FINANCE USES

Cayman Islands Monetary Authority Chairman Tim Ridley stressed the importance of Cayman’s financial services industry during a speech last Thursday made to the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman.

Making it clear from the onset that his remarks were personal and not the official views of CIMA, Mr. Ridley noted there have been expressions of dissatisfaction with the financial services industry and questions about its contributions to the Cayman Islands.

“I consider these criticisms to be broadly unwarranted and unjustified,” he said. “One only has to look at other small islands in the Caribbean and elsewhere to see the value of the financial services industry. It is that industry, not tourism, that has given the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Channel Islands and the Cayman Islands such high per capita [Gross Domestic Product].

“After all, places such as the Dominican Republic and Jamaica dwarf us in terms of its total tourism activity; not so in per capita GDP.”

Mr. Ridley said there were a number of things that could be done to make sure the broader community understands and remains convinced that the financial services industry is critical to the well–being of the Cayman Islands.

Penn State is near the middle of a new Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine report ranking the 100 best values in public education.

The university ranked 45th for best value for in-state students, down one spot from last year, and 46th for out-of-state students.

Penn State spokeswoman Annemarie Mountz said the report, which was released last month, affirmed truths already known about the university.

"We know that Penn State is a good value, and you get an excellent education when you come to Penn State," Mountz said.

Penn State is the most expensive public university in the Big Ten conference. Northwestern University has higher tuition costs, but is a private institution.

Students had mixed reactions to the report's findings.

Christine Branigan (sophomore-journalism) said she uses loans to pay for her Penn State tuition but said "the overall experience" is worth the cost.

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Above all, it will set back the all-important fight against global warming, in which the Indian government is at best a reluctant partner, refusing to accept any time-bound commitment to reduce its greenhouse emissions, now growing three times faster than the world average.

All the same, according to management experts, the car has created a new paradigm of "frugal engineering" and will trigger breathtaking innovations in manufacturing technology in the global automobile industry based on severe cost-cutting.

Yet, despite stripping the Nano down to its most rudimentary dimensions to produce what a United States media presenter termed as "a golf cart crossed with a jelly bean", Tata Motors is unlikely to be able to fulfill its $2,500 price promise for long.

"In fact, the figure is an introductory offer excluding taxes and local duties; on the road, the car will actually cost between $3,310 to $3,819,'' says Dinesh Mohan, a transportation expert and professor of biomedical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. "And that's the initial cost of the bare-bones model. Other versions, including an air-conditioned model, will cost more."