Category Archives: Economics

When people complain about my fees

I guess you can see that I was hungry when I replied to that comment. Sometimes people say: “I understand that you charge so much. After all, you had to study for 4 or 5 years to become a lawyer.” … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Law, Time | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Mixed Signals

When you adorn your house with $-signs, but put up a note that it’s not for sale. Photographed in Avenida 6 de Agosto in La Paz, Bolivia.

Posted in Bolivia, Economics, Photography, Travel | Tagged | 5 Comments

Delinquent Debtors

This wouldn’t fly in Germany because someone would scream “violation of privacy” and lawsuits would ensue, but in Bolivia and in Romania, there are lists in the entrance hall of apartment complexes showing the tenants’ names and what they respectively owe … Continue reading

Posted in Bolivia, Economics, Law, Romania, Travel | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Random Thoughts (7)

Don’t blame me for looking at your ( . )( . ) when you wear sunglasses and I can’t look at your eyes. In Venezuela, the richest country in South America between the 1950s and the 1980s, and still the … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Cinema, Economics, Germany, Politics, Religion, Technology, Terrorism, Travel, USA, Venezuela | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Copyright law in Bolivia

Bolivia must have negotiated the best intellectual property treaties of any country in the world (only Iran comes close, but that country is not a party to the Berne Convention). Respect to the hot-shot lawyers who did that! In Bolivia, you … Continue reading

Posted in Bolivia, Cinema, Economics, Law, Photography, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

The man who predicted the financial crisis

We should have listened to Brazil. Ferndando Henrique Cardoso, the country’s president from 1995 to 2002, warned as early as 1995 and numerous times thereafter that the IMF and the World bank were no longer equipped to deal with the … Continue reading

Posted in Brazil, Economics, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

How to measure Progress

Apart from the general criticism of the GDP expressed so eloquently here by Robert F Kennedy, I always wonder about the usefulness of international comparisons. I doubt that the GDP numbers for Nigeria are collected/calculated the same way as those for … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, History, Philosophy, USA | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Paypal is hyper-sensitive

As you know, I offer to send postcards from spectacular places for a small donation. This helps to keep this blog going, and it brightens up your life when one evening after a long day at the office you find … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Iran | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Money in Politics

In his autobiography My Early Life: A Roving Commission, Winston Churchill recounts his first attempt to run for a seat in the House of Commons, the democratic half of the British Parliament. Early in November [1898] I paid a visit … Continue reading

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Where God takes Cash

Hier könnt Ihr diesen Artikel auf Deutsch lesen. Whenever material things, money, worldliness, become the center of our lives, they take hold of us, they possess us; we lose our very identity as human beings. Pope Francis, 29 September 2013 … Continue reading

Posted in Bolivia, Economics, Peru, Philosophy, Photography, Religion, Video Blog | Tagged , , , , | 21 Comments