Didn’t expect the US to be swimming that soon with the PIIGS.

Wataniya Airways announced yesterday that it stopped flights and will not fly anymore due to its financial circumstances. Late last year, the airline tried a last ditch effort of cutting some of its flights, however, the efforts were fruitless. (Please click here to read our article in December 2010 discussing Wataniya Airways’ situation and how we predicted the carrier’s eventual demise).

Wataniya started operations in the worst of times, just before the global crisis. It attempted to brand itself as a luxury carrier, but the consumers wouldn’t budge. Their strategy of targeting Europe didn’t pay off as those routes were not as much demanded as other routes in the region. Many people would argue that the company was established to become the holding company that would eventually buy Kuwait Airways after its privatization, which may explain their weak strategies. The company called for a Shareholders’ meeting to discuss their options, and the company requested that the Kuwait Stock Exchange stop trading its stock.

What do you guys think? I personally I don’t agree with the message of the illustration. Americans are becoming too protectionists and forgetting the true ideals of capitalism. Even though the US is loosing manufacturing jobs to China and other counteries, they should gain in other aspects where Americans excel and have a competitive advantage. Competitive advantage is one of the most basic and important fundemental of economics. With the growth of globalization, the US should acclimate thier economy with the global economy.

Source: The Economist

Edwin Lefevre
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

I’m always happy when the market goes down. Then I feel pretty good about the stocks I didn’t buy with the money I don’t have.

I had this cartoon saved since July waiting for this day to post it. It’s a relief now that I can delete it from my desktop!

As the US dollar tanks, it seems even BEGGARS stopped accepting US dollars.