First, two issues, gold and North Korea:
1. Gold: Today, gold sank $59 to $1509/ounce, reaching July 2011 levels. Mind you, from 1999 to 2011, gold zoomed up 650%. What happened? Paul Krugman thinks its partially politics, and he blames the conservatives. But he does this all time on everything. Goldman Sachs predicted a drop to $1390 in a year. It was only a couple of weeks ago that 37% of Americans felt gold was the best investment. True to Klugman's point of view, 43% of Republicans and 32% of Democrats agree. The metastability of gold is not new. After the second energy crisis in 1979, gold in 1980 jumped to $850/ounce, which would have a value today of somewhere from $2,000 to $4500, depending of what parameters you use. Here is a dated, but informative graph:
2. North Korea and Kim Jong Un: Okay, I leave tomorrow for Seoul, and, after some waffling, decided to go. The key date is Monday, 15April2013, the 101st birthday of Kim Il-Sung, founder of North Korea and grandfather of Kim Jong Un.
Annually, at this time of the year, in reaction to South Korean-American defense exercises, made all the more tense with two B-2 bombers, and that birthday date, something happens. This time, nuclear is being threatened. Andrei Lankov had a useful analysis, which you should read.
Today, I visited Jindaiji, my favorite Sakura park, where there is a statue that looks like Pearl. This botanical garden has 100,000 trees and a large greenhouse with tropical plants. Next door is the Jindaiji Temple, the second oldest in Japan. Here is a series of photos, beginning with my lunch under a wisteria next to Pearl's statue:
To my surprise, there were several cherry blossom tress still in full bloom. I also noticed that these fish are already flying for Boys' Day in Japan, May 5, which is also Cinco de Mayo.:
For anyone keeping up with my meal choices, for dinner tonight, I bought a Burger King Whopper and enhanced it with foie gras, Castello blue cheese and other leftover vegetables:
The beer was borrowed from the Executive Club and the Whopper was the best I've ever had. Of all the ironies, I was looking down on Robuchon's.
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Annually, at this time of the year, in reaction to South Korean-American defense exercises, made all the more tense with two B-2 bombers, and that birthday date, something happens. This time, nuclear is being threatened. Andrei Lankov had a useful analysis, which you should read.
Today, I visited Jindaiji, my favorite Sakura park, where there is a statue that looks like Pearl. This botanical garden has 100,000 trees and a large greenhouse with tropical plants. Next door is the Jindaiji Temple, the second oldest in Japan. Here is a series of photos, beginning with my lunch under a wisteria next to Pearl's statue:
To my surprise, there were several cherry blossom tress still in full bloom. I also noticed that these fish are already flying for Boys' Day in Japan, May 5, which is also Cinco de Mayo.:
For anyone keeping up with my meal choices, for dinner tonight, I bought a Burger King Whopper and enhanced it with foie gras, Castello blue cheese and other leftover vegetables:
The beer was borrowed from the Executive Club and the Whopper was the best I've ever had. Of all the ironies, I was looking down on Robuchon's.
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