First We Conquer Iceland

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The Daily Reckoning | Friday, March 9, 2012 Imagining a hellish existence with neither sushi nor vodka... Canada and Iceland: Not-so-strange bedfellows... Plus, Patrick Cox with an eye-opening look at some of the most incredible cancer research to date... ------------------------------------------------------ NOTICE: You May Have a Credit Balance on Your Account According to our subscriber database, thousands of our customers have may have a credit balance. In fact, anyone who checks their balance today will automatically receive an upgrade credit of $1,008. Please use this link to learn how to redeem your credits: Agora Financial Subscriber Services — Unclaimed Credit   Government Mandated Population Growth What to Expect from Declining Populations in Russia and Japan   Joel Bowman Reporting from Australia, population: 22.8 million... What happened to all the Japanese? And where did the Russians go? Can you imagine, for one horrifying second, a world with no sushi and no vodka? We can’t. We can imagine a Hell of such description, yes. A fire and brimstone purgatory of infinite and unbearable pain. But not a world...at least not one in which we’d choose to live. Well, get used to it anyway, say demographic trends. By 2050, according to an ambitiously speculative forecast by TIME Magazine, “declining birth rates in two of the world’s most economically and politically influential countries, Japan and Russia, will cause them to fall from their current positions as the 9th and 10th most populous nations, respectively, to 16th and 17th.” The Russian population, 142 million souls strong, will collapse by some 40 million people by the middle of this century if current demographic trends continue. The Japanese population, it is well known, has been shrinking (in numbers, not height...although that may also be true) since the middle of the last decade, when it topped out around 125 million. By 2050, assuming again that current trends continue, that number will fall to around 100 million. Apparently, the Russians and the Japanese have better things to do with their time than to reproduce. “But...but...who’s going to make our robots?” we hear some Reckoners wondering. “And from where will we order our matryoshka dolls?” whines another. Obviously we won’t have to go without these things...especially now that the rather populous Chinese can make knockoffs for half the price. Of course populations rise and fall. That’s what they do. Indigenous tribes succumb to the aspirations of conquering marauders. Then, when looters turn incumbents, when foreigners set up camp and become “locals,” they in turn open themselves up for conquest from abroad...or from within. Such is the natural course of events. That’s not to say politicians won’t try to stop it. The political class never met a situation they didn’t perceive as a problem...one in desperate need of their own unique and priceless solution. This time it’s Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. The newly “re-elected” Russian president has pledged to “reinvigorate” the Russian population by coaxing young couples into having more sex...or at least, more babies. We were considering all this when we returned to the sparsely populated country of our own birth a few days ago. With just over 20 million souls spread over her 7,682,300 square kilometers, Australia has one of the lowest population densities in the world. Compare those figures with Hong Kong, for example, which has 6,349 people per square kilometer...or Monaco, which jams 16,923 men, woman and children into the same tiny area. Before Russians stopped having little Vlads and Natashas, the Motherland experienced many an attack from resource-hungry powers abroad...Bonaparte and Hitler being only the last two in a long line of would-be conquerors. Thus far, Australia has avoided serious challenges to her claim on golden soil and wealth for toil, on nature’s gifts of beauty rich and rare. Australia “suffers” from an enticing embarrassment of riches. Flying over this vast land, we wonder for how long she’ll be able to hold onto these gifts...and who might try to make them their own.   World oil production is about to be shaken to its core... You won’t believe which nation analysts at Wall Street’s biggest banks expect to become the world’s biggest energy producer by 2017 — or the effect it will have on America... our economy... our future... Click here to see who is set to become the new king of oil — and how you can use the news to go for big profits as early as this MAY! The Daily Reckoning Presents First We Conquer Iceland   Wendy McElroy The law of unintended consequences states that actions, especially governmental ones, always have unintended and unpredictable effects. These unanticipated effects can be far more powerful than the planned ones. Thus, economists often use this law as a warning to politicians that policies commonly ‘achieve’ the opposite of their intentions. For example, raising the minimum wage to ease the burden on workers usually causes more unemployment, especially among marginal workers. Similarly, raising taxes often diminishes tax revenues. But sometimes unintended consequences are nothing short of delightful. Consider the prospect of Iceland abandoning the krona and adopting the dollar as its currency. No, no, not the US Greenback but the Canadian “loonie,” so named for the water fowl imprinted on the flipside of its one-dollar coin. [Disclaimer: the author admits to being a Canadian who wishes to vacation in Iceland and, so, she may be biased in deciding what is delightful.] Since the 2008 financial crisis in which its top three banks collapsed, Iceland has eyed other currencies with the goal of establishing both stability and liquidity even at the cost of losing control of its own monetary policies. Why is the possibility of adopting the loonie “an unintended consequence”? Because up until now, the currency overwhelmingly favored for adoption was the euro. Iceland applied to join the European Union in 2009 and formal negotiations began in 2011, with the issue of fisheries being particularly sensitive. Iceland has exclusive fishing rights to the 200 nautical miles surrounding its shores and fish constitute its largest export by far. There is understandable reluctance to entering an agreement that would open up Iceland’s fishing zone to competitors. Moreover, the recent rockiness of the Eurozone and the euro itself cannot be encouraging to Icelanders. Indeed, given that Iceland rebounded from its fiscal crisis by defaulting on debts and not bailing out banks, it is unlikely to sympathize with the hysteria surrounding a Greek default. A recent Capacent Gallup poll found that 60 percent of Icelanders now oppose union with the Eurozone. The Finance Minister is among them. Who knew that strict fishing policies and the coddling of Greece would make the loonie glimmer in Icelandic eyes? And, so, prominent Icelandic businessmen, opposition politicians and much of the public are favoring a move toward the loonie; the Canadian Ambassador Alan Bones had been scheduled to address the possibility of currency sharing at a political conference in Reykjavik over the weekend. But the Canadian government apparently reconsidered the appropriateness of the venue for such a discussion; the conference had been sponsored by a specific political faction within Iceland. Instead, last Friday, the Canadian Ambassador announced on the Icelandic national broadcaster RUV that Ottawa was quite open to holding talks on the subject. The Icelandic Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson stated “I’m all in favor of discussing the alternatives we may have to the krona.” On the street level, the Canadian public seems tickled. Indeed, in a recent column entitled “Five reasons why Iceland should adopt the Canadian dollar,” Michael Babad offered as the concluding reason: “5. Our glowing hearts. For Iceland, do not underestimate friendship in this post-crisis era of currency manipulation and mounting trade tensions. We’re a wonderful people, they’re a wonderful people. We’ve got a beautiful country, they’ve got a beautiful country. True, it gets cold in Canada in the winter, but remember we’re talking about Iceland. “And surely we can forgive them for Björk.” [Björk Guðmundsdóttir is an Icelandic singer-songwriter.] Icelanders seem receptive as well. According to the Globe and Mail, “In a recent Gallup poll, seven out of 10 Icelanders said they would happily dump their volatile and fragile krona for another currency. Their favoured alternative is the Canadian dollar, easily outscoring the US dollar, the euro and the Norwegian krone.” There are no reports of the Icelandic government opening discussions, however. There are several reasons for the Canadian dollar — usually viewed as the Greenback’s poor cousin — to be preferred over the euro. The loonie has a AAA sovereign debt rating and Canada has very little debt compared to every other Western nation. The Globe and Mail provides other reasons: “It [the loonie] offers the tantalizing prospect of a stable, liquid currency that roughly tracks global commodity prices, nicely matching Iceland’s own economy, which is dependent on fish and aluminum exports, and in the future, energy. There’s also a more sentimental reason. They’re both cold, Arctic countries. “The average person looks at it this way: Canada is a younger version of the US. Canada has more natural resources than the US, it’s less developed, has more land, lots of water,” explained Heidar Gudjonsson, an economist and chairman of the Research Centre for Social and Economic Studies, Iceland’s largest think tank. “And Canada thinks about the Arctic.” Economic commentator ZeroHedge (Tyler Durden) ends his report on Iceland’s longing look at the loonie with a warning, “So be careful Canada: with great power, comes great a desire to distribute wealth. And we have all seen what happens next.” Will currency imperialism go to Canada’s head? Fear not, ZeroHedge. I still remember the contest run by Canada’s national magazine Macleans years ago. It wanted to come up with a phrase that captured what was quintessentially Canadian, similar to the down-under phrase “As American as apple pie.” And, so, Macleans invited readers to fill in the blank: “As Canadian as _________.” The challenge was distinguishing Canada from its neighbor who was louder, flashier, (then) richer, sexier and, well, add “er” onto almost any adjective. The winner? “As Canadian as possible under the circumstances.” Arrogance is not a problem. Regards, Wendy McElroy, for The Daily Reckoning Joel’s Note: Among many other accomplishments, Wendy McElroy is the author of XXX: A Woman’s Right to Pornography. Though we admit to not having (yet) read the book, we found this highly thought-provoking interview with McElroy on YouTube. It has nothing to do with money or economics or finance...but that’s not the only reason you should watch it. McElroy is articulate, thoughtful and refreshingly insightful while pondering a subject not often addressed. For that, and plenty more besides, we say, Bravo.   KO’s Cancer in 36 Hours! A little-known biotech company is making medical history... but with FDA fast track review status for their cancer treatment, this small company might not stay “little-known” for long... So you must move fast if you want to get in on the ground floor of what could be the biggest medical breakthrough in decades... Click here to learn more now.   Outwitting Cancer’s “Deadly Fog”   Patrick Cox The world-famous Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Belgium is funding a Phase 1/2 clinical test of a cancer vaccine. This complex carbohydrate blocks galectin-3s. Briefly, galectins-3s are proteins that have the ability to recognize and attach themselves to specific sugar molecules. This sugar-binding characteristic is typical of all lectins and is essential to our bodies’ functioning, but galectin-3s, for some reason, are also involved in all manner of disorders. Galectin-3s are integrally involved in strokes, heart disease, cancers, inflammation and fibrosis in its many health-destroying forms. One of the bad things that galectin-3s does is attach to T-cells. T- cells are the white blood cells or lymphocytes that fight disease and communicate information about threats to the immune system. The “T” in T-cells, by the way, stands for thymus. That’s because T- cells are born in your bone marrow but then migrate to the heart- shaped thymus, located behind the sternum in the center of your chest. There, they mature and are programmed for specific purposes. This programming is based in part on information about any disease in your body that is contained in the thymus. That information is relayed to the thymus by other T-cells that circulate through your body. This complex information transfer process is not static. It evolves as the body tests different approaches to fighting threats. In theory, this thymus-regulated immune process should be able to deal easily with cancers. Unfortunately, cancers can escape routine detection and destruction by T-cells by making a deadly fog or shield of galectin-3s. They attach to the T-cells that approach the cancer, triggering cell suicide in the cancer-fighting lymphocytes. As a result, the T-cells are prevented from doing battle with the cancer cells and cannot report back to the thymus. The cancer, in turn, evolves like a malignant intelligence — hidden behind the galectin-3 death fog. The Ludwig Institute, the world’s largest and one of the most respected cancer research organizations, tested one of these carbohydrate drugs in cultures of cancer cells mixed with T-cells. As expected, the cancer cells quickly shut down the T-cells with galectin-3s. Into this mix of doomed T-cells and cancer cells, the galectin-3 blocking drug was added. Immediately, the T-cells were rejuvenated and began killing cancers. Cancer vaccine therapies are one of the hottest areas of biotech research today. At least a hundred organizations, I hear, are currently looking for vaccination therapies that train T-cells to more effectively fight cancers. This is only logical, since prior anti-cancer therapies have been, by definition, toxic. Both chemotherapy and radiation therapy harm the patient. The trick is to harm the cancer more, but it is not an optimal solution. Prior to new approaches to cancer, the best possible scenario was to reduce side effects and damage. In fact, the drug in question does that, but the industry is far more interested in nontoxic approaches to fighting cancer. Ludwig, for example, is investing in clinical trials because they believe, as I do, that the immune system, and therefore vaccines, will work far better when T-cells are protected from galectin-3s. If it works with Ludwig’s particular vaccine, however, it will work with any cancer vaccine. This opens up a vast market. The important thing to keep in mind regarding this trial is that the galectin-3 blocker would improve the vaccine result even if it didn’t actually interact with the immune process to increase the vaccine’s efficacy. Through the course of my research, I’ve learned that cell culture tests showed that this drug resurrected T-cells so that they killed cancers. This means that the drug on its own could be a very potent cancer killer. I predict that it will be, in fact. Given periodically, I believe it will work prophylactically to prevent cancers. Regards, Patrick Cox, for The Daily Reckoning Editor’s Note: If there’s one thing you’ll never be able to accuse Patrick of, it’s lacking vision. A perennial breakthrough investor, he spends countless hours researching the next wave of important technologies...and figuring out the best ways to profit from them. And he recently discovered something big... So big, in fact, it “could allow 10 million blind to see again.” We were skeptical, too...until we saw this report. If nothing else, it’s definitely worth a few minutes of your time. Click here now to view Patrick’s unique presentation. ---------------------------------------- Here at The Daily Reckoning, we value your questions and comments. 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