“Write in your diary… save today’s newspapers… remember what you did today. Most historians won’t even notice, but today is a big, big day.” Bill Bonner. The Daily Reckoning 

 

But which day was he talking about?

 

What about April 2^nd 2009 at the G20 summit in London?

 

Many think this will turn out to be an historic turning point.

Confidence is now on the up with unity from world leaders, perhaps learning from the mistakes of the great depression when protectionism turned economic crisis into prolonged slump.

 

Potentially good news, but let’s wait and see.

No, actually Bill Bonner was marking the 25^th March 2009…

 

Why?

 

Because the day marked probably the nadir, albeit a quiet one, of this global turmoil that we are all experiencing with varying degrees and impact.

 

There was a flurry of economic news and data all painting a depressing picture….inflation was unexpectedly higher than forecast - 3.2% against 3% - then again not surprising if you are increasing the amount of money; the UK government had failed to get its latest auction of bonds away (and remember it is looking to borrow a staggering £150bn (or more) this year and next;  Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England suggested that perhaps another prudent budget would be in order….“NO more fiscal stimulus – we can’t afford it”; quantitative easing aka printing money began in the US, putting further strain on the balance sheet of the US; US GDP fell 6.2% in Q4 2008, the worst performance for 26 years; The Chinese, in effect now the world’s banker, with huge dollar reserves (about $1.4 trillion), got nervous. Zhou Xiaochuan, Chinese bank governor called for a new global reserve currency…..

 

An historic day?  Sometimes you can smell the significance (such as the Berlin Wall falling).  But, more typically, the importance of history only becomes apparent with time.

 

So we could wait and see…….and perhaps seek the alluring safety of gold?  

 

or whatever comes of the events of 25 March, we could instead take action because, I believe the destructive side of capitalism always creates opportunities and if we can be agile, nimble and positive, not least at a micro-level, we can start the renewal process ourselves.

 

The new economic order, I believe, will be led by entrepreneurial activity, and at Qcom we indeed are glad to be part of it:  we have just welcomed James Perkins our new business development director.

 

The date to remember: 23^rd March 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neil Anderson

MD, qcom

 

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