and BAM! He walks right into a drawer at head level and knocks himself out cold. The two other exec's stare in stunned disbelief. The two exec's proceed into the boardroom and before they can start the presentation the second exec (The remaining one who knew the presentation) slips and knocks himself out on the table -- leaving just the one exec (Who doesn't know the presentation) left to look helplessly at the board members in the room. I don't remember what company this commercial was for. I've searched Youtube and come up dry! Can anybody help, because this commercial cracked me up!?

Funny or not? Good stuff to do at meetings in office: 1. stand up in the middle and say," i am insert name, and i am an alcoholic. 2. steal the bosses chair and say, " now I AM IN CHARGE! MWAHAHAHA" 3. tap people next to you and duck when they turn 4. say you dropped your pen and then go under the table an say," OH MY GOD! A BODY!" 5. ask to make a suggestion, then stand and fart. 6. bark at people who pass by the boardroom 7. ask why the water cooler is on fire. 8. take out your lunch and start eating, then when the boss says your name, offer to share your sandwich 9. dress up in knights armor, then say," i thought it was casual friday." 10. bring gi joes and reinact world war 2 after the meeting starts. this is not mine i got it offa myspace and thought it was really funny also i do not have any co-workers i dont even have a job. im 12 people? are some of u insane????? You guys dont have to be buttheads!about the thumbs up thumbs down thingys! ima kid whats wrong with you peple why would you be mean to a 12 year old? You are sick my freind. SICKO! how can you live with yourself? you're idiot. go play in traffic

David Moyes Frustration? It seems he is gutted that alot of Everton fans did not want to move to a new staduim which would attract new international stars - He is gutted that certain transfer targets have not been sealed - He is gutted he had taken Everton away from the bottom end of the table and turned Everton into a top ten side again only to see his efforts be stalled, if only he could take it even further like arsen did at Arsenal and Alex did at UTD - He knows he can only become one of the greats if only he has a GREAT boardroom and finacial staff behind him. I am an Evertonian, and as far as I am concerned - the sun shines through Davey Moyses arse! What a legend! He deserves better - MUCH better! Mid 80's all over again! Grey and Stevens know what im talkin about

Is there too much money involved in football nowadays????? Manchester United will head into next month's Champions League final having enhanced their status as the richest football club in the world. United have increased their wealth in the Forbes magazine annual list of the world's 25 most valuable clubs, topping the table with £0.9billion, from £0.7billion in 2007. Second-placed Real Madrid boast a higher operating profit at £56million but lag behind the Old Trafford club, for whom Malcolm Glazer paid £0.7billion in 2005. Rounding out the top-five list were Arsenal (with a value of £0.6 billion) followed by Liverpool and Bayern Munich. Liverpool have put a season of boardroom strife behind them to rocket seven places from 11th. The Reds' value more than doubled from £227million to £525million despite the ongoing controversy over the club's ownership. Meanwhile, David Beckham has replaced Ronaldinho as the world's leading player after his deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy, which helped earn him £25million per year. Th

Story improvement...? Hi. I have recently written a story. I'm planning to do more, but I need help to correct the beginning bit. Also, if it's bad please just say because I need to know if it is or isn't. Many Thanks. Prologue: Pitch-black. Slowly and without thought, he turned the engine off and grabbed the keys out of the ignition switch. The engine reared to a halt, and then…silence. Pause. He shoved back his long, dark-brown, greasy hair and took one final look in the rear-view mirror. Wow: he was handsome as hell, but she obviously thought otherwise. What was I thinking, allowing her to screw this whole thing up? It was pitch-black, so instead of looking for the door handle, he felt for it. After a few moments of searching, the cold and smooth texture of the handle finally fell into his hand. He clasped his fingers around the handle, and, with one quick pull, the door swung open. As he clambered out of the car, all he could hear were the trees swaying in the gentle breeze. Then, without warning, the car door slammed shut as the winds picked up pace. He could now feel the wind sweeping against his soft cheeks. This place won’t be difficult to find for the others, I hope. The rain started to fall, and as he began to walk forward towards the small bushes, he felt a rain-droplet brush his forehead. He pulled out his mobile phone, and started to write a text message: "It wouldn’t have been that difficult to find. All you had to do was look for the big fucking gaping hole that you dug up, and then you would have found it. Anyway, it’s too late now. It’s gone; you should have found it earlier instead of letting it hide away, never to be found again. Now it can’t be found, and it’s all down to you." He pressed send, and then closed his phone. That should have helped the bitch. For the past minute or so the wind had calmed down, but now it picked up again. The trees swayed more violently as he put his car keys in his pocket. Glowing in dimly in his face, were the lights from the far-away towns and cities. Now, he was walking slowly and quietly towards the cliff-edge. He now stood a mere two inches away from the edge. The cold wind now surged past his face as he stared longingly at the very bottom of the emptiness. And, with one quick glance back over his shoulder at the silver 4x4 Landrover he’d driven there in, he jumped. Chapter 1: Jennifer Sampson took one deep breath then stepped through the big doors to her left. The doors were frosted-glass, and felt smooth against her soft skin. She regretted it the minute she walked in; even Mark was staring at her. Great: sales losses, heavy traffic, her mother ill in hospital, and now this, Jen thought as she walked through into the boardroom meeting where all eyes were trained upon her scruffy suit. ‘I’m so, so sorry I’m late…’ Jen gasped as she fought her way to her black leather-clad chair. She placed her suit jacket carefully on the back of the chair before taking a seat. ‘It’s explainable. My mother...’ ‘I don’t think it is explainable, Jen. Three times… three times consecutively that you’ve been late for meetings. You need a better excuse, and you need to smarten up for once!’ A few seconds pause, and Gale started up. ‘So- how are the sales?’ Jen asked- despite knowing full well that there were severe losses- just to create conversation. It was silent when she walked in, as everybody’s glare followed her to her chair. ‘Well, seen as though you’re responsible for the sales, I think you should shed light on how you’ve managed with them.’ Silence. Jen gulped just quietly enough so Gale couldn’t hear, and attempted to explain to the thirty people sat at the table in front of her, looking impatiently at her for, what Mark had called ‘answers’. ‘Well, let’s put it this way: our profits have seen better months. Our sales have dropped, but statistics show that they are on the rise again, and within no time at all, we will have dusted ourselves down, and we will be selling better than ever. So, any questions?’ A phone began to ring in the background, just about loudly enough so that Jen could hear it. ‘When the hell do we get positives? The company has had only negative figures for the past year. Luckily, we have just about enough cash in the bank to last us one and a half years. But already we’ve had to make severe cutbacks and redundancies, which have rendered our production even slower than before.’ ‘Well as I’ve said, the number of units currently being sold is on the rise and if we can last out a few months longer, we’ll be in a much better position than we were when this whole thing started. All we need is time.’ ‘Yes, but what I’m trying to say is… we don’t have time!' He paused for a second, listening to the still-ringing phone in the background. He raised his voice. 'And would someone please answer the bloody phone!'

Will you rate this poem? The kids were saved. And it was all thanks to Bucket head. The plan was made. And it was all because of Bucket head. Misbehavioural science; they couldn't keep her quiet. You set the jet on fire. You controlled all her violence. And out of the shadows came a slim sign of life. Tell the mothers and fathers that it's gonna be alright. She saved the day so they named the day for Bucket head. She saved their brains from the table of the walking dead. Monsters walking into boardrooms hand in hand They must be joking if they think they'll take the business From the claws of our superhero. And they called her an ordinary neighbourhood cat But did they see her flying high above a crowd of stupified rats. The world was saved. It was all thanks to Bucket head. Happy days ahead so let's drink to Bucket head.

Will September be the collapse of the US real economy? According to LEAP/E2020, the end of the third quarter of 2008 will be marked by a new tipping point in the unfolding of the global systemic crisis. At that time indeed, the cumulated impact of the various sequences of the crisis (see table below) will reach its maximum strength and affect decisively the very heart of the systems concerned, on the frontline of which the United States, epicentre of the current crisis. In the United States, this new tipping point will translate into a collapse of the real economy, final socio-economic stage of the serial bursting of the housing and financial bubbles [1] and of the pursuance of the US dollar fall. The collapse of US real economy means the virtual freeze of the American economic machinery: private and public bankruptcies in large numbers, companies and public services closing down massively [2],... A revealing harbinger: From March 2008 onward, the US government will cease to publish its economic indicators due to budget restrictions [3]. Those who read the GEAB N°2 (02/2006), and included Alert, certainly keep in mind our anticipation which connected the upcoming fall of the US dollar with the US Fed’s decision to cease publishing the M3 indicator. This new decision is another clear sign that US leaders are now anticipating a very bleak economic outlook for their country. Time perspective of the seven sequences of the impact phase of the global systemic crisis as anticipated since mid-2007 - Source LEAP/E2020, GEAB N°18 (10/2007) In this 22nd issue of the GEAB, LEAP/E2020’s experts try in particular to anticipate very specifically what will come out of the collapse of the US real economy for the United States themselves and for the other regions of the world. Meanwhile our team presents five sets of strategic and operational recommendations helping to protect oneself from the upcoming deterioration of the global systemic crisis. On the occasion of the second anniversary of the publication of our famous “Global systemic crisis Alert” which toured the world in February 2006 [4], LEAP/E2020 wishes to remind that we are now resolutely stepping into an era with no historical precedent. Our researchers insisted on that many times in the last two years: any comparison with the previous crises of our modern economy would be fallacious. It is neither a “remake” of the 1929 crisis nor a repetition of the 1970s oil crises or 1987 stock market crisis. It is truly a global systemic crisis, that is to say a crisis affecting the entire planet and questioning the very foundations of the international system upon which the world was organised in the last decades. According to LEAP/E2020, it is also instructive to observe that, two years after the release of this « Alert » which at the time generated both the interest of millions of readers worldwide and the condescending irony of most « experts » and « managers » of the economic and financial spheres, everyone is now convinced that a crisis is truly happening, that it is really global, and for most people already that it could indeed be systemic. However, it is always a repeated astonishment for our team to see the degree of incapacity of these same experts and managers in understanding the specific nature of the phenomenon currently unfolding. According to them, this crisis would only be a normal crisis but bigger. As a matter of fact that is the way the financial media reflect the dominant interpretations of the ongoing crisis. According to our team, this approach is not only intellectually lazy [5], it is also morally guilty, because it has for a main consequence to prevent their readers (whether they are simple citizens, private investors or public or private organisation managers) from preparing for the upcoming shocks [6]. For this reason, in opposition to all what can be read in the mainstream media always eager to conceal the truth and serve the interests of those who rule them, LEAP/E2020 wishes to remind that it is first and foremost in the United States that the systemic crisis is taking an unprecedented shape (the « Very Great US Depression » as our team decided to call it in January 2007 [7]) because it is around this country, and this country alone, that the world got progressively organised after the second World War. The various issues of the GEAB extensively described this situation. In short, let’s be clear about the fact that neither Europe nor Asia have a negative saving rate, a full-scale housing crisis throwing millions of citizens out of their homes, a free-falling currency, abysmal public and trade deficits, an economic recession and, on top of all this, a number of costly wars to finance. Neither Asia nor Europe (or more precisely ‘nor the Eurozone’) will suffer the roughest, the most sustainable and the most negative impact of the ongoing crisis; but the United States will, as well as all the countries/economies strongly linked to the US (what our experts have decided to call “the American risk”) [8]. A “decoupling” is indeed taking place between the US economy and the other large regions of the world. But “decoupling” does not mean “independence” and it is clear that, as anticipated by LEAP/E2020 for many months, Asia and Europe will be affected by the crisis. But « decoupling » entails that the evolution of the US economy and of the other large regions of the world are no longer synchronised, that Asia and Europe are now moving along courses no longer determined by the US economy. The global systemic crisis is in fact the beginning of an economic « decoupling » between the US and the rest of the world, knowing that the non « decoupled » economies will be dragged down the US negative spiral. US Self-Employment in a Steep Downturn - Source Bureau of Labor Statistics / Merril Lynch (shaded region represents period of US recession) The cases of the housing (2006) and financial (2007) bubble-bursting are eloquent. Indeed, the large majority of operators (non-specialised in the concerned sector) discovered that « the party was over » a long time after the trend had reversed. During the entire reversal period (which usually lasts between 6 to 12 months at most), dominant stances kept repeating them that nothing was changing and that emerging worries had no reason to be; and later, that the problems would remain confined to the sector concerned and to the US only. All those who, in the US and elsewhere, listened to these arguments are bitterly regretful now that they are stuck with unmarketable houses (or about to be foreclosed) or now that they see the value of their assets crumble day after day [9]. Concerning stock markets, our team has anticipated since October 2007 that international stocks would plummet by 20 to 60 percent according to the region in the course of the year 2008. Today, we must re-evaluate our anticipations as we estimate that losses will be even greater than that. Indeed, on the one hand, stock markets have already lost between 10 and 20 percent since the beginning of the year [10], and, on the other hand, the collapse of the real economy in the US by the end of Summer 2008 will drag down all stock markets. According to LEAP/E2020, international stock markets will probably drop by 50 percent in average compared to 2007 (including in the emerging countries) [11]. This sort of re-evaluation is typical of the work of anticipation carried by LEAP/E2020. Month after month we try to distinguish which trends are growing and which are relenting in order to improve the accuracy of our evaluations. We do not strive to “be right” [12], nor to “sell” or “promote” anything. We seek simply and without prejudice to describe in advance the consequences of the heavy trends at play in this 21st-century world, and to share with our readers what we think are the proper means to protect oneself from the most negative effects. In this 22nd issue of the Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin, with the alert we sound about a collapse of US real economy from September 2008 onward, we are trying again to warn those concerned that this major event will generate many very severe socio-political troubles in the United States [13] whose economy is truly on a tumbling course [14], a situation extremely likely to entail very heavy consequences for the financial and monetary markets, and for the world’s economy. We have not yet reached the heart of the crisis. According to LEAP/E2020, we will be there in the second semester of 2008. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] A very instructive film was recently nominated at the Sundance Film Festival: I.O.U.S.A., directed by Patrick Creadon. As it follows the journey of David Walker, US Comptroller General (and therefore responsible for controlling federal public spending), during a series of conferences on the state of public expenditures throughout the country, this film shows the very direct impact of the current crisis on American citizens and the United States. The release of this film illustrates the fact that, in just a few months time, this crisis left the mere circles of experts and boardrooms of financial institutions to enter into the daily life of the US citizens. [2] In the past few days, the complete collapse of Municipal bonds (or « Munis ») illustrates the fact that the crisis is spreading to all sectors of the US society. This collapse will freeze all public investment projects scheduled by local authorities in the US. It is one of the first big victims of the implosion of « bonds insurers » announced by LEAP/E2020 in the GEAB N°19. It aloso demonstrates the fact that large banks are now incapable of playing their role of financers of the country’s economic activity. Sources: Financial Times, 02/13/2008 & Bloomberg, 02/14/2008 [3] Source: EconomicIndicators.Gov, Economics & Statistics Administration, US Department of Commerce [4] See GEAB N°2, 02/15/2006 [5] The first reason that may prevent those « experts » to conceive the « unconceivable », is not a matter of intelligence but a « commercial » problem. Indeed it would compel them to review most of their intellectual principles (their work hypotheses) and their business base (their « clients » would not appreciate to learn that they were on the wrong track all these years). [6] On this subject, it is worth noticing the very straightforward speech made by the head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, who recently warned his fellow citizens that the current crisis would downgrade significantly their living standards. Unfortunately, no US leader, including among the Democrats, is able to produce such a speech, knowing that their fellow citizens will be hit even harder than the British. Source: The Telegraph, 02/14/2008. [7] See GEAB N°11, 01/15/2007. [8] In this 22nd issue of the GEAB, the LEAP/E2020 team gives a set of recommendations helping investors to assess themselves the « American risk » of a country, sector or investment. [9] The same goes for all those who chose to listen to similar arguments telling them, along the years 2006 and 2007, that it was impossible for the EURUSD exchange rate to go above 1.30, then 1.40, and now 1.50… while waiting 1.70 at the end of the year 2008. [10] Only « dream merchants » can still imagine that stock markets could improve by the end of the year, while the crisis is speeding up. [11] It is worth reminding that in January 2008, in just a month, global stock markets saw USD 5,200 billion-worth go up in smoke. Source: China Daily News, 02/10/2008 [12] Even if our anticipations undeniably proved to be right in the past two years concerning the global systemic crisis. [13] See ‘Sequence 6 : 2nd quarter 2007 – 4th quarter 2009 : « Very Great Depression » in the US, social unrest and growing influence of the army on public management, GEAB N°18, 10/15/2007 [14] Predictions about the failure of dozens of US banks in the coming two years illustrate the scope of upcoming difficulties. Source: Reuters, 02/01/2008 © Copyright Europe 2020 - Contact Email : centre@europe2020.org - Site réalisé sous Spip