THE WORLD ON THE BRINK

Yesterday I read in a business magazines that according to US Democratic Representative Kanjorski at 11 am on the 18th September there was a $440 billion electronic drawn-down of money market accounts in the US. The US Treasury had to pump $550 billion into the system, close down the money accounts and announce a guarantee of $250,000 per account to stem the tide. It was estimated that had they not acted swiftly by 2 pm $5.5 trillion would have been drawn out, collapsing the entire economy of the US, followed by the world economy within 24 hours. According to him it would have been the end of the economic and political system as we know it. My guess is that the Lehman Bank collapse on 16th acted as the catalyst. This must have been the financial equivalent of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Whew!!

Now back to “normal” stuff. This week our Investors in People renewal took place. As our reviewer had previously been made aware of my own particular succession planning strategy, i.e. slide off to Switzerland and other foreign parts, basically leaving “the team” to get on with things, she made this one of the focuses points of the visit. She asked everyone how the process was going and the consensus was that things are not better or worse, just different. Job done then!

Thankfully, we passed with flying colours again. She also added that after recently visiting a major supermarket chain to review their Investors in People status, in her opinion our planning, training and delivery procedures and processes are more effective than theirs. In fact she was impressed with the way we value our staff.

And the real “normal, normal” stuff. Our little ones perpetuating the ancient art of climbing trees. Now that's real life. Arn't they delightful?

And finally …. I believe that the happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything.