Articles about Asian flash points, the role of low income country central banks and global inflation, the Finnish shock to the Euro, the escalating price of food, 10 big bubbles, no tipping required when the tablet replaces the server, Charlie Fell on America’s debt problem, and the Canadian financial press makes up stuff about the negative impact of the NDP.

And finally the Canucks bury the Black Hawks. (ed’s note – ice hockey talk).

In the ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ category a small border war breaks out between Thailand and Cambodia reminding us that Asia has more than geological fault lines to worry about.

Financial Times -- Asia: Region riven by disputed terrain
Two days after Japan was struck by last month’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, Beijing sent a rescue team of 15 people to help its stricken neighbour. It was the first time Tokyo had accepted such a mission from China.

The inflation problem starts with the low income country central banks not the Fed.

Financial Times – EM Bank’s Are Doing the Fed’s Dirty Work
US investors are increasingly fearful of inflation.

Related.

Wall Street Journal – Bernanke’s Inflation Paradox
The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee meets again today, and we suppose congratulations of a sort are in order.

The rising price of food.

Pdf below -- Asian Development Bank Food Price Inflation

Quote worth quoting.

“In the long term, measures such as improvements in productivity, increases in agricultural investment, stronger market integration, targeting subsidies to the poor, and global and regional cooperation must take center stage.”

But in the short-term, it is central banks that bear the responsibility of higher food prices.

Asia Sentinel – Grim Report on Food from the ADB
But the reasons may have less to do with to do with production than economics.

 

How Finland might derail the Euro.

Spiegel Online – How Dangerous is Finland to the Euro?
Across the 17-member euro zone, government heads had a hunch April 17 might not be a very good day for the future of Europe.

 

The 10 biggest bubbles?

Independent -- Easter tips for bubble watchers: Ten signs of an impending bust
Where will the next crash emerge from?

Will new technology now get rid of table servers?

Slate -- How restaurants will use tablet computers to replace servers
A few years ago, I ate dinner with my parents and siblings at an oak-paneled, oh-so-snooty restaurant.

Can the US get its fiscal house in order in time?

Charlie Fell – US Public Debt Concerns Mounting
Bond market vigilantes have stalked the euro-zone’s sovereign debt markets for more than a year now and, one-by-one, the monetary union’s troubled periphery including Greece, Ireland and Portugal, have succumbed to market pressure and requested financial assistance. 

It has been interesting watching the media coverage of the ‘impact’ of Jack’s surge on financial indicators like the dollar and equity markets, mostly blind hysteria. The headline for this article makes it seems like the dollar must have fallen, but it didn’t, with the author arguing that the surge ‘muted’ the recent rise. What does that mean? The only thing that matters right now for the Canadian dollar is whether China will attack inflation, not Jack Layton.

Globe and Mail -- NDP surge in polls begins to weigh on Canadian dollar
The “uncertainty” surrounding Canada’s federal election, and the surge of the New Democratic Party in public opinion polls, is weighing on the Canadian dollar.

Thank you Alexander. On to round two.

Vancouver Sun -- Canucks’ Burrows wins it in Game 7 OT: ‘This is what legends are made of’
The Vancouver Canucks stared a colossal playoff collapse straight in the eyes Tuesday night and did not blink

 

The goal.