KRX, BlueNext Seek Carbon Trading Tie-up

BlueNext is established in France in January 2008 by Euronext and Caisse (French state bank). It is a carbon emissions market and Euronext owns 60 percent of stake in BlueNext. BlueNext is looking forward to expand more of their business to North America and Asia. It currently has 73 members from the fields of energy, finance and environment to trade. They are selling products such as EUA (European Union Allowances) on the market and have plans to come up with a new product called CER (Certified emission reductions).
The (KRX) Korea Exchange and BlueNext are considering of building partnership on the development of a carbon trading market in Korea. The partnership could be in the form of an alliance through cross-shareholdings. Another way is developing emission credit products for listing. The reason is that both sides are hoping to build a trading platform that allows domestic firms to buy and sell carbon credits abroad through BlueNext. KRX is seeking to establish a carbon trading market before 2013. They want to be ahead of other Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Japan and China. Currently, Korea is the world’s 10 largest emitter of carbon dioxide. Both KRX and BlueNext want to discuss more on the establishment of a carbon trading market. Samsung Economic Research Institute noted that carbon trading market is expected to reach 150 billion dollars worldwide by 2010. The world’s biggest carbon market, Europe, is accounting 80 percent of total trading.

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/04/123_22272.html

20620042 - entry #4

Credit Card Spending Sets New Record

          Because of its easiness to use, people are spending more with the credit cards instead of cash. The rate of credit card usage had been declining lately; however, according to the research, it has rapidly increased since late February which set the new record of 25.8 trillion won. It is a 25.5% compared to March of last year.

          One of the main reasons is that now people can pay the bills using the credit cards and still have all the benefits of its mileages and promotions as well. Although the card spending is more than ever, according to the article, Credit Finance Association states that it's hard to tell it's a sign that the economy is recovering because number of card users have grown, too.

          Actually, according to the article, “the consumer confidence index fell to its lowest level in 23 months in March as more consumers turned pessimistic about their living conditions this year due to growing costs, the National Statistical Office said Monday” (BusinessWeek).

          The concern about “credit crunch” like in the state is also growing as more people are using the credit cards; however, the Bank of Korea says that only a part of people have lend riskier mortgage. Also, banks in Korea now have strict regulations for lending money in order to keep the interest rates low.

          I also sometimes use credit card and enjoy all the benefits from it including promotion, discounts, easy balance transfer and so on. Using such conveniences help us to live easier and more comfortably. However, when it goes beyond the line, it always makes problems. Many experts elaborate that using credit card can be beneficial, but also risky at the same time. I think using it wisely and putting it under your control are the most important facts for using the credit cards.

Reference;
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/04/123_22216.html

20601008 - 5th Entry

To be an entrepreneur: Risk Taking

I read a journal about the risk taking of entrepreneurs and what entrepreneurs should check before they start their businesses. The 4 basic points that the writer suggested are Training, Tools, Fitness, Partners. He explained the concepts of these by comparing entrepreneurs to ice climbing. When we decide to clime a vertical ice mountain, we have to ready for several things. We have to practice the climbing and the uses of climbing tools and improve the strength of our body, and most importantly pile up trust with our climbing partners.

In fact, starting a business is like a gamble. Because we have to invest our house, money, and almost everything. Also the success of a business is dependent on the possibility. Even if we exert to succeed our businesses, the key is mostly dependent on the environments of markets. But through some steps we can minimize the risk of uncertainty. Here I will introduce the basic steps. As I already wrote in first paragraph, the points are Training, Tools, Fitness, and Partners.

At first, Training means the judgment that we have to process when we knock against a problem. We have recognize proper skills and strategies in each problem. Secondly, Tools are strategie that we can use when initiate our business in a creative way. For example, we can choose several creative products before begin our business. The more suitable to the market, the more we can earn profits. Next, Fitness is a process that improves our reflection to the fluid market. Before we decide to start our business, we have to research the market and ready for the needs of the market. Through the process, we can respond to the market fluidly. Lastly, Partners are necessary to minimize the risk. We have to pile up trust with our close business partners. When we meet the emergent capital insufficiency, we can borrow some money from them. And also we can gain confidence in the market.

I think the decision to start a business is a difficult thing. Almost 90 percent of the ventures fail in the first period of the business. But to be an entrepreneur is so interesting to me. If we make full effort to prepare our business, we can succeed in the turbulance market. And also these ventures are the motive power of economies.

reference: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/mar2008/id20080312_205292_page_2.htm

entry 5 20700067 Kim Nam Joong

No way out from Iraq

I read an article about the war in Iraq. The article told me that the situation in Iraq is very bad and it is not a good situation to America. It gave me a briefing of how the war began and what’s up to this day. Simply, although we cannot say that America’s decision to begin a war was absolutely wrong, it is certain that the outcomes did not turn out to be as what it was in American governors’ mind. There seems to be no end in this war and more and more people are dying. There is a well-known Pay-Per-View in WWE, which is called ‘No Way Out.’ It really seems to be a ‘No Way Out’ to America.

Briefly speaking, the beginning and the current situation of this war is like this. After 9/11, America was really concerned about terrorism. It really wanted to keep itself from terrorism, didn’t want any similar event to happen. So, President Bush went on not only to protect America from terrorism but also to attack terrorists in advance. Iraq was somewhat known as a dangerous country. America assumed that Saddam Hussein has lots of mass destruction weapons in Iraq. So, American armies attacked Iraq. They simply won but that was not it. It turned out to be that there was no such thing as mass destruction weapon in Iraq. America got blames because most of countries thought that America was trying to achieve the oil in Iraq. In addition, even though America was the winner of this war, the war actually did not end. “Small wars” between US troops and terrorists such as al-Qaida are still in progress and there seems to be no way out of this serial disaster. Time went by and more and more people got dead. However, the situation did not change at all. America is still having difficulty dealing with terrorism and there is no certain prediction about when US troops will leave Iraq.

Frankly speaking, there are some good aspects that America has done in this war. The most important thing is that the collapse and death of Saddam Hussein actually brought some sort of democracy to Iraq. The thing is that that’s not what is important. America should leave Iraq as soon as possible. America had already lost justification when it couldn’t find mass destruction weapons in Iraq. Spending more time in Iraq and trying to make change the situation are making the situation worse. They should leave. Needless to say about the importance of people’s lives and peace, America and its alliances are having difficulties in economy. Ironically, most of people do know that the war in Iraq is very critical to the economy of America and its alliances, buy they don’t know about it concretely.

People in the world do know that America is a huge country. Not only its land-size but also its economy scale is humongous. Yet, people don’t know that military business such as selling weapons to other countries takes a lot of part of US economy. America earns lots of money by selling its military equipments to other nations. Many countries such as Korea are eagerly willing to pay lots of bills to buy US fighting planes. This really makes a lot of money for America. For example, although they lost in the war in Vietnam, America had made a lot of money due to this war. So, not only did America wanted to get oils in Iraq, but also wanted to makes use of its military stuffs by attacking Iraq. Plus, they wanted to show off to other nations about its militarily excellence, encouraging others to buys its fighter planes and such. However, America was somewhat wrong. America has already spent more than 800 trillion won in this war, which is more than 3 times of Korean national budget (250 trillion won). Moreover, there is no certain plan about when US will leave Iraq completely, which means they have to spend more money. This is a bad news to America.

For these reasons, America should get out of Iraq. Not only the matter of peace but also the matter of economy is threatening it. America should find a way although there seems to be no way.


Reference :http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSOD&mid=sec&sid1=108&oid=040&aid=0000050628


20700273 – Entry 5