Hillary Clinton relishes her job, but misses 'daily pleasures'

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, reflecting on her life in the public spotlight, said Saturday she misses ordinary pleasures but has no regrets about her choice of public service.
"It's very hard to go out shopping and just enjoy yourself out with your friends; it's hard to go out to a restaurant and have just a meal with some people you want to talk to without being recognized," she said during an interview on a popular women's programme on the Turkish channel NTV.

The former First Lady even answered questions about her marriage to Bill Clinton and the scandal of the Monica Lewinsky affair that overshadowed his presidency in the late 1990s.
When asked if it was love or friendship which enabled her to get past her husband's adultery, she answered smiling: "Oh, love! And forgiveness, and friendship, and family."
"You know, family, faith, friends are the core of my life and I don't know anybody whose life is smooth sailing. If you meet such a person, I want to know them, because I've lived a long time and I have yet to meet that person."

She added: "I sacrificed a lot of my privacy which I regret, I wish I did not have to."
After leaving the White House, she was elected US senator from the state of New York and last year lost her bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination to Barack Obama.
After Obama's election victory in November, she accepted his offer to become the US secretary of state -- a high-profile position on the world stage with little privacy.
She admits it is the ordinary things of life she misses.
"I like sitting in sidewalk cafes and coffee shops and watching people. That's impossible for me now. I enjoy shopping and I am not actually able to shop.... So it's the little daily activities and pleasures that you may not be able to enjoy quite as much."
Still, she added she had no regrets about her career choice.
"But there are a lot of benefits because I do feel that I can help people.... So I lose something but I gain something. That's kind of life, you know. You can't have everything, you have to make some choices, and I am very excited that I get a chance to serve my country in working with President Obama."

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Dow Jones valuations are just getting tougher

With the Dow Jones Industrial Average firmly under 7,000, the US stock market is now well below its early-1995 level, adjusting for changes in nominal GDP.
That suggests it is cheap, assuming growth prospects are as good as they were back then. But there is a risk to such a an analysis: too much fiscal and budgetary stimulus could bring on growth-stultifying inflation.

Fast back to December 5, 1996. The Standard and Poor's 500 Index closed at 744.38. That evening, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan decried the market's "irrational exuberance". On the S&P's close of 700.82 on Monday, the market is clearly exuberant no more.
It is not, however, exceptionally low. Greenspan announced a new easier monetary policy to Congress later in early 1995. That day, the Dow Jones average, which had been generally rising since 1990, first reached 4,000. Adjusting for the 95pc increase in nominal GDP since that time would give an equivalent Dow level today of around 7,800. That suggests that current levels are only somewhat below their long term trend, and that the 1996-2007 period represented a lengthy bubble.
As for the S&P 500, Standard and Poor's currently projects 2009 earnings on the index of $48.10. Over the 20-year period to 2008, it traded at an average of 19.4 times earnings. That would imply a current value of 933.14. That 20-year period however includes the 12-year bubble. Taking a longer-term average of around 15 times earnings gives a valuation of 721.5 - again, just slightly above the current level.

So, based on 1995 stock prices and long-term earnings considerations the market is just below a middling valuation. However that assumes US growth and earnings prospects are as good today as they were in 1995, or over the long-term average.
That's where doubts creep in. If the exceptional monetary stimulus since September produces inflation, which needs to be squeezed out, or the unprecedentedly large budget deficits in fiscal years 2009 and 2010 "crowd out" private investment, then growth and earnings prospects for the next few years would be below average.

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Chavez threatens Polar with expropriation

Chavez threatens to expropriate Venezuela's largest food producer if president 'mocks' him

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez on Friday warned Venezuela's largest food producer that its entire operations could soon be expropriated amid a personal spat between Chavez and its president.
Chavez accused Empresas Polar president Lorenzo Mendoza of personally "mocking" him, "attacking the government and disrespecting the country" -- which Chavez said he considers grounds for expropriation. It was not clear what statements he was referring to.
"I'm going to take away all of Polar from you, down to the last plant you have," Chavez said in a televised speech.
If he were to follow through on that threat, his government would become the biggest player in Venezuela's food industry -- potentially a key step in his plan to institute socialism.

Chavez has accused Polar and other companies of evading price caps on basic foodstuffs by producing less of those items, flouting new regulations that require price-controlled items to comprise at least 70 percent of their output. The rules aim to inflation, with food prices soaring 40.1 percent in Caracas and annual inflation reaching 30.1 percent last year, the highest in Latin America.
National Guard troops occupied a rice processing plant owned by a Polar subsidiary last week. Officials said they will to conduct a 90-day inspection to ensure the plant is producing enough price-capped white rice, as required under the new rules.

The subsidiary, Alimientos Polar, denied any violations on Friday, insisting that its plant is producing nothing but the required white rice.
Empresas Polar, owned by the Mendoza family, is one of Venezuela's largest companies, with 30,000 employees and 17 plants that produce and distribute everything from rice to vinegar and beer.
Four unions representing Polar employees have published a statement criticizing the government's rice-plant takeover, a move they said threatens to "to turn us into workers for a single boss, the state."
Chavez ordered the expropriation of another rice-processing plant owned by Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc. earlier this week.

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International Monetary Fund

The International Monetary Fund's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) provides access to the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), and the Data Quality Reference (DQRS) sites.

• The SDDS was established in 1996 to guide countries that have, or that might seek, access to international capital markets in the dissemination of economic and financial data to the public. This site provides information about economic and financial data disseminated by member countries that subscribe to the SDDS.
• The GDDS was established in 1997 to guide countries in the provision to the public of comprehensive, timely, accessible, and reliable economic, financial, and socio-demographic data. This site provides information on data produced and disseminated by member countries that participate in the GDDS.
• The Data Quality Reference Site (DQRS), which was created to foster a common understanding of data quality, provides access to contributions in the field and includes a selection of articles and other sources related to data quality issues.

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