Wednesday-Night

China to allow renminbi trade payments
(FT) Beijing moves towards reducing reliance on the US dollar with new rules that will enable importers and exporters to settle their payments to select Chinese companies in renminbi
11 June
China’s Commodity Buying Spree
HONG KONG — Strong buying by China has helped lift commodity prices around the world […]

BBC Iran country profile ; Iran on Wednesday-Night.com ; Search NYT for Iran ; Slate: Why the Islamic republic has such a youthful population ; Juan Cole’s Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion ; Stratfor Iran Situation Reports and Analyses ; More on Iran
It’s not the voting that’s democracy; it’s the […]

A peak at oil reserves
(The Economist) ACCORDING to BP, an oil company, the world has enough oil reserves to meet demand for the next four decades or so. (Interactive chart)
14 June
Warming up to carbon tax
Tariffs are good for the economy and environment, writes Jeff Rubin in Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole […]

Kimon Valaskakis’ efforts towards the reality of global government are moving forward, not only with progress in establishing the New School of Athens, but reaction to the current financial crisis in which inadequate banking and investment regulation has had a world wide domino-like effect, and is coming from both the political and investor camps. Their […]

T H E  R E P O R T
see wednesday-night.com for photos (especially the magnificent Hermitage La Chapelle) and videos

Wednesday Nighters were intrigued by the cover story in The Suburban trumpeting Wajsman for Mayor, and brought by the Man of the Cover. He assured all that the story was for real and that, tired of […]

See also WTO and related posts
Will Barack Obama Commit Industrial Policy?
Robert Kuttner, Co-Founder and Co-Editor of The American Prospect
Barack Obama may soon find that he is committing a big sin against one of the major premises of the reigning ideology. As part of his plan to restructure the auto industry, rebuild infrastructure, and create […]

We were glad to be reminded of this wonderful Long Johns clip  about how it all began - laughter truly is the best medicine
Financial Times Report on World Economy

A light at the end of the tunnel?

(The Economist) THE dithering has ended. After a week in which the financial system almost ground to a halt, […]

Overcoming the small annoyance for some of us (Westmount-Ville-Marie residents) of being in our fourth month of elections, with the only one that provoked true enthusiasm being over on November 4, we bravely tackle the important matters largely ignored by the Quebec electioneers.
The economy and world financial crisis would be at the top of our […]

See IMF  and World Economic Outlook Reports ; The world after the (bailout) vote
Nations seek IMF crisis funding
The credit squeeze is spreading to emerging market economies, forcing them to turn to the IMF for emergency balance of payments financing, managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn confirmed yesterday.
His comments came amid mounting fears that Pakistan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and […]

Two different views, both well worth reading
Pressure Builds on Singapore’s System
by Hugo Restall
(Far Eastern Economic Review) During the National Day festivities last month, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s gloomy prognosis for the economy—a “bumpy year” ahead—was overshadowed by even more dire warnings that the city state is about to start running low on its […]