Voting for the next American President takes place in 16 days and considering the historic nature of this election, there are surprisingly still quite a few undecided voters. So I really hope that a good number of those sitting on the fence will listen to General Powell’s endorsement of Senator Obama.
Having run a hard fought campaign these last two years, Senator Obama has clearly demonstrated that he has the experience, judgement and temperament to be the next President of the United States.
The world is watching with great anticipation to find out the outcome of US Presidential election. And according a poll conducted by The Economist, if citizens across the globe had the opportunity to vote in this election, Senator Obama would be President-elect already. The only countries that are leaning Senator McCain include: Georgia and Macedonia. Most others are trending for Senator Obama. No surprise really! Considering that the outcome of the election will have profound implications across the globe, folks would like to see the American public take a chance on the Senator from Illinois.
To see how this play out my country, visit The Economist's Global Electoral College page. Below is a summary of the American Electoral College and the Global one devised by The Economist.
America's Electoral College
All democratic systems have their quirks, and America's is no exception. The electoral college is a 200-year-old institution. According to its rules, Americans do not vote directly for their presidents. Instead they cast a ballot to decide who wins their state's electoral-college votes. The number of these votes is fixed by the number of people the state sends to Congress, which in turn is based on its population. All states have a minimum of three votes and there are 538 electoral-college votes up for grabs in total. The presidential candidate who secures the most electoral-college votes ends up in the White House. The loser invariably ends up on day-time television shows.Critics of the electoral-college system say it can produce a president who has lost the popular vote, as happened in 2000. They also complain that the winner-takes-all system employed by most states leads candidates to focus on a small number of "swing states" and ignore more reliably partisan ones. There have consequently been many attempts to reform the electoral-college system--over 700 so far--though until now nobody has suggested that the entire world be included.
The Global Electoral College
The Economist has redrawn the electoral map to give all 195 of the world's countries (including the United States) a say in the election's outcome. As in America, each country has been allocated a minimum of three electoral-college votes with extra votes allocated in proportion to population size. With over 6.5 billion people enfranchised, the result is a much larger electoral college of 9,875 votes. But rally your countrymen--a nation must have at least ten individual votes in order to have its electoral-college votes counted.There are few countries whose votes in the Global Electoral College are a foregone conclusion. So the winner is unlikely to be decided by a small number of "swing countries". Rather, they will have to cobble together a coalition of small, medium and large nations. (A campaign stop in Beijing is recommended, as well as a tour of Africa.) Voting in the Global Electoral College will close at midnight London time on November 1st, when the candidate with most electoral-college votes will be declared the winner.
If you've been reading my blog for some time, you'll know that I've been banging on about moral hazard as it relates to governments bailing out banks. However, after events these past 10 days (most of which were spent in Canada), I am not so sure anymore.
Meaning, I have had a slight change of heart because the market has become completely irrational and the actions by various governments across the globe has not helped the situation. Despite billions being pumped into the market to increase liquidity, confidence remains extremely low and banks are still not lending to each other. So things are getting dire. And so I have come to believe that perhaps a comprehensive global plan is needed. All this piece meal action is making things worst. The banking crisis that started in the US has truly gone global and recession is on the horizon in the US, Canada as well as a number of European countries. Heck, the UK and Ireland are already in recession.
So here's hoping that the finance ministers from the G8 nations and other key global players can get together and work something out. In the meantime, my advice to all of you out there is to spread your risk. Better yet, put your liquid cash in one of the new super banks (i.e. Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and HSBC). While I wouldn't bet my life on it, I seriously doubt that these banks will fail anytime soon. As for the others like Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, etc. -- well I'm not one to speculate, but things are not looking good.
For those of you in the US with money in a 401K plan, if you don't plan to retire in the next few years, just forget about it. Considering the massive losses already, never mind the tax penalties you'll encounter for any withdrawal, it is just not worth taking the money out. Perhaps switch to less risky investments in the plan. Beyond that, do nothing else. Remember, the market is in a serious slump now, but it will bounce back eventually.
Finally, beyond spreading your risk, think about what is really important to you. Money should never be the end all. Take it from someone who walked away from an extremely lucrative paying job in the middle of this financial crisis (more on this later). Crazy? Not really. As events over the last few weeks/months have shown, 100 year old institutions with all their wealth can disappear overnight. Thus, as our time here on this earth is short, it is important to find and focus on our true passions. It is important that one's life has real purpose and meaning.
I had a flash back a few moments ago to my former life and couldn't help but think about the movie: Glengarry Glen Ross. Below is a classic scene:
Yeah, a bit dysfunctional -- but anyone who has ever been in sales/business development will be able to call up a memory of a manager who gave elements of this now classic Alex Baldwin speech.
