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Future Readiness Means Understanding the Dynamics Surrounding the Present

 As a Futurist many folks ask me how do we do it? Meaning they want a formula that allows them to operate as if they have a crystal ball. Well, it has often been said that future predictions is as much an art as a science. And I agree.
 
The first thing one has to do is have a little bit of history under their belts, committed to memory; both ancient and recent. Next one needs to know the present, especially in the sectors they wish to predict and any industries that will impede or assist upon them. So, let’s take a look at some recent news from February 15, 2009:
 

  • Chinese Investment Tours looking for Real Estate Foreclosures in US
  • Japan’s economy dives 3.5% in 2008 Q4 (worst quarter since 74′)
  • Last Week worst in 2009 for stock market
  • Piper Aircraft to cut 40% labor, already laid off 650 in Q4 2008
  • Chavez won eliminating term-limits for himself – can run indefinitely
  • Global Warming alarmists emboldened by Obama – PR increases
  • GM trading at $2.50/share, BK imminent – soon
  • OPEC threatening a big cut; some nation can’t – OPEC temp. collapse?
  • Some Parents stealing kid’s identity to re-establish crashed credit
  • Cessna launching a positive PR campaign against naysayers
  • Panera Bread profits up
  • Pepsi got slaughters profits down 42%

Next, we need to regionalize our predictions to focus on worthwhile predictions that might serve you locally. Let’s say you live in Hawaii, what is in the news there; on the same date, here is the major news:
 
Hawaii foreclosure rate up 174% in January

Entrepreneurs sell Tours & Maps of Obama’s former home in Hawaii
 
Hawaii to get $678 Million of Stimulus Package
 

  1. - 252M  Infrastructure, Science
  2. -127M  Highway Funding
  3. -257M  Education and Training
  4. -158M  Prevent Education Layoffs, Modernize Schools
  5. -30M Energy Improvements
  6. -125M Children and Poor
  7. -6M  Child Care Services low-income families
  8. -106M Food Stamps
  9. 13M Law Enforcement

If we look closely at the regional news and the national news, we can get a sense of the direction. Predicting the future 1-2 years out is fairly easy in nearly any industry. 3-5 years is a little tougher, but can be done if you fully study trends, cycles, disruptors and colliding sectors.

Please think on this.  

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Do The Greek Debt Negotiations Present An Opportunity To Trade The EUR/USD Currency Pair?

Right now with the discussions going on in the European Union which include the International Monetary Fund (IMF) involving Greece and the massive amount of debt that this country is dealing with, there always seems to be an impact in the value of the EUR/USD currency pair whenever there is significant news that is announced regarding this situation. If you are a fundamental trader who like to take economic news into consideration when trading a currency pair, this is a story that you should follow because it presents a unique opportunity to predict whether the value of the EUR/USD will go up or down based on whether this news is positive or negative.

The situation that we are looking at is that the country of Greece right now has a massive amount of debt into the billions of dollars worth of loans that it has borrowed, and the country is now at risk of defaulting on these loans because they simply cannot pay it all back. What we saw recently was that the talks about restructuring the debt for Greece had hit a stalemate and the previous deadline that they had set had to be moved forward. This caused the EUR/USD to retreat from three-week highs rather quickly in a move over 100 pips over the course of the trading day, and this is an example of how news regarding the Greek debt negotiations can lead to forex trading opportunities.

As a basic rule regarding this situation, any news that seems positive or optimistic regarding the debt talks will make the EUR/USD go up, and negative or pessimistic news will make the EUR/USD go down just like we saw when the deadline had to be pushed back and the currency pair went down. The credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s also said recently on CNBC that they are likely to downgrade Greece’s credit rating, and if this news ever breaks then you can bet it will be an opportunity to earn pips by selling the EUR/USD.

There are many traders that believe in using fundamental analysis to try and predict market behavior, and many of these fundamental forex trading strategies are based upon economic indicator values that are released on a regular schedule. It is not every day that a big international news story comes along that presents an opportunity for fundamental trading signals. By following the story regarding the Greece debt negotiations and remembering the basic rule that optimistic news will make the Euro go up and pessimistic news will make the Euro go down, you might be able to earn some extra pips in the forex market by trading the EUR/USD currency pair.

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Top Three Xmas Present Ideas for Boys

The problem is with so many toys for boys out there, what do boys really want for Christmas?

Don’t worry we’re here to make your job of finding the ideal Xmas present just that little bit easier. We’ve done extensive research and are pleased to present to you the Top three Xmas present ideas for boys.

1) At the moment Toy story toys are a massive hit with children, mainly because of the release of the Toy story 3 movie earlier this year. The hottest toy to look out for based on the movie is the Jet Pack Buzz Light year action figure and we are not exaggerating in no small way here but we think around late November going on to December it’s going to be very hard to find this toy in stock from the biggest UK retailers. If your child has watched the movie and liked it then this just might be the perfect Xmas present.

2) The Bakugan Maxus Dragonoid comes in second on our Xmas present ideas for boys list and has to be one of the coolest toys around at the moment. Just hearing the name tells you this toy is going to be awesome. The Bakugan Maxus is basically seven miniature battle Bakugan robots which can all be attached together to make one bigger more powerful Bakugan robot know as Maxus Dragonoid. Confused? Don’t worry all you need to know is that this is extremely popular amongst boys and he’ll absolutely love this as a Xmas present.

3) Third but not least we feel the Ben 10 Mark 10 car will be a massive hit this Christmas and for parents that have little boys that watch Ben 10 you’ll know how much they enjoy the programme. When you make a toy car based on a massively popular kids TV show and give it cool features like the ability to transform into different vehicles such as an air craft then you know you’ve got a winner and looking at early sales of the Mark 10 car we can tell it will make an ideal Xmas present for many little boys.

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