Short-termism

This week's article concerns short-termism in the field of takeovers and the city.This story from Yahoo follows up the takeover panel's proposals earlier in the week.
Questions following on from the text.

1. Why is short-termism a problem in business?
2. Why is it a particular problem when a business is taken over?
3. Should all investors in a company have equal rights or should long term investors have more rights?
4. Is it easy for a foreign company to take over a company in your country?
5. What are the possible dangers of such a takeover?

Write your answers in the comment section or discuss this topic with your teacher in class.

IMF - "Steering Committee" fails to find ...

Our word or phrase of the week for this week is "steering committee".I have taken our article from yahoo this morning where they are reporting on the IMF steering committee's attempts to deal with a possible future currency  war.
Exercises
Read the article and then write a short report to summarize the meeting.

Do you agree with Dominique Strauss-Kahn's opinion about co-operation? Why Why not? Please write a short note to your teacher to explain your opinion.


Which countries are said in the article to agree with the United States and which to disagree?

Create a short table to show this.

Stinginess is the word of the week

Our word of the week this week is stinginess as Chinese Billionaires were accused of this after not attending a charity banquet organised by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Read the article from the Guardian and answer the following questions.

• What famous Dickens character was accused of being stingy?
• Do you agree that the Chinese billionaires are stingy or are they being careful not to expose how much money the have to the world.
• Is American Billionaires philanthropy only a "tax dodge."
• Write a letter to a Billionaire asking him her for money for your favourite charity. Explain why it is a good cause.
• How the money will be spent
• What benefit the billionaire will have if they give the charity the money.
• Give your letter to your teacher to check or post it to this blog as a comment.