Today the news will be all about Sarkosy and Merkel having yet another meeting. Neither leader has a firm grip on power within their own country, Merkel’s is certainly slipping and Sarkosy is slowly becoming a Vanity Fair version of Berlusconi, and neither has a grip on the broader debt fiasco upon which they bob about comically like corks upon a high sea.
But while the television media will report what they say and don’t say, much as court reporters used to follow Louis XVI, the real news is unfolding elsewhere with a grim inexorability.
Germany’s domestic growth slumped to 0.1%. France’s growth is also zero this quarter. While Mervyn King at the Bank of England has cut his forecast of UK growth from 1.8% to what I still regard as a foolishly optimistic 1.5%. EU wide GDP figures are due out later today I think.
China’s growth has slowed and so has America’s. While inflation is rising everywhere. It is 4.4% in the UK. I think the signs are that inflation will surge in the second half of this year. Rail fares are going to rise by 8% in the UK and this is the sign of things to come, in my view. I think a lot of retailers and suppliers have so far been absorbing rising costs in to their margins, in an effort to keep their prices low. Their logic has been that they wanted to keep their prices low so as not to price themselves out of profiting from the coming recovery. But once there is no recovery this logic collapses. The pain of absorbing costs makes less sense without the reward of gaining market share as the market regrows.
In short suppliers and retailers will stop absorbing costs and pass them on. Inflation will result. Home grown inflation.
Elsewhere in Europe, Societe Generale has been fighting back, claiming that the recent massacre of its share price was due to a rumour, based on a Daily Mail article which reported as news what was in fact a fictional story being serialized in Le Monde. There was such a serialized fiction in Le Monde and there was an article in the Daily Mail. But to claim that a global collapse in investor confidence was due to a story in the Daily Mail strains credibility. Might a more solid reason be the spread of alarming news, as reported by French blogger Chevalier on August 14th and on the 15th by ZeroHedge, that Societe Generale is running at a totally insane 50x leverage? Rumour in volatile times is the gunpowder that fires the broadsides. But there has to be actual facts to fire. 50x leverage is not a rumour it’s a cast iron fact.
Societe Generale is not the only bank bleeding. In the US Bank of America continues to sell more valuables at fire sale prices, exactly as many of us said it would have to. Yesterday it was busy selling its Canadian Credit Card business to Toronto Dominion Bank. And today Bank of America told its 3000 staff in Chester UK that it was ‘exiting’ the UK credit card business too. The plan, it said, was ‘already underway’ and it was very proud of its staff – who will very probably now lose their jobs. I added that bit.
Bank of America, as I have said before, is dying. It is so mired in legal costs for mortgage fraud, much of it from Countrywide which BoA bought in a fit of pure greed in early 2008, that is is having to sell money making businesses purely to get cash. And worse it is having to retain any debts and liabilities in these businesses before its sells them. So the bank is selling its ability to make money, in the hope that the cash received is enough to bolster their capital holdings against the rising tide of legal woes.
It seems I am not the only one who think BoA is not going to make it. News this morning is that Paulson and Co. the large, well connected and powerful fund just sold off half of its holdings of BoA. Paulson and Co. is run by its founder John Paulson. He is not to be confused with Henry ‘Hank’ Paulson former US Treasury secretary and former Goldman CEO, though you’d be forgiven for doing so. Both are connected to Goldman Sachs. Henry Paulson was its CEO. John was investigated by the SEC for helping Goldman set up the Abacus CDO which Goldman then sold to customers while Paulson and his company bet against the self same CDO they had helped set up. In the event, the Abacus CDO crashed and burnt all those who invested in it, while Paulson profited handsomely. Which is why I called Paulson and Co. ‘well connected’.
Paulson has halved his BoA holding, cut his Citi investment by 20%, but has added 64% to his holdings of Wells Fargo. This adds to my conviction that one of “The Insolvent” will be sacrificed as a way of preserving the rest.
And talking of preserving the rest, the ECB is, exactly as we expected, being forced to buy up any and all rubbish bonds out of Italy and Spain. 22 billion Euros worth which is a very large jump up in ECB buying. So we now have the ECB pumping newly printed Euros out to the banks and sucking waste paper back in. How long until we hear muttering about the ECB’s credit rating?
And while all this is going on quietly out of the news camera’s spot light what are our leaders talking about? We have Cameron in full right-wing brain vomit mode spewing out wave after wave of class backed bigotry. Not that it isn’t easy to dislike morons like some young girls I heard interviewed who said “Yeah, we showed the police we can do want we want. Yeah!”
And so they did . But they’re not the first to do so are they? The bankers showed the police, the regulators and the government that they really can do what they like. And rather than get arrested, they get paid bonuses and their looting bailed out with our taxes.
So when I hear Cameron declare that problem facing us is that,
“Some of the worst aspects of human nature have been tolerated, indulged — sometimes even incentivised — by a state and its agencies that in parts have become literally demoralised,”
I say, “quite so.” But I am thinking of the bankers running riot while the FSA in the UK and the SEC in the US did nothing.
“…crime without punishment; rights without responsibilities; communities without control”.
Cameron and his like seem unable to hear how their description of the rioters fits so perfectly the actions and moral corruption of the bankers and financial class whose doors the police will never put in.
“irresponsibility and selfishness that lead some people to behave “as if your choices have no consequences”.
Another bulls eye description of the culture of banking. Except that Cameron and the other rent-boy party- political whores are helping them avoid any consequences. They are helping them , ‘incentivising’ them to shit on this country and the people in it.
The government is going to repeal the 50% tax rate. And why? Because, according to Tory Boy number two, the Chancellor George Osborne
“I’ve said with the 50p rate I don’t see that as a lasting tax rate for Britain because it’s very uncompetitive internationally, and people frankly can move.”
And the government is going to help them do it by making it easier to move money off-shore and avoid paying the taxes that the rest of us pay, as reported by the Tax Justice Network and posted here on this blog by Neil, What was that about ‘tolerated’, ‘indulged’, ‘rights without responsibilities’, Mr Cameron?
It’s not the feckless poor who are ruining this country it’s the reckless rich.
Mmmm… top ceo's pay increased by 30% last year; a woman with MS is told she must sit in her excrement at night due to lack of funds for social care.
And Cameron wonders why the younger generation have no moral compass!
Those at the top are stuffing their pockets before the ship goes down, but do they have anywhere to head for in the lifeboats?
Very good article by Stefan Stern in the Independent today: http://goo.gl/lezY1 about:
"… the psychological problem which lies behind politicians' and financiers' reluctance (or inability) to recognise that radical change in their system is required. Everyone is more comfortable with familiar orthodoxy. When a critical voice is raised to suggest things are going badly wrong, it is easier to reject it as a misguided voice of doom …
For two or three years after the credit crunch of 2007 first struck, newspapers and airwaves were filled with earnest people announcing that we must not at all costs go back to "business as usual". At that time expressing this view was a sure way to win supportive nodding from all who were listening. But the nodding dogs did not really mean it. They have reverted to type…
Even now, most global financial institutions and political leaders are advocating wholly orthodox approaches to managing budget deficits and currency volatility, even as their efforts are revealed as being more or less futile, or worse. The truth is perhaps too scary for some to contemplate. Either that, or the temporary winners of the current system are simply filling their boots with as much as they can before the next, potentially even bigger crash."
To me, it brings to mind the grudgeful informer cases from postwar Germany. A situation where people used the law to try and get the State to kill people – if you tittle tattled against Hitler you were in for the death penalty.
Instead of the death penalty we have the law being used to deprive people of their property; we see misappropriation through taxation – all legal, but wrong; misappropriation through property price increases – where exactly does the increased value of your property come from? Misappropriation through the landlord/tenant relationship – surely tenants are buying equity, if not, why not? Misappropriation through inflation/quantitative easing. The list goes on, and on. Stand up anyone who has made any money without State enabled misappropriation … anyone? anyone? Bueller? anyone ….?
Didn't Danny Alexander say those looking to cut the fifty percent tax rate were "living in cloud cuckoo land". I guess we'll soon see how much his opinion counts.
Interesting article David, I think you might be wrong on inflation drivers. Excess inflation will come from fuel and energey, who seem to have a cartell going…
tronnis,
It wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. I agree with you about fuel and energy. The only thing that will hold energy prices down is if there is a global slump there will be a lower demand for fuel. But a hard winter and the over arching decline of reseves globally with a rise in Chinese demand will eventually push prices up.
But I don't think that will invalidate my argument since a large cost in almost any consumer item or service is energy. It's one of the reasons for rail fares going up.
David, you are of course right in that consumer prices are driven by energy costs, and your argument is valid, but if things are going the way you predict, there will be a slump in demand and consequently prices will fall. Unless we start handing money over to the banks again, which in turn will be used for speculation, driving the prices on any commodity up.
Meanwhile, the lead story in today's Independent print edition reveals how UK banks have been investing in arms companies that manufacture cluster bombs. The worst offender? Royal Bank of Scotland, 83% state-owned.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-banks-fund-deadly-clusterbomb-industry-2338168.html
Neil,
If Dante were to write today I believe the lowest circles of hell would have to be greatly revised.
Not that much: the fourth, eighth and ninth (final) circles of Dante's Inferno are reserved for greed, fraud and treachery respectively.
"irresponsibility and selfishness that lead some people to behave “as if your choices have no consequences”.
Indeed Golem cant think of a better way of describing the bankers. I heard Cameron and wondered too at the pure unashamed hypocrisy is…well actually its par for the course…
What if we called things by their proper names the bailout Bankers got, Emergency Social Security payments while farming subsidies were termed Welfare Payouts, Tax avoidance would be Benefit scams, Housing benefits would be Landlord benefits and the rich threatening to leave would be "holding the country to ransom". while MP's, police and the top judiciary are also recipients of those "unaffordable" public sector pensions…. (and MP's get theirs after just 20 years not 40.)
Now I just heard the crown court gave 16 month sentences to someone with a bag of stolen clothes and no previous at all. Better steal the entire bank then you get a golden handshake.
Neil,
greed faud and treachery. In that case the bankers would get to visit all three.
Wirplit,
it's Dickensian isn't it. Or perhaps even pre-revolutionary France.
I was looking at the similarities with the immendiate run up to the French Revolution and it's striking. A long stupid war paid for by borrowing. Inflation. Excessive state debts and calls for taxes on teh wealthier in order to do something about the debt being blocked by teh wealthy.
Let's hope the parallels continue.
"Let's hope the parallels continue"
You mean a decent into anarchy and violence and the rule of the mob? not sure if you can really call the french revolution a success? what is it now the 5th French republic, The American revolution is still on its first.
I notice that the black swan on the wing video is on david ikes site.
Are you really saying that you live in a world of shit and you would prefer to have been born at a different era of history?
I took my gran who is 93 a carton of fags today to her nursing home, not bad for a girl born before the depression, into the filth of Industrial Sheffield and of course the war, and she contends I am the lucky one.
Speaking as a very small manufacturer, I have found my costs for materials have risen approximately 20% in the last year. The market sector I sell into, has according to retailers I talk to, declined by about 30% in Northern Ireland & up to 50% in the Republic. I have cut my prices as much as is possible for me to do so. Small independant retailers I would normally use to sell my products are & have been over the last few years disappearing from town centres.
One factor in the decline of the above is the rise in discount stores such as Poundland, which in this case is owned by a private equity firm, Advent international. Their outlets mainly sell outsourced products, but also buy very cheap bulk products from bankrupt retailers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/16/rising-inflation-shoppers-discount-supermarkets
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/the-strength-of-the-pound-shop-1878937.html
I think however in the present situation that these discount stores are providing a much needed service to very hard pressed cash strapped consumers & I would suggest that they are through competition helping to curb the price increases of the supermarket chains.
I don't know much about private equity firms, but I am assuming that they use banks to obtain finance to build these discount store operations. So therefore the banks have created the crisis that causes the right conditions for these entities to flourish & then also profits from them.
In an affluent society people have choice, for instance, organic food, clothing that is not made with the use of cheap labour. These products come mainly from small producers who are now being squeezed out of existance. We will, I fear be left with the mass of the population reliant on mass produced food & cheap imports, provided by tax dodging chain stores & corporations, unless of course, we can do something to change it, by tackling the root cause, the banks & their well rewarded lackeys.
As for inflation, last night I watched Polanski's "The Pianist" & it reminded me that a few can always profit from the misery of the many, no matter what price is charged.
Hello Sean,
No I mean a doing away with the old regime.
It would be very nice if the repressive regime could give way in a descent manner and avoid the decent into violence but it rarely does. The French aristocracy didn't and neither did the English. And thus a resort to violence was guaranteed. Once violence starts it empowers men who enjoy cruelty and arbitrary power and the innocent are made to suffer alongisde the gulty.
But just as one can without question point to the bloodshed and arbitrary violence of revolution you can also equally without question point to the fact that both France and Britain after their revolutions became more democratic, egalitarian and civilized places than they were before.
Before a revolution it is the innarticulate who are brutalized and opressed. No one cares to tell their stories and thus their suffering goes unremarked. During and after it is usually the more articulate who are made to suffer. Thus we hear of their sufferings in great and moving detail.
But the people who write so movingly and with such moral indignation when it comes to the suffering inflicted on them by the riotous poor, have, if one looks back a few years, nearly always been curiously silent about the suffering of the poor which preceeded the revolution. Funny that.
on the subject of the french revolution, one fascinating often overlooked thing about it was that it may have been caused in part by the fallout from John Law's economic experiments.
Law, as I'm sure you know, is one of the most interesting characters in the history of economics. He was a Scottish bloke put in charge of France's entire economy and treated it like a great big experiment with the whole nation as his laborotory. It's an amazing story!
Also while I'm rambling about historical financial stuff, here is the best account I've read of the great crash of 1929 by the radical communist journalist Claud Cockburn. Cockburn never wrote a dull sentence and the rest of his autobiography 'I, Claud' is just as good
What other species with all the inherent capabilities as those enjoyed or, capable of being developed, by Homo sapiens would want to model their actions and society on rats?
Re Cameron's post riot pontifications. He is a very shallow man; one honed smooth on the snake oils of PR and slick enough to shed all duties of responsibility in an effort to advance their self serving ideologies.
Sometimes socialism, caring, compassion can be stupid and be taken for a ride; but the Conservative commitment to capitalism without social responsibility is downright evil.
For Honest Dave and his cabal its aright for the rich to loot from the poor – they after all are far cleverer and subtle in the way they go about it – and they have a right by superiority.
It is the arrogance of their assumption of 'superiority' and its questionable values that is the 'sickness' our society is struggling under.
Substitute free market global capitalism for Aryan and you have plotted the course from 1945 to 2011.
I think Orwell would be struck dumb to see his 1984 being used as a textbook rather than a warning?
Keiser Report: Banking Looters
Hello all, has anyone seen this interview on the Wall St Journal?
http://online.wsj.com/video/nouriel-roubini-karl-marx-was-right/68EE8F89-EC24-42F8-9B9D-47B510E473B0.html
all seems very clear and reasonable.
i wonder however what would you make of his investment advice
http://online.wsj.com/video/nouriel-roubini-karl-marx-was-right/68EE8F89-EC24-42F8-9B9D-47B510E473B0.html
oh and there is an Amnesty International campaign starting against RBS over the cluster bombs.
Hi
I have a question. Can you put a bank in 'pre pack' administration as a way of reducing or avoiding paying reparations for fraud or corporate negligence? I'm thnking BOA here.
Art Smith,
Good question. I do not think you can use bankruptcy as a shield against fraud proceedings, but I am not an expert on US corporate law. The person who would know is Karl Denninger over at The Ticker in the US.
erictheking,
Thank you for thenews about RBS and for link. I will take a look later when wallpapering gets too much to bear.
@ erictheking
Yes, Roubini's analysis is basically correct. But he's still shying away from questioning the purpose of national economic management as it now stands – ie primary goal is 'successful' economy, social wellbeing falls wherever it may (often mot well).
His point about Marx is well made but he seems to offer no view on how society might resolve the issue. Kind of a 'soft' capitalist approach, again avoiding the more fundamental questions about how society is served by the economic system.
The interests of capital & those of labour are diametrically, intrinisically, opposed. Yet this is not aknowledged or considered anywhere in the structures & institutions purporting to represent the majority of citizens. A majority who, by definition, & massive percentage, are intrinsically on the 'labour' side of the equation. That is to say they primarily live by exchanging their labour rather than making money off money.
How can multi-millionaire Cameron be said to represent the majority? He can't – and he doesn't. Same for Blair. Didn't start with as much cash as Cameron but, overtly or otherwise, knew full well he would be rewarded for his pro wealth policies in office. (eg £20m from JP Morgan 'consultancy')
If we set a condition of all those in public office, public service &, I think also in news & factual media, that none may achieve significant (unearned) income from investments, business interests or any other source of 'money off money', I believe we would have entirely different policy outcomes. I would incentivise further. Elected & public service incomes & pensions should be indexed to to the pertaining income of the poorest few percent in society. Might sharpen a few pencils I think?
Don't the politicians love to talk about incentives, competitiveness, productivity performance etc.? Fine, let's apply the principle to them.
I've no problem with entrepreneurs making millions. We just need a robust democracy that ensures they operate in the wider public good. But they have no business being in the political power structure.
Hi Golem.
I have just become aware of your website and have read with interest your eccentric views and those who chose to post here. Don't get me wrong I am all for freedom of expression but some of the views expressed here could be seen as divisory and dangerous indeed they could be construed as incitement.
I have just read read on another news site that two people have been jailed for FOUR YEARS for incitement and even though no riot occurred in Chester I am sure you will agree that the sentences handed down by the court were fair but harsh enough to let other people know that such provocation will not be tolerated.
I only mention these facts in passing but I hope you take your responsibilities to society a little more seriously in future and help guide those who follow your quaint ramblings into a more responsible attitude.
As it is a pleasure to read your blog I will continue to monitor it and hope to see the improvements suggested.
Yours sincerely
The Powers That Be.
Golem.
As a further aside I would add that your scare-mongering about the UK banks is completely unfounded. I was assured, less than a month ago, that the money invested in UK banks will be a great deal for the tax payers and we will make a handsome profit from this wise investment. No lesser authority than Tim Worstall assured me of this. I am sure you feel a bit silly now.
There are many better ideas to be found within the mainstream media than is offered here. Deviation from the official line is unhelpful at this juncture.
In other news the judicary has been instructed to hand down punative, but fair, sentences on people who deviate from a common sense viewpoint. I don't of course suggest this applies to you or your readers… yet.
As i have said I like this site and will monitor with interest its' progression.
TPTB
Hi David, don't be intimidated by this "Bill".
By the face of it, he's a provocateur posing as an innocent imbecile: "I was assured, less than a month ago, that the money invested in UK banks will be a great deal for the tax payers and we will make a handsome profit from this wise investment. No lesser authority than Tim Worstall assured me of this. I am sure you feel a bit silly now."
Only a fictional character could say something like this.
Great posting. The social contract has been broken. It must either be mended or replaced with a new one for our time.
The juxtaposition of rioters with bankers is fully justified. Calling just the one side to order is, as you say, class backed bigotry…
I wondered how long it would be before trolls came on this site. Sounds like an attempt to intimidate to me. Quite sad really.
thanks for your thoughts by the way Mike
TPTB, no where in his post does David 'incite' anyone to do anything. Perhaps you could cast your eye over this opinion piece – it is saying exactly the same thing as David – and it comes from the heart of the Establishment.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100100708/the-moral-decay-of-our-society-is-as-bad-at-the-top-as-the-bottom/
Easy now guys, I think Bill has his tongue firmly in cheek.
I was about to make the same point about those guys who got four years for posting on Facebook. The earlier reference to George Orwell's 1984 seems highly apt.
As regards the Sarkozy Merkel deal, the papers are all reporting that the markets have dropped on the news due to the mention of a Tobin tax. But isn't what's really knocked investor confidence the fact that Merkel has nixed a Eurobond offering for the time being? That, in effect, Merkel's not even attempting to sell the idea of a bailout to her own people and that she's going to be looking across the pond for the cash to stop Europe's (and, by association America's) banks going under? All well and good but apparently the US have their own problems to deal with…?
"Tongue in cheek"? That's a thought…. Not the first time I don't get the joke. You had me fooled, Bill. Congrat for the invention of the fictious, über-ironic "Bill" character! Please come forward and say it was a joke…..
Hello All,
Eric and Lars like Jamie said "Easy boys, easy." Don't worry Lars, I won't let anyone intimidate me. Certainly not when I know there are so many good and thoughtful people on this blog besides me.
And Bill does have his tounge in his cheek. He's just enjoying a bit of rascally incitement of his own.
As for incitement and 'those' sentences, I feel this will become a cause celebre. It certainly should. It is grossly unfair and says volumes about the judege and his flatulent Tory bigotries and almost nothing about the people he sent down. They were naive and silly. But criminal?
I don't think they can hold a candle to traders who wrote emails to each other saying "Sell XXXX CDO, it's a piece of shit but sell it." Such emails were sent and are in the public domain. I see that as clear 'incitement' to defraud. Have any of them even lost their jobs let alone faced criminal prosecution? Of course not.
I would be willing to bet the judge who send down the two young men wouldn't even see anything wrong with what the city boys do.
Justice is not blind. It is complacent and comfortable in its wood panelled club serving its members' interests and guffawing at its ability to punish whoever it dislikes and protect those it does.
For my part I think we arriving now at the moment when incitment to revolution is appropriate. Tinkering with the system as it is will not help. The system itself has to go.
I do think it is time to organize ourselves. In new ways. Ways which fit the powers against which we are pitted. I am clear in my own mind that we are in a propaganda war and a struggle for hearts and minds. We must win this war.
I am clear that we need to bring down the current system by whatever meas are availbale to us. I do not advocate violence. I do think civil disobedience is fine and morally justified.
I do not think our current political system will reform. I think it has been corrupted and gutted of almost all meaning.
Revolution is the kicking in of a rotten door.
We can prevail, we must and I believe we will.
Don't panic.
Bill is engaging in satire.
But alas, I did this morning share a slight concern that if any of us revert to aggresive / inciteful language then TPTB could construe it as "provoking civil unrest".
That's right; by day Golem is a domestic legend and all-round wall papering extraordinaire, but by night his writings dare to educate and incite the people!
So, we mustn't descend to such a level that allows them to construe our thoughts as criminal provocation. (Note Cameron et al are doing their best to position as criminal activity not civil unrest, but compare with recent events in Berlin. Also note that the police did initially treat the riots as civil unrest, not criminal vandalism – were the police told to change their stance when Cameron returned from hols?).
Four year jail terms for "thought-crimes" yet slap on the wrist "don't be a naughty boy" for the banking crooks.
The Keiser Report link above says it all really (with great clip of Bush Jnr, and of course William K Black – the man who put 1,000 white collar criminals in jail!)
phew! we're all friends again!
OK chaps.
I just set this up on 38 Degrees:
http://38degrees.uservoice.com/forums/78585-campaign-suggestions/suggestions/2162305-facebook-two-jail-sentence-is-this-thought-crime?ref=title
Are you all with me against "Thought crimes"?
It's ranked 1207th at the moment!
Naomi Klein on the riots and the rot at the top: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/17/looing-with-lights-off .
It turns out she's a former Miliband Fellow at the LSE (that's Miliband as in Ralph, David and Ed's father).
Mr Forensic, i have supported your 38 degrees campaign idea. I set up an idea on there to have all the bank debts audited. It's ranked 666th! Which is err, a bit weird.
Wow
38 Degrees "Thought crime" campaign is now ranked 810th!
Eric, if you send me the link to yours I'll support it, but shame to ruin that ominous ranking!
Mr Forensic, here here.
Here's the link: http://38degrees.uservoice.com/forums/78585-campaign-suggestions/suggestions/1953411-a-fully-audited-account-of-what-britain-the-europ .
Sign up and pass it on.
@forensic
I have voted for yours, & with a link will vote for Erics, but I hasten to add, it was the voices that the made me do it.
Dear God.
My posts as the powers that be has truly alarmed me. I post regularly to this wonderful site, but the mere suggestion I may be anything else is frightening, but I fear not altogether untrue.
It is easy to smear the "underclass" with hate we see in the press; feckless,workshy,immigrant,gypsy,lazy,scrounger,leech,thug,irresponsible… the litany of hatred just goes on 24/7 it never stops.
The ludicrous sentences handed out are irrelevant to the crime or the perpetrators. TPTB biggest fear is that the middle class organise and find common cause with the underclass.
Then the scenario I painted becomes even more sinister.
Golem and your fellow travellers.
You seem to have proceeded against the best advice offered to you. It is time you all showed some respect to those trying to protect you during these times of national emergency. You all have families and friends that I'm sure, like me , you wish to protect.
I would draw your attention to the increasingly deterent sentences being handed down to those who will not join the common cause. I am sure we all agree that absent fathers do not enhance the greater societal good we all seek.
I must ask you all therefore to answer a simple question. What use are you in prison to your family and loved ones? Of course I hope it does not come to this and another fact I mention in passing; ISP's are easily trackable so we know who you are even if you think we don't.
Things have not yet come to this but I can see it's not to far from it. I am clearly not the only one that thinks so. As Golem has always said it's not just economic crisis it is a crisis of democracy itself.
Scary times. bill40
@Bill Nail on the head there. The fear that the middle class might opt for self-preservation by siding with the mob is what what has that carrot of being able to join the club dangling on the end of the stick. Keeping the status quo is the fine art of keeping these two groups' interests apart. Its divide and conquer in the struggle for resources, those resources being the crumbs from the economic table. There is a thing called critical mass though. They are living in a Garden of Time.
Thanks Ken.
All the hatred we see whipped up is by design. The biggest usful idiots are those who make a case against themselves. Step forwars you muslims,single parents and unemployed etc.
You see that devils spawn, they are robbing you the middle class, stand up against them, crush them.
The sad truth that thanks to the power of the media, the middle class still think it is those at the bottom robbing them, not those at the top.
Clever,simple and to date effective. This veneer cannot last long.
I've been invited to dinner with 38 degrees tomorrow and they're paying!
Has anybody any thoughts I could attempt to express to them?
For me the politics is really about the size of the state. Left or Right doesn't matter.
I'm confident the state will shrink because its capacity to borrow will shrink.
For the moment, the big story for ordinary working people is the price of fuel. I can see that tumbling.
Pettis reckons China will keep its debt-fuelled growth, but the acceleration will diminish through 2013. Not sure that's enough to keep oil (and commodities) on course for the Moon.
24K,
that's great. How d'you manage that? Just enjoy yourself and tell us what was discussed maybe.
Sorry Bill!
24K ask about the debt audit campaign. They will probably say that it has to win the most votes but it seems like the crucial issue of our times.
I must be naive but why can't the security apparatus break with the banks? Policemen are going to lose their jobs thanks to the cuts – I don't want to see that, there are some rum fellas where I live!
It IS easy to vilify the 'underclass' but it doesn't stop certain members of that class putting your lights out if you look at them the wrong way in the pub. I understand all about social alienation but violence has to be prevented regardless of the ideology of your economy.
Any thoughts?
Thanks for the vote Mr Forensic!
They have dinners from time to time and my city is this time. Space was limited so I mailed them back with a video link to make clear where I'm coming from. They said as long as I don't sing it's ok 😀
Thought crime is a blinder if you ask me 'cause if the Daly Mirror got wind of me I'd be extrodinarily renditioned. I have a song in my head that I had to change to stop a banker man, zombie banker man. Figured out good name for said song though.
Lynch Pin.
That lady in Hackney she got it right,
Tieffing from footlocker that aint right,
But taking out zombies in the middle of the night?
I'll let you decide.
The Audit is on list too 😀
A 19-year-old has described police as "sound" for not charging him after he posted a message on Facebook urging people to damage his local Spar store.
Joshua Moulinie was arrested for inciting violence, but will not have to face court – instead being told to write a letter of apology to the shop's owner.
Police were contacted after a status update from Mr Moulinie apparently targeted the store in his local town of Bream, Gloucestershire.
He has since described the incident as "pretty funny".
The offending status message has now been removed, but Mr Moulinie followed it up on August 11 with: "Got arrested earlier for my previous joke about rioting down Spar. So in future, try not to take me so seriously."
After the police's decision, Mr Moulinie took to Facebook to voice his bemusement at the events.
Commenting on a police press release published within a Facebook page, he wrote: "It was a very, very blatant joke, I'm not sorry at all for it.
"I'm sorry for the reaction it caused, but not for the action. Also can I make it very clear I never intended to riot?
"The police are sound. I have no problems whatsoever with them, they didn't even charge me."
He has since "liked" Gloucestershire Constabulary.
@24k
That Hackney dude is a man!
Some females here, but are they black?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14458424
Culture-of-Looters.