Introduction

Hi -

I've been reading blogs fairly regularly for the last several years and decided finally to start one on my own.

Who am I?

An American ex-pat, living and working in Germany. Married to my Austrian wife, Ilse, 2 kids (Christine, 14 and Anja, 11), work for the largest private economic and financial research institute in Germany (which will remain nameless to protect the innocent). First degree in philosophy (phenomonological hermeneutics) and psychology from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, graduate degree in political science, economics and philosophy from the University of Freiburg in Germany. I've held a number of jobs as an economist, ranging from the fair market evaluation of radio and TV stations sales in the US to international economist for a trade group, but have been a forecasting econometrician for the last 15 years or so, first in Basel, Switzerland and now in the area of Frankfurt in Germany.

Major interests: politics, defense policy (wrote my thesis on that one), economics, photography, music (like the name of the blog) and speculating about the future.

I used to be rather active on sci.econ, but the loonies have taken over that asylum. Since then I've been largely passive on the blogging scene, with occasional comments here and there.

Don't know about how much time and effort I will have for this, since my job keeps me rather busy (I run a series of forecasts for Austria, but also rate closed real estate investment funds for Germany) and my kids and wife equally so. But it's worth a try...

John