the world's top currency

Good morning again,

Another quick session re: the usual suspect (magazine) ... They've got a great cynical tone this new year.

Currencies:
The dollar has been dethroned even sooner than we expected. Not by the euro, nor by the yen or the yuan, but by another increasingly popular global currency: frequent-flyer miles. Calculations by The Economist suggest that the total stock of unredeemed frequent-flyer miles is now worth more than all the dollar bills in circulation around the globe.
Central banks and finance ministries have a far greater interest in defending the value of frequent-flyer miles than in propping up the dollar. After all, their officials are continually criss-crossing the globe to attend meetings, racking up miles in their personal acounts. If their free first-class flight to the Caribbean is at risk, they are likely to fight to the death to stop a devaluation. Against such a competition, the dollar does not stand a chance.

The disaster:
If the tsunami weren't bad enough news in Sri Lanka, it's also been suggested that it moved around landmines, thereby confusing everyone as to the new location of the mines. It might be good for both sides to think twice before going on the offensive.

"Disaster aid is generally thought to be different: everyone is for it. Development aid, by contrast, is often overtly political (it tends to go to friends) and always controversial (is it squandered? does it breed dependency?). (...) (Among the pet schemes the aid issue was being attached to: ) American aid in the tsunami region is meant to dry up "pools of dissatisfaction" that led to terrorism, said Mr Powell. That's "langue de bois" as we call in French, and a dark motive.

On a more light-headed note: drinking in Britain.
The average British adult drinks 12% more than when Labour came to power, and more than twice as much as in the middle of the 20th century.
(I actually found that surprising. Whenever I look at a movie from the 50's, they're always drinking (elegantly, mind you); I was convinced there was rampant alcoholism back then. Ah, movies and reality...)

us poor engineers and scientists:
There's general moaning about a supposed lack of techies. But... According to a report from UK GRAD, a government funded group, science and engineering graduates have the highest rate of unemployment, at every level from first degree to PhD. And although, when they do find work, their salaries are slightly higher than average, they are rising more slowly than most. So what's the answer? It's the technicians, not the highly-trained engineers and scientists that are in big demand.

finally, some good news from the US congress: after all, they did not pass the law to protect DeLay and loosen ethics rule.

our friends in the South:
Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, has called these economic migrants "heroes". They send back some $14 billion a year in remittances - more than Mexico's booming tourist industry brings in. As Mexicans see it, they also keep the American economy afloat on cheap and reliable labour. That is the premise of a recent film, "A Day without Mexicans". It is a satire that imagines California's Mexican maids, nannies and hedge-trimmers downing tools for a day to watch their employers suffer a collective nervous breakdown as they try to fix their breakfast orange juice.
sounds fun. anyone seen it?

Susan Sontag: Her obituary appears in that issue. Unfortunately it's a huge disappointment as they manage to subtly make her appear less credible and much less influential than she really was.