Unemployment Olympics, Auto show and more...

New Yorkers are resilient people, in times of terrorist attacks as we know and in times of economic downturn. A funny example I read about are the Unemployment Olympics organised to bring a smile on the face of the many unemployed in this city.
The Unemployment Olympics are a four-event competition — Telephone toss, Payday piñata, Pin-the-Blame-on-the-Boss and the "You're Fired!" race — exclusively for the unemployed New Yorkers. Unemployment Olympians must show proof of their unemployment in the form of a New York State unemployment card, a termination letter or whatever evidence of job loss. With the city easing its way into spring, being outdoors under a blue sky is almost as refreshing as the chance to toss an old office phone with all the unemployment frustration you have inside.

Another example of persistence is the NY International Auto Show that was held despite all misery that the car industry is going through. Being kind of a car freak and full of expectations I took off to the Jacob Javits center in Midtown West. After a promising start with 3 or 4 pimped sports cars I got more and more disappointed. This wasn't getting close to the Amsterdam Auto Show I used to visit every 2 years!
Premium (sports) car brands like Lamborghini, Rolls Royce and Ferrari were lacking...no big US collection of V8 thunder cruisers, women in bikinis to demonstrate the latest models or futuristic concept cars...the best I could find were 3 Bentley's.

Anyway, spring has moved itself into the city this weekend, drawing an overwhelming and diverse crowd into Central Park. Riding a bike, hosting a picnic or just enjoying a stroll under the blossoming trees. It gave me a lot of fresh energy to start a new week of NY life!

Obama's European Tour - Charming Diplobamacy

President Barack Obama has finished his European charm offensive attending the three summits (G20, NATO, EU) and visiting Turkey as a last stop before heading back to the US.
It has been an impressive tour in which he addressed some important topics and how he wants to deal with them, like nuclear weapons and the relationship between the Muslim community and the US.

In a speech to the Turkish parliament Obama stated that "the US is not and will never be at war with Islam." From what I saw he delivered a great, charming performance, as he did in Prague on Sunday in front of mostly young Czechs listening to the President. There, Obama described a 21st century in which nuclear powers agreed to reduce arsenals, countries without nuclear weapons pledged not to acquire them and all countries enjoyed the right to civilian nuclear power.

Earlier in his tour, the President and the First Lady were in London. There was the economic rescue plan, but probably more entertaining were the "Michelle hugging the Queen"-incident and the question if the personalized iPod, a gift by the Obamas to the Queen, was or wasn't violating copyright laws, loading it with around 40 Broadway songs before giving it to the Queen...

The question now is: did Barack reach his goals on his first European tour? Well, time will tell, charming and full of courtesy it was, but isn't he coming from a fantasy world when proposing a nuclear free 21st century with only love, peace and Broadway songs?

Economy update - mixed feelings

In these special times, referring to the current economic challenging environment, I would like to give an update on the US economy on three themes that have been very dominant in the US news.

First of all, the US national unemployement rate rose to 8,5% with another 600.000+ job losses figure in March. In 2009, more than 2.000.000 jobs were cut which makes this year one of the worst years of job losses in economic history. An interesting tool, the "economy tracker" by CNN, can be found clicking here. By selecting the month you will be able to see the US national and state unemployment rates.

Another hot economic topic is the auto industry headquartered in Detroit. The 12% unemployment rate there is the highest in the nation, and with the Big Three automakers (GM, Ford and Chrysler) all needing multi-billion dollar government bailouts in an attempt to stay afloat, the future isn't that bright. The American government rejected turnaround plans submitted by General Motors and Chrysler as inadequate. Barack Obama made it clear that he thought controlled bankruptcy might be the best answer to the two carmakers’ troubles. It seems that only major restructuring and/or filing for bankruptcy can (partly) save these automobile giants. Their 'supporting' banks don't seem to do much better, so they are not really being able to help I'm afraid. Some related facts:
- the New York Auto Show is about to start this week (Yes, I will go there!)
- the semi finals and final of the very important College Football Play offs are being played this weekend in Detroit, which might bring some happiness to that city

Furthermore, there is the performance of the stock markets which seem to have found a frugal way up, Dow gained 21.5% in the last 4 weeks, although no one dares to say that we've hit the bottom. Let's see if it holds in the weeks to come with first quarter financial results coming up...hopefully the great spring weather helps to find some needed optimism?!