Whack a Banker arcade and game

I saw this article: 'Whack A Banker' game proving a hit in Britain in Yahoo! News and decided to do a search.

Found it ! It can be found in Tim Hunkin’s (the inventor's) website.

Read its "making of the machine". It is both hilarious and saddening.

Highlights:
"Two weeks later:
The good news is that the 'boring' facade doesn't seem to put people off. The bad news is that none of my hammers are lasting. People carry on using them after they've disintegrated, hitting the bankers with the central steel rod so the heads are now really battered. I'm trying the expensive stitched cloth hammer I bought to see what happens next.
…..
4 days later still:
The £56 hammer I bought has now split. I knew people didn't like bankers, but I had no idea they disliked them quite so much. People were able to whack much more violently because the hammer was heavier and has a longer leash than my foam ones."

(You can see the picture of hammers in the link.)

I wonder whether these free Whack A Banker games below are as popular :-)
game link 1
game link 2

Nordic Capitalism (2)

I have previously blogged on Nordic Capitalism.

While doing some searches on internet, I found some insightful lecture notes on Nordic Capitalism.

Great read !

Recession Survival Guide - Ireland

Ireland’s Financial Regulator has come out with a useful Recession Survival Guide.

Some highlights:
Managing on Less Money
Step 1: Financial Health Check
Step 2: Budget Planner
Step 3: Cost Comparisons

Dealing with Redundancy (meaning being laid off) :
Redundancy information
Mortgage Repayment Protection

Dealing with Debt:
Credit Card Comparison
Debt Consolidation

This is really cool ! I like the Cost Comparisons, Redundancy Information and Credit Card Comparison especially. They go to such extent to provide information to help its peoples in recession.

You may wish to explore around. It’s really an insightful website on cost cutting.
However, there are peoples who argue that this may set off a deflationary cycle and make things worse. True also..

I think the key theme is "spend necessarily, spend smart and look for value deals".
The website cuts information cost for such value deals.

COP’s Hearing: “Learning from the Past--Lessons from the Banking Crisis of the 20th Century”

A lot can be learnt from past banking crisis and their solutions.

US’s Congressional Oversight Panel has lined up few experts for testimonies about banking crisis and their solutions.
Experts' views on past banking crisis and lesson learnt

The testimonies by these experts are compiled in the website above.

We can learn a lot about banking crisis listed below, solutions used then and insights gain:
1. Great Depression in 1930s;
2. Savings and Loan collapse in the 1980s: the solution then was Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC);
3. Banking Crisis in Japan in early 1990s;
4. Banking Crisis in Sweden in early 1990s (This solution is what they called "Nordic Capitalism – the future of capitalism"). Refer to my previous related post.

What will US (and the world) use as a solution to current financial crisis ?


My other related posts on:
Europe investment, financial crisis, US investment.

Nordic Capitalism – the future of capitalism ?

In this FT's article, it was said that, Jorma Ollila, advocates that Nordic style of capitalism (characterised by openness to globalisation balanced by strong government programmes to protect people from its excesses and an egalitarian education system), is the future of capitalism.


Who is Jorma Ollila?

His more prominent roles are:

1. Chairman of both Nokia and Royal Dutch Shell
2. Chairman of European Roundtable of Industrialists (an informal forum of around 45 chief executives and chairmen of major multinational companies of European parentage covering a wide range of industrial and technological sectors).

European Roundtable of Industrialists is a good place to get views of European Industrialists.

So, what is Nordic Capitalism ?
I found this insightful PDF file written by University of Jyväskylä.

Nordic economies:
Five small North European countries, which includes Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden.

There is this book, Creating Nordic Capitalism – the business history of a competitive periphery, which is a good source to learn about Nordic Capitalism.

You can get a sample chapter from the website.

There are case studies given by the books on Capitalism of Sweden, Finnish, Danish and Norwegian.

Swedish Capitalism
Bonnier & Wallenberg
ASEA/ABB

Finnish Capitalism
Stora-Enso
Nokia and Tampella

Danish Capitalism
Arla Foods
Carlsberg

Norwegian Capitalism
Elkem
Kreditkassen

Iceland, as we know, is in deep trouble.

I wonder how are the status of these countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) and the companies used as success stories of Nordic Capitalism.

Can they withstand the onslaught of this financial crisis ?
How should the future of capitalism be ?