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As a die-hard Chinese food junkie, I get to read a whole bunch of rubbish in the form of fortune from cookies, until now I thought the idea was to confuse you, but not so. The idea of the fortune (cookies) are to entertain you with a little out-of-whack wisdom, like these guys at new-year.co.uk. It all makes sense now.

In continuation to my earlier blog eBay, Subway…or “the highway�??
 
Purchasing power is the ability to purchase, however an individual has a choice of how much to purchase, both in terms of expenditure and investment.
 
Most Americans live on credit cards with less than 1 percent savings. American consumers have been for years on a buying spree of products, mostly imported from overseas. Americans have gotten into debt for their dream homes, plasma TVs and even backyard barbeques. With imports closing in at 70 percent, the trade deficit has increased along with rising interest rates giving clarion calls of inflation and future financial instability.
 
The west is a victim of its own ideology of globalization resulting in free trade, job cuts, loss of leverage for employees to demand career growth, linked to an evergrowing threat of outsourcing project to companies overseas and a declining manufacturing sector.

This may lead to global market equilibrium, but the economic activity and growth is already showing signs of slowdown. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says the U.S. economy remains strong but in transition to a slower and more sustainable pace of expansion after growing for several years at a rate too swift to continue. Growth of the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, slowed to an annual pace of 2.5 percent in the second quarter, less than half the 5.6 percent rate of the previous three months, lower than the anticipated growth of 3.5 percent and less than the 3.2 percent growth rate of 2005.
 
The purchasing power of Americans will be reduced to the bare essentials, just like in many developing countries within a few decades if corrective measures are not taken soon. American economic depends on self-sustainability, kicking the addiction of cheap labor and imports and excessive consumerism.

While the popular media blames the conflict in the Middle East for the escalating gas prices, no attempts have been made to correlate the soaring profits of Exxon Mobil and the other Big Oil to the recent  price hikes.

Exxon squarely blames Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for not capping the crude oil price. A barrel of crude oil sells for about $74 as compared to $42 from 2004. If that was the reason for $3/gallon at the gas pump, how then can you explain Exxon Mobil’s $340 billion in revenue?

Obviously, no company can make exorbitant profits unless its selling price is disproportional to the cost of production. Now that might explain how Exxon bumped the mammoth Wal-Mart from the No.1 position on Fortune 500 list, with its profits topping at a whopping $36.1 billion, the most by any U.S. company in history!

Alternatively the media blames global demand for the hike in gas prices. Currently the most populous nations, China and India consume less than 10% of the world energy. The marginal increase in the global demand cannot explain the giant leap of Exxon as the numero uno.

Subway founder Fred DeLuca recently introduced a new franchise agreement to redirect the franchisee advertising dollars from the Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust (SFAFT), to the franchiser (DAI) fund. More than 14,500 Subway restaurant operators, out of a total of 26,183 Subway restaurants in 85 countries, i.e. more than 50 % sued the parent company with the anger embroiling over the control of the advertising budget at the expenses of the profitability of the franchisees. The doctors, who are the co-founders obviously want the bigger share of the pie, however would it be worth it to disgruntle the very people who bake it?
 
A franchisee always need to UNDERSTAND THAT THE FRANCHISEE WILL NOT BE COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT. A franchisee is obligated to conform to the policies formulated by the franchiser, which may outweigh his own needs. A franchise works on mutual trust, however just like in any other business, such changes portend more challenges of survival gradually for the smaller business owner. And its usually difficult to fight the bigger fish, unless all 100% of the smaller fishes unite against the big one.
 
Similarly, eBay raises fees for individual sellers all the time, sometimes once in a year, sometimes twice. Although the hike in fees is gradual, the profits for sellers do not necessarily increase quarterly or annually at that rate. Why eBay does not lose inspite of sellers not being able to cope up with the increasing fee structure? Because eBay has opened its doors globally, essentially to countries where the population is the highest, China and India. As and when Chinese and Indians pick up the eBay trend, eBay will benefit multifold, the American and European sellers will eventually suffer most because the demands of the buyers will be met by cheaper goods sold from India and China.
 
The question is how long will Americans retain their purchasing power?? I would like to continue on this in my next blog.

Pope Benedict will stop over at Auschwitz later this week, he said “it reminds me of my Nazi days�?. Ratzinger, as he was known before his papal act joined the “Hitler Youth�?, a Nazi program founded by none other than the “Fuhrer�? himself during World War II. Pope Benedict denies being active or enthusiastic about being a member of this group, but has so far not apologized or expressed regret. We should give it to the Catholics though, gay priests, pedophiles, communists, Nazis…where will they stop?

From BBC News: China-Vatican spat likely to deepen
Talks aimed at normalising relations between China and the Vatican appear to have suffered a serious setback with Beijing’s appointment of yet another bishop without approval of Pope Benedict XVI. 

The move – which has angered the Pope – also risks further alienating the four million followers of the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the estimated 10m Roman Catholics who practise their religion underground.
Vatican should be glad Chinese are allowed to practice religion, rather than bitch and cy about it. Besides, why should the Vatican pick China’s next pedophile?

For more visit http://news2.thdo.bbc.co.uk/4770035.stm