FAC1932

H.E. Ambassador Barrett gave a very nice independence day party at the US Embassy in Helsinki on June 18th afternoon. We hailed the US flag and US marines. We heard two beautiful national anthems - the Star Spangled Banner and the Maamme. After that Ambassador Barrett talked about the beginning and preparation of the declaration of independence and the young men working on it like Jefferson and Washington etc. at that time in their thirties. We enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs, Gallo’s wine, Miller’s beer, US ice cream and nice cakes. Also neat US-Finflag pins were given. Board members Heliö, Noreila and Vihavainen from our club 1932 were present. We congratulate the USA for this marvellous 232nd anniversary and thank H.E. Ambassadaor Barrett for this kind invitation to share this special day with her! The official day for US independence is July 4th.

The Annual General Meeting of Finnish American Chamber of Commerce in Helsinki was held on Friday, June 13th, at hotel Palace. The event began with the speech of H.E. Ambassador Barrett about her term in Finland and willingness to support the  two way business, trade and education between Finland and the USA. She has her first month behind in Finland and has recognized that the best side of Finland and the USA is the mentality to get things done. A tiny hint for Finns: a bit marketing wouldn’t hurt. She estimates that there are coming no significant changes to the way how the USA conducts business regardless which one of the two candidates (McCain or Obama) will get elected as the new president of the USA.  Then FACC Chairman Ole Johansson led the AGM through the topics of the agenda. Mr. Robert Anderson and Mr. Olli-Petteri Lehtinen were elected as new board members, and Mr. Markku Pohjola got re-elected.  The board got released of its responsibilities and the  plan for activities 2008-2009 was approved. The year was profitable and the association has a strong balance sheet having practically no debt. The co-operation with the US Embassy in Helsinki, Finnish Embassy in Washington DC, AmCham, FAC1932 and WTC Helsinki will continue and get deeper. The Headlines (magazine) will continue to be an information and networking tool of FACC. A committee works on Headlines and a special editorial board will be established. The FAC1932 wishes to be somehow involved in this. The communication of FACC will be carried out in emails and through the web sites www.facc.fi and www.facc-usa.com. The members of our club FAC1932 will get invited to all FACC events in the future and all FACC members in turn will get invited to the events of FAC1932.
This is a great news for a stronger co-operation and the common task of improving relationships and business.

Professor Edward C. Prescott, Nobelprize recipient in Economics in 2004, gave a lecture at the University of Jyväskylä on the state of US economy and implications for the rest of the world. Professor explained that the US economy hasn’t yet reached the state of recession. Furthermore, he doubted the recession over all. One of his points were that the recession will come if everyone says it’s there. So, based on facts the GDP will keep on growing, if working hours are growing and the productivity grows. He stated that the USA is borrowing around 5% of its GDP, but is using that money for investment purposes abroad. The value of those investments (value of American foreign subsidiaries) might be even around 30% of the USA GDP! The US net foreign income is still positive, so there is nothing to worry about. Also the net worth of nation per gross domestic income is still increasing and is around 4, so the nation is getting still wealthier. Prof. Prescott made also a couple of proposals for Finland: to cut individual tax rates, to make finding jobs easier, not to pay for people for not working and to invest more abroad. Summarizing: the US is still there, strong and wealthy as the biggest contributor to the world economy (22%).

Please, write down in your calendar our breakfast meeting on Thursday October 23, 2008 in Espoo. We will start sharp at 8:30 am. and close also sharp at 10:00 am. Partner Mr. Mikael Steländer serves as our host. The participation is limited to 15 persons. Please, register asap.: vesa.vihavainen@strategystar.net  After registration you will receive the new address. Please, remeber to show up - no last minute cancellations!

Our annual and traditional Thanksgiving Party with AmCham will take place on November 11th, 2008!
Please, mark this date in your schedule. More details will follow asap.

Please, reserve time in your busy schedule for our annual and traditional upscale Crayfish Party with AmCham on August 21st. The location will get determined and informed later on.

We are invited to visit Stanton Chase in Keilaranta 19, Espoo, during the second half of October. More information will
follow. Stay tuned.

Her excellency Ambassador Barbara McConnell Barrett was interviewed by Mari Kamaja from Aamulehti. The feature and a great half a page picture got published on Monday, June 2nd, in Aamulehti on page B15. She  certainly will bring a new force with her. Welcome in Finland!

We had a wonderful wine tasting event at Winecellars Kalevankatu 9 in Helsinki. We tasted 3 white and 3 red wines from Ironstone, CA - a family owned business since 1948. If you want to have a share and a cabinet in this wine cellar  in Helsinki you are kindly asked to put € 3000,- onto the table. Norex represents Ironstone in Finland and some of their wines are on Alko’s program, whereas some must get ordered and others are not at all available in Finland. Ironstone is located in Lodi area in California at Sierra Foothills. The majority of us favored Ironstone Sauvignon Blanc and Ironstone Old Vine Zinfandel. Both can be ordered through Alko for € 9,99 each. We are considering a joint order. If you are interested in this action, please, contact Chairman Vesa Vihavainen.