Thru Other Eyes

Photo of the Day

Prins Bernhardplein, Amsterdam @ 10.30 AM
Looking in one direction, beyond the train tracks entering the Amstel Station is the mist shrouded Rembrandt Tower, the international HQ of Philips. Having seen their stock price tank by 50% in a year and their 2007 $4 billion profit turn into a 2008 $186 million loss, the view from the executive suites is probably figuratively always gray and misty in these days of financial and economic crisis.

Turning in the other direction from the same spot is the neon ticker on the offices of the Financieele Dagblad ('Financial Daily' - the Netherlands' version of the Wall Street Journal). Here we see the near daily bloody slaughter of the once venerable and rock solid ING (and AEGON and other financials) on the Euronext stock exchage.

"How bad will it get?" we ask ourselves every day.

Good Will To Men, Every Day of the Year

This is the season isn’t it? For a short time every year a great deal of the world shops till it drops, overburdens national postal systems with greeting cards and one thought prevails above many others: “Peace on earth, good will to men.” The Christmas spirit is so ubiquitous that there is no escaping it. Even though we of course don’t celebrate the holiday as such (we are getting together with some friends for a Judeo-Muslim turkey dinner with all the trimmings on the evening of the 24th) I wouldn’t mind if every day was imbued with a bit of the Christmas spirit, and then I am particularly referring to that prevailing thought – “Peace on earth, good will to men.”

It’s an interesting thought that could use a slight realignment