Hello, Reputation.com Hepcats,

I write to you from the David Intercontinental Hotel where I am listening to the plenary session of the second day of the Israel Business Conference. There is a sense here at the conference that the economic crisis now stretching around the world is getting worse and will last between 6 and 18 more months.  We heard yesterday from Yu Yongding, a senior Chinese economist, who noted that China’s economy slowed considerably and stunningly in October and November.  Indeed, certain key indicators such as exports entered negative territory for the first time in many years.

We also heard from Jonathan Story, an emeritus professor of international political economy at INSEAD.  Very smart guy.  He gave a thoughtful, substantive talk in which he pointed the way to an increasingly globalized future, anchored in its stability by the transatlantic alliance.  He will be publishing a book about China shortly; I hope to read it.

The main theme of this conference, in fact, has been globalization.  This is naturally a well-discussed topic.  But a theme of much of the discussion of the conference has been the virtual inevitability of increasing globalization during the ongoing economic crisis.  The view is that the crisis will necessitate and catalyze further interconnectedness of finance and economy.  Professor Story did note that, as financial and economic regulation has become more coordinate over the recent decades, there has been an acceleration in the number of (generally smaller) crises in these sectors.  But he also suggested that revival and rescue have been swifter and more feasible through this coordination.

Also yesterday I saw an impassioned presentation by Adeo Rossi of TheFunded.com.  Here is a link to a video of him discussing some of the same substance. Adeo really thinks there should be a total change in the way private venture investment is made around the world.

Also, check out this photo, taken from my iPhone, of the speech given by Israeli President Shimon Peres yesterday at the conference.  The guy is 85!  Lemme tell you: he is very sharp and very spry.  I hope I am that together if I ever get to that age.  He gave a rather non-political speech, noting not only what the governments must do to help countries get out of the slump (i.e. investment, counter-cyclical R&D initiatives, lending, etc.) but also what the private sector should do (work extra hard!) to get their countries back on track.  I was inspired.

Michael Fertik