General Discussion

telecommuting for my consultant job. I was over in HK (Hong Kong) back in late November to mid-December and heard a lot about the 'new¨Sars' via on-the-ground sources via my firm. I had NO idea it would blow up this big, but based on our work over there, and a lot of our other consultants globally, my firm went to a hard short stance in mid January in regards to many of their positions, so they are doing quite well in the markets atm, especially the past several weeks.

My father (he is Swedish, but has lived in London for well over 2 decades on and off) has been a big proponent of a Nordic superstate (he likes the name Nordica) for ages (Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Åland Islands, Svalbard.) It would have combined the best of all our cultures and strengths, but Sweden's immigration policy has put paid any hopes for that, I am afraid, for now, and probably for good. That and Norway doesn't want to share their oil revenues! A damn shame as we would have had around 30 (WELL over that by the time it happened, probably 35 or so) million people, a HUGE GDP (for its size) insane combined natural resources and wealth, and a global powerhouse on almost every front and level, including quality of life and governance and wealth equality. We also would have had (perhaps) our own currency which would be partially backed by gold, silver and natural resources components, so only semi-fiat, and thus far less likely to be manipulated via FOREX shenanigans.