Friday, August 5, 2011

Sera que dessa vez o Brasil, pais do futuro, chega mesmo ao Futuro?

Tem muito coisa ainda para acertar... Pobreza, violencia, falta de responsabilidade, eudcacao, etc. A lista e' grande... Mas uma coisa eu posso dizer abertamente, torco e torco muito mesmo para que o meu pais chegue ao tal Futuro, prometido desde os anos 70...

Segundo o US Council of Foreign Relations: "To be sure, Brazil is still contending with important internal concerns—its remaining poor, the growing challenges of climate change, and its ongoing transformation from a commodity-based to an industrial economy, to name just a few. Nevertheless, the message of this report could hardly be clearer: Brazil matters not just regionally but globally. Its decisions and actions will affect the world’s economy, environment, and energy future as well as prospects for diplomacy and stability. Brazil is on the short list of countries that will most shape the twenty-first century. U.S. and Brazilian foreign policy must adjust accordingly."

Para ler mais, pode-se baixar o relatorio na integra em PDF no site do US council:

http://www.cfr.org/brazil/global-brazil-us-brazil-relations/p25407

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Mais seguros que titulos americanos? Safer than US bonds?

Com tanto alarde com relacao ao possivel default do governo americano, a pergunta passa a ser: quais entao passariam a ser os investimentos AAA, utilizados por muitos como porto seguro? Resposta: os titulos corporativos de empresas americanas com forte presenca internacional e grande recursos em seus balancos. Neste exato momento, a Apple por exemplo tem mais dinheiro em caixa que o proprio governo americano.

With all the frenzy around a possible default by the American government, the question becomes: which investments would then become the so called triple A, used as a safe harbour by many? Answer: corporate bonds of American companies with vast international presence and large cash assets on their balance sheets. At this exact moment, Apple for example has more cash on hand than the US government itself.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Ouro, Ouro.... O ceu esta caindo... Gold, Gold... The sky is falling...

Entao todo mundo acredita que o mundo como conhecemos esta chegando ao fim. O EUA pode nao honrar seus pagamentos... Bye, Bye AAA.

E a solucao? Compra-se ouro como protecao contra qualquer adversidade. E como proceder com o investimento? Ue, compra-se o metal, certo? A US$ 1600? Ficou louco? Voce realmente acha que o custo de extracao, o salario do minerador, o refino, a logistica de transporte do ouro aumentou tanto assim?

Que nada. Os valores nao mudaram muito. O que mudou foi so o preco final do metal. A bolha do ouro, um bem extremamente supervalorizado atualmente. Se voce quiser mesmo fazer hedge, compre aquilo que o mercado esqueceu.

Procure as acoes das mineradoras especializada em ouro. O preco destas acoes nao subiu tanto assim e os dividendos devem ser bem elevados, considerando a margem de lucro sob a qual estas empresas estao operando no momento.

So everybody believes the World as we know it is coming to an end. The US may default on its obligations. Bye, Bye AAA.

And what is the solution? Bying gold as hedge against any bad outcome. And how to invest in gold? Well, you should buy the metal, right? For US$1,6000? Are you crazy? Do you really think all the associated costs of extracting, mining, refining, transporting went up by the same amount?

No, what really changed was the final price of gold. It is the Gold bubble, an extremelly overvalued assest these days.  If you really want some hedge, buy what the market has forgotten. Go after stocks of mining companies, the ones specialized on gold.

The stock prices of such companies didn't go up by that much yet, while the dividends should be really fat in the near future, considering the profit margin under which these companies are operating at the moment.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Retomada economica nos EUA? US Recovery?

As noticias continuam a ser ao redor da recuperacao economica fragil dos EUA... Vamos ser francos... Nunca houve uma retomada economica, apenas numeros gerados artificialmente atraves da massiva infusao de dolares na economia. O plano sempre foi amortecer a queda ate todas as perdas serem reconhecidas.

And the news continue to be around the fragile recovery... Let's be frank... There was never a recovery, only artificially produced numbers by means of pumping loads of dollars into the economy. The plan was to cushion the fall until all losses are written off.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Seguro de Carro - Australia versus Canada

Ok. A Australia e'definitivamente mais barata no que diz respeito a seguro de carro. So' a titulo de comparacao. Depois de 10 anos de Canada, sem nenhum acidente ou qualquer pedido de reembolso รก seguradora, eu pagava algo como 150 dolares canadenses por mes, ou seja 1800 / ano por uma SUV, awd, morando em Oakville. Se estivesse com endereco em Toronto, com certeza seria superior a 2000 / ano.
Ja aqui na Australia, morando na cidade de Brisbane (terceira maior da Australia), ha apenas 3 meses no pais, por uma SUV, 4x4, vai sair 700 dolares por ano. Lembrando que hoje 1 dolar canadense praticamente corresponde a 1 Australiano. E eles aceitam os anos de experiencia internacional. Nota 10 para Australia.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

More scary moments... Qantas, what is wrong?

Multiple Qantas airplanes returning due to engine problems in the same year... Sounds weird. Is it maintenance fault or simply planes becoming too old?


Sep 1, 2010… A Qantas B747 carrying 212 passengers returned to San Francisco yesterday after a mid-air engine failure punched a hole through the external cowling, or casing, of one engine. The plane made an emergency landing at San Francisco about 45 minutes after takeoff.

4 Nov 2010… Qantas Flight 32, an Airbus A380 "Nancy-Bird Walton" VH-OQA, fitted with four Trent 972 engines manufactured by Rolls-Royce suffered a serious failure of its left inboard engine while taking off from Singapore Changi Airport.

5 Nov 2010… Qantas aircraft made a priority landing at Heathrow Airport in London on November 5 after problems with its hydraulic fuel system.

6 Nov 2010 ... In another incident in as many days, a Qantas 747 returns to Singapore after suffering problems with one its engines. ...

12 Nov 2010 ... QANTAS has been involved in yet another mid-air mishap, with passengers on their way to Melbourne from Perth forced to return after engine problems. The flight had to return to Perth Domestic Airport after the crew detected a vibration in the left-hand engine of the Boeing 767.

16 Nov 2010… A QANTAS plane en route to Argentina has been forced to return to Sydney after smoke started coming from an instrument panel in the cockpit, in the the latest in a string of incidents for the airline.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Scary moments... A380 Quantas Singapore to Sydney

Dia 4 de novembro, 2010, passageiros do voo Quantas Singapore to Sydney passaram por alguns "scary moments". Logo apos a decolagem, cerca de 15 minutos em voo, turbina numero 2 apresentou problemas e acabou danificando tambem parte da asa do super jumbo A380. Claro que no mundo atual totalmente "plugado", "conectado", etc, nao podia deixar de ser que o passageiro sentado logo ao lado da tal turbina em problemas tinha um gadget em maos para registrar tudo. E eis que o video jah esta disponivel na Internet:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11692478

Da para notar facilmente o estrago na asa.