Touchdown! Why the "r" landing beats the hard and soft versions

Let's kick off by letting me tell you a little bit about myself and how this blog can help you make sense of the rapidly changing economic currents sweeping through the world today. It's going to provide insightful, thought provoking and actionable ideas for you.

Ever since I was a kid, our family TV always fascinated me as a window to the world. Interspersed with my schooling, the family's roots in Hong Kong and South China eventually led me back to this former British enclave during some of those long summer sojourns. Wasn't it here that naked capitalism faced off against rabid communism?

The seeds to better understand the full impact of economics was firmly planted here before returning home again to pursue my education. Trade catalyses nations and clarifies the human spirit. Economics was never the "dismal science" for me.

Long before I learnt about hard and soft landings in textbooks, I was buzzing with the "r" landing, an experience which never ceased to wow my friends back in the UK. While not part of the normal lexicon, it was something unique to Hong Kong. Every jet descending into Kai Tak airport (which closed in 1998) had to follow a straight line over low rise buildings in the centre of town and then bank steeply at most 90 degrees to the right before the rubber met the runway.

Have a peek below...best with earphones:







It was game on. After university and armed with my business degree, five years working in London with Quaker Oats and BP Amoco was sprinkled with opportunities to visit New York and Washington. I even accumulated more "r" landings and later decided to set down in Asia. In between, I gained my professional accountancy qualification. Valuable experience was gained working out here for Philip Morris, Marks & Spencer and a global weekly news magazine. Having travelled around this region, witnessed the phenomenal China growth first hand and worked in India for a while, I'm convinced we are at a monumental crossroads.

Pressing questions are confronting policymakers in their oak-panelled rooms today. Just how life-changing is the global financial crisis? What shape will the Pacific hemisphere take as it replaces the Atlantic century? Where will the next opportunities and threats come from? Can American hegemony survive without the US dollar as a world reserve currency? Will the Chinese and Indian consumer be able to chart a sustainable domestic growth path?

Around kitchen tables, animated discussions are commonplace on how to stretch the monthly income further, de-risk portfolios ravaged by the financial crisis and refine asset allocations to secure the roof over the heads.

We're going to embark on a journey together...the showdown (or "strategic partnership" according to the diplomats) between East and West has begun in earnest... I'll do a take on the issues of the day, peel away and demystify the numbers behind the headlines to provide you with actionable insights. I'm going to take the game to you...