English

What is Leasing?

Leasing is a process by which a firm can obtain the use of a certain fixed assets for which it must pay a series of contractual, periodic, tax deductable payments. The lessee is the receiver of the services or the assets under the lease contract and the lessor is the owner of the assets. The relationship between the tenant and the landlord is called a tenancy, and can be for a fixed or an indefinite period of time (called the term of the lease). The consideration for the lease is called rent.

The G20 and the HIRCS

Oscar Ugarteche

A group of seven highly indebted rich countries (HIRC) of the world have organized a meeting of twenty nations in London in order to discuss the future of the world’s finances. They have called to the table some creditor developing countries like Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, some Arab countries, China and India but have left aside all the other surplus countries in the world, creditors to the US and Europe. After all, the accumulation of export surpluses over a twenty year period is what has allowed deficit countries to over-borrow to a total stock to the tune of about 200% of GDP average and growing fast. …

The Commodities

The fundamental principles that underlie commodity futures trading and the function of commodity exchanges are centuries old. Markets had already attained a degree of formalization in ancient Greece and Rome with a fixed time and place for trading a marketplace, common barter and currency systems, and a practice of contracting for future delivery. The Agora in Athens originated as a commercial marketplace and later became the center of Athenian political and maritime power. The Forum in Rome was initially established as a trading center. At the height of the Roman Empire, 19 such trading centers, called Fora Vendalia (sales markets), served as distribution centers for commodities that the Romans brought from the far corners of the Empire.

International Economic Outlook

This report sees US output falling during the first half of next year, then gradually picking up as the effects of the credit squeeze abate, the housing downturn bottoms out and the impact of lower interest rates takes hold. Weak household spending due to large losses in households’ wealth will limit the strength of the recovery. US GDP is projected to fall 0.9 percent next year, before rising 1.6 percent in 2010.

My Role in the Torture of Binyam Mohamed

I like to think that some of the things I write cause discomfort in those readers who deserve to feel it. Ideally, they should squirm, they should flinch, they might even experience fleeting gastrointestinal symptoms. But I have always drawn the line at torture. It may be unpleasant to read some of my writings, especially if they have been assigned by a professor, but it should not result in uncontrollable screaming, genital mutilation or significant blood loss.

With such stringent journalistic ethics in place, I was shocked to read in the February 14th Daily Mail Online a brief article headed “Food writer’s online guide to building an H-bomb…the ‘evidence’ that put this man in Guantanamo.” The “food writer” was identified as me, and the story began: