In the first part, The Backdoor to China, I suggested how the central Chinese authorities had effectively lost control of bank lending and property speculation within mainland China and argued that the new and rising power in China now lay in the growing relationship between China’s regional governments and international finance operating in Hong Kong. […]

Things are hotting up in the precious metals markets. Something is definitely brewing. The bilking continues unabated, yet far from emerging from crisis the Western economies are stagnating (at best). A few weeks back Max Keiser wrote a piece about how a “complete disregard for the rule of law is at the heart of the

On the off chance anyone would like to meet up I will be in Timisoara, Romania, on May 4th and 5th. I will be at the Hotel Timisoara.

It’s not often that one can look into the future and say with some degree of certainty what is going to happen and where.  Thanks to a just released World Bank/IMF report, I think  we can say the social and political upheaval that has swept from Tunisia and Egypt to Iran, Sudan and Syria, and

In December of last year I wrote an article called “The cost of the bail out – Just your Democracy.”  In it I referenced an IMF document called “Lifting Euro Area Growth: Priorities for Structural Reforms and Governance.” What prompted me to look at that IMF publication was the injudicious way the IMF publicly told Portugal that

A little over a year ago in an article called “China’s New Revolutionaries”, I wrote, I think the mistake everyone is making is to assume that because China is a ‘communist dictatorship’ this means the party must be in control. I think this is a dangerous assumption. My point back then was that while the

This is just a quick note. The developments in the ongoing unrest throughout the Middle East and North Africa are, in my opinion, building up pressure for another eruption and this one will meet greater opposition. In Egypt massive protests have again occupied Tahrir Square. Only this time there is no Mubarak to sacrifice. Not only

For anyone around the Lancaster area, I’ll be speaking and doing another Question and Answer session directly after this showing of Charles Ferguson’s Oscar Nominated Documentary, “Inside Job“. If you would like to see the Trailer for the film its HERE.   Sunday 10th April. 19.30    The Dukes, Moor Lane, Lancaster LA1 1QE      

The language we use to talk about things doesn’t restrict our thoughts but it does influence them.  Which means whoever manages to set the terms and language in which an argument or issue is discussed, has already managed to greatly influence the range of possible understandings and outcomes, even before the debate begins. For instance,

In the four years between 2004 and 2007, one of America’s largest banks, Wachovia, now owned by Wells Fargo, accepted $378.4 billion without paying attention to whether it was drug or otherwise ‘dirty’ money.  According to Fincen (The US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) $20 billion of that has been identified as definitely laundered drug money and