Hard Decisions

Mondays P&L: GBP900.00

Mondays Booze: 4 liters of Aspalls cider, 2 large glasses of red wine, half a liter of Smirnoff Black vodka.


So I succumbed to spirits again. I am not especially proud of it. Ok it was only half a liter but drinking Vodka is a bit of an issue for me. If it had been whiskey or tequila it wouldn't have been so bad. Vodka is my personal addiction and rather like crack to me.

I am not sure why I drank it, I didn't lose any money in the markets and in fact pulled down nine hundred pounds on a short position on the Dow 30. The days trading was relatively meaningless, it always is at this time of year and I had expected the situation in Dubai to have more of an impact. It isn't so much that Dubai is bankrupt that is worrying. Dubai has known for years that it has little oil or gas left, which is why it tried to market itself as a tourist and business destination. I hate the place, mainly because I can't stand muslim nightlife. I wouldn't go there at all if it wasn't for the fact that my second favorite, (and the one I use most for cost reasons), airline forces you to stop there on the way to Asia. What is worrying about Dubai is that along with the BRIC countries, Dubai was one of the places that the US and UK was counting on to take up the slack in the global economy. I have never really fallen for this whole emerging market scam. My first ever job was restructuring South American loans into Brady bonds. We were always being told that Brazil was the market of the future even then but nobody said who was going to kick the lazy bastards out of bed. India and China may have huge emerging middle classes but it just doesn't add up. I was in a hotel off the coast of Jakarta talking to this American guy who ran the China division of a large automobile company and he said he doubted any western company had ever made any money in China. If you think about it The boom in China is providing cheap products to the West. If we stop buying their goods or they start charging too much for them then where do they go from there. Average salaries are cheaper in Indonesia and Cambodia but those countries lack the infrastructure to export the way China does. In my opinion China befitted most because of the return of Hong Kong. All of a sudden you had this massive manufacturing capacity but unlike any other third world country it had a first world banking system. You could make a same day payment to a bank in Hong Kong, try doing that in Jakarta or Bangkok in ninety six.

Anyway as far as I can see some of the big money is aware that all is not well, just check out the Gold price 1,195 per ounce!

in other personal news it seems the girlfriend has decided not to slope of with her billionaire friend. She says she loves me, which I find hard to believe. Just saying if I had someone that rich interested in me, I could probably close my eyes and think of Scotland. Gosh, it is hard to write about personal matters and try and keep some kind of anonymity for all people concerned. I am beginning to see the problems juliette has on her excellent blog," the new adventures of juliette". The girlfriend wants to get married and have a child but I am reluctant to commit to this. As far as the quacks are concerned, I am already on borrowed time and my girlfriend had a very aggressive cancer some years back which she beat but she still often goes into hospital for a week or so due to immune problems. So whats the point in having children if neither of us are going to be sure to be around?