Monthly Archive: December 2011

Thank you for your loyal readership. Season’s Greetings to all and a Happy, Healthy New Year in 2012.

Much in all as it pains me to say this, it’s time for Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie to step aside at Research In Motion. After almost twenty years as co-CEOs, the world record long ago set, the company needs new leadership. The offer by Mike and Jim to reduce their salaries to $1 a year is bold but does not speak to the issues involved. Others need to participate in the solution. As share price plummeted 80 per cent this year, institutional investors have been unusually quiet. A modest revolt at the time of the annual meeting was snuffed...

I’m not one to play Chicken Little but the situation in Europe appears to be intractable. For 18 months politicians and bureaucrats have been claiming to do something but so far little has been accomplished. To be sure, some holders of Greek bonds voluntarily took a haircut, central banks have acted in concert, and leaders in Greece and Italy are out but the situation just grows worse. Tomorrow marks the eight summit on the crisis this year. The worst case scenario is a cascading collapse that makes the Great Depression look like Disneyland. Meanwhile net world debt just keeps on rising, up...