The CEO Game

In the European Union an all time negative record was broken in November: 10% rate of unemployment. Just like the United States and president Obama, the European Union too is battling with high rates of unemployment. The unemployment rate has risen in all European Union countries and has reached the highest peak since the beginning of the millennium. Spain is leading the charts, and the Netherlands enjoy the lowest rate.

Like Obama, the European Union is stuck with a high unemployment rate.

For the first time since the Euro currency was launched in 1999, the unemployment rate among the 16 countries which are members of the EU and use the common currency has reached 10%. EuroStat, the Statistical Office of the European Union, had published last week the data which shows that the unemployment rate had risen in 0.1% from October, and is now standing on the highest level since August 1998, an 8% increase compared to 2008 at the time.

As mentioned above, Spain is suffering from the highest rate of unemployment at 19.4%, while Holland is proud to have only 3.9%, the lowest rate. This inequality re-raised the claims that the common Euro currency is of more beneficent to some countries than to others.

The unemployment rate of 27 EU members which don’t use the Euro like Britain and Sweden had also risen in November by 0.1% to 9.5%. Through out the entire Euro bloc you can find countries who are suffering from the recession such as Spain, Greece, Cyprus. In addition, many economies are rapidly shrinking for instance in Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Romania and even in the United Kingdom.

Altogether in November, 22.9 million of people where unemployed in the European Union, 15.7 million out of them are from the Euro bloc. The EuroStat had also published data showing on a 0.4% growth in the Euro bloc’s economy in the third quarter of 2008, due to Germany and a 0.3% growth in the entire European Union. A reason to be optimistic? We aren’t so sure…

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.

Just two years prior to this decade’s end, the world was struck by the one of the biggest financial crises since 1929. But despite the moments of crisis and before our entrance to the second decade of the 21st century, we had witnessed many moment of success and technological invents that conquered the world. Now it is the time to go back and review the most influential financial events of the first decade in the millennium.

Euro- became the financial star of Europe

The aforementioned financial crisis will be our kick off point. The global financial crisis was the most significant event influence- wise. When the share folders began to lose their value in 2007, no one could have though that it was just the warning sign. But, when the American banks came tumbling down one after one in the United States, everybody already knew, that this was the beginning of global economic crisis. In 14 September 2008, the crisis had gone from bad to worse, when Lehman Brothers, the American investments bank declared bankruptcy. From this point and on, it was one event after the other, indices dropped percents by the hundreds and many people were left homeless. From the beginning of this year, we started to see many signs of recovery in the economy, President Obama’s people even found the time to claim it was over, but experts still insist this is not the end.

The golden age of the European Union: In 2002, Europe adopted the new Euro currency. The Euro is the common currency for sixteen out of twenty-seven countries who are members of the European Union. The newly born coin, replaced all the currencies which were used until then in those different countries. Just before the introduction of the Euro, the continent was swept by fears and sincere concerns, mainly due to the fact that not all of the countries were ready to receive the new currency. Nevertheless, hysteria became history, today- nearly 8 years after its introduction the Euro became the financial star of Europe.

Another major event, which was one of the crisis’s first sprouts was the oil barrel price which reached the price of 100$ for the first time in 24 years. At the time, experts connected the rise to another decline in the US oil reserves, the price reached its climax in July 2008, but since the financial crisis was officially declared, the prices dropped to the low price of 33$, the lowest price since July 2004. But enough with these “misfortunate” events, in the year 2000 the widely renowned “Disk On Key” was invented by an Israeli company named “EM-Systems” which was later bought by Sandisk for 1.5$ billion. The easy to use, Disk On-Key became one of the most popular accessories in the world. Later on in 2001, Microsoft released the operation system Windows XP, which had two different versions one for home use and one for the business sector both based on the same core, not that I am a huge fan, but it is worth mentioning.

YouTube’s huge deal: In February 2005, three workers of pay-pal, the online credit service, founded the world’s largest and biggest file sharing website, YouTube. In November that year, a sponsor was found and the site was born. Under-less than a year YouTube was bought by Google in one of the biggest deals in the field, when Google paid 1.65$ billion in shares for YouTube. It became so big that we can’t even imagine the web today without YouTube or other familiar sites.

The world’s second longest Oil pipeline which was built in 2006 is the first pipeline which is capable to deliver oil from Asia to Europe, not through Russia. The pipeline stretches over 1,770 kilometers and goes through the capital of Azerbaijan and Georgia, until it reaches Turkey. Oil this, Oil that, we personally take much more interest in the iPhone. In 2007, Apple announced on their new joy toy, the iPhone. The advanced device was one of the most sophisticated yet appealing devices which were invented this decade. It revolutionized the cellular market, and made the iTunes store and the App Store well famous. The iPhone is controlled by touch, and is considered one the biggest innovations in the field of private communication.

Britain’s big break came in the form of a nerdy boy who is a great magician. The science fiction book series of Harry Potter from J.K. Rolling became a huge success story. Million of books were sold all across the world, and with each release the sell record of the previous book was broken once again. Only in the US, the seventh and last book in the series, sold 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release alone. Microsoft’s Second Event came in 2007 when Microsoft released Windows Vista. A lot of good stuff was told about the operating system before the release, but soon it was clear that the joy was a bit too early. A little after the publication, the company declared on decreasing the price, but it didn’t make a lot of change. Today, the new Windows 7 seems to bring a fresher look and feel to Vista and could be a sign of success after that failure.

The End of the Beetles: In 2003 came the end of an era- the creation of the classical Beetle car was stopped, after 65 years of production. The car from the house of Volkswagen, was created first in 1938, misfortunately due to the request of Adolf Hitler. Over the years, twenty million cars were made, until 30 July 2003 when the curtain was finally closed on one the milestones in the history of the automobile industry. Another means of transportation which made history, and now became a part of history on its own is the Concord Plane. The plane came out of service in 24 October 2003 with a final retirement flight that year and while we are on the subject, let us mention the First Private Flight to Space: In 21 June 2004, Space Ship 1 had complete the first private trip to space with the experienced pilot Mike Melvill on board.

In conclusion it was a great decade in spite of the financial crisis, a decade which was full of wonderful inventions- many of whom we mentioned here, and still we barely scratched the surface.
Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.

The world standstills, dazed and confused as news break out about a new possible Chinese-Japanese alliance. China and Japan, long time sworn rivals began to seriously discuss their unification, one so strong according to experts, that it could make them the strongest financial force ever seen in the entire world. This comes as a shock, since Tokyo and Beijing’s main concerns over a century were fighting and humiliating each other over more than a couple of wars. Now they talk business and propose creating and joining both a wide “East Asian Community” instead of poking each other with sticks just for the kick of it.

A New East Asian Community?

Although the plans to build this East Asian Community are in their primordial stages, the result of this oriental holy matrimony may pose a threat to major economic powerhouses worldwide including the parallel European Union. Current talks revolve steps to reduce the suspicions and the contention between the two countries. Among this initial steps you can find measures such as canceling the long time obligatory entrance permit (thus, making traveling visa free) and cooperation on environmental issues and energy, as well as public health. If all goes well, the dual countries will be tackling more complex issues from regional agricultural understandings to politics and defense and military cooperation. Another hot issue, and what might be an attempt to strike at the European Union’s foundation stone the euro, is a possible East Asian common currency.

This change in decades long tensions, is possible due to the newly elected Japanese democratic party just a couple of months ago. It is believed that the Japanese PM was the one who started the talks, on his first meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in New York. The new Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, who won by leading and recruiting brilliant campaign strategists, has brought the winds of change with him, and he focuses his energies at rebuilding the relationships with neighboring China and other countries too. These efforts were previously chopped down by rightist governments, and now they represent a backlash against Washington, some may even say a slap in the face of Japan’s most persistent ally since the Second World War, one that could threaten Obama’s foreign and economic policies.

The effects of an orient economic alliance would be humongous, with Japan and China being the world’s second and third largest economies appropriately. Media observations pointed out it was Japan’s will behind the wheel that revived the talks. However, why does Japan want the alliance so much? Like the old saying says “if you can’t beat them, join them”, the global economic crisis has shown Japan that it needs to aspire to garrison its economic strength, which China might soon surpass, by actually aligning with China and some newly emerging economies in the area. They also want to establish a powerful, influential Japanese leadership in East Asia, don’t forget this once was an Empire, and a shot at solving territorial issues such as who will hold significant areas of the East China Sea, which contain oil and natural gas.

It seems like if they do actually form this union that the West will suffer a blow. But, will the western world gain any profit from the alliance at all? The West could actually enjoy from a closer relationship between Japan and other surrounding Asian countries, which may help US interests in the region. The US administration also believes that more involvement from China’s side in the global stage would help world economics. However, many obstacles still lay ahead: to ease the tension that dates back to the first Sino-Japanese war in 1894, when Japan led an offensive campaign against China and destroyed it’s military under less than a year. There were more wars to follow, with the protruding World War II when 300 thousand Chinese innocent civilians were killed by the Japanese occupying troops. Over the years, the Japanese colonial rule became like a thorn in China’s side, pervading from relations to improve.

Furthermore, some polls show that two thirds of the Chinese are in favor of a wider Asian cooperation like the one being discussed for quite some time now, which will include more countries such as Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand and mighty India. Nevertheless, experts agree on communist China’s unwillingness to jump into a swift arrangement. Especially a wide agreement, that might include another one of China’s traditional rivals- India as mentioned above, with China already fearing the India-Japan space alliance; suspecting that the US is masterminding this regional space alliance, behind the curtains. But, according to the Chinese, they are still advocating and engaged at setting up an East Asian Community and its integration process. We suggest continuing following this hot topic, when talks resume on October 10 in Beijing.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.