Blog
Bryan Mistele Featured on '60 Minutes'
November 8th, 2010 - 1:11pm
Filed under Economy
Gen Next Member and Inrix CEO Bryan Mistele was recently featured on "60 Minutes". Lesley Stahl interviewed him on the potential impact an income tax in the state of Washington would have on small business, if the bill were passed. The debate has national implications as law makers continue to argue over various policies aimed at increasing much needed revenue.
The FED's $600 Billion Dollar Gamble
November 8th, 2010 - 1:02pm
Filed under Economy
The FED's $600 Billion Dollar Gamble
John Lee | November 4, 2010 at 2:11 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pJ5Yj-3o
Indeed, markets are beginning to recognized that the Fed will has decided to monetize Treasury debt in an effort to rearrange the proverbial deck chairs on the Titanic.
Almost immediately, a backlash exploded from foreign central banks. China, Brazil and Germany on Thursday criticized the Fed's yesterday, and a string of East Asian central banks said they were preparing measures to defend their economies against large capital inflows. But what does they mean by "defend against large capital inflows?" Quite simply, market participants will begin dumping dollars in anticipation of the dollar's imminent depreciation and potential for inflation leading to an appreciation of their currencies.
The Chinese central bank called unbridled printing of dollars the biggest risk to the global economy and said China should use currency policy and capital controls to cushion itself from external shocks. "As long as the world exercises no restraint in issuing global currencies such as the dollar - and this is not easy - then the occurrence of another crisis is inevitable, as quite a few wise Westerners lament," Xia Bin wrote in a newspaper under the Chinese central bank.
The Brazilian finance minister also weighed in warning of a "currency war", stating: "Everybody wants the US economy to recover, but it does no good at all to just throw dollars from a helicopter."
International tension of our central bank policy will likely to complicate US efforts to get leaders of the world's leading economies countries meeting in Seoul next week to press China to sign up to a new accord promising to limit current account balances.
Dan Price, partner at the law firm Sidley Austin and formerly George W. Bush's White House representative at the G20, said: "The US may find it increasingly difficult to galvanize countries to push China on [renminbi] appreciation when many think the Fed's quantitative easing policy is itself a major contributor to currency misalignment and imbalances."
Neither the Federal Reserve nor the US Treasury commented on Thursday. The tension over exchange rates has created fears of a wave of protectionist trade and investment actions in response, a reaction that so far has been markedly absent from the global economy during the recession and recovery.
Gen Next Member Pierre Prosper Negotiates and Wins Release of Fellow Member's Father Who was Unfairly Imprisoned in Iran
November 1st, 2010 - 10:17am
Filed under International Security
GN Member Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper negotiated the release of Reza Tagahvi--father of a Gen Next Member--from Evin prison in Tehran, Iran after being held for two years. Mr. Tagahvi was not officially charged with a crime during his captivity. Negotiations transpired over 14 months across several different countries.
Prosper and Taghavi were connected through Gen Next.
"We could not be prouder of Pierre for re-uniting the family. Our hearts go out to the Tagahvi family as they reunite after such a challenging experience," said Paul Makarechian, Chairman of Gen Next.
Prosper spoke with GN Members in Seattle on Oct 26, marking the first public remarks on the negotiations and release. Prosper served as a war crimes prosecutor for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and he is responsible for setting the precedent that rape committed in time of conflict is now considered a form of genocide in international law. Pierre prosecuted the first ever case of genocide in the history of the world and went on to become the United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes and Genocide.
For more on this story, please visit: Wall Street Journal