A tribute to Mrs. Margaret Hilda Thatcher;
Baroness Thatcher (October 13th 1925 –April 8th 2013) was a British politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and the Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and is the only woman (and only scientist) to have held the office. A Soviet journalist called her the “Iron Lady”, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism.
Capitalism and economic growth had been made very acceptable by the Thatcher years such that supporters of same, freely came out of the closet, while socialists closeted themselves.
The above cannot be minimized. From the 1940’s through the 1970’s to be a socialist or communist was perfectly normal and seen even by mainstream economists as just another economic philosophy. Going back to World War II’s aftermath, the Attlee Labour Party government took over in England in 1945, and it “was proud to call itself socialist.” This regime and those to follow before Mrs Thatcher all failed in handling the Unions. And the Unions were highly infiltrated by the KGB, aiming to bring down the UK economy. In the years after World War II, British exports of cars, tractors and similar goods were good. But thanks to sabotage and endless strikes started by the Unions, no one could longer depend on a steady supply of new machines and spare parts. In the mid Seventies we moved more and more to depend on German suppliers.
Baroness Thatcher
Thatcher altered the policy discussion in important ways, and particularly amid trying times like these, the fact that Thatcher greatly advanced the terms of the policy discussion should give us reason for optimism. To put it plainly, though policy has taken a wrong turn, we are decidedly not going back to the failed ideas of the past.
To understand why this is true, consider Tony Blair. As his former press secretary Alastair Campbell wrote in The Blair Years, “TB said it was important I understood why parts of Thatcherism were right.”
And then when pressed by his advisers, including Campbell, to “be more progressive and radical,” Blair responded that “What gives me real edge is that I’m not as Labour as you lot.” Implicit from Blair was that Thatcher’s success had moved the discussion to the right, so for Labour to succeed it would have to be far more Tory, more Thatcher, less Attlee (Forbes Magazine).
Though Thatcher has left us, she did not take her growth-boosting policy ideas with her. In her absence, one way to honour her would be to ask what she did amid troubled times, and mimic it.
She will stay on in history forever being without doubt the most exiting politician in the Western World after the 2nd World War.
New EC Partners
Zbigniew Idziakowski
Mr. Zbigniew Idziakowski – taking on Poland and parts of Eastern Europe!
Zbigniew brings with him some valuable skill sets to us at Economic Consultants. He is located in Warsaw, Poland. Zbigniew has a Master Degree from the Warsaw University.
His experience covers effective communication, business analysis and counselling for new ventures. He was active with Polish Agency for Enterprises Development, provided training and lectures for business minded people.
He actively supported entrepreneurs with the process of securing funds for the ventures. For the last few years, he has successfully been running his own consultancy company. He looks forward to assisting you in questions around funding and all the other services offered here at EC.
Poland, despite the ups and downs of other economies in EU, still provides stable development to all investment projects. Polish entrepreneurs combine knowledge, experience and critical approach to many projects thanks to the fact that they can guarantee that their investment efforts will bring profit and development. As with many cases the EU funding and local banks are not always the best sources for funds. That is why EC will provide Polish economy with alternative sources of funding. “As Poland still have not reached the peak of development as a result of insufficient funding sources I think it is essential to provide Polish businesses with alternative and reliable sources of funds for the development of many interesting and innovative products and services” says Zbigniew Idziakowski. EC approach and conceptual active development of financial instruments and funds can facilitate unlimited numbers of viable projects. “We are proud to have achieved an agreement with Mr. Idziakowski,” says Mr. LJ Myrtroen, Founder of EC, in London, UK. “We have spent many years developing our foothold in the region and are happy to see an international, highly experienced consultant like Mr. Idziakowski take the lead.
Mr. Moon K. Kim – New strong lead in the Far East with office in Seoul!
Moon K. Kim
Moon Kim is Founder and Managing Director of Grace Global Management Solutions, Inc., formerly known as International Products Unlimited (IPU), Inc., founded in 1995, which is affiliated with leading companies of the industries, providing total financial services in Project Funding, Loan Against Securities, Trade Financing, Private Equity Investment and Development as well as Commodity Trading in various industries.
Mr. Kim was also one of the Organizers and Directors of the Board with Touchmark Bancshares, Inc. He organized and launched successful community bank, Touchmark National Bank, which opened for business in January, 2008, after one of the largest and most successful community bank stock offerings in Georgia history through its parent company, Touchmark Bancshares, Inc. Touchmark, which is both locally owned and operated, has assets in excess of $95 million with offices in Alpharetta, Duluth and Doraville, GA.
Moon is also serving as Chief Operations Officer at Xaris, Inc. since 2008 who is leading developer and distributor of sustainable energy products such as outdoor LED lighting with wind and/or solar generated power, sensible dimming system, and its smart grid systems.
Moon is also President and CEO of Grace Medical & Educational Resources, Inc., which recruits and places overseas’ nurses and students into the U.S. healthcare organizations and Academic Institutes since 2002. Prior to these ventures, Moon was in charge of New Product Introduction Manufacturing Engineering Group at Nortel Network, Xros MEMS Technology Division. Before Moon joined Nortel Network, he managed PLC Project and Manufacturing Engineering Group at Tyco Electronics, Fiber Optics Passive Product Division. Moon held engineering and operations management positions in various Hi-Tech companies over 15 years.
Moon received MBA with concentration in Global Management from University of Phoenix. He also has a Master’s Degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering at San Jose State University, and completed exchange program focused in Operations Research at University of Alaska, Fairbanks. BS in Industrial Engineering was received from Soong Sil University in Seoul, Korea.
Moon was born and raised in Seoul, Korea, but became culturally sensitive while managing various nationality background employees. He is married with wife and two sons at age of 21 and 14 years.
Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2013 estimates that regional economic growth in the Asia Pacific region will pick up to 6.6% in 2013 and reach 6.7% in 2014. This is a distinct improvement on 2012, when growth stood at just over 6%. Consumer prices are expected to rise by 4.0% in 2013 and 4.2% in 2014, up from 3.7% last year.
Leading regional economies are settling into a pattern of more moderate, more sustainable growth, founded on new opportunities nearer to home, including domestic consumption and intra-regional trade. Meanwhile, Asia’s contributions to global imbalances—its persistent current account surpluses—are smoothly winding down.
Followings are key messages for the outlook.
Growth will rebound in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), from 7.8% in 2012 to 8.2% in 2013 and 8.0% in 2014, driven by strong consumption and investment;
India’s growth has the potential to pick up from 5.0% in 2012 to 6.0% in 2013 and 6.5% in 2014, but the South Asian giant must create a more favourable environment for investment if it is to sustain this higher rate;
Southeast Asia is benefiting from robust domestic demand and greater trade with its neighbours in the region;
Continued sluggishness in the United States (US), euro area, and Japan suggests that developing Asia must continue to shift toward more domestic demand and trade with emerging markets;
Developing Asia’s favourable fiscal position cannot be taken for granted, as longer-term structural issues need to be addressed to ensure inclusive growth in the future;
With its rising prominence in the global economy, developing Asia has become a major player in commodity markets;
We see a huge potential for our services in the time ahead of us. EC has long experience and networks enabling us to assist as advisors and fundraisers, and building connections between European and Asian companies and their new counterparts. “We are proud to have achieved an agreement with Mr. Kim,” says Mr. LJ Myrtrøen, Founder of EC, London, UK. “We have spent many years developing our foothold in the region and are happy to see an international, highly experienced consultant like Mr. Kim take the lead.” We run our operations from Atlanta, Georgia and Seoul, Korea. London will remain as HQ.”
A planned Liquidation of the Norwegian Forest Industry!
The Socialist Government of Norway launches a new package that is supposed to help the hammered industry. They will never understand that their fiscal policies and command economy ideas will eventually bring down any industry not given the same terms for competing as their foreign competitors. Unfortunately this is very simple – but incomprehensible to the Red/Green socialist regime that has spent the last eight years trying to do something that looks very close to a planned liquidation!
Currency & Interest Rates
The Norwegian Stock Exchange made a dip, ending at 422 on April 17th. Then increasing steadily throughout the month – time to take profit. EURO/NOK turned and rose until the 24th of April, heartily welcomed by the Norwegian government, but there is not much in the long run preventing the NOK to strengthen its position. USD/NOK has been fairly stable, but the US needs to produce some strong results soon or else we will see a fall again. As written last time we predicted that the Stock Exchange would be having problems and this time we may even still see further downswings – nothing new here either. The GB£/NOK went all the way to 9.06 and was showing some strength, thanks to some small signs in growth for a very long time. Still very fragile and seen from a Norwegian perspective that could help the export industry.
In Denmark the top 20 Stock index keeps on falling. The socialist government’s popularity keeps also on falling with a support around 16%. With a PM so unpopular that even she now must start to realize that if she not steps down, Denmark will see some really hard times ahead.
The Swedish Stock Exchange started on an upward trend again mid April. Signals from the treasury on new tax cuts for next year’s budget is sending strong signals and may create optimism in a still very tough world. Pitiful then hearing the Norwegian Union Leader talking down on the Swedish PM because they have challenges with unemployment amongst young people – easy to have a big mouth with your backyard full of oil!
EUR/USD has over a period since January 2012 to now, kept itself inside the same range. On the short term the Euro has gained strength, but I am afraid it will take longer than first thought to bring Europe back into shape. The more we hear about laws and regulations in the troubled European countries the more shocking it is getting. The Greeks finally changing a law from 1911 securing everyone working for the government not to get kicked out of work – I wonder if we are on the same planet? And after having been saved by the European Union the Greeks now have the nerve to ask Germany to pay millions for War damages. And whilst I am on it – In Spain they are now changing the laws regulating at what age girls can marry; moving from 13 to 15. Obviously the Muslims ruined the country for centuries, but no reason to keep 3rd world Muslim countries inhuman laws forever.
The UK main index looks like a rollercoaster for April, but is showing some growth towards the end. It would mean a lot if we could see some improvements in the British economy. First of all it would honour Mr. Cameron’s strong medicine on how to bring Britten back on her feet and secondly it would be a lesson learned for many of us (there is no reason to hide that I have been doubtful to his methods, meaning that the medicine could have been a bit weaker and time for recovery a bit longer). As always – time will show!
Net Trading
Information and markets in 20+ countries now available.
Now also available as an app on your mobile phone.
Make the EC page your own homepage and have access to updated rates in all major markets. All major Indices, Stocks, Commodities, or Currency rates are there and with a click you can see the latest development or study historic data.
Go to “Net Trading, Live Rates”, pick the country and language of your choice and get started.
Latest New Tech
New mobiles that change shape are only a matter of time!
They used to be the size of a brick, but the next generation of mobile phones will be much easier to hold because they will change shape in the palm of your hand.
Made from new intelligent plastics and metals with a memory they will turn into a games console by bending at the edges to give users better grip. Or, to maintain privacy, the screen will flip up when a password is being typed so passers-by cannot see private information. The scientists who have invented the shape-altering phones say they could even transform into a sphere to serve as a stress ball. Dr Anne Roudaut, who led the ‘morphees’ research project at Bristol University sai
d as touch screens continue to evolve it will only be a matter of time until mobile phones automatically change shape to fit whatever they are being used for.
“We believe future mobile phone devices will be able to change shape on their own,” said Dr Roudaut. “For example if you have an app for a game and select it your phone will automatically change shape for you to play it. The best way to describe it is it’s a bit like Transformers.
“Shapes are so important for us as humans. Everything we manipulate around us is to do with shape. Our phones do so much but are always the same shape.”
Dr Roudant has spent the last year working on the project with Professor Sriram Subramanian, from the University of Bristol’s Department of Computer Science, experimenting with different materials that can change shape and could in the future be used in mobile phones. They have built six prototypes the team harnessing the latest technologies to create ‘shape shifting’ material, using intelligent plastics, which could in the future be used for mobile phones.
They will present their research at the CHI 2013 Conference in Paris on Monday, which focuses on human-computer interaction.
Dr Roudant added: “It sounds really futuristic, but if you look at the research we have done working with different materials, we can already use a current and make materials change shape and expand.
“So for example, if you are stressed and you select an app to help you, your phone will change into a sphere so you can grasp it.”
Dr Roudant said with advancements in mobile phone technology currently taking place, such as the flexible touch screen being trialled, it is only a matter of time before the shape shifting mobile phone come into existence. She said that as the touch screen took around 15 years to develop she believes phones that can change shape on demand could be available on the market in less than 15 years.
She said: “There are already touch screens that are forming little bumps for keyboards. It’s just a matter of time.
“We have come up with technologies we can use and we are going to come up with some really clear steps to achieve this in the future.” All this according to the “Telegraph”
Loans against Listed Stocks (Shares)
The EC LAS PROGRAM 2
This product is offered through a Hedge Fund and is a simple non-recourse loan product, offered against shares listed on a recognised exchange. Most major exchanges are catered for across Europe, Asia, North and South America and the Middle East.
We can typically provide a guaranteed term sheet on an eligible stock or portfolio within 48 hours (please note, for smaller exchanges where DD is required decisions will take longer). The loan-to-value, determined by stock price, daily volume, historical price data, and volatility, can be as high as 80%, with terms from 10 days to 10 years. Loans are non-recourse – there are no penalties to the borrower if the stock loses value or borrower defaults. For the period of the loan, the title is transferred to the lenders custodian.
Notice;
Minimum stock/portfolio value for consideration is US$ 100,000
Loans up to $100 million
Truly no up -front cost – the origination fee is taken from the proceeds of the loan. Borrower naturally may wish to have loan contract reviewed by their own lawyer, but that is their choice.
An origination fee is charged, at 3%. To be taken from proceeds of loan at closing.
The process for securities finance is very straight forward:
1. Client submits stock name and ticker/identifier and number of shares held
2. We present to lender, if lender interested, indicative terms provided by email; including loan term (length), interest rate and any other headline terms applicable
3. Client confirms if terms are acceptable to them
4. Fee agreement signed by client
5. Formal term sheet issued directly by lender in favour of client (at this stage, the client will know exactly who the lender is)
6. Client signs and returns term sheet (at this stage client can communicate directly with the lender if they wish)
7. Legal contract issued
8. Client transfers shares electronically to lender (in tranches for larger deals)
9. Funding issued to client
For shares listed on the more prominent exchanges, the lender will conduct the transfer DVP (delivery versus payment). For smaller exchanges, shares will be free transfer, with funds returned upon receipt.
The process is very fast. We provide decisions typically within 48 hours. Term sheets issued within 3-4 days from acceptance of indicative terms, and same
for contracts. Transactions can be completed within a couple of weeks. This is an accurate timescale, providing the client returns documents in good time.
Therefore, if you would like to ask our funder what loan they will provide against your Shares, simply let us have your – stock name and ticker/identifier and number of shares held and we will get you a term sheet for your review.
If you want to apply for a loan, please contact one of our Partners or go to our website for more information – and return the EC CIS, to be found under funding!
LJ Myrtroen
Senior Partner & Founder
If you want to download a copy of this issue – just click on the First page at the top!
