President Commentary:
At Home – and On Distant Shores
I fondly recall attending the 1964 World’s Fair in Queens, New York as a child and marveling at Disney’s exhibit “It’s a Small World.” I was fascinated that such an amazing array of pavilions could bring to life the culture and pageantry of distant shores to those who had the good fortune to attend. Ah, the pleasant melody that crackled aloud as we circled the “world” in our little boat. Disney’s creative genius was as evident then as now.
Over these many years, the world – figuratively speaking – has gotten smaller. Advances in technology, the ubiquity of smartphones, the proliferation of social media, airline deregulation and a host of other progressions have converged to raise awareness and curiosity about — and accessibility to — disparate lands and people.
Perhaps nowhere is such instantaneousness more apparent than in global financial arenas. Omnipresent trading and socio/political/economic developments in markets thousands of miles apart ripple across continents like stones skimming calm waters. Beijing and New York are 6,800 miles apart though no more than a millisecond and a click removed; markets react swiftly to the latest arc — or tweet. Come to think of it, clicks are rather blasé…tweets are the preferred force majeure of U.S. economic policy, and one every bit as effective in careening global markets.
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