Romania: Beware The Mistaken Prediction

The Associated Press is reporting new Romanian legislation “where witches and fortune tellers would have to produce receipts, and would also be held liable for wrong predictions”. Evidently this is to increase government financial resources after the past financial storm left Romania in a “severe economic downturn”.

To learn more about the present economic state of Romania I visited Radio Romania International where an article entitled THE ROMANIA-IMF RELATION was released earlier today stating how the government of Romania “promised the IMF it would levy taxes on high incomes and extend criteria to defend the taxable income, so that all non-exempt profits be taxed.” in addition to receiving “a new payment of the loan, worth more than 900 million euros.” While cooperation is essential in the current financial climate, interest in helping Romania is by no means at an all time low. On the contrary, actmedia, a Romanian news agency, is reporting in an article entitled “World Bank, interested in new projects in Romania” that “the World Bank (WB) wishes to continue the ongoing projects in Romania and identify new cooperation possibilities with the Romanian authorities” in an attempt “to draw investments”. Hopefully Romania will be one flower that will blossom as these projects are finalized, proving that cooperation with global groups could open doors previously thought invisible.

 

Does the relation between the economy and the environment always have to result in the economy taking a metaphorical beating?

Image by Brooklyn Museum via Flickr

 

According to an article posted today on the Khaleej Times Online, Egypt’s economy is predicted to experience an increase in “stress” due to the affects of climate change on the agricultural sector. According to Reuters it was reported that 10 to 12 percent of land used for farming could be lost due to potential occurrences of flooding and the expected decrease in fertility. Yet the economy does not always have to shape to the environment. If necessity is the mother of invention, as Plato is famously known for remarking, then there is profit via the creation of environmental technology to alter the climate, clean up oil spills, or even capture and contain greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Just as a coin always has two sides, so too does the relationship between economies and the environment. Drought is devastating for farmers who may not have supplementary income but good business evolves to the task at hand, creating more jobs, and hopefully at the same time increases awareness as to the effect interactions between the environment and people ultimately has on food production.