A very interesting reading. Thank you Fillide. But I must confess that the more I read and listen to the news about economic woes the more confused I get. The reaction of the markets cannot be predicted and this convinces me that it is pure speculation without much logic. I read today this other article, which you may like: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/21/markets-bonds-euro-idUSL5E7ML1RV20111121

I quite agree - so much of our world politics has become a series of self-fulfilliing prophecies - and some would say orchestrated by dark forces..  So, assuming that the euro is on its way out, the Chinese bubble is about to burst, the Tea party win in America and Russia turns on Putin - has anyone any bright ideas for a ray of hope in 2012? or is the Mayan prophecy about to come true!?  (Other than Simon Cowell becomes a hermit)

Well, we should not worry too much if the Mayan prophecy is true and the world will come to an end on the 21st of December 2012. Nothing is going to matter too much.

Thanks for the links, though the more I read, like Gala,  the more my mind is boggled. I am determined to try to understand at least a little more but my head hurts..

On a global level Mr Am reads a lot of the comments on http://www.zerohedge.com/ some of which I understand, some of which might as well be in a very foreign language. None of it is telling me 'everything is going to be alright' though personally I am not too worried re the Mayan dates as I am not a great believer in everything being ordained.

In the meantime the Aljazeera footage of current events in Egypt is shocking and quite horrible. What extraordinary times.

Am

Eygpt -   meet the new boss ,  just like the old boss.  We won't get fooled again...sadly as expected.

There are problems everywhere, there were problems everywhere, the only difference is that nowadays we know about those problems and we have information at our fingertips. Overall and in spite of all the bad news, I think that we are better off than in the old times. And I may be a foolish optimist, but I do believe that things will improve in the future.

Could you imagine us having this exchange of ideas even some 30 years ago?

So it may not be all doom and gloom. Cheer up!

Well said Gala!  The lines of communication are well and truly open now, hence some of the unrest. 

For us in u.k. it is interesting and unsettling but for others, for example Egypt, the fact that the world can see what is happening right now must, we hope, affect the final outcome.

Fabbriche

I hope the World doesn't end on that day..... It's my Birthday, and that might put people off buying me presents..!!