Compared to What?

Another classic from Economist.com's Daily Chart Blog.

The Big Picture on Wildlife Mortality Events

We Arkansans are by nature accustomed to periodic ribbing, but I was hit with both barrels when news hit last week of the New Years Eve mass death of 5,000 blackbirds in Beebe, Arkansas.  The New York Times had the best headline - For Arkansas Blackbirds, the New Year Never Came.

Thanks to The Economist for this vindication:

China Goes Shopping

Switch gears from all of the negative G-20 Summit coverage and check out the feature China Buys up the World  in the latest edition of The Economist.  

The articles reinforce the sway China and her cash enjoy around the world, but also highlight the realities of the PRC's state capitalism model and the rubber stamping culture at the executive ranks of many major companies.  Just don't accept this as status quo: 

Most of the executives interviewed by The Economist also felt that the next generation of Chinese executives, in their 30s and 40s today, with more international education and experience, would prove far more effective than the present cohort of chiefs. Over the past two decades the old guard has taken a rusting industrial base and from it made gleaming corporate giants. Yet if those firms are to achieve their full potential abroad their creators may have to relax their grip.

What the Big Mac Says About the Euro

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The Economist's latest Big Mac index came out yesterday. I'm seeing Euro $1.20.