I grew up drinking Pepsi on rare occasions, being raised by parents who were not interested in getting me involved with obesity before grade school.
Nevertheless, there was sometimes Pepsi at the party of a friend — but more often than not, it was Coca-Cola that was being served.
Continue reading → The Horror of Pepsi Pink: Ten Sentence Story #143
by Violaine Messager
This is a worldwide review of newspapers’ outlook on the evolution of the dollar, interest rates and policies at two points in the time.
End of May
The threat of deflation is overwhelming in Europe and in Asia as announced by the IMF in a recently published report. Germany is very likely to be the first and foremost victim of this phenomenon. In the same time, the US seem to be safe from this threat thanks to the flexibility of their monetary policies in this respect.
Continue reading → Whilst Fighting Inflation, Deflation Threatens
by Emma Dowson
An ancient temple in a communist republic seemed an unlikely place to meet a budding entrepreneur, particularly one dressed in saffron robes. At Wat Si Sakat a myriad worn Buddhas perched in cobweb-festooned crevices and a teenage novice monk clutched a text book. “This is what I want,” he said, pointing to a page where cartoon businessmen shook hands: “Money is God now.”
Vientiane
Laos is in a time capsule, tantalizingly poised between the practice of communism and the pursuit of capitalism, but first impressions of its capital, Vientiane, were of a torpid backwater. Ochre houses blending into coconut palms stretched languidly along the banks of the Mekong River. A four-hundred-year-old golden stupa dominated the skyline. Traffic comprised bicycles and the occasional VW Beetle. Jasmine trees poked their roots through dusty paving stones and dragonflies hung like clothes pegs from telegraph wires. The local greeting – “Sawadee” – hung in the warm air like an incantation. It was Asia on valium.
Vientiane is dreamily peaceful, yet it hasn’t always been that way. Sandwiched between China, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia, landlocked, sparsely populated Laos, was, for centuries, something of a cross-roads for warring armies. This former outpost of the French Indochinese Empire, became the most bombed nation on earth during the Vietnam War. The communists took over in 1975, isolating Laos from the rest of the world for a decade and a half, but although Vientiane’s colonial villas are crumbling, a European, frayed-around-the-edges charm pervades, fading only occasionally into Iron Curtain solemnity.
You must be logged in to post a comment.