Does anyone anywhere believe anything they are told, on any subject, by any government official, financial expert or banker? Beneath all the outright lies, hopeless spin and half truths there is a more fundamental and corrosive problem. WE DON’T BELIEVE YOU!
The global reserves of credulity have been pillaged and squandered. We have been told too many times that this or that economy was fundamentally sound, that problems were contained, or would definitely be over by Christmas, that Spain was not Greece, Italy was not Spain, that Ireland’s banks were fixed, that we were all in it together and that all the banks are superbly well capitalized.
Even the banks don’t believe. Each protests that they are fine and yet none of them trust each other and won’t lend a dime.
We have found ourselves living in an entire economy of lies. Borrowers lied. Lenders lied. Insurers insured the lies but were lying themselves. The regulators who oversaw the lies lied about how sound the lies were and the people who rated the lies were the most AAA of liars themselves.
Lies like debts can be printed up at will. In fact most of what is being printed in banks and newspapers are all lies related to each other. But what none of the liars remembered is that lies can only be redeemed if there is an equally endless supply of credulity. And although we frequently lament the stupidity, cupidity and cowardice of ‘people’ even they have a finite supply of credulity. And it has been exhausted.
Credulity cannot be printed up, borrowed or electronically magic-ed into existence. There is no EU stockpile or emergency supply. Once its gone its gone. And some time ago I think we reached Peak Credulity and it has been in steep decline ever since.
I certainly have none left at all. And that is a problem for those bankers and politicians whose wealth and power is based entirely on the economy of lies. The market for their lies is wreaked and soon to shut entirely. The entire economy of lies is bankrupt.
I want no more lies I want no part in the economy that trades in them.
Give me the truth or go to hell.
That’s about correct. The sooner this insane system ends the better. The oldest tree in Britain is 4,000 years old, this economic system little more than a couple of hundred. It is insubstantial and passing in nature. It’s continuation means the death of the living systems and destruction of all sense of the public realm. It’s end allows for a jubilee time of rebalancing and a new subserviant economic system that is based on a tree representation of the web of life. No more greedy pillagers in their mega yachts and private jets. It’s time for the communion of the people’s and a new start to be made. A time for those heartless financial idiots who are always ready to let someone else feel the pain of starvation and poverty brought down to Earth. Bring it on quick and save them from more misery.
How to default on lies?
Amen to that.
It almost seem apt that the The US Federal Reserve’s Operation Twist (who thought up that name) its latest attempt to stimulate the American economy failed to calm financial markets as the Dow falls by 3.91%
Whilst the BBC’s Global 30 fell on their latest figures by 2.55%
So no one believes the Twist will work. Whilst our Chancellor thinks we’re on the right track and bringing (maybe or maybe not) forward £5 billion of capital projects will do the trick.
In response to this news the FTSE 100 fell by 5% today.
So not even the markets believe the pretence. All is OK any more.
When the govt. tells you it’s going to stimulate the economy by making savings elsewhere you know it’s lost the plot.
Read this; http://goo.gl/ib2cH
then this: http://goo.gl/8NZT3
and try to join the dots!
Can you join them for us. I’m confused
The second article (Jarhan/McDonald) tells us that ‘more finance equals more equality’ as we all get a larger share of a bigger pie – i.e. that societies are becoming more equal with the growth of financial innovation.
The first (Milanovic) tells us that, contrary to expectations, “Income inequality has been on the rise—or stagnant at best—in most countries since the early 1980s (OECD, 2008)”, despite the growth of the finance sector.
Moreover: “Income inequality in the richest countries (and in particular, those for which long-term data were the most plentiful—the United States and the United Kingdom) initially followed the Kuznets pattern of rising and then falling (not surprising, given that these observations inspired Kuznets to define the hypothesis). A massive and long downward swing in inequality occurred from its peak in the late 19th century in the United Kingdom and in the 1920s in the United States, to its lowest values in the 1970s.
But since then the United States and the United Kingdom—and indeed most advanced economies—have become much richer and much more unequal. In 2010, real per capita income in the United States was 65 percent above its 1980s level and in the United Kingdom, 77 percent higher. Over the same period, inequality in the United States increased from about 35 to 40 or more Gini points (see Chart 1), and in the United Kingdom, from 30 to about 37 Gini points.
These increases reflect significant adverse movements in income distributions. Overall, between the mid-1980s and the mid-2000s, inequality rose in 16 out of 20 rich OECD countries. This coincidence of rising mean income and rising inequality in mature economies would no doubt have surprised Kuznets, as it did many economists.
Inequality also rose in China, a poor country with comparative advantage in unskilled labor–intensive products, whose trade-to-GDP ratio jumped from about 20 percent to more than 60 percent in 2008. The HOS theorem of globalization predicts that inequality would have fallen as wages of low-skilled workers relative to skilled workers rose. In fact, however, China’s Gini coefficient rose from less than 30 in 1980 to about 45 today. Once again, fact confounds theory. . . .
A government’s refusal to take steps to minimize inequality may reflect its view that redistribution is wasteful and hurts market incentives (endorsing the argument that there is a strong trade-off between equality and growth). But failure to redistribute income may also reflect a political reality—that the rich wield a disproportionate influence over policy because they are more politically active and contribute more to politicians than their less affluent counterparts.
Recent political economy models of inequality assume that the “decisive voter”—one whose preferences tilt a decision one way or another—is much richer than the “median income voter.” Political decisions would then coincide much more with the preferences of the rich. In this analysis political systems have moved closer to “one dollar, one vote,” from the more traditional “one person, one vote” model (Karabarbounis, 2011).
Another explanation for increased inequality is changing social norms. In the past, society frowned on huge pay gaps between, say, a company’s chief executive officer and its workers. Now there are large gaps and they seem to be not only tolerated but encouraged (Levy and Temin, 2007). Although data confirm the widening gap, it is hard to pinpoint exactly which social norms have changed and why.”
————————————————————————————————-
So the two article contradict each other, so the only question is who paid for the studies my guess would be that the banks paid for one of them, although the second merely says that the more equal society’s have a bigger financial sector but presents no evidence that the one causes the other. So you could argue that more equal societies produce more wealth which creates the capital needed for the financial sector which then kills its host.
I’m still confused
Your latter point is represented in this report:http://goo.gl/Sja24
i.e.more equality leads to growth rather than vice-versa (at least, in developed economies)
We’re all confused. 🙂
It has been said that the Roman collapse came when the Romans themselves stopped believing in Rome. Like any other human construct, Rome existed outwardly because it first existed inwardly as a consensus. The empire vanished one mind at a time as it finally dawned on enough of the citizens that whatever Rome may once have been, and however much it may have bettered their lives, it had finally degenerated to the point that it’s overarching utility to those in positions of power was to pilfer its treasuries and exploit its masses.
Empires, nations & economic systems are no different than anything else. Once any entity loses its reason for being, it very quickly ceases to be. The current international order, its economics, its politics, its social fabric in other words, is suffering the rapidly accelerating effects of a breakdown of the consensus necessary to its continuation, a loss of faith in the worthiness of it all. The thoughts expressed in your post are a perceptive observation of how that happens. This is not a process that will be arrested or reversed, though in many countries what Jim Kunstler calls “cone-pone Nazis” will come to power (indeed already have) in the vain attempt to do just that. It won’t be pretty or gradual.
Brilliant. Eloquent and brilliant. Thanks.
Moraymint.
Good to see you. Makes a change on here to get the truth rather than the blithe half truths of the Telegraph. More power to us!
Ooops, make that “corn-pone Nazis”.
K-rekt.
Look at Russian history –
Czar Alexander Pavlovich survived the French invasion, a series of catastrophic military defeats and the occupation and burning of Moscow. All the same, the Russian army sent off Napoleon, all the way back to Waterloo.
In 1918, Czar Nikolai II Alexandrovich had plenty of soldiers (in the sense of warm live bodies) left and almost unlimited land to fall back to. What he lacked were people who believed in him or even in the Autocracy; all he had around him were syncophants and opportunists. His solders mostly wanted to get home in time for the Black Repartition. The Czar’s empire fell.
In 1941 and 1942, the Soviet Union suffered some of the most lopsided defeats in history at the hands of the Nazi war machine. German soldiers made it all the way to the Volga. All the same, the Soviet Union not only recovered its strength, but brought Hitler’s Germany to its knees almost singlehandedly, delivering Germany an ass-beating so Biblical in its dimensions that German power would literally never recover from it.
In 1991, that same Soviet Union that inspired such faith even in the darkest days of 1941 and 1942 fell apart without a shot being fired, cynicism having rotted the same edifice from the top on down.
Legitimacy is key.
Oddly enough, the other thing lacked by Aleksander’s troops were arms, a uniform, and protection against the winter.
Also, a sealed train from Berlin to Moscow (containing on Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov) didn’t help.
But the point is well-made: he most certainly wasn’t Aleksander the Wellbeloved – and this is the problem with the EU: it isn’t even liked, let alone loved.
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/crash-2-the-solution-to-greece-the-eurozone-the-eu-and-everything/
Great site this, by the way
Is that THE Slogger? Mr Slogger himself? Welcome indeed!
I rather liked cone pone nazis.
I second Moraymint. Excellent comment. Thanks
Robert Reich had something similar to say on his blog.
http://robertreich.org/post/10251623526
Reich recently posted these revealing graphs:
http://goo.gl/6KOWI
The lying is key. It’s in everything – as academics we are lying to our students to keep them rolling through the seats and rolling up debt. We knew PFI was a lie and really should be able to spot that education (as we have it) as a solution in the ‘new knowledge and information economy’ is a lie. We have become sceptical so that we shrug off probably important matters as the Lancashire Shale Gas Field, yet are still the public politicians need to spew the same old lies to in order to get votes. The current big one is that old chestnut of ‘tough love’ – austerity as belt tightening.
The problem we have is that we become ‘moaners’ – this despite the truth being told. My own solution would be to bring in guaranteed jobs paying about twice the current minimum wage – I know this brings its own problems but I’d rather we put effort into dealing with these than continued the effort to make the rich richer.
Please expand on the guaranteed jobs – what work would be involved and what would be the mechanism for implementing it?
A job guarantee scheme is advocated by MMT proponents & is a good idea imo. But note it needs to be at or near (a decent) minimum wage otherwise it would likely ‘crowd out’ existing jobs and/or create wage inflation.
A JG’s major usefulness is to help stimulate aggregate demand, to recover from recession, not create permanent public sector enterprises. But, obviously there can be very advantageous outcomes from getting useful labour to public purpose rather than enforced & impoverished idleness on the dole.
See my comments here:
https://www.golemxiv.co.uk/2011/09/operation-twist/
And search on ‘Job Giarantee’ or ’employer of last resort (ELR)’ on these major MMT source blogs:
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/
http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/
It’s worth remembering the word ‘credit’ comes from the latin word ‘credo’ (‘I believe’). At the heart of all this, trust is fundamentally what’s being debased
My word is my bond?
More like “My forked tongue is my useless junk”.
Amen, amen and amen again. I would like to ask though: how does the ubuquity of online blogs and the twitterati serve to fragment the cohesion of any argument for or against the status quo? There are so many narrative feeds in people’s lives today, that a dissenting voice can be either lost in the din, or targeted with the “conspiracy theorist” label. In an environment like this people reach for the tried and trusted source of truth; the RTE, The BBC, CNN et al. Yet these are establishment voices. How do people like you/us compete with that “source”? How do we make people make that red/blue pill choice?
I enjoyed reading this (http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=194656) , below here = the USA but it equally applies everywhere.
“It’s also going to remain a global problem until the authorities here and overseas say the following to each and every financial institution:
* You will identify every asset on your balance sheet at current market value, and you will demonstrate you are solvent at that market value. If you claim to have “hedges” through credit default swaps or other instruments, you will prove the counterparty has the money to pay. If you cannot or will not you will be closed and liquidated tomorrow morning.
* You will continue to maintain this accounting on a forward basis and you will make it publicly available on a daily and forward basis.
* If you need to be recapitalized to meet these requirements we (will/will not) do (x, y, or z) exactly one time, but every member of your board and senior management will be fired and, if there has been any material misstatement of your financial position, prosecuted.”
We’re all getting angry! I would also see – lets see all your “off-balance sheet” vehicles too.
bit off topic but did you see this? hipped to it by the Keiser report. The rise of the fascists or just lone nutcase?
http://www.phantis.com/news/finnish-mp-halla-aho-calls-tanks-greece
No comments were allowed on this story, but the spectre of Cameron haranguing Europe to get its act together would be hilarious if the hypocrisy weren’t so despicable.
Any thoughts?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/22/global-economy-staring-barrel-cameron
Print, print more
And of course the present downturn is the fault of the Greeks, is the subtle subject even thought the economic indicators have been turning down all year. Doh stagnant wages plus inflation plus debt saturation equals bad news
But let’s blame the europeans
And LaGarde telling Europe to bail out banks again!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/22/imf-chief-europe-bail-out-banks
Incredulity Crunch more like!
I’m sure some extra blah, blah, blah from Cameron should sort things out. I suppose they will be able to blame Europe for Osbornes mess.
This is a great article and I believe very pertinent. Even if you talk to non interested people these days – people who don’t follow politics or economics that much if at all – they are all weary, fed up and very pessimistic and they absolutely don’t trust the old institutions, the MSM, Government, Banks etc. Where this will go remains to be seen.
Just been reading these articles, MrShigemitsu, over at The Guardian. Lagarde says ‘stimulus’ – she means bank bailout. Did anyone see the Beeb debate? The guy from Pimco clearly stated that the markets don’t believe that Greece can be rescued with the measures being put forward. Then Lagarde goes and blithely says that Greece and other countries just have to ‘take the frameworks given them’ and put them into action.
What she doesn’t get, is that the markets know that even if Greece sacks all its public sector workers, cancels all social welfare it STILL can’t pay – partly because it has been hollowed out by two years of swingeing austerity.
As for Cameron lecturing Europe – it made me sick.
Here’s a letter I wrote to my MP two weeks ago, using http://www.writetothem.com , who have just asked whether I’ve received a reply yet. I haven’t.
“In May 2011, the ‘Conclusions and Recommendations’ section of the
Committee of Public Accounts report on the Asset Protection Scheme
(involving RBS and Lloyds Bank) made these points:
“2. The Treasury conducted extensive investigations of the assets put
forward for inclusion in the Scheme, but both banks encountered major
difficulties in providing all the data requested. Two of the UK’s major
banks could not provide basic information on their assets and
sufficient assurance that their assets were not linked to fraud or
other criminal activity. As the Treasury did not have a complete
picture of the risks the taxpayer would be taking on, it was put in a
difficult position and the Accounting Officer had to ask for a
Direction from Ministers before proceeding with the Scheme. The
Treasury should take steps to ensure the banks address these gross
deficiencies in basic data and, when considering the future role of
financial services regulators, make sure that arrangements are in place
to test whether this has been done.
3. The gaps in information on the banks’ assets also begs questions
about the role played by the auditors of banks ahead of 2008, when the
full impact of the financial crisis became apparent. The Treasury and
the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have been working
with organisations in the banking sector to improve the audit
framework. They should now expand discussions to include the major
professional audit and accountancy bodies. The Treasury should report
back to us within a year on specific actions to ensure that
professional audit standards and practices are up to the task of
providing robust assurance on the internal control and governance of
financial institutions, and on the valuation of assets.”
(See
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmpubacc/785/78504.htm
).
1. It is crystal clear from the above that RBS, Lloyds and their
auditors did not conduct due diligence. What action has been taken
against them for professional negligence? And if no action has been
taken, why not?
2. Ministers gave a Direction to the Treasury to proceed without having
“a complete picture of the risks the taxpayer would be taking on”. Why
have the assets which could not be accounted for satisfactorily been
excluded from the scheme, thus removing the risk to the taxpayer? Does
this in itself not constitute gross negligence?
3. The US Federal Housing Finance Authority has recently taken out a
lawsuit against RBS and other major banks for fraud. In the case of
RBS, this involves $30.4 billion of Residential Mortgage Backed
Securities sold by RBS between 2005 and 2008. If the 80% state-owned
RBS loses this case, will the taxpayer not have to pay? And if RBS is
being sued for fraud in the US, and its parent company in the UK has
been unable to “provide basic information on their assets and
sufficient assurance that their assets were not linked to fraud or
other criminal activity”, shouldn’t they (and perhaps their auditors)
be investigated for possible fraud or other criminal activity in this
country? Why hasn’t the National Audit Office been called in to conduct
an independent audit of RBS?”
You may not get anywhere, but you might wish to ask your MP the same questions: http://www.writetothem.com .
Or arrange to see your MP in a constituency surgery.
PS how about opening a book on which bank will fail/need to be bailed out first? Or which country will be involved? Greece, US, France, Germany, Italy…?
Correction: “Why have the assets which could not be accounted for satisfactorily been excluded from the scheme […]?” should of course read “Why haven’t….?”
I guess there is a kind of book in how high the Credit Default Swop insurance’s goes?
Could be Morgan Stanley. $39 billion exposure to French Banks with market cap of $26bn but Reggie Middleton seems to be betting on BNP Paribas as first. Only it will get semi nationalized like RBS.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/five-banks-account-96-250-trillion-outstanding-derivative-exposure-morgan-stanley-sitting-fx-de
Reggie has some very good stuff, he is very detailed and his small investor angle gives a different way of seeing things. He is very down on Morgan Stanley and jp morgon and has been for a long while, his chart on jp Morgan’s derivatives being bigger than world GDP is scary
On that point: http://goo.gl/E4dto
To be precise:
“a mere 5 banks (and really 4) account for 95.9% of all derivative exposure [presumably in the US? – Ed.] …. the top 4 banks: JPM with $78.1 trillion in exposure, Citi with $56 trillion, Bank of America with $53 trillion and Goldman with $48 trillion, account for 94.4% of total exposure”
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/09/amount-and-concentration-of-derivatives-still-threatens-global-economy.html .
– and:
“the world’s annual gross domestic product is between $50 trillion and $60 trillion”
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/06/09/risk-quadrillion-derivatives-market-gdp/ .
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/plea-ubs-another-year-record-bonuses-its-bankers-tax-haven-lampoon
Just read this. The lengths they will go to to defend bailouts; “To paraphrase a line from AIG’s rescue plea, government backstops are the oxygen of the free-enterprise system. Without the promise of protection against life’s adversities, the fundamentals of capitalism are undermined, and we would all be on the road to serfdom.”
What a lot of bull!
As the last word in the web address indicates, it’s a lampoon, i.e. satire. As some of the comments show, however, some people took it at face value.
I disagree. Once the financial crisis threatens national security the lies will be believed again. In addition, there comes a point when people see the truth but mask it out with even more belief rather than see themselves for the fools they were.
Slightly off-topic, but related to incredulity, I suppose.
We have just learned that the CERN laboratory has observed particles travelling faster than the speed of light.
Could this undermine Einstein’s Relativity? Well, if you study it properly there was actually a lot of controversy over Relativity when it emerged. One of the most vocal critics was chemist Frederick Soddy:
“the theory of relativity, as modified by the modern quantum theory, seems an excellent example of progress in the merely mathematical sphere signifying motion as much in the backward as in the forward direction….Possibly the Einstein relation is a one-way relation only between mass and energy not between energy and mass, or even more probably, it may not be strictly true at all, as mathematical infinities do not occur in Nature…. Incidentally the attempt to verify this during a recent solar eclipse, provided the world with the most disgusting spectacle perhaps ever witnessed of the lengths to which a preconceived notion can bias what was supposed to be an impartial scientific inquiry”
http://www.reformation.edu/scripture-science-stott/aarch/pages/10-soddy-to-nobel-prizewinners.htm
So Soddy’s skepticism is there for all to see: “it may not be strictly true at all”.
Not only was Soddy ignored by the economists, this despite his lambasting of classical economics and his compelling argument that economic wealth was derived from energy, and that the modern debt based money system was a fraud (see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/opinion/12zencey.html?pagewanted=all), but his assertion that Relativity was little more than a hoax, may soon be proved correct too!
Is modern physics falling apart now, just like modern economics?
Scientists in Brussels have also discovered particle beings moving slower than Time….
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/at-the-end-of-the-day-75/
Back to the subject of credibility.
In any circumstances it is hard to find news which is not in some way coloured by presentation. This is especially true where vested interest is concerned. For many decades (even centuries) politicians have made themselves subject to bankers in order to deliver on their promises. But now as we all know, the situation has escalated disastrously. Vince Cable rightly describes it as ‘war’. The banks have accrued, what we are supposed to believe, are debtors in astronomic orders of magnitude. They all know perfectly well that these debts can never be repaid not least because they came about as a result of deliberately fraudulent lending. The politicians know they can neither correct the bank’s behaviour nor refuse to pay (default) because the same banks determine what they, the politicians, can do to maintain popularity. Also, by the way, they indirectly control most of the media, and can mislead the general public into thinking that they are somehow to blame and must suffer as a result.
Do not therefore be surprised by lies!
Hurrah !!! G20 to the rescue.
Great photo of a bunch of people who are never wrong, have never been wrong & never will be wrong, & a nice piece of satire shown by Australia’s ABC news, probably because they think they are still immune from all of this.
http://dailybail.com/home/g-20-threatens-bailout-insanity-all-hail-the-euro-tarp.html
You have to go a long way to find a punter who actually has a good word to say about banks, or is content or happy with the services they provide. It would be useful if there was some research that showed how much business the banks have lost to mutual building societies over the last three years. Despite all the propaganda I think a significant proportion of the population still consider the current problems as being caused by the banks (rather than the last government). As things get worse the public will look at the governments pathetic attempts at bank reform and its huge implementation delay as being another sign of the government being in bed with the banks. Even if they had implemented them quickly this still would have made little impact because they are so toothless. So this government is destined to be the least popular of all time and will take the blame, and will crumble at some point, regardless of how much propaganda is used. The problem is that the opposition are not providing a credible alternative. We are in a classic catch 22. The solutions that would work, are currently politically unthinkable. I think we will see a progressive decline into economic chaos, with numerous excuses (choppy recovery etc), which will become less credible as time rolls on.
When money is given a value beyond a means of simplifying exchange for goods or real services rendered, you open the flood gates to the chaos of chance and the gambles of speculators.
Money has replaced religion as the opiate of the people. Like religion it offers a solution for everything but can substantiate nothing. Like religion it proclaims equality while practising elitism and like religion it will ultimately reach its nemesis through science and reason – only the costs and time inflicted in order to reach that nemesis is open to influence.
I don’t think I’m a nut – I accept there is a need for the world to be held to account, for values to be weighed, judged and rewarded.
That as a young species and one who has been given the ability to analyse and value its traits and behaviour that time perhaps aeons will be needed before we refine and hone these to the maximum our imagination will allow.
But however far or short we are along that road it makes no sense nor serve any logical or evolutionary purpose for a species, that is capable of reasoning, to allow an idiotic and self immolating trait, exaggerated in a tiny percentage of its number, to threaten – possibly the existence – but certainly aspirations, potentials and life values of the whole species.
The money system has failed by greed and for greed, produced nothing but an addiction to gluttony on a product that even the most avaricious of viruses would have no interest in.
How clever does that make the gluttons and as a species, the rest of us for being victims to it?
I received a reply from my MP this morning to the letter I posted above at 12:17.
After a brief statement about the Asset Protection Scheme (i.e. the bailing-out of RBS and Lloyds (LBG)), he writes:
“As announced at the time, final agreements with both banks were subject to:
* HM Treasury undertaking thorough due diligence of the assets that RBS and LBG proposed to put into the APS
[…]
* rigorous stress-testing on both banks by the FSA.
I recognise the points you raise regarding negligence and the implications of US Federal Housing Finance Authority’s legal action against RBS and, accordingly, have raised them with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
As soon as I have a reply I will contact you again.”
Well said John Souter ! commendable economy of words….
Ha ha so long you bunch of suckers I’m now mega rich. The poor get what they deserve believing in the stupid things that they do. It’s not my fault that you are stupid and they are stupid, my ship has come in.
MR JACOBS SALAMI
BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A)
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO,
WEST AFRICA.
Tel:+226 79218199
Dear Friend,
Greeting to you!!!
I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we never met before. I am the Director in charge of Auditing in Bank of Africa (B.O.A), I Hoped that you will not expose or betray this trust and confident that I am about to repose on you for the mutual benefit of our both families. I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of Twenty Two Million and Five Hundred Thousand united state dollars ($22.500 000mUSD) Immediately to your account.
Enjoy your sad existences I shall be on a beach you fools.
Paul Mason’s decoding of the G20 statement: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15037289 .
Conclusion:
“My experiences in Greece this week convince me that populations will not long stand for chaos, misery and psychological torture inflicted by news media delivering constant bipolar messages of despair and hope.
Switzerland, Japan and effectively the United States are already carrying out nation-centric currency policies; ditto Brazil – and China is a perennial currency manipulator. Once we’re done manipulating currencies the next phase is trade war.”
That is spot on- “bi-polar messages of despair and hope”
“I have here this scrap of paper with assurances by Herr Hitler….”
Some people get all the luck. Why can’t I get a letter like that?
David
If you ever go into politics this should be your manifesto. It would get my vote 🙂
Chris
Once gold has peaked, you know the worst of the crisis is over.
That will signify that the world’s most sophisticated investors have judged that the panic is dissipating and more money can be made outside safe havens than in it.
Gold is the investment to be in when sharp economic dislocations occur. You make multiples of your money that way. Much of the rest of the time, gold investments lose money.
Gold has been the best investment of the decade bar the odd hypergrowth stock company.
The fundamental reality of the world is that you need a place to live in and a supply of food and water to survive. So long as you don’t need to sell them to survive, you’ll always have a stake in the world.
But if you want to change your place in the order of things, you either need to work successfully for 40 years or you need to make a fortune when certain markets show step changes.
That’s what this thing is all about.
Creating huge market dislocations so that those that know how to can absolutely clean up.
But if you owned your own farm and grew your own food, none of this would affect you in any way.
That’s the reality…………..
Ah chaps,
please disregard my post above it turns out this Bank of Africa is a bit of a swizz and quite frankly mrs40 is in a tizz as our accounts have been cleaned out. It’s at times like this I wish I had read te articles title more carefully.
Anyone spare a dime?
On gold, see this post from the Slog (an invaluable complement to this blog, despite – or perhaps because of – its having a decidedly different political viewpoint):
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/crash-2-exclusive-it-looks-like-the-eu-is-moving-covertly-to-restrict-retail-gold-sales/ .
Bill40
I’m sure you were just unlucky. If you should happen to get another letter like that that, don’t hesitate to, just go for it.
Greek middle classes, the start of civil disobediance.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,787847,00.html
Most revolutions are articulated by the ‘middle-class’, either through a nascent middle-class being denied access to power, or an existing middle-class being sidelined. The proletariat will put up with almost anything – until the middle-classes begin to react!
Life in Greece
http://www.presseurop.eu/fr/content/article/977471-va-droit-au-genocide-financier
» Ansi les Grecs “refusent d’économiser” ? Un juriste de Vienne, qui a un pied-à-terre à Athènes, les a observés au quotidien. Sa conclusion : ils économisent à en crever.
Günter Tews
On ne peut rester sans réagir aux diverses déclarations des plus hauts responsables de toute l’Europe, certaines frisant l’imbécillité, au sujet de ces “fainéants” de Grecs qui “refusent d’économiser”.
Depuis 16 mois, je dispose d’une résidence secondaire à Athènes, et j’ai vécu cette situation dramatique sur place. On se plaint que les plans d’économie ne fonctionnent pas parce que les revenus fiscaux chutent. On remet en question la volonté des Grecs d’économiser. Quelle surprise ! Voici quelques faits :
– Réductions des salaires et des retraites jusqu’à 30 %.
– Baisse du salaire minimum à 600 euros.
– Hausse des prix dramatique (fioul domestique + 100 % ; essence + 100 %, électricité, chauffage, gaz, transports publics + 50 %) au cours des 15 derniers mois.
Le renflouement de l’UE repart à 97% vers l’Union
– Un tiers des 165 000 entreprises commerciales ont fermé leurs portes, un tiers n’est plus en mesure de payer les salaires. Partout à Athènes, on peut voir ces panneaux jaunes avec le mot “Enoikiazetai” en lettres rouges – “A louer”.
– Dans cette atmosphère de misère, la consommation (l’économie grecque a toujours été fortement axée sur la consommation) a plongée de manière catastrophique. Les couples à double salaire (dont le revenu familial représentait jusqu’alors 4 000 euros) n’ont soudain plus que deux fois 400 euros d’allocations chômage, qui ne commencent à être versées qu’avec des mois de retard.
– Les employés de l’Etat ou d’entreprises proches de l’Etat, comme Olympic Airlines ou les hôpitaux, ne sont plus payés depuis des mois et le versement de leur traitement est repoussé à octobre ou à “l’année prochaine”. C’est le ministère de la Culture qui détient le record. De nombreux employés qui travaillaient sur l’Acropole ne sont plus payés depuis 22 mois. Quand ils ont occupé l’Acropole pour manifestation (pacifiquement !), ils en ont rapidement eu pour leur argent, à coups de gaz lacrymogène.
– Tout le monde s’accorde à dire que les milliards des tranches du renflouement de l’UE repartent à 97 % directement vers l’Union, vers les banques, pour éponger la dette et les nouveaux taux d’intérêt. Ainsi le problème est-il discrètement rejeté sur les contribuables européens. Jusqu’au crash, les banques encaissent encore des intérêts copieux, et les créances sont à la charge des contribuables. Il n’y a donc pas (encore ?) d’argent pour les réformes structurelles.
– Des milliers et des milliers d’auto-entrepreneurs, chauffeurs de taxis et de poids lourds, ont dû débourser des milliers d’euros pour leur licence, et ont pris des crédits à cet effet, mais ils se voient aujourd’hui confrontés à une libéralisation qui fait que les nouveaux venus sur le marché n’ont presque rien à payer, tandis que ceux qui sont présents depuis plus longtemps sont grevés par leurs énormes crédits, qu’ils doivent néanmoins rembourser.
– On invente de nouvelles charges. Ainsi, pour déposer une plainte à la police, il faut payer sur le champ 150 euros. La victime doit sortir son porte-monnaie si elle veut que sa plainte soit prise en compte. Dans le même temps, les policiers sont obligés de se cotiser pour faire le plein de leurs voitures de patrouille.
– Un nouvel impôt foncier, associé à la facture d’électricité, a été créé. S’il n’est pas payé, l’électricité du foyer est coupée.
– Cela fait plusieurs mois que les écoles publiques ne reçoivent plus de manuel scolaire. L’Etat ayant accumulé d’énormes dettes auprès des maisons d’édition, les livraisons ne sont plus effectuées. Les élèves reçoivent désormais des CD et leurs parents doivent acheter des ordinateurs pour leur permettre de suivre les cours. On ignore complètement comment les écoles – surtout celles du Nord – vont régler leurs dépenses de chauffage.
Où est passé l’argent des dernières décennies ?
– Toutes les universités sont de fait paralysées jusqu’à la fin de l’année. Bon nombre d’étudiants ne peuvent ni déposer leurs mémoires ni passer leurs examens.
– Le pays se prépare à une vague d’émigration massive et l’on voit apparaître des cabinets de conseil sur la question. Les jeunes ne se voient plus aucun avenir en Grèce. Le taux de chômage atteint 40 % chez les jeunes diplômés et 30 % chez les jeunes en général. Ceux qui travaillent le font pour un salaire de misère et en partie au noir (sans sécurité sociale) : 35 euros pour dix heures de travail par jour dans la restauration. Les heures supplémentaires s’accumulent sans être payées. Résultat : il ne reste plus rien pour les investissements d’avenir comme l’éducation. Le gouvernement grec ne reçoit plus un sou d’impôt.
– Les réductions massives d’effectif dans la fonction publique sont faites de manière antisociale. On s’est essentiellement débarrassé de personnes quelques mois avant qu’elles n’atteignent leur quota pour la retraite, afin de ne leur verser que 60 % d’une pension normale.
La question est sur toutes les lèvres : où est passé l’argent des dernières décennies ? De toute évidence, pas dans les poches des citoyens. Les Grecs n’ont rien contre l’épargne, ils n’en peuvent tout simplement plus. Ceux qui travaillent se tuent à la tâche (cumul de deux, trois, quatre emplois).
Tous les acquis sociaux des dernières décennies sur la protection des travailleurs ont été pulvérisés. L’exploitation a désormais le champ libre ; dans les petites entreprises, c’est généralement une question de survie.
Quand on sait que les responsables grecs ont dîné avec les représentants de la troïka [Commission européenne, BCE et FMI] pour 300 euros par personne, on ne peut que se demander quand la situation finira par exploser.
La situation en Grèce devrait alerter la vieille Europe. Aucun parti prônant une raisonable orthodoxie budgétaire n’aurait été en mesure d’appliquer son programme : il n’aurait jamais été élu. Il faut s’attaquer à la dette tant qu’elle est encore relativement sous «contrôle et avant qu’elle ne s’apparente à un génocide financier.
Nice to see some French, but for the benefit of those who can’t read the original, here’s a Google translation (available on right mouse click):
People are heading straight for “financial genocide”
Thus the Greeks “will not save”? A lawyer from Vienna, who has a pied-à-terre in Athens, has observed daily. His conclusion: they save to bursting [they’re saving to the point of dying – Ed.]
Günter Tews
We can not but respond to various statements by top officials from all over Europe, some bordering on imbecility, about these “lazy” Greeks who “refuse to save” .
For 16 months, I have a second home in Athens, and lived the dramatic situation on the spot. People complain that the savings plans will not work because tax revenues fall. It calls into question the willingness of Greeks to save. What a surprise! Here are some facts:
– Reductions in wages and pensions to 30%.
– Lower the minimum wage to 600 euros.
– Dramatic Increase in prices (heating oil + 100% + 100% gasoline, electricity, heating, gas, public transport + 50%) over the last 15 months.
The bailout of the EU to 97% off again to the EU
– One third of the 165 000 business enterprises have closed, one third is no longer able to pay salaries. Everywhere in Athens, one can see the yellow signs with the word “Enoikiazetai” in red letters – “Rent.”
– In this atmosphere of poverty, consumption (the Greek economy has always been a strong focus on consumption) has plunged in a catastrophic way. The two-earner couples (whose family income represented until 4000 euros) were suddenly more than double 400 euros unemployment benefits, which begin to be paid with months of delay.
– Employees of the State or businesses close to the state, as Olympic Airlines and hospitals are no longer paid for months and payment of their treatment is delayed until October or “next year”. The Ministry of Culture who holds the record. Many employees who worked on the Acropolis are no longer paid for 22 months. When they occupied the Acropolis to protest (peacefully!), They quickly got their money to tear gas.
– Everyone agrees that the billions of slices of the bailout leave the EU to 97% directly to the EU, to banks, to absorb new debt and interest rates. So the problem is he quietly released on European taxpayers. Until the crash, the banks still cashing extensive interests, and claims are the responsibility of taxpayers. There is not (yet) money for structural reforms.
– Thousands and thousands of self-entrepreneurs, taxi drivers and trucks, had to pay thousands of dollars for their license, and took credit for this purpose, but they are now facing a liberalization that new entrants have almost nothing to pay, while those who have been around longer are encumbered by their enormous credit, they must still repay.
– We invent new charges. Thus, to file a complaint with the police, you have to pay 150 euros on the field. The victim must leave her purse if she wants to have his complaint considered. Meanwhile, police are obliged to contribute to fuel their patrol cars.
– A new property tax associated with the electricity bill was created. If not paid, the electricity is cut off from home.
– It has been several months that public schools no longer receive textbook. The state has accumulated huge debts to publishing houses, deliveries are not made. Students now receive CD and their parents buy computers for them to attend classes. It completely ignores how schools – especially those of the North – will pay their heating costs.
Where did the money the last few decades?
– All universities are effectively paralyzed for the rest of the year. Many students may not file submissions or write exams.
– The country is preparing for a wave of mass migration are emerging and consulting firms on the issue. Young people no longer see any future in Greece. The unemployment rate reached 40% among young graduates and 30% among youth in general. Those who work do so for a pittance and partly black (without Social Security): 35 euros for ten hours a day in restaurants. Accumulate overtime without pay. Result: there is nothing left for future investments such as education. The Greek government does not receive a cent in taxes.
– The mass retrenchments in the public service are made so antisocial. It was mostly cleared of people a few months before they reach their quota for retirement, so as not to pay them 60% of a normal pension.
The question on everyone’s lips is: where is the money the last few decades? Obviously, not in the pockets of citizens. The Greeks have nothing against saving, they can simply do more. Those working to kill the task (combination of two, three, four jobs).
All the social gains of recent decades on the protection of workers were sprayed. The operation now has a clear field, in small businesses, it is usually a matter of survival.
When we know that Greek officials had dinner with representatives of the troika [European Commission, ECB and IMF] to 300 euros per person, one can only wonder when the situation will explode.
The situation in Greece should alert the old Europe. No party advocating a reasonable budget orthodoxy would have been able to implement his program: he would never have been elected. We must tackle the debt while it is still relatively under control before it is akin to genocide Financial.
The view from Athens
The Greeks’ sacrificed on the altar of the Troika ”
The “new sacrifice” demanded by the government to avoid bankruptcy of the state hit “the usual victims” , “sacrificed on the altar of the Troika” (European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF), wrote Ta Nea . The new cuts, adopted September 21 to get the unlocking of the sixth tranche of funding of the three institutions are “pensions, wages and 30,000 civil servants” . These will be placed on lay-by the end of the year. In addition, the minimum tax has been lowered. The announcement of this new plan has angered the Greeks. The unions of public transport and taxis were on strike on September 22, as well as teachers and municipal employees and air traffic controllers. The public sector as a whole has announced a work stoppage on October 5. A general strike should be held Oct. 19.
Even better, if you click on “en” just under “The best of the European press, in 10 languages” on the original page, you get a proper English translation:
http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/978261-financial-genocide
What we are seeing here, I’d suggest, is nothing less than the creation of a revolutionary situation along the lines of the so-called “Arab Spring”.
I note three posts in quick succession by The Slogger himself (eg https://www.golemxiv.co.uk/2011/09/world-wide-credulity-crunch/#comment-5630 ), albeit further up the thread.
(For The Slog, see http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/ , and statement of principles at http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/about/ ).
Slogger (welcome, btw): to get a message at the end of the thread (if that’s what you want), you need to click on the reply button of the last post.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/five-banks-account-96-250-trillion-outstanding-derivative-exposure-morgan-stanley-sitting-fx-de
In response to Cynical Highlander’s post on derivative exposure, it’s worth noting (or recalling) that the notional value of the derivatives market – £1.2 quadrillion – has been estimated at 20 times the size of the world economy. And it’s unregulated.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/06/09/risk-quadrillion-derivatives-market-gdp/ .
As with the proportion of total debt to GDP in major countries (http://www.gfmag.com/tools/global-database/economic-data/10403-total-debt-to-gdp.html#ixzz1YlYCeysq )
– and the proportion of bank “assets” to GDP in many of the same (http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2011/09/Banks%20As%20%25%20Of%20GDP.jpg ),
the virtual financial world has displaced the real economic world.
See: http://goo.gl/E4dto
I agree, at least in the US, it takes the middle class to maintain a decent living standard of living as we are the taxpayers. But most of the middle class has been and is being destroyed by jobs going overseas…..globalization in its present form has not worked. And so, I believe we are seeing the result of this experiment.
What do I plan to do? Well life is more than acquiring as much weath for myself as possible…it is about caring about others during these difficult times…so this will be my focus….I will be able to look in the mirror each morning and feel good when I get up each morning with my prayer of “Show me something I can do for someone in need this day”…
I don’t share your faith, Jerry, but I admire your response. We need to hold on to basic human values in the dark days ahead, regardless of politics, race or religion.
On that point re: the strains on the middle-class:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A
Here we go.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8786665/Multi-trillion-grand-plan-to-save-the-eurozone-is-being-prepared.html
Surprised.
So who’s going to pay for this multi-trillion package, pray?
And what about the Germans?
Quote:
“The proposal would be hugely sensitive in Germany as its parliament has yet to ratify the July 21 agreement to allow the EFSF to inject capital into banks and buy the sovereign debt of countries not under a European Union and International Monetary Fund restructuring programme. The vote is due on September 29.”
And given that a deadline of 4 November has been set, what happens to Greece in the meantime, given that they’re due to stop paying pensions and state employees around 10 or 15 October?
Yep save the banks – sacrifce the people. Love the bit about ‘ringfencing Italy and Spain.’ Won’t work!
madness
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/09/multi-trillion-dollar-bailout-plan.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis+%28Mish%27s+Global+Economic+Trend+Analysis%29
http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution
Masque of Anarchy
“Stand ye calm and resolute,
Like a forest close and mute,
With folded arms and looks which are
Weapons of unvanquished war.
And if then the tyrants dare,
Let them ride among you there,
Slash, and stab, and maim and hew,
What they like, that let them do.
With folded arms and steady eyes,
And little fear, and less surprise
Look upon them as they slay
Till their rage has died away
Then they will return with shame
To the place from which they came,
And the blood thus shed will speak
In hot blushes on their cheek.
Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you-
Ye are many — they are few
Shelley
Hello Pirate Jenny,
Thank you.
“Rise like Lions…” I believe we will.
Or:
“OZYMANDIAS
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert… Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear —
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.’
Kicking off in NYC
It went from live feed of protesters at Union Square then the feed died. When it came back 60 people had been arrested.
Not quite a Tahir Square camel charge but hotting up.
“Rise like Lions…” I believe we will.” (golem xiv )
“Lion populations are untenable outside designated reserves and national parks.”( wiki)
@ Andrew
Metaphorically not.
Re Shelley, it’s worth recalling the context of the poem from which Pirate Jenny posted an extract:
“In August 1819 a huge peaceful protest demonstration organised by the emerging trade unions had met in carnival atmosphere at St Peter’s Fields in Manchester. Before the speakers could properly address the meeting, it was attacked by the yeomanry, the special constabulary drawn from men of property. The gallant mounted burghers hacked their way through the unarmed crowd, killing eleven people with their swords and injuring many others. The British ruling class swaggered for months afterwards at the bravery of its ‘stout yeomanry’ at Peterloo — as the field of slaughter came to be known. Among the dispossessed and the new trade unionists there was a sullen but impotent fury.
Shelley heard the news of Peterloo on 5 September 1819, when he was living in Leghorn in Italy. He immediately sat down to write one of the great political protest poems of all time. The Mask of Anarchy starts with a furious attack on the Conservative administration in Britain. It recounts a nightmare in which the three Lords of the Tory Cabinet — Eldon the Lord Chancellor, Sidmouth the Home Secretary and above all Castlereagh, the Foreign Secretary — parade in an awful procession, murdering, deceiving and wheedling, while Britain dissolves into anarchy. The word ‘anarchy’ then meant something quite different to its normal meaning today. Shelley used it to describe the chaos of tyranny, in which no one but the very few who own and control society can plan their lives for themselves. Anarchy was ‘God and King and Law’, and its enemies were the common people of England. It ‘slashed and stabbed’ its way through the country, cutting down anyone who opposed the government.
Anarchy is itself destroyed in Shelley’s poem by a ‘maniac maid’ who calls herself Hope, though she ‘looked more like Despair’. She rouses the people to free themselves from their oppressors, by supplying them, among other things, with a powerful definition of freedom:
Thou art clothes and fire and food
For the trampled multitude.
No, in countries that are free
Such starvation cannot be
As in England now we see.
The speech of the ‘maniac maid’ identifies the central scandal in British society during the Industrial Revolution, the exploitation of the mass of workers by the new capitalists. That exploitation will continue, she warns — indeed there is no depth to which it will not sink — unless the masses do something about it. The central theme and message of this magnificent poem is agitation. What should be agitated for is a question which the poem does not always answer. Shelley himself seems to have been unclear about it. He appeals for a great demonstration which will engage in mass civil disobedience and thus shame the rulers into doing something about the oppressed. This mild, if unlikely, proposition, however, is contradicted by the famous last verse of the poem which calls on the ‘many’ to ‘rise like lions’ against the few and ‘shake your chains to earth’. For much of the poem Shelley seems to be counselling the people to behave constitutionally, and to protest within the system. At other times, however, and especially at the end of the poem, he seems to be openly advocating revolution.”
http://www.fonseca.demon.co.uk/redwords/pages/shelleyintro.html
The full poem can be read here: http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/shelley/maskofanarchy.html .
Ovr at http://www.walayatstreet.com/
Inflation and Tax Rises Crush Britain’s Middle Class, Real Earnings 25% Drop!
Just to expand on the theme of the revolting middle classes in greece and the US
Which story are you linking too
Latest from Paul Mason:
“Euro war games shape financial strategy
On 13-14 September about 100+ movers and shakers took part in a conference and “war game” organised by the Breughel [Bruegel, actually – Ed.] think tank, modelling solutions to the euro crisis. I am reliably informed this was not just a “what if?” but has – given the result – influenced crisis management in the non-war game world of Washington DC.
The full document is here. But the summary is: they saved the euro. Here’s how.
In the war game the EU/IMF decided to expand the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to between $3 trillion (£1.9tn; 2.2tn euros) and $5 trillion (£3.2tn ; 3.7tn euros). This was done by leveraging the 440bn euros supplied under the EFSF legislation going through European parliaments this week, plus match funding from the IMF. And by the ECB issuing “collateralised finance”.
That is, by pledging around 700bn euros, they borrowed up to $5tn and then lent it to European banks and countries, starting with Greece. They got the money by mortgaging the assets of Europe basically, because $5tn is a lot. They mortgaged the EFSF money, and then the ECB borrowed money against the future tax revenues of Europe.
Read on here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15051882
Mortgaging the assets of Europe! You couldn’t make it up…
“the ECB borrowed money against the future tax revenues of Europe” – so guess who’s going to pay for all this (if it’s implemented)…
Flies in the ointment? Germans, Finns and the rest of the world for a start.
click on by nadeem walayat go down to march4
Some questions……in the past, the US participated in wars based upon oil….but now I think there has been some change…for you who do not know, the destruction of the twin towers in NY was not the act of terriorist (structural engineers have asked for an investigation as it is apparent to them that it was demolition by nanoe fermite that is a miliary only available material and would have had to been planted on each of 29 steel columns per floor in each building)…so why destroy wall street records…..
Interesting developments in Cyprus, it seems: http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/whats-cyprus-war .
And Peston’s latest on a three-pronged rescue deal discussed at the IMF meeting in Washington: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15055243 .
Meanwhile Zerohedge reports:
“the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States, […] in a Request for Proposals filed to companies that are Fed vendors, is requesting the creation of a “Social Listening Platform” whose function is to “gather data from various social media outlets and news sources.” It will “monitor billions of conversations and generate text analytics based on predefined criteria.” The Fed’s desired product should be able to “determine the sentiment of a speaker or writer with respect to some topic or document”… “The solution must be able to gather data from the primary social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Forums and YouTube. It should also be able to aggregate data from various media outlets such as: CNN, WSJ, Factiva etc.” Most importantly, the “Listening Platform” should be able to “Handle crisis situations, Continuously monitor conversations, and Identify and reach out to key bloggers and influencers.” Said otherwise, the Fed has just entered the counterespionage era and will be monitoring everything written about it anywhere in the world.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/here-comes-fiattackwatch-bernanke-goes-watergate-prepares-eavesdrop-everything-mentioning-fed
Please don’t let troofers on the site Golem, it’ll destroy your rising credibillity.
Neil.
Thank you for drawing attention to the zerohedge article. I have already had occasion to reprimand the free thinking contained on this site. Soon I will have more power still. I hope none on here are naive enough to think I may need democratic mandate for such actions.
My time is now choose your side very carefully. We have everything under control.
TPTB
Yes sir, sorry sir, 3 bags full sir, here is my latest report on what, as the great Mr. Kissinger so rightly described as ” the useless eaters” are getting up to in your own backyard.
A 1000 salutations, Obi-Wan-Bernanke.
http://dailybail.com/home/daily-bail-endorses-larry-flynts-call-for-a-national-strike.html
For the full blown US economy is going into freefall at a time unknown yet but not far from right now view ( well argued ).
Unfortunately my local Tesco’s have no two for one deals on silver ingots.
try http://gonzalolira.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-hyperinflation-will-happen.html
From G. Lira site mentioned above
“The Too Big To Fail banks will play a crucial part in this game. See, the problem with the American Zombies is, they weren’t nationalized. They got the best bits of nationalization—total liquidity, suspension of accounting and regulatory rules—but they still get to act under their own volition, and in their own best interest. Hence their obscene bonuses, paid out in the teeth of their practical bankruptcy. Hence their lack of lending into the weakened economy. Hence their hoarding of bailout monies, and predatory business practices. They’ve understood that, to get that sweet bail-out money (and those yummy bonuses), they have had to play the Fed’s game and buy up Treasuries, and thereby help disguise the monetization of the fiscal debt that has been going on since the Fed began purchasing the toxic assets from their balance sheets in 2008….”
Arent our banks in the same ball park? More or less nationalized but free to play their own games… the worst of all worlds?
Good stuff, kinda like ” Inside Story” but adds a bit more meat to the bones.
Meltdown:- The secret history of the financial collapse, 3.5 hrs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3CDGh4cXU0&feature=player_detailpage
In an earlier post responding to details of a possible rescue plan being discussed by the G20, I asked two questions: “So who’s going to pay for this multi-trillion package, pray? And what about the Germans?”
Coincidentally or not, these are precisely the questions dealt with in The Slog’s latest posts (and no, I have no connection with The Slog):
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/crash-2-guess-what-nobody-at-the-g20-knows-where-the-big-firepower-money-is-coming-from/
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/crash-2-g20-rescue-plan-runs-into-its-first-wall-germanys-central-bank/
Frontline’s ‘The Warning’ is well worth watching – around 50 mins.
This might not help the entente cordiale.
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/84568,people,news,italian-pm-silvio-berlusconi-called-angela-merkel-an-unfuckable-lard-arse
12 months max!
Mind you, it is what he himself says he dreams of, so he can clean up. Cui bono? (to whose advantage?) as the Romans used to ask…
Below are both worth a read , sure looks like we’re getting to the endgame.
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article30577.html
http://londonbanker.blogspot.com/
Capitalism on Trial 9am Tuesday BBC R4.
“Capitalism dominates the globe as never before, but after a summer of riots, bailouts, downgrades and market instability, twenty-first century capitalism is looking a little tarnished. In the first of two programmes, Michael Portillo talks to leading thinkers from around the world as he weighs up the costs and benefits of the economic system that governs our lives.
Amartya Sen, Will Hutton, Ha-Joon Chang, Gillian Tett and former Chancellor Nigel Lawson are among the critics and defenders of the free-market as Michael begins the series by asking whether capitalism makes us greedy and divided or rich and free.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0150p5l
So where’s our Marriner Eccles when we need him?
Golem
I look forward to your post about this vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3ddIJajQ0w
I’m sending it to everyone I know, it just so insane
Thanks for posting Richard! “Insane” doesn’t get close, I wonder how many people will really take notice of the “…governments don’t rule the world,Goldman Sachs does…” ? Pretty close to the truth of course….wonder if the Beeb will follow up on that with an ‘investigative’ report? (Unlikely, lol, I see they sent Paul Mason off on a ‘Grapes of Wrath’ story. Are they keeping him away from the eurozone now?)
Cynical Highlander got there first: https://www.golemxiv.co.uk/2011/09/world-wide-credulity-crunch/#comment-5682 .
Shows that some posts’ links don’t get clicked on, but credit where credit’s due.
Well no harm in posting it twice, but I certainly don’t want to steal anyone’s thunder
Since I pinched it from your post on UKpolling. 🙂 I just post links for others to evaluate as I’m into simple explanations.
I pinched it from zerohedge do you post on ukpr, if so who are you. I could guess but I won’t cos ill be embarrassed if I’m wrong
Now that’s what I call getting the word out, I had seen that earlier, I havent laughed so hard in weeks, a guy who actually spoke the truth to the world via BBC news. Absolutely classic, only thing is that he will probably be found to be a al quaeda sympathising spy with a fetish for kiddies and have a string of convictions to his real name but be discovered dead in a ditch somewhere with a pitchfork stuck somewhere it shouldn’t be….
@Slogger
Great articles, thanks for the links,
#richard in norway (No reply button!)
No I don’t post just watch our southern neighbours over the border get taught about their own country in a nice way and glad to see you got your avatar working.
Yeah
Thanks for that link, I really like my avatar, nice and bright and cheerful. You must be a big fan of Oldnat’s posts
Yes, Richard – good link to Alessio Rastani on the BBC.
Here is his blog: http://www.leadingtrader.com/
What I am left with is this devastating feeling that all this austerity is for nothing.
Absolutely nothing!!!
These guys don’t give a sh*t about the Euro, the stock market, Greek default, the budget deficit or any of that stuff.
It’s all bullshit, they’ve already written it off….
All they care about is making money – and our politicians just don’t get it, or somehow, like Rastani, must stand to gain by the collapse. .?
We are being put through the economic wringer for *No Reason Whatsoever*!!!
This is more than corruption, this is insanity.
It’s all a big swindle. You know that program called swindlers, I think its a BBC program, where this group of conmen create elaborate cons. Well its that program squared. Bill black has been pointing this out, but I don’t think even he has realised the scope of the con. I’ve been reading, “looting, the economic underworld of bankruptcy for profit” and suddenly the lights went on for me. If you take the criminal principles outlined in that essay and multiply them 100 times I think you get the piigs problem. Golem was saying we need audits, he’s right we should audit everything
I think I had a kind of epiphany watching that guy on the BBC:
It seemed that, if he honestly represents ‘market sentiment’, that actually it matters NOT ONE JOT to the ‘market’ whether the UK, (or the Eurozone, Greece, Italy, Spain…wherever)…is solvent, pays it’s debts and stays within its budget, or exceeds its budget, increases its deficit, defaults, goes bankrupt…whatever….its all irrelevent…in fact, whatever the outcome, its all another money-making opportunity…its all a game…!
And, in fact, the more volatile, the more unpredictable, the more catastrophic and the deeper the problems that arise, and the more severe the crisis that may result…..THE BETTER!!!!
In his own words.. the guy (ie the market) is dreaming of a recession…
So why give him one?!?!
It’s all about making money not earning money but making it
It a really stupid system. The market is driven by fear and greed, and those two together are super destructive. There is no rational thought in the market cos as soon as they are losing mega bucks all logic goes out the window and when they are winning they just become insatiable. And the more unstable the market gets the worse the fear and greed get. I can’t believe that a modern civilised enlightened society could entrust its economy to such a system, we are all mad.
Richard, I think you mean Hustle.
Yes, I have enjoyed it (in spite of the fact that it’s made by Elisabeth Murdoch’s production company).
More like a rant than the usual factual stuff I’ve come to rely on from you :-/
I’ve a question though (I’m not an economist) why, if some news items I’ve heard are right has Ireland just had it’s second year of growth ?
Ireland is unique in the EU in having a massive foreign MNC enclave servicing sales across the EU. Main sectors are IT & Big Pharma, neither use much (relatively) Irish labour or other local inputs. This skews GDP enormously. Unemployment is still rising. GNP, a better measure of domestic output apparently did rise in the last Qtr by a small amount ~ 1%. But the data is very volatile over Qtrs & has a significant element of approximation until the fine detail is better examined. Most often even the annual figures are later downgraded.
About the best that can be said is Ireland is stagnating even with the MNC enclave, but that is probably going to start slowing now as other EU countries, to which they export, slide.
As there’s much more austerity & debt interest rises coming the prospects are heading ‘Greek’ over the next year or two.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/bbc-speechless-trader-tells-truth-collapse-comingand-goldman-rules-world
Another link to the brilliant BBC clip where someone dares to tell the truth for a change. The wife laughed at the studio reaction. The word sheeple springs to mind.
I posted the BBC link on the Torygraph and I haven’t seen such a reaction to a youtube clip ever. The only sad thing was that many thought this is how markets are supposed to work and therefore a good thing.
I’m afraid my sypathies lie with those who think it’s sheer insanity.
It is indeed how markets are supposed to work, but that’s bad, not good. We are supposed selfishly to maximize profit, and the Invisible Hand is then supposed to ‘ensure’ everyone benefits from rampant self-serving greed. The freer the better. That’s the Myth.
What I found most telling (and bizarre) about Rastani’s advice was that it was in essence a call to non-market types to employ market tactics to benefit from the collapse of the system. On the one hand he defines the crisis as a cancer, and as such acknowledges it as a sickness, yet his prescription is even more people acting that way so that as many of us as possible can be rich. INSANITY! Even a whistle-blower, driven perhaps by some promptings from his long dormant conscience, cannot see that his advice is the exact same thing as his criticism.
Only a global root and branch revolution can be enough.
Another word on the trader that told the truth …(reminds me of one of those 1930’s Bateman cartoons…with everyone looking aghast at someone who has made an ingenuous remark…)
and HIS remark that GS rules the world
…well reference to the Shelley poem Ozymandias above
but also in a faster time span…
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/goldman-sachs-rules-world-have-you-looked-their-stock-price-lately
For me the worst aspect of this video is the fact that people are shocked by it. It illustrates the efficiency of the MSM in pulling a blind over this kind of thing. There are plenty of examples of the kind of things bankers etc do & have done on video that they could show, but don’t for obvious reasons. It put me in mind of the effect Withnail & Marwood had on the clientelle at the Penrith tearooms.
Richard in Norway
Akerlof’s “Looting…” article is excellent. It was written in about 1993. In fact, as you say it is on an even bigger scale now, which means that Akerlof’s paper just became a “White collar looting: How-to handbook”.
The ICB was warned about this last year, but seems to have ignored it completely:
http://bankingcommission.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Russell-Bradshaw-Issues-Paper-Response1.pdf
See sections “Sucker of last resort” and “Risk transfer as fraud”.
Thanks for the link, I haven’t read it yet. My brain is getting frazzeled by lots of heavy reading. I just know that there is a complex scam going on in Greece, I mean I know instinctively, but I have no hope of understanding it. Part of it is that the banks have already earned back their original investment and paid out bonuses and dividends from that, but there is more, I think I’m starting to become a conspiracy theorist, Im starting to think that all the different actors in this drama are following a prearranged script and that even when they seem to be pulling in different directions they are in fact working together. It seems that Greece is being deliberately kept at the edge of crisis, is this because its more profitable this way?
Toby,
Some good points. The bottom line, is that for one person to benefit, and make great riches out of a crash, others have to suffer, and that will be pension holders etc as their savings are wiped out (there’s no such thing as a free lunch). This is what Rastani ignores. And the bigger your ‘win’ the more that suffer as a result. Its really a case of wealth transfer or ‘theft’. But that is what capitalism is about. Accumulating wealth in the hands of a few at the expense of the many. The trick to getting people to accept this, is convincing them they have a hand in the game, and that their number might just come up. But the reality is that in all probability it wont, because the winners tend to hold all the best cards. The shock comes when a ‘capitalist’ exposes the game to the punters. I commend him for doing this although I dont support his actions. At the end of the day this process has being going on for a few hundred years. The rules of the game have not really changed much. But the propaganda has become more subtle.
“But that is what capitalism is about. Accumulating wealth in the hands of a few at the expense of the many.”
Absolutely. The ideology deployed to sell it to the masses you reference here:
“The trick to getting people to accept this, is convincing them they have a hand in the game, and that their number might just come up.”
The Myth of the Free Market is the ideology we’ve bought into and now need to extract ourselves from. I happen to believe that we must transition to steady-state growth, or de-growth economics, but that will result, if done properly, in improved living standards for all. The plan suggested in “Sacred Economics” by Charles Eisenstein, which calls for a new money system (and much else besides, including a social dividend, the abolition of income tax and negative interest money) is the best I’ve seen so far. What humanity finally does to rid itself of this suicidal meme–that pure greed is our saviour and motivator–we cannot know, nor can any plan towards this be a fixed list of detailed proposals we must slavishly follow to the letter. Open and (as far as such is possible) impartial discussion of various proposals is required, but Eisenstein’s are, to my mind, a very good starting point.
His book is being (slowly) serialized online, but can be purchased too if you’re impatient. 😉
http://charleseisenstein.com/online-text/
Interesting Comment is Free posted yesterday:
This economic collapse is a ‘crisis of bigness’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/25/crisis-bigness-leopold-kohr
Discusses Leopold Kohr’s, “The Breakdown of Nations”
I particularly liked:
Kohr’s claim was that society’s problems were not caused by particular forms of social or economic organisation, but by their size. Socialism, anarchism, capitalism, democracy, monarchy – all could work well on what he called “the human scale”: a scale at which people could play a part in the systems that governed their lives. But once scaled up to the level of modern states, all systems became oppressors. Changing the system, or the ideology that it claimed inspiration from, would not prevent that oppression – as any number of revolutions have shown – because “the problem is not the thing that is big, but bigness itself”.
Reminds me a bit of Tainter’s, “Collapse of Complex Societies” and the idea that, up to a tipping point, ‘improvements’ involve increasing the complexity of a system or society but offer ever diminishing returns. Thereafter attempts to ‘save’ the system invariably involve solutions of greater complexity but actually use up more resources than they pretend to save. In a nutshell: complex societies effectively destroy themselves.
Barbarians at the gates of complexity
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/902fc3d8-d0b0-11df-8667-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Z9WnVj8G
Also, from zerohedge, what do you make of flowchart on Greece’s fortunes?
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2011/09/20110926_GREECE%20chart.png
This was from the metaphorical horse mouth yesterday on the BBC.
He couldn’t have said it plainer. This is! How they think.
He even puts a date on collapse. One year.
So if his prediction come true batten down the hatches. Because we aint seen nothing yet
Toby I agree. The only way forward is to free ourselves from the oxymoron “sustainable economic growth”. I have recently read the End of Growth by Richard Heinberg, fascinating. Solutions must be linked to true sustainability respecting the fact that the earth resources are finite. This will have to come from the ground up as Governments and big business will have not have a vested interest (no big profits and limited wealth extraction opportunities). I need to find out more about Transition Initiatives. http://www.transitionnetwork.org/. The one thing I have learnt these last 3 years is to think objectively, and free from rhetoric. I also think that its highly unlikely that society can continue indefinitely on the same path of growth. History shows up civilisations go through periods of expansion and contraction. I’ll check out that link, thanks.
Thanks for that link, looks like a great project and site!
Alessio Rastani – somebody smells a rat:
http://www.sabotagetimes.com/people/alessio-rastani-and-the-yes-mens-five-greatest-hoaxes/
I clicked on http://www.leadingtrader.com/about/ , at which AR supposedly gives a first-person introduction, and I got the message “Error establishing database connection”. It could be jammed, of course…
Though Peston says: “Robert Peston
@Peston Robert Peston
We spoke to the trader again this morning, & as far as we can tell he is a genuine independent trader, not a member of YesMen”
Well, it’s back up with lots more pictures! So, is he real? Well I have no idea, he seems to have spoken the truth, as a lot of people believe though.
In referance to Rastani On the Guardian
drygoni 27 September 2011 3:17PM
Posted this : –
Apparent Rastani is not a Yes Man…
the plot thickens… Just a trader speaking the truth who has gained a conscience?
http://www.yeslab.org/rastani
But the above site appears to be down now or traffics to big.
Google yeslab.org and you get this link
Rastani is not in Liberty …
http://www.yeslab.org/rastani
Fatal error: Class …
Not sure why the sites down. Could just be as Google say’s
too busy
Either way this guy’s certainly caused a stir.
I was at his site yesterday, not too bad not too good, but did sound like the real thing. But what do I know
It would be ironic if the closest thing to the truth that came out of BBC news was because of a hoax.
Paul Mason offers a historical comparison with the 1930s, drawing on Charles Kindleberger’s The World In Depression 1929-1939:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15076896
Just seen this on the Telegraph site:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8792829/BBC-financial-expert-Alessio-Rastani-Im-an-attention-seeker-not-a-trader.html
Well, the title of this thread is “World Wide Credulity Crunch”, after all…
Germany rules out massive leverage for EFSF fund.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204831304576596220606861138.html
Alan September 27, 2011 at 8:03 pm #
Just seen this on the Telegraph site:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8792829/BBC-financial-expert-Alessio-Rastani-Im-an-attention-seeker-not-a-trader.html
…
The lengths they are going to, to try and downplay what he said. But I dont think it will work this time. Its gone viral and the mainstream propganda wont work. I think Max Keiser will probably try to get him on his Keiser Report.
A quick link for Mike Hall, and other followers of MMT:
http://www.economic-undertow.com/2011/07/03/lack-of-imagination/
He refers to Silvio Gesell’s form of money as demurrage money – don’t hoard it, but spend it quick before it devalues!
And offers this as a possible solution to help Greece’s current problems.
Demurrage money is one of the solutions that interests me most, but if a country like Greece were to go it alone down that road, I’m not sure how easy it would be for them to buy oil and anything else they would need to import to stay functional.
For me the biggest problem is how interconnected the entire system is. The depth of change we need to introduce to maintain any kind of civilization beyond the next few years cannot be implemented prior to collapse of this (capitalist) system. On top of that the world’s leaders have to recognize that the system collapsed itself, and could only have collapsed itself. That is, it is beyond redemption. Only radical alternatives make any sense at all (e.g. steady-state or de-growth economics). There are voices out there calling for demurrage, but they are ‘fringe’ and easily ignored (I recommend Charles Eisenstein as often as I feel polite, but he’s a ‘nobody’). On the upside, as soon as people en masse start taking demurrage seriously, they’ll likely also want things like a social dividend, a tax structure designed to promote environmental health, and other radical reforms. But getting that kind of sea change into high gear will take collapse. Until then I don’t think any country can go it alone. Resources are just too widely scattered across the planet. And finance still has too much power to let these ideas take centre stage.
Golem, if you’re still reading the comments on this quite old post, how about an article from you on demurrage? It’s an idea whose time is come I feel.
Quite a nice rant by Christina Patterson in The Independent today.
Good to see a bit of anger in the MSM.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/christina-patterson/christina-patterson-we-cant-let-the-monster-of-the-markets-rule-the-world-2361892.html
“…What it also makes you think is that you’re really quite tired of being lectured by these people, and being told that you can’t ask them to pay even 50 per cent tax on annual incomes that are often paid in millions, and that you can’t do things because “the markets” won’t like it, even though the only things that markets like is things that make them rich. And it makes you think that when a shadow Chancellor gives a long list of apologies that don’t sound at all like apologies, and says that his party “didn’t regulate the banks toughly enough”, that that (although you’ve never heard the word “toughly”) is certainly true, but doesn’t begin to do justice to the monster that has been created, and unleashed.
Now, we all live with this monster, which gobbles up jobs, and hopes, and dreams. We all live, as the shadow Chancellor’s boss said yesterday, with the “fast buck economy”, a “fast buck economy” that seems to be destroying the Western world. We didn’t need to. We didn’t need to make finance Britain’s biggest industry, and Britain’s biggest net export. We didn’t need to live in a bubble made out of debt….”
From the BBC:
“The European Commission has formally proposed a financial transaction tax on all EU member states.
The tax would raise about 57bn euros ($78bn; £50bn) and would come into effect at the start of 2014.
Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said banks must “make a contribution” as Europe faced its “greatest challenge”.
The announcement comes as officials prepare to review Greece’s progress in cutting its debt levels.
The financial tax would be levied at a rate of 0.1% on all transactions between institutions when at least one party is based in the EU. Derivative contracts would be taxed at a rate of 0.01%.
The commission said the tax was “to ensure that the financial sector makes a fair contribution at a time of fiscal consolidation in the member states”. [ENDS]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15090761
Too little, too late: a derivatives tax of 0.01% is laughable. And it isn’t going to fix the key problems.
Meanwhile, the reference to demurrage money above echoes an article on a successful local currency in Germany:
“What makes the chiemgauer different to conventional currency is that it automatically loses value if you don’t spend it. Unlike traditional money that can be saved, the chiemgauer is only valid for three months – the idea being that it must be spent, thereby boosting the local economy. If the notes aren’t spent, they can be renewed by buying a stamp that costs 2% of the note’s face value – so over a year, the currency depreciates 8%. Notes can be renewed up to seven times.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/sep/23/local-currencies-german-chiemgauer?INTCMP=SRCH
@toby
You are totally right to talk about Steady State (e.g. Herman Daly) and De-Growth (Georgescu-Roegen & J-M Alier). But unfortunately every policy maker is constantly talking about “growth”.
For the moment “There is no alternative” to the growth mantra. It is the only proposal that mainstream policy suggests for getting us out of the current debt hole.
But this is most likely to lead to some very desparate strategies for trying to wring out any remaining growth from our finite resources (the Economic Undertow blog is good at covering why this is flawed, as is Heinberg, The Oildrum, Automatic Earth, Transition Towns, NEF to name but a few).
This talk next week is interesting about the potential for Arctic Resource Wars:
“As the ice melts and the untapped mineral resources of the region become more accessible, there is increasing international tension over political control of the Arctic and widespread anxiety over the environmental impact of exploitation of its resources.”
http://monde-diplo-friends.org.uk/calendar.htm
Social and Environmental disasters risk being inflicted on us in order to try and “solve” economic stagnation!! What a crazy world.
As for radical solutions, then I also suggest next Tuesday 4th October from 6-8pm Steve Keen is in London where the second edition of Debunking Economics will be launched at the University College London. I don’t think he gets the resource constraint problem, but his economic / monetary diagnoses are very good.
Agreed, Hawkeye. And the deeper reason for this:
“For the moment “There is no alternative” to the growth mantra. It is the only proposal that mainstream policy suggests for getting us out of the current debt hole.”
is that the money system itself requires growth if it is not to collapse. If it is not growing, it is collapsing. I don’t think Steve Keen gets that, which is the key point today, although his Debunking Economics is invaluable in demonstrating how absurd economics is at root. De-growth requires the end of this money system and all the vested interests attached to it. That is not an inconsiderable against vote.
A short, very readable booklet on the relationship between forced Perpetual Growth and usury, “The Ecology of Money” (in case you haven’t read it already), is here:
http://www.feasta.org/documents/moneyecology/contents.htm
Douthwaite (the author) appears to be for managed inflation. I prefer Bernard Lietaer and Charles Eisenstein’s proposals which ask for demurrage and other local currencies, and a total re-emphasis from so-called ‘free’ markets to the environment, including society, culture etc.
More radical still is the work of Franz Hoermann, who has been predicting the total collapse of our money system this year (next year at the latest) for some time now. At my blog I have translated some of his work (otherwise you’ll only find it in German). Obviously I think his stuff is worthy of open and unprejudiced discussion. He’s a professor of economics and accountancy (or whatever the English translation of his weird title is) and hence that his views are off the beaten track is surprising and refreshing, to say the least.
Normal is dead. Long live radical! (Kind of an oxymoron, but what the hell.)
hawkeye.
This is the whole problem with the current system. To fix it there has to be growth based on consumption that is based on new debt. The only way to reduce defecits and debts is to create more money….as debt.
It is that simple and that insane. It’s good to see that at last some people are thinking about changing this madness.
Interesting thoughts above. To date I favour the Positive Money solution, which would get round the problem of our debt based money eupply having to rise constantly to enable the debt to serviced. This is more in keeping with a world with finite resources, and the inevitable contraction that will entail in the future.
Thought this belonged here: Global Finance’s annual list of the world’s 50 “safest” banks:
http://www.gfmag.com/tools/best-banks/11341-worlds-50-safest-banks-2011.html#axzz1XNQq8eIb
Only 3 British banks feature: HSBC, Nationwide Building Society and Barclays.
It’s worth noting that a co-author of the Positive Money ICB submission is New Economics Foundation – very highly respected & in tune with the economics of sustainability advocated by Richard Douthwaite’s ‘Feasta’ & spin off Smart Taxes Network’ (who also view MMT very favourably!).
That organisations supportive of Postive Money also favour MMT (& functional finance) is no surprise tho’. There is only one minor difference between the two. MMT proponents see no problem with ‘fractional’ banking (probably has something to do with their assertion that only ‘capital’ constrains ‘lending’, not reseves, in actual operations*) but do advocate complete separation of ‘high street’ & ‘investment’ banking.
*see Bill Mitchell’s blog for details
Whilst the current assault on the truth is focussed on politics and economics the problem is wider and goes back further than one would care to imagine. The aquiescence of the political classses [and the supposed ‘experts’] to the increasing quantities of gmo in our diet may be the greatest crime they can commit.
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GM_Feed_toxic_new_metaanalysis_confirms.php
The loss of our history diminishes us all, and this history is largely forbidden.
http://www.english.ox.ac.uk/holinshed/texts.php?text1=1587_0138
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