What important events did you follow over the past summer, and how did it shape your view of the world?
Rather than discuss the perplexing world of <$4 natural gas and >$70 crude oil (read Alfonso’s blog for an overview of this), I’ve got to say that the Asian political environment has been fascinating this summer. China arrested several western executives on incredibly wide ranging fraud charges and for the first time since WWII, the opposition party won in Japanese parliamentary elections.
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Based off of a July 27th Reuters report, we might be on the verge of see the world’s 8th largest oil field collapse. The Cantarell field in Mexico has been one of the steadiest (and cheapest) producing oil fields of the last 3 decades. It’s very possible that the end of significant production from this field is rapidly approaching.
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It’s August 24th and that means today is the first day of Fall 09 classes, meaning this is going to be my second and last fall semester. As you are likely aware, the UH professional MBA program is generally attainable in 3 years. Some students chose to accelerate the program and graduate a semester or two early, and with careful planning this is definitely possible. If you can really dedicate yourself to your studies it’s possible to graduate within 2 years (6 semesters). My current plan has me graduating in May, which will effectively neutralize any personal life outside of school and work. This is not a route that I would suggest most students take, but I know of at least 2 other people in my cohort (of ~40) that are planning a similar route. The flexibility of this program is an incredible benefit as students are able to decide the best pace and time allowance between work/school/personal lives. It’s great to know that the advisers are behind me one way or the other, and should something arise in the next couple of months I could always push graduation back into the upcoming summer semester, and still graduate 2 semesters early. It takes dedication, but an early graduation is very possible in this program. Good luck to everyone this semester.
The great firewall of China is perhaps the most obvious vestige of the Communist nation’s control over its citizens. In the West the prevailing argument is that the internet is a right, not a privilege, but unfortunately in China that is not the case. We all saw the power of social networking when despite the government of Iran’s best efforts, Twitter served as a means for organizing protests and dispersing news. Recently, the world’s third largest economy blocked Twitter, Facebook, and others.
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