Text 3
Source: http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/12/brazil-etf-emerging-intelligentinvesting-markets.html
Buy Into Brazil
David Serchuk [For bes Magazine]
There's a lot to like about South America's biggest
economy. Hosting the Olympics and World Cup doesn't
hurt either.
Suddenly everyone is talking about Brazil. This makes sense considering that the colossus of South America out-hustled President Obama and his hometown of Chicago to land the 2016 Olympics. It has also benefi ted by being the "B" part of the BRIC group of emerging nations, in addition to Russia, India and China. It's an emerging power that some investors have just learned about, though the pros have been hip to it for some time.
From 2003 through 2007, Brazil ran record trade surpluses, and its gross domestic product, at $1.99 trillion, is the 10th largest in the world. It has large and well- developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service sectors, and its conomy is bigger than allother nations in South America combined. Brazil is expanding its presence in world markets and, as we have seen, the world's playing fi elds.
There are also some signifi cant drawbacks to Brazil. Despite its potent GDP, rampant income inequality means that its per capita wealth is 102nd in the world, slightly behind the global average and noted powerhouse Serbia. Brazil's richest 10% reaps 43% of its wealth; in the U.S. that number is 30%. Brazil's bottom 10% earns a minuscule 1.1%. Still, there is a lot to like here, and our industry observers are ready to buy.
The writer's attitude to investment in Brazil is
Text 3
Source: http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/12/brazil-etf-emerging-intelligentinvesting-markets.html
Buy Into Brazil
David Serchuk [For bes Magazine]
There's a lot to like about South America's biggest
economy. Hosting the Olympics and World Cup doesn't
hurt either.
Suddenly everyone is talking about Brazil. This makes sense considering that the colossus of South America out-hustled President Obama and his hometown of Chicago to land the 2016 Olympics. It has also benefi ted by being the "B" part of the BRIC group of emerging nations, in addition to Russia, India and China. It's an emerging power that some investors have just learned about, though the pros have been hip to it for some time.
From 2003 through 2007, Brazil ran record trade surpluses, and its gross domestic product, at $1.99 trillion, is the 10th largest in the world. It has large and well- developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service sectors, and its conomy is bigger than allother nations in South America combined. Brazil is expanding its presence in world markets and, as we have seen, the world's playing fi elds.
There are also some signifi cant drawbacks to Brazil. Despite its potent GDP, rampant income inequality means that its per capita wealth is 102nd in the world, slightly behind the global average and noted powerhouse Serbia. Brazil's richest 10% reaps 43% of its wealth; in the U.S. that number is 30%. Brazil's bottom 10% earns a minuscule 1.1%. Still, there is a lot to like here, and our industry observers are ready to buy.
Calling Brazil "the "B" part of the BRIC group of emerging nations" [paragraph 1 line 4], indicates that
Concerning the figures relative to the year 2005, as mentioned in paragraph 2 (lines 11-22):
Write True (T) or False (F).
( ) Sherry says the best choice for her is to put off finding someone to take care of her pet.
( ) Jeff states that the most important thing is finding the right person to leave Max with.
( ) Betsy declares that Roo has been the least important thing since she got divorced.
Write True (T) or False (F).
( ) Mothers tasks at home are easy because most of them work just part time.
( ) A lot of parents stop trying to teach children good healthy eating habits.
( ) It is better to teach children how to eat well when they are grown ups.
Max Levchin, mentioned in paragraph 4 (lines 34-39), can be considered a(an)
We are accustomed to thinking of military success as determined by quality of weaponry, rather than by food supply. But a
clear example of how improvements in food supply may decisively increase military success comes from the history of Maori New
Zealand. The Maori are the Polynesian people who were the first to settle New Zealand. Traditionally, they fought frequent fierce
wars against each other, but only against closely neighboring tribes. Those wars were limited by the modest productivity of their
agriculture, whose staple crop was sweet potatoes. It was not possible to grow enough sweet potatoes to feed an army in the field
for a long time or on distant marches. When Europeans arrived in New Zealand, they brought potatoes, which beginning around
1815 considerably increased Maori crop yields. Maori could now grow enough food to supply armies in the field for many weeks.
The result was a 15-year period in Maori history, from 1818 until 1833, when Maori tribes that had acquiredpotatoes and guns from
the English sent armies out on raids to attack tribes hundreds of miles away that had not yet acquired potatoes and guns. Thus, the
potato's productivity relieved previous limitations on Maori warfare, similar to the limitations that low-productivity corn agriculture
imposed on Maya warfare.
(Diamond, J. (2006). Collapse. London: Penguin.)
Which of the following sentences is NOT true, according to the text?
Minister calls for wider fl exible working rights
British government ministers are considering giving all
employees the right to ask for fl exible working hours "from
the beginning" of a new job as part of plans to encourage a
fundamental shift in working habits.
The Work and Pensions Secretary, Yvette Cooper, says her
offi ce is working with employers and organisations such as
the federation of small businesses to draw up new ways of
supporting men as well as women and non-parents as well
as parents working more fl exible hours.
The current rules are limited to parents of children under 16
and carers, and Cooper wants to extend them. "You want
people to offer fl exible working from the beginning and
we need to look again at how the legislation can support
different ways of doing that," she said.
"There will be some areas where it's not possible to fi t
round particular school hours or particular things where the
nature of the businessmakes it hard - but what you need
is the cultural change for everybody to think differently."
Cooper's proposals come as the government announced
that fathers will be given the right to six months' paternity
leave.
There will be a legal right to take the mother's place at
home for the last three months of a nine-month maternity
break; they would receive £123 a week in statutory pay.
Fathers would then be entitled to take a further three
months' unpaid leave. The move was criticised by some
business leaders.
(From: The Guardian, Friday 29 January 2010 -slightly adapted)
With regard to paternity leave, the government has given men the right to
Text 1
Source:http://www.niallferguson.com/site/FERG/Templates/General. aspx?pageid=194
The Ascent of Money
Synopsis
Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot: Call it what you like, it matters. To Christians, love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it's the sinews of war. To revolutionaries, it's the chains of labour. But in The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson shows that fi nance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What's more, he reveals fi nancial history as the essential back-story behind all history. The evolution of credit and debt was as important as any technological innovation in the rise of civilization, from ancient Babylon to the silver mines of Bolivia. Banks provided the material basis for the splendours of the Italian Renaissance, while the bond market was the decisive factor in confl icts from the Seven Years' War to the American Civil War.
With the clarity and verve for which he is famed, Niall Ferguson explains why the origins of the FrenchRevolution lie in a stock market bubble caused by a convicted Scots murderer. He shows how fi nancial failure turned Argentina from the world's sixth richest country into an infl ation-ridden basket case - and how a fi nancial revolution is propelling the world's most populous country from poverty to power in a single generation.
Yet the most important lesson of the world's fi nancial history is that sooner or later every bubble bursts - sooner or later the bearish sellers outnumber the bullish buyers - sooner or later greed fl ips into fear. And that's why, whether you're scraping by or rolling in it, there's never been a better time to understand the ascent of money.
The writer of the book attempts to prove that money is
. The only argument that CANNOT be considered supportive of publishing the IMF documents is that the
