Significant economic and political changes will make 2012 a historical year. The globe has experienced relative calm for the past 24 months. That stability won’t last much longer. Events that are not on anyone’s radar screen will matter the most. The following are the things that I think might happen, but it’s the surprises that worry me.
Its task for most of the past 100 years has been to regulate growth — not to manage decline. Much of the commentary you saw prior to 2008, such as Ben Bernanke’s sincere lack of concern about a US housing bubble (“I guess I don’t buy your premise. It’s a pretty unlikely possibility. We’ve never had a decline in house prices on a nationwide basis…”) is, of course, duplicated today as we confront a similar endgame in sovereign debt.
CNET’s Download.com site has been embedding adware into the install process for all kinds of software, including open source software like NMAP. For the unwary, some of the ads could have been read to suggest accepting the advertised service (e.g., the Babylon translation tool bar) was part of the installation process. Users who weren’t paying attention may also have clicked “accept” simply by accident. In either event, after their next restart, they would have been surprised to find their settings had been changed, new tool bars installed, etc.
THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES:
Situated on an area of around 100 acres, and 45 minutes drive from the center of Beijing, are the ruins of ‘Wonderland’.
Pop Quiz: Can 8% GDP growth be sustained? You can use your notes. -Ed.
The swing was very, very quick. Everybody was on board in a matter of minutes. I think it was obvious inside the room that Cameron was shocked by the swiftness with which his allies left him alone.”
[If] there’s fur inside the computer, causing HP to declare his computer a “biological hazard” and send it back un-repaired.
Every time we looked the other way when the president asked for the right to detain people without trials, to engage in warrantless searches, to eavesdrop on private citizens without even a judge knowing about it, we made it harder to answer the question: What is it we’re actually defending?
Winning comment:’ I’m surprised the car didn’t sink under the weight of this guy’s balls’ – Ed.
Dispatches From The Front 