http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8466160/Rich-Chinese-consider-leaving-China.html

Yes, I'd heard that 24K was suffering withdrawal symptoms, from images of brothers' faces smothered in chocolate. "No 24K. You shouldn't say that! Otherwise, hard working public sector workers will be offended."
(My apologies are tendered to bemused newcomers to this forum for this 'David Lynch style' interlude.)

The stark reality of this forum (et al) had a detrimental effect on my work-a-day job, forcing me to take a break for a while, and a lesson in time-keeping.
The boss (me) says I can now kowtow with people possessing innate and unnerving common-sense of what is good for the future of humanity (Western, at least); which, according to Max Keiser and his minions, can only be Company Golem XIV. I'm proud to remain a camp follower, albeit recently subdued.

It would be rude not to interject a link at this point in the diatribe – here is an example of a country re-discovering the basics of capitalism: Cuba.
Hopefully, they'll learn by the mistakes of Wall Street and the Square Mile.

Fair trade. Fair do. Bare face fronting openly, mutually beneficial exchange of goods, be it half a kilo of cassava root or tickets for a Lady Gaga concert. Let's hear it for the entrepreneur and small, private traders!

WELCOME BACK! 24k and I have been worying about you behind your back.

Continuing the theme '"What Did The Romans Do Like Us", I came across this chilling paragraph from Tactitus' historical record of the Roman Senate for the period A.D. 32 to 37:

"Meanwhile a powerful host of accusers fell with sudden fury on the class which systematically increased its wealth by usury in defiance of a law passed by Caesar the Dictator defining the terms of lending money and of holding estates in Italy, a law long obsolete because the public good is sacrificed to private interest. … Subsequently, by a bill brought in by the tribunes, interest was reduced to half that amount (to 5 per cent), and finally compound interest was wholly forbidden. … In their dismay the senators, not one of whom was free from similar guilt, threw themselves on the emperor's indulgence. …
Hence following a scarcity of money. a great shock being given to all credit, the current coin too, in consequence of the conviction of so many persons and the sale of their property, being locked up in the imperial treasury or the public exchequeur. To meet this, the Senate had directed that every creditor should have two-thirds of his capital secured on estates in Italy."

Tacitus goes on to describe how property prices fell and many creditors were threatened with ruin, until Tiberius stepped in with – you guessed it – a bail-out, worth a hundred million sesterces.

The Annals of Tacitus is a rather dry read, until you find parallels in history like this.

Here is a link to feed 24K's craving: Tacitus

Robolink is back and still angry.

" In that sense, Washington has gone offshore: its politics has been captured by the interests of a narrow group of very wealthy individuals, many of whom work in finance. For Hacker and Pierson this, more than anything else, explains why the rich have got so much richer over the last 30 years or so. And by the rich they don’t mean simply the generally wealthy; they mean the super-rich. The real beneficiaries of the explosion in income for top earners since the 1970s has been not the top 1 per cent but the top 0.1 per cent of the general population. Since 1974, the share of national income of the top 0.1 per cent of Americans has grown from 2.7 to 12.3 per cent of the total, a truly mind-boggling level of redistribution from the have-nots to the haves. Who are these people? As Hacker and Pierson note, they are ‘not, for the most part, superstars and celebrities in the arts, entertainment and sports. Nor are they rentiers, living off their accumulated wealth, as was true in the early part of the last century. A substantial majority are company executives and managers, and a growing share of these are financial company executives and managers.’"
…………………………..

Very much on topic !

The Roman Empire analogy may be a little over the top but not entirely. I carefully watched Enda Kenny's speech to Bloomberg in London yesterday. It was obviously crafted by the Irish Government to assure the international capital markets of Ireland's continued fidelity.

While Enda may not have much choice in the matter he is clearly relying on an "export-led" recovery. This means relying on the giant multi-nationals like Intel and Google who now seem to own Ireland.

The Irish Government will publish its much anticipated jobs creation program next month. Will it continue to cater to the multi-nationals at the expense of indigenous enterprise?

The political danger for Ireland is not loss of sovereignty to the EU but loss of sovereignty to the multi-nationals.

To continue the Roman analogy the multi-nationals are equivalent to the great Roman families whose privileges destroyed its middle-class. Rome was great while it had a middle class but a culture of dependency on a few great families destroyed that core and eventually led to the Fall.

An Irish "export-led" recovery will surely create an Irish culture of dependency on the multi-national corporations – if it hasn't already happened. This spreading culture of dependence on a few giant multi-national corporations like WalMart, Google, Intel etc. is too reminiscent of the concentrations of power that destroyed the self-reliant plebeians and precipitated the Dark Ages.

The current Irish middle class, descendents of the tenant farmers who defeated English landlordism in the "Land War", may turn out to be the battleground of the "Bank War".

I don't think Greece can keep going much longer as it is. But who knows just how much pressure will be brought to bear to make sure they do?

Golem it is good to see you still posting. I have checked in a few times but not been posting myself much recently. This is still one of the few places I always check for a view of what is really happening.

@PatFlanner – wonderfully insightful comment Pat if you don't mind me saying. Especially this: ''If we lose this "bank war" a repeat of Rome's collapse is inevitable. Just as with the Roman Empire it will be the "Third World" we are creating WITHIN our borders that will destroy us. We all know that Rome was destroyed from within.''

Here is a nice piece on "Off-shore" by David Runciman in the LRB. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n08/david-runciman/didnt-they-notice

Looking forward to part II

Your work is much appreciated.

On Ireland. The facts are pushing reality into the markets. The hidden debts are revealed every few weeks and the consequences of interest rate rises are obvious.

PIMCO has divested from certain fixed interest items …. Uni Texas pension fund is taking agency physical delivery of 1Bn in gold…… Things are speeding up!

Is this punishment for Ireland threatening to give the bond holders a haircut?