Beppe Grillo’s protest movement was the winner in Italy’s election that signals a failure of an entire political class.
mario calabresi
TURIN
During these elections, all that’s wrong with
Italian politics in the last 20 years has finally caught up to us. The
government’s relationship -- and lack of communication -- with the
Italian people has led to an unprecedented height of pure electoral
protest.
What’s left, after Monday night’s results, is a Parliament in which
no alliance is capable of forming a majority necessary to rule.
The Sound Money Campaign
website (an excellent initiative by the way) just released an interview
with Jay Taylor. It is a “must listen” interview as several interesting
insights are revealed. Triggered by the seeming propaganda against the
metals in the past two weeks, Jay Taylor shares his take on the metals,
our money and gold miners.
I think there’s no question there is a huge dislike against gold
among the establishment because gold competes with paper money. The current fiat currency system is a way of those who control that system to wrestle away from those who create something (miners, manufacturers, inventors, farmers … people who actually do something).
Interestingly I had Mark Skousen on my own radio show, and he was
talking about a group of economists (The American Economic Association).
They were asked whether we should return to a gold standard. There was a
100% against doing so. They were all divided on how much debt matters,
whether the minimum wage is a problem, … There is an unanimous opinion against gold on the part of the economic establishment. Of course those people have been trained through our establishment and have their degrees from prestigious institutions.
- See more at: http://investmentwatchblog.com/sound-money-campaign-economists-love-to-hate-gold/#sthash.5lw4YKTi.dpuf
The victory of the populist Beppe Grillo, the comeback of Silvio
Berlusconi and the weak performance of the center-left led by Pierluigi
Bersani are the pillars of an election result that brings Italy to the
edge of ungovernability.
Deceived by surveys unable to take the pulse of the electorate,
misled by wrong exit polls and motivated by a strong aversion to the
establishment, Italians went to the polls with the intention of
revolutionizing of Parliament, defeating financial austerity and sending
a strong message of dissent to the European Union. And in all of this
they succeeded. The reason is the aggressiveness with which the former
comedian Beppe Grillo has courted popular dissatisfaction over Italy’s
widespread corruption and poverty, combined with the inability of the
center-right and center-left to match his skills in mass communications.
His mastery of new media proved better than Bersani or even
Berlusconi’s control of old media. Then there is of course Mario Monti,
the former premier protagonist of reforms of unquestionable value who in
this election has proved unable to reach beyond the modest threshold of
10 percent.
The result is a perfect political storm that generates an
unprecedented situation in the history of the Italian Republic. The
House goes to the center-left thanks to a tiny difference of 0.4 percent
of the votes while in the Senate there are no majorities, particularly
now given that Grillo’s “Five Stars Movement” excludes “mess-ups” with
anyone. Thus, we are facing three possible scenarios: a government of
broad agreement between Bersani and Berlusconi, a minority government
led by Bersani or a quick return to the polls. Not surprisingly, Grillo
is convinced that in any repeat election his party will only gain in
strength. For Giorgio Napolitano, Italy’s head of state, the choice of
whom to assign the task of forming a government promises to be one of
the most difficult.
If the Eurozone and the United States are pressing Rome to quickly
form a government stable enough to continue economic reforms and
stabilize the Eurozone, Grillo is playing a completely different game.
He aims to “break down,” “surround” and “bring down” a political system
that he despises enough to describe as a “dead cat.” This is the promise
from which the Third Republic could be born. The First arose in 1946
from the ruins of Fascism and was inspired by the Resistance, the Second
was born in 1992 in the wake of the scandals of Tangentopoli and the
Third is coming to light as a result of the popular revolt against
poverty and corruption in the age of austerity.
TheDailySheeple.com
February 27 2013
Investment analyst Jay Taylor joins the Sound Money Campaign to discuss the US dollar and ways to preserve wealth as the Federal Reserve relentlessly debases our nation’s currency.
…the debasing of currency is relentless.
The Federal Reserve is expanding its balance sheets, it’s creating
money out of nothing, it’s devaluing the savings of individuals through
the debasement of the currency and through zero interest policies.
They’re just trying to keep people off balance so they don’t bet in one direction in favor of inflation hedges.
They want to keep people believing [inflation] is not going to be a problem.
They need to do that in order to keep people believing in the dollar, which they create out of nothing.
So, it’s a giant con game.
In the end, Pinocchio’s nose will be exposed and [free] markets win out.
Watch as Mr. Taylor explains his thoughts on markets going forward, why it’s important to hold gold and silver as a backstop for out of control inflation,
the differences between gold and silver, and several ways of investing
to help you stay out of the jurisdiction of the US government: Contributed by The Daily Sheeple of www.TheDailySheeple.com. This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in
digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to
www.TheDailySheeple.com.
The Bernank has been busy. "Central banks' move from net sellers
of gold, to net buyers that we have seen in recent years, has continued
apace. The official central bank purchases across the world are now at
their highest level for almost half a century."
--- Central Banks Last Year Bought The Most Gold Since 1964
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- The world's central banks last year bought
534.6 tons of gold in 2012, the most since 1964, as global gold demand
hit a record value level, the World Gold Council said Thursday in a
quarterly report. Purchases by central banks for the full year rose 17%
compared with 2011, while fourth-quarter purchases of 145 tons marked a
29% rise from the same period a year earlier.
"Central banks' move from net sellers of gold to net buyers that we
have seen in recent years has continued apace," with official sector
purchases across the world now at their highest level for almost half a
century, said Marcus Grubb, managing director for investment at the
World Gold Council. In value terms, total gold demand in 2012 was
$236.4 billion, an all-time high, the council said. Read the full press release from the World Gold Council...
--- World Gold Council 2012 Report:
Gold demand hits record value level. $236 billion, and change.
Report was released yesterday. Director Marcus Grubb discusses the
findings for Q4 and fulll year 2012. In value terms, global gold demand
in 2012 was $236.4 billionn -- an all-time high. Gold demand in value
terms for the final quarter of the year was 6% higher year-on-year at
$66.2 billion, marking the highest ever Q4 total. Read the full press release from the World Gold Council...
Related stories: Revealed: Why Gordon Brown sold Britain's gold at less than $300 per ounce Excerpt One globally significant US bank in particular is understood
to have been heavily short on two tonnes of gold, enough to call into
question its solvency if redemption occurred at the prevailing price.
Goldman Sachs, which is not understood to have been significantly
short on gold itself, is rumoured to have approached the Treasury to
explain the situation through its then head of commodities Gavyn Davies,
later chairman of the BBC and married to Sue Nye who ran Brown’s
private office.
Faced with the prospect of a global collapse in the banking system,
the Chancellor took the decision to bail out the banks by dumping
Britain’s gold, forcing the price down and allowing the banks to buy
back gold at a profit, thus meeting their borrowing obligations.
Russia Bought More Gold Than China - When Prices Were Much Lower
Not only has Vladimir Putin made Russia the world’s largest oil producer, he’s also made it the biggest gold buyer. His central bank has added 570 metric tons of the metal in the past decade, a quarter more than runner-up China, according to IMF data compiled by Bloomberg. The added gold is also almost triple the weight of the Statue of Liberty.
"The more gold a country has, the more sovereignty it will
have if there’s a cataclysm with the dollar, the euro, the pound or any
other reserve currency," Evgeny Fedorov, a lawmaker for Putin’s United Russia party.
'I think they're crazy. That's my stance on the Fed.' Rick Santelli on the future of QE.
Liesman says markets are beginning to doubt the Fed's resolve to continue QEternity.
---
Hedge fund legend Stanley Druckenmiller on exploding debt interest.
Two short highlight clips from Druckenmiller’s rare interview last week on CNBC WSJ Editorial By Druckenmiller…
**
Here’s a chart of interest paid on the U.S. national debt.
Interestingly, we have already paid $150 billion for fiscal 2013.
….
However, central banks can only create liquidity, not wealth. If printing money were equivalent to creating wealth, then mankind would not have to get up early on Monday morning. Only a solvent central bank can halt hyperinflation. The
longer governments run large deficits, the longer central banks
continue to monetize them, and the longer their balance sheets grow, the
higher the potential for enormous losses and thus hyperinflation.
Necessary preconditions for hyperinflation are a quasi-bankrupt
government whose debt is monetized by a central bank with insufficient
assets.One way or another, owning physical gold is the safest and most effective way of insuring against hyperinflation.
- See more at:
http://investmentwatchblog.com/stanley-druckenmiller-james-rickards-tyler-durden-interest-on-the-debt-is-going-to-kill-us-theres-no-way-fed-will-stop-easing-one-way-or-another-owning-physical-gold-is-the-safest-and-most-e/#sthash.5yQYq9v5.dpuf
The amount of people seeking advice
about payday loans has almost doubled in a year, according to new
figures from a debt charity. The
National Debtline Service said that it took over 20,000 calls from
people looking for help with pay day loan debts last year – up 94 per
cent from 10,301 in 2010. It
said it now receives 100 calls everyday from people with payday loan
debts and that some callers had taken out ‘as many as 80 such loans’. It
is common for those with payday debts to take new loans in order to
clear existing ones, creating a cycle of borrowing that is hard to
escape.
Money troubles: Some callers to the National
Debtline Service have up to 80 payday loans - the charity has seen the
number of calls double in the space of a year.
The volume of consumers with
money worries continues to rise and the charity said that one in every
seven calls they received in January were about payday loans. Payday
loans are designed to be a short term solution to a lack of cash until
the next pay cheque – but they often come at extraordinary cost of more
than 4000 per cent APR. National
Debtline said the number of calls about payday loans has risen by 4,200
per cent since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007.
Joanna Elson, chief executive
of the Money Advice Trust, said: ‘Payday loans have come from nowhere to
be one of the most common debt problems people face. In 2007 as the
financial crisis began National Debtline took just 465 calls for help
with payday loans, but last year that figure had grown to 20,013. 'National Debtline advisers help around
100 people every day to deal with payday loan debts, some callers have
taken out as many as 80 such loans. Borrowing on this scale can have
serious ramifications if not dealt with properly, and advice services
like National Debtline risk becoming over burdened by the proliferation
of payday loans.’
Adding up: If debt worries get you down then you
must seek advice. The Money Advice Trust is calling on the OFT to shut
down lenders using bad practices.
National Debtline is part of debt
charity Money Advice Trust. It is calling on the Office of Fair Trading
(OFT) to suspend consumer credit licences where it identifies persistent
bad practice. Earlier
this month the OFT was given the power to immediately stop companies
from trading to protect consumer if it believes they are using practices
that are deceitful, oppressive or unfair. These
include firms pushing inflated fees and charges, continuing to take
money when debts have been repaid, harassment over repayment of debts
and chasing people for loans when the individual didn’t apply for a loan
in the first place. Earlier
this month Citizens Advice sent a complaint to the OFT about four pay
day lenders, including two ‘household names’, which it believes have
been causing 'significant distress' to customers. The
CAB said it could not name the firms involved as it said it may damage
the investigation and the OFT has yet to respond publically to the
complaint. In November the OFT wrote to 240 payday lenders to warn them of on-going bad practices in the sector as part of its review. Russell
Hamblin Boone, Chief Executive of the Consumer Finance Association,
which represents a number of payday lenders, said: 'The short term
lending industry has seen exponential growth in recent years, so an
increase in calls does not mean that problems relating to payday are
getting worse. 'Our
members have been actively referring customers to them as a part of our
commitment to supporting those who find themselves in financial
difficulty. As a matter of course our members will freeze interest and
charges, negotiate repayment plans and refer people to third party
advice. 'As
responsible lenders we fully support National Debtline’s call to rid the
industry of the poor practice and consumer detriment highlighted in
their report.'
Are you experiencing problems with debt? Post any questions you have on our advice forum and they will be answered by an expert.
I don’t think anyone can truly understand the
idea of freedom without understanding why a shrinking group of
Americans cherish their 2nd amendment rights so passionately. Obama
says that the voices of dead children compel change, by which he
means to disarm Americans at a faster pace.
He talks of
change, but it is more like "Hope and Chains". He reeks of
the status quo. True change would involve a free market (libertarian)
solution to the problem of school shootings and violence – since
they aren’t being employed there. You may not agree. But you can’t
disagree that they would represent true change.
Certainly
there were no such incidents in the left’s mythological portrayals
of the wild, wild, west!
You know our view. Freedom is an
unknown ideal altogether. But even if we were to concede that a
libertarian solution was going backwards, who could dispute the
better numbers from back then?
But those arguments – and
there have been many good ones made that freedom haters on the left
have never even heard – weren’t given a single thought in his
haste to get back at the Republicans for all the trouble they keep
causing him. Obama is right that society has failed those dead
children of whom he speaks. But isn’t this system administered and
run by his bureaucratic cohorts? Isn’t that same old centrally
planned one-size-fits-all education part of the problem? Isn’t
there anything to the idea that gun free zones invite armed crime, or
that guns protect people too (thus also lessening the need for state
police)? What about the idea that popular pharmaceutical drugs
play a role in the violence? Or what about the FACT that gun control
simply puts all the guns in the bad guys’ hands. Not interested! He
would much rather exploit the opportunity for more political capital
from his own side. I’m just calling it like I see it. Obama is a
politician and he’s exploiting those dead children for his own
political gain.
If
that were not true there would be a more serious two-sided debate on
the issue before recommending action that will not even be able to
cure the symptoms. Not that I am alone claiming to understand the
cause of these violent incidents. However, I am pretty sure the mere
existence of guns isn’t it.
Notwithstanding, they’ll
probably push more regulations through like they pushed through
healthcare reform.
It’s symbolic as another signpost on the
road to totalitarianism. As Ayn Rand said, "The difference
between a welfare state and a totalitarian state is a matter of
time."
The irony is that the same people who would deny
it are blind to their own contribution.
But what is important
to me, as a gold market analyst, is the impact of all this on the
economy. [Editor's Note: Ed's gold market analysis and advice is
available to premium subscribers of TDV's Weekly Dispatch. Click here
to learn more.]
Any movement in the direction of bigger
government puts greater control over the means of production in the
hands of the state’s planning bodies, which means less competition,
less consumer sovereignty, and hence less supply, less quality and
higher prices. This in turn ultimately means less productivity.
But
in a world where politicians are constantly trying to buy votes with
the illusion that they alone are the source of prosperity (while the
market is bad) it means more inflation, and more taxes.
It’s
really just simple economics.
If Government Really Were
Shut Down It Would Be America’s New Birthday
So whereas
the US administration’s position on gun control is a mere signpost
on a section of the highway where there are no turnoffs, its position
on the public debt (and spending of course) is far more revealing of
the substance in my point. It seems pretty clear that Obama’s
agenda will result in the further expansion of government, not only
in the present but also in the future – by obligating future
generations to pay for today’s excesses. Describing the Republican
opposition to raising the debt ceiling and insisting on some spending
cuts, Obama said they were “holding a gun at the head of the
American people.” I mean, and they aren’t even talking about the
kind of spending cuts that I would recommend. What would he say to
that? Really, it is the irony in his words that compels change!
For
he is currently the nominal head of the largest criminal organization
in the world, an organization that holds a gun to Americans’ heads
each and every day, and he accuses the Republicans of holding a gun
to Americans heads for wanting to reduce that burden!?! Surreal.
So
the sheep are brainwashed. They think their taxes, taken from them
involuntarily, actually go towards the public good because the lesser
evil who they voted in is a benevolent philosopher king.
Meanwhile,
the money is blown on pork barrel subsidies to a handful of preferred
cartels, bureaucrats, labor unions, war pigs, and other organizations
that couldn’t stand without the support of government.
The
mass of sheeple thinks the government is protecting them while it is
waging a war on the little guy.
If
we truthfully lived in a free market system as the liberals claim,
there is no way that the head of state would even dare to say that
threatening to shut down government is like holding a gun to
Americans’ heads. In my mind then it is just more evidence of how
far from a free market system we’ve strayed.
It would do
Obama followers well to listen to Mao’s words. They contain the
obvious – at least to our group – but they also happen to point
out the less obvious: that socialists don’t want to accept that the
coercion is never justified. The end never justifies the means. Isn’t
the means, after all, most of the journey? If government were ever to
shut down, history should record it as America’s new birthday.
Ed
Bugos, the Dollar
Vigilante’s Senior Analyst, has a strong background in Austrian
economics, is one of the world's most sought after and respected
mining analysts. Based out of the global epicenter for gold mining
exploration and financing, Vancouver, Canada, he has been writing
publicly since the late ‘90s and is a well known critic of
government interventions, central banking and the Federal Reserve
since 2000, starting as the original contributing editor for
Safehaven.com. Ed founded goldenbar.com in 2001, a website publishing
his gold & currency digest portending the collapse of the strong
dollar policy and the rise of the secular bull market in gold and
commodities. He was one of the first to make the call for $2,000 gold
(he now is calling for $5,000-$10,000 gold), back when it was still
struggling with $300 per ounce and it was a sin to own it.
Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.— Chairman Mao Zedong (The Little Red Book, 1964)
I don’t think anyone can truly understand the idea of freedom without
understanding why a shrinking group of Americans cherish their 2nd
amendment rights so passionately. Obama says that the voices of dead
children compel change, by which he means to disarm Americans at a
faster pace.
He talks of change, but it is more like "Hope and Chains". He reeks of
the status quo. True change would involve a free market (libertarian)
solution to the problem of school shootings and violence – since they
aren’t being employed there. You may not agree. But you can’t disagree
that they would represent true change.
Certainly there were no such incidents in the left’s mythological portrayals of the wild, wild, west!
You know our view. Freedom is an unknown ideal altogether. But even if
we were to concede that a libertarian solution was going backwards, who
could dispute the better numbers from back then?
But those arguments – and there have been many good
ones made that freedom haters on the left have never even heard –
weren’t given a single thought in his haste to get back at the
Republicans for all the trouble they keep causing him. Obama is right
that society has failed those dead children of whom he speaks. But isn’t
this system administered and run by his bureaucratic cohorts? Isn’t
that same old centrally planned one-size-fits-all education part of the
problem? Isn’t there anything to the idea that gun free zones invite
armed crime, or that guns protect people too (thus also lessening the
need for state police)? What about the idea that
popular pharmaceutical drugs play a role in the violence? Or what about
the FACT that gun control simply puts all the guns in the bad guys’
hands. Not interested! He would much rather exploit the opportunity for
more political capital from his own side. I’m just calling it like I see
it. Obama is a politician and he’s exploiting those dead children for
his own political gain.
If that were not true there would be a more serious two-sided debate on
the issue before recommending action that will not even be able to cure
the symptoms. Not that I am alone claiming to understand the cause of
these violent incidents. However, I am pretty sure the mere existence of
guns isn’t it.
Notwithstanding, they’ll probably push more regulations through like they pushed through healthcare reform.
It’s symbolic as another signpost on the road to totalitarianism. As
Ayn Rand said, "The difference between a welfare state and a
totalitarian state is a matter of time."
The irony is that the same people who would deny it are blind to their own contribution.
But what is important to me, as a gold market analyst, is the impact of
all this on the economy. [Editor's Note: Ed's gold market analysis and
advice is available to premium subscribers of TDV's Weekly Dispatch.
Click here to learn more.]
Any movement in the direction of bigger government puts greater control
over the means of production in the hands of the state’s planning
bodies, which means less competition, less consumer sovereignty, and
hence less supply, less quality and higher prices. This in turn
ultimately means less productivity.
But in a world where politicians are constantly trying to buy votes with
the illusion that they alone are the source of prosperity (while the
market is bad) it means more inflation, and more taxes.
It’s really just simple economics.
If Government Really Were Shut Down It Would Be America’s New Birthday
So whereas the US administration’s position on gun control is a mere
signpost on a section of the highway where there are no turnoffs, its
position on the public debt (and spending of course) is far more
revealing of the substance in my point. It seems pretty clear that
Obama’s agenda will result in the further expansion of government, not
only in the present but also in the future – by obligating future
generations to pay for today’s excesses. Describing the Republican
opposition to raising the debt ceiling and insisting on some spending
cuts, Obama said they were “holding a gun at the head of the American
people.” I mean, and they aren’t even talking about the kind of spending
cuts that I would recommend. What would he say to that? Really, it is
the irony in his words that compels change!
For he is currently the nominal head of the largest criminal
organization in the world, an organization that holds a gun to
Americans’ heads each and every day, and he accuses the Republicans of
holding a gun to Americans heads for wanting to reduce that burden!?!
Surreal.
So the sheep are brainwashed. They think their taxes, taken from them
involuntarily, actually go towards the public good because the lesser
evil who they voted in is a benevolent philosopher king.
Meanwhile, the money is blown on pork barrel subsidies to a handful of
preferred cartels, bureaucrats, labor unions, war pigs, and other
organizations that couldn’t stand without the support of government.
The mass of sheeple thinks the government is protecting them while it is waging a war on the little guy.
If we truthfully lived in a free market system as the liberals claim,
there is no way that the head of state would even dare to say that
threatening to shut down government is like holding a gun to Americans’
heads. In my mind then it is just more evidence of how far from a free
market system we’ve strayed.
It would do Obama followers well to listen to Mao’s words. They contain
the obvious – at least to our group – but they also happen to point out
the less obvious: that socialists don’t want to accept that the coercion
is never justified. The end never justifies the means. Isn’t the means,
after all, most of the journey? If government were ever to shut down,
history should record it as America’s new birthday.
Ed Bugos, the Dollar Vigilante’s
Senior Analyst, has a strong background in Austrian economics, is one
of the world's most sought after and respected mining analysts. Based
out of the global epicenter for gold mining exploration and financing,
Vancouver, Canada, he has been writing publicly since the late ‘90s and
is a well known critic of government interventions, central banking and
the Federal Reserve since 2000, starting as the original contributing
editor for Safehaven.com. Ed founded goldenbar.com in 2001, a website
publishing his gold & currency digest portending the collapse of the
strong dollar policy and the rise of the secular bull market in gold
and commodities. He was one of the first to make the call for $2,000
gold (he now is calling for $5,000-$10,000 gold), back when it was still
struggling with $300 per ounce and it was a sin to own it. - See more at: http://www.activistpost.com/2013/02/inflation-taxes-and-more-coming-soon.html#sthash.4Wz2YRaS.dpuf
British Gas is today facing the wrath
of millions as it revealed a massive surge in profits just three months
after hiking customers’ bills by a further £80. Profits for 2012 soared by 11 per cent on the previous year to £606million. It is also expected to warn of another punishing energy price hike for its 12million customers as early as next winter.
How it all adds up: British Gas has broken down
the average gas and electricity bill into the individual costs (Source:
British Gas)
Meanwhile the bosses of British Gas’s owner Centrica will collect a shares bonanza predicted to top £10million. The bumper profits come during a
winter in which seven in ten households have gone without heating at
some point to keep costs down, according to uSwitch.com.
Over a third of people told the comparison service that cutting back on energy is affecting their quality of life or health.
Big pay day: According to Centrica's accounts,
its chief executive Sam Laidlaw will gain a huge sum after the group's
bumper profits
Centrica reported an even higher profits rise, with a 15 per cent gain to roughly £2.8billion. Company chiefs will be given millions
of shares under a long-term bonus scheme set up three years ago, which
is linked to the firm’s performance. Bosses will benefit from the fact that they will not receive the shares until after the end of the current tax year. As a result, they will cash in on Chancellor George Osborne’s cut in the top rate of tax from 50 per cent to 45 per cent. The UK’s biggest energy supplier put
up tariffs by six per cent in the teeth of the winter chill, pushing up
bills by £80 to an average £1,350 a year. Richard Lloyd, executive director at
consumer champion, Which?, said: ‘People are bound to question whether
they’re paying a fair price for energy when they see big profits
announcements. 'Centrica’s analysis won’t change that view as record-high bills land on millions of doormats.'
Another price increase: British Gas is today
expected to warn of another punishing energy price hike despite a
massive surge in profits
THIS IS MONEY TIPS: HOW TO CUT YOUR ENERGY BILLS
The winter price hikes by the 'Big Six' energy firms provide an opportunity to take control of your bills and save, explains Simon Lambert. An
online comparison is the best way to do this and you can find the
cheapest energy supplier for you by using our fuel bills switching
service, powered by Energy Helpline. The biggest savings of about £300 a year can be achieved by those who have never switched. Most others can also save on bills. Simply enter your postcode into the box below and allow it to do the work for you.
Five tricks to remember
1. Take regular meter readings rather than relying on an estimate. This keeps you as close as possible to an accurate bill 2. Move to online bills. This saves up to 10%. 3. Monthly direct debit payments could save you 5-10% 4.
Dual fuel (gas and electricity from the same supplier) is usually but
not always the cheapest option. Compare both this and separate gas and
electricity. 5.
Knowing how much you pay now or how much energy you use delivers the
best comparison. Get your most recent bill and use the figures.
Centrica said the sharp profit
increase at British Gas residential came after last year's
colder-than-normal weather saw gas use leap 12 per cent, despite a fall
in customer accounts. It said the number of residential customers dropped one per cent in the year to 15.7million, compared to 15.9million in 2011. British Gas published a breakdown of the average customer bill, in an attempt to diffuse the furore over price hikes. It said of the average customer bill
of £1,188 a year, the wholesale energy cost made accounted for £568,
£283 went to delivery to the home, environmental and social policies
added £112 and tax made up £72. Operating costs totalled £104, leaving
it with £49 in profit per household. Directors from the company appeared on television this morning to defend the results. 'I completely understand our profits
announced today will create a reaction with customers,' managing
director of services and commercial at Centrica Chris Jansen told
Daybreak. 'I think it’s important to remember
that in 2011 it was a very, very mild winter ... so the country used a
lot less gas, and actually our profits in 2011 were 20 per cent down on
2010.' Asked whether customers would face
further price increases, Mr Jansen replied: 'It’s impossible for me to
say that, that’s like looking at a crystal ball.
'The general trend for energy prices
are prices are increasing. All we say to customers is let’s do what we
can to control energy bills.'Prices might be going up but bills don’t need to if we control our energy use.' Ian Peters, managing director of
residential energy for British Gas, told the BBC: 'If I look into the
future we have no plans to put prices up even higher, the gas prices are
relatively calm.' Asked on BBC Breakfast how long into
the future - and if the firm was committing to not putting prices up -
he said: 'I can’t do that because the gas market is volatile. 'But right now, as I say, it is very
early in the year, we work in a very competitive market and it is not in
our interest or our customers’ to put prices up. So we will do
everything we can not to do that. 'What I want to say is that we will
move heaven and earth to keep our customers’ bills down. We have the
lowest bills in the industry.' Alastair Buchanan, head of energy
regulator Ofgem, has warned of an energy crisis as Britain becomes more
reliant on expensive imported gas. He warned last week that the National
Grid could struggle to meet demand between 2015 and 2020 after the
planned closure of coal and oil-fired power stations next month to meet
environmental targets. As a result customers could have to pay, he said. Price rises will also go to subsidies for wind farms, nuclear power stations and free insulation for the vulnerable. According to Centrica’s accounts, its
chief executive Sam Laidlaw, finance chief Nick Luff, head of energy
Mark Hanafin and the head of its US arm, Chris Weston, will gain from
the shares bonanza. Another beneficiary is the departing
managing director of British Gas, Phil Bentley. His total departure
package could be worth £10million. His departure was confirmed today. Company sources said the shares are
part of a long-term incentive, not a windfall, while the date of the
hand-over was decided long before the 50 per cent tax rate was scrapped. Centrica has tried to pre-empt a furore over pay with a study on its positive impact. Mr Laidlaw said: ‘At a time of
uncertain economic prospects, our activities across the UK are even more
important to secure employment, put the supply chain to work and
contribute our fair share of tax.’ The company employs some 33,000 people
in the country, while its tax bill is expected to be around £1.1billion
in 2012. Unlike many rivals, it is wholly British and pays its tax
here.
The Zombie Banks
are out there among us right now lurking around for their next victim.
Selling a toxic asset to an unsuspecting local government or union
pension fund. Demanding Double Digit interest on credit line accounts from small businesses owners
who are struggling to stay profitable and keep employees on the
payroll. Hatching fresh schemes daily to deceive and steal money from
anyone and everyone.
Although bankrupt and insolvent, like a real life horror movie they
continue their global rampage and defy death via secret New York FED
transfusions of money. The FED rewards them with money in exchange for
mostly worthless and overpriced junk paper which they themselves
create. In this way Wall Street Bankers and 1% Corporations have been
able to hoard trillions of money in offshore accounts since the 2008-09
crises when death came knocking on their door.
This was not done through TARP. All the TARP talk was a distraction
from what goes on behind the closed doors of the New York FED. They
still intend to use those trillions to make a killing during each wave
of major financial crisis that hits the world. Crisis which have
manifested as a direct result of their actions, political lobbying, and
decisions.
These illicit trillions are mostly fiat electronic money created
through fraud, inflation, counterfeiting, and grift by private banks,
not by the government. The US Government is not running any money
printing presses. With the exception of coins, it must borrow or tax to
get their hands on any money. Nearly all US money is paper and
electronic money. It is all created by private banks or the Federal
Reserve System. There are 12 privately owned Federal Reserve Districts
and a National Board of Governors, but well over half of the US money
supply has been created solely through one Federal Reserve District, the
New York FED.
The Financial Crises of 2008-2009 gave us new acronyms such as
Too-Big-Too-Fail, Too-Big-To-Jail, and Too Small to Save. Most of the
New York FED mega banks have already went belly up at least one or more
times. These
same banks, and the Federal Reserve System which they control, are
drowning this country and the entire world in order for them to stay
afloat and maintain a global monopoly over money and credit creation.
According to free market principles JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs,
Citibank, and many other of their LIBOR comrades in Europe should have
all been six feet under right now. But they are the modern day walking
dead. Blood-sucking zombie banks run by egotistical deranged
hypocritical lunatics that preach Capitalism but, in practice, actually
adhere to communism and socialism. Modern day Shylocks on steroids,
with insatiable and usurious cravings for pounds of flesh from every
human on the planet.
Today’s ‘Zombie Banks’ are a cartel with minions specializing in
creation and sale of “financial products” or “financial services”.
Products and services that are otherwise known as “bullshit scams” to
‘trick people’ and ‘steal’ their money. A whole line of designer debt
paper products that are marketed and sold as if they were ethically or
morally on par with a physical product made in a factory. Their world
is a virtual casino where games are so rigged that they would be unable
to get a gaming license even in the most corrupt corners of the world.
Failure is not an ‘Option’ sold on Wall Street
The Banking Cartel can only exist by forcing taxpayers and the public
to subsidize their apocalyptic financial losses. For them there is no
fair or ‘free market’ , no competition, no standards of accountability,
and no corporate death by the rules of capitalism which they
hypocritically extoll. One day they create trillions for secret low/no
interest bailouts to unload their toxic paper on the government. The
next day they rail against government and regulation, all while denying
the same kind of low/no interest loans to everyday people, businesses,
homeowners, and smaller banks who are not part of the cartel.
Without a radical political or social change of behavior by the
public, there will be no bottom to the downward financial spiral they
are going to experience. The Zombie Bank contagion will spread until it
has infected every healthy economic entity in the world. Nouriel Roubini recently said:
Over time, you get zombie banking, zombie corporates, zombie households, which is damaging in the long term
If you don’t already know how to protect against zombies, check out
the popular TV show on A&E called “The Walking Dead”. Zombies, or
‘biters’, will kill and multiply unless they are prevented from eating
the healthy. That means you, your family, your business, your
community, and government. Here is a video about protecting yourself
from zombies. For more ideas about self-defense from zombie attack,
watch the movie “Zombieland”.
As of now, TBTF is still largely a freak of nature nurtured in the
State of New York through the private corporation called the New York
Federal Reserve. This is not to be confused with the Federal Reserve
system of the United States or the other 11 Federal Reserve Districts.
Those 11 Districts are each separate corporations owned by relatively
small local banks. New York is a Zombie Bank State and the New York FED
is the nest and womb where they are born, cuddled, grow, and feed like a
parasite on a captive American host public . The activities in New
York are the principal cause of our nations financial woes, our
government debt, and the outsourcing of our manufacturing and technology
industries. The Financial District of New York
is a Grand Central Station for biters. This has a lot to do with why
all of the largest international corporations have their headquarters in
lower Manhattan and do all their banking there. ‘Biters’ tend to
congregate and attack in packs.
The activities of international banks and large international
corporations represent the 1% who are wiping out the American middle
class and the small business people of America. On the immediate
horizon is the destruction of most everything in the United States that
patriotic, free-market, conservative, gun-loving, small business owning
Americans are adamant about protecting. Zombie banks have brought this
about and made it uncertain whether economic liberty and constitutional
rights will be passed on to future generations.
This isn’t a liberal or conservative issue. Just because you are
conservative and Occupy Wall Street folks said there is a 1% doesn’t
mean it is irrelevant or untrue. Those who are old enough will recall
that conservatives were the original opposition in American politics to
international banks, globalization, and free trade for many decades. It
was only 20 or so years ago that Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan ran for
President on popular conservative platforms opposing NAFTA,
Globalization, and Free Trade.
The long term interests of most international corporations and banks
are in conflict with the interests of most small and medium sized
businesses in the US. At some point it is going to become impossible
for them to co-exist in the Republican Party. The small and medium
sized businesses will either die off, give up on the Republican party,
or give the boot to the New York FED lovin’ Wall Street Republicans.
The privileged 1% corporations unfairly dodge taxes, regulations,
environmental standards, and fair wage standards that their American
business competitors must comply with. Ironically these same
super-corporations can get just about any kind of favor or bill passed
by the US Government including war for financial gain.
Does anyone wonder why these super-corporations don’t use their
combined influence with Congress to make less regulation and lower
taxes? Could they be using the powerful liberal lobbies who support
higher taxes and increased regulations, but in their case solely to
drive their American Based competition out of business? Billionaire
international investor George Soros should know the answer better than
anyone. He practically owns the progressive movement and the democratic
Party too.
This is not said to grandstand for republicans and conservatives. It
is to wake up the gullible blue state liberals to be more effective by
being wiser. To be who they say they are and stand for that they
believe. There will be much good cause for hope an change when
progressives become more conscious of their biggest political blind-spot
of all.
What if I told you that the Blue States, and their Public and Union
Pensions, are also the biggest enabler’s of Wall Street Bankers,
Too-Big-To-Fail, and the corrupt Federal Reserve System. It is not the
Conservatives or red states as you were led to believe. Want the
proof? I have a red pill for you.
A Red Pill for the Blue State Matrix of delusion
Ironically a closer inspection of circumstances will show that
Too-Big-Too-Fail (TBTF) was born and bred in Big Blue progressive
states. The TBTF term was coined during the S&L crises of the 80′s
to describe a bank in Illinois. 90% of the CalPer’s Pension fund is
invested outside of the state California, much of it through Wall Street
and internationally. Why are big Blue State Union pensions investing
everywhere but in their own state? Maybe someone should have occupied
the union pension fund manager’s office.
Without the big 3 Blue State union pensions and public money to
enable them, the TBTF problem could not exist. TBTF and the worst of
Wall Street is wholly enabled by New York, Illinois, and California. So,
it is also uniquely within the power of progressives in those three
democratic majority states to deal a death blow to the zombie banks f0r
the good of everyone. But sadly the Zombie Bankers know the weakness
of progressives very well and didn’t set up shop in their political
strongholds by accident.
If Progressives and Liberal democrats represent such a fierce
challenge to Wall Street Banks or International Corporations then why
have the majority of them always been in the very blue state of New
York? To be in New York means they are subject to state regulation,
state and county prosecution, even regulations by the city of New York,
all of which is dominated by the liberal New York democratic majority.
New York is one of the most liberal democratic progressive states in the
nation. This fact has been true as far back as FDR and the days of the
New Deal. From that time to the present nearly all of the largest
banks and financial institutions in the US were aware of those
progressive liberal political majorities but still choose to stay and be
headquartered in New York and to a lesser extent Illinois and
California. So who is Wall Street more afraid of ? Liberals or
Conservatives?
Richard Fisher
If it is truly liberals, then why aren’t most Super-Corporations and
Banks headquartered in the Red States like Texas, or in Utah which is
the reddest state in the US? All the objective evidence suggests
bankers who are up to no good prefer New York, because that is were they
haven proven able to get away with it. Do you really think they chose
New York rather than Texas unconsciously?
Another good reason that a corrupt banker would avoid Red States is
that they would have to be members of the local Red State FED
Districts. The state governments and those local FEDs would have
independent legal power for oversight and regulation of all their
activities.
Thomas Hoenig
Zombie Bankers have solidified control over the New York Political
machinery, the judges, the media, etc. They believe they are on safe
ground there to get away with most anything. Time and experience has
shown this to be true. Deceitful financial racketeering is commonplace
activity that goes on unchecked or is covered up when found. But this
is not so in other states or other FED districts.
There is no history of secret trillion dollar bailouts in Red State
FED districts. Red State FED leaders have been the most outspoken
critics of bailouts and TBTF in the country. One is Richard Fisher, the head of Dallas Federal Reserve. Another is Thomas Hoenig, former President of the Kansas City FED.
On another level, Red States are exemplary of main street economies
based on energy and agriculture. Their banks are a reflection of this
positive and beneficial economic activity. They are governed mostly by
financial conservatives who pay close attention to what is happening
with their state’s taxes and spending. Living in any part of small Red
State is like living in a small town. In case you don’t know, lying,
cheating, and stealing for a living doesn’t go over as easily in small
town rural America. Most people who live there still believe in an
honest days work to earn an honest days pay. How can a big city banker
fit in there or adjust to that kind of pressure? Fugetaboutit … They’ll stay in New York.
Red State Solutions for Blue State Progressives
There is much evidence of success in “red state” banking and
financial management. There are also signs in red states of political
will at high levels of leadership to fix the banking problems in the
whole country. It looks like solutions and leadership are going to have
to come from there versus progressives. However many progressives are
still in motion to do something about Wall Street and Big banks. Some
are pushing for state banking measures as a way to reform
Too-Big-Too-Fail and invest locally.
The publicly owned bank solution is inherently risky and most likely
to go belly up under big blue state management typified by Illinois,
California, and New York. Out of this concern, many conservatives
oppose State Banks outright, without realizing how many Red States are
effectively running state investment trusts now with great success. For
Example:
1. Bank of North Dakota-
Although BND is in a small conservative State (mostly republican) many
progressive and liberal voices are championing the BND model for other
states.
2. Reconstruction Finance Corporation A National Bank run by conservative Businessman Jesse Jones During the Great Depression.
3. Permanent Wyoming Mineral Trust Fund (PWMTF)
4. Texas Economic Stabilization Fund
(Rainy Day Fund) — This is funded like the Wyoming PWMTF. It has grown
to about 8.1 billion and Gov. Rick Perry has recently advocated using
it as an investment trust for state water and transportation
infrastructure projects. Texas Democrats are urging a “spending”
approach while republicans are urging a “lending” approach. Solutions: Starve the Zombies – Defend Yourself, Your Community, and Your Country
The simplest reform that everyone should be able to agree on is to
withdraw all public money from the zombie banks. No legislation or
Occupy protest is needed. Stop feeding them! Close your own bank
account at a TBTF. Remove the estimated $1 Trillon in union pension
investment and deposits from them. Stop putting hundreds of billions
in state and local deposits in them too.
If they have the will and organization, progressives in the big Blue
States can take care the zombie bank problem on behalf of the whole
country.
Word to the wise, don’t make it too complicated for others to
understand. No occupy, no march, no protest. Just ask people to stop
feeding them. Get your city, county, and state pension funds to divest
from Wall Street and TBTF. Bring the money home and invest it locally.
Win-Win.
My name is Brandon Stanton, and I am a street photographer in New York City. Several months ago, I was approached by a representative of DKNY who asked to purchase 300 of my photos to hang in their store windows "around the world." They offered me $15,000. A friend in the industry told me that $50 per photo was not nearly enough to receive from a company with hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. So I asked for more money. They said "no."
Yesterday, a fan sent me a photo from a DKNY store in Bangkok. The window was full of my photos. These photos were used without my knowledge, and without compensation.
In lieu of other recourse, I publicly asked DKNY to make a $100,000 donation to the Bedford-Stuyvesant YMCA in my name, so that deserving kids in my neighborhood could go to summer camp.
They ended up donating $25,000 in my name.
That was nice, but I'd like see if we can do better and raise the remaining $75,000 for the Bedford-Stuyvesant YMCA.
That would send a full 300 kids to summer camp for two weeks. Can you imagine the impact that would have? In some neighborhoods, the YMCA plays a critical role of stability and community. My neighborhood is one of those neighborhoods.
$100,000 = 300 KIDS
LET'S SEND EVERYONE TO SUMMER CAMP!
President Obama has been so busy proactively blaming Republicans for
the allegedly dire consequences of the March 1 sequester that he has
failed to notice something far more damaging to the American economy.
The tax increases already enacted on Jan. 1 by Congress and the president, coupled with the “tax” of higher fuel prices, altogether mean that about $275 billion worth of economic drag is already in the pipeline for 2013.
These tax increases are far more economically and politically
burdensome than the spending cuts mandated by the sequester. They get
little attention now, but politicians won’t be able to ignore them by
the summer. As a quick refresher, the direct tax increases, amounting to
$175 billion per year, were enacted by the Congress on Jan. 1 as a means
to avert the “fiscal cliff” that would have mandated even larger tax
increases. The legislation rescinded the $110 billion payroll tax
reduction that was part of the 2010 stimulus package. Virtually all
households pay the payroll tax to finance the Social Security, Medicare,
and Medicaid programs. Then the president’s tax increases on
“the rich” boosted income tax rates for households earning over $450,000
per year, thereby garnering another $65 billion per year in revenue. On
top of this, if fuel prices prices stay at this sharply higher level,
there will be another $100 billion in lost disposable income for
households. The total, $275 billion, or nearly 2 percent of GDP, dwarfs
the $44 billion in actual spending cuts mandated by the sequester…. The payroll tax hike wiped out a year’s worth of wage gains
$50B lost disposable income secondary to higher gas prices
Gasoline reaches a fresh high for the year, but its climb isn’t over
The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline climbed to $3.782
on Tuesday, edging above the previous year-to-date high of $3.781 seen
on Feb. 22, according to AAA.
Prices are up from Monday’s $3.777. They’ve gained almost 44 cents a gallon from a month ago, AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report shows.
3 Month Average Retail Price Chart:
gasbuddy.com
- See more at: http://investmentwatchblog.com/us-recession-is-on-the-cards-for-q1q2/#sthash.JywnLtIg.dpuf
President Obama has been so busy proactively blaming Republicans for
the allegedly dire consequences of the March 1 sequester that he has
failed to notice something far more damaging to the American economy.
The tax increases already enacted on Jan. 1 by Congress and the president, coupled with the “tax” of higher fuel prices, altogether mean that about $275 billion worth of economic drag is already in the pipeline for 2013.
These tax increases are far more economically and politically
burdensome than the spending cuts mandated by the sequester. They get
little attention now, but politicians won’t be able to ignore them by
the summer. As a quick refresher, the direct tax increases, amounting to
$175 billion per year, were enacted by the Congress on Jan. 1 as a means
to avert the “fiscal cliff” that would have mandated even larger tax
increases. The legislation rescinded the $110 billion payroll tax
reduction that was part of the 2010 stimulus package. Virtually all
households pay the payroll tax to finance the Social Security, Medicare,
and Medicaid programs. Then the president’s tax increases on
“the rich” boosted income tax rates for households earning over $450,000
per year, thereby garnering another $65 billion per year in revenue. On
top of this, if fuel prices prices stay at this sharply higher level,
there will be another $100 billion in lost disposable income for
households. The total, $275 billion, or nearly 2 percent of GDP, dwarfs
the $44 billion in actual spending cuts mandated by the sequester…. The payroll tax hike wiped out a year’s worth of wage gains
$50B lost disposable income secondary to higher gas prices
Gasoline reaches a fresh high for the year, but its climb isn’t over
The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline climbed to $3.782
on Tuesday, edging above the previous year-to-date high of $3.781 seen
on Feb. 22, according to AAA.
Prices are up from Monday’s $3.777. They’ve gained almost 44 cents a gallon from a month ago, AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report shows.
3 Month Average Retail Price Chart:
gasbuddy.com
- See more at: http://investmentwatchblog.com/us-recession-is-on-the-cards-for-q1q2/#sthash.JywnLtIg.dpuf
Maxine Waters would rather that you not remind her about the national debt.
Freaking brilliant. Maxine Waters and Keith Ellison provide the comedy. "At the request of the ranking member, the national debt clock will not be put on the screens during Democratic time." Yo Maxine, here's your debt clock - still borrowing $3,000,000 per minute.
National Debt Gets Too Big For Debt Clock - Brian Williams NBC Broadcast Oct. 5, 2008. The national debt was just crossing $10 trillion. Four years later it is almost $17 trillion. Filed Under: Shoot me now.
Quantitative easing (QE) is
supposed to stimulate the economy by adding money to the money
supply, increasing demand. But so far, it hasn’t been working. Why
not? Because as practiced for the last two decades, QE does not
actually increase the circulating money supply. It merely cleans up
the toxic balance sheets of banks. A real “helicopter drop” that
puts money into the pockets of consumers and businesses has not yet
been tried. Why not? Another good question . . . .
When Ben Bernanke gave his famous helicopter money speech to the
Japanese in 2002, he was not yet chairman of the Federal Reserve.
He said then that the government could easily reverse a deflation,
just by printing money and dropping it from helicopters. “The U.S.
government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its
electronic equivalent),” he said, “that allows it to produce as
many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.” Later in
the speech he discussed “a money-financed tax cut,” which he said
was “essentially equivalent to Milton Friedman’s famous
‘helicopter drop’ of money.” Deflation could be cured, said
Professor Friedman, simply by dropping money from helicopters.
It seemed logical enough. If the money supply were insufficient
for the needs of trade, the solution was to add money to it. Most of
the circulating money supply consists of “bank credit” created by
banks when they make loans. When old loans are paid off faster than
new loans are taken out (as is happening today), the money supply
shrinks. The purpose of QE is to reverse this contraction.
But if debt deflation is so easy to fix, then why have the Fed’s
massive attempts to pull this maneuver off failed to revive the
economy? And why is Japan still suffering from deflation after 20
years of quantitative easing?
On a technical level, the answer has to do with where the money
goes. The widespread belief that QE is flooding the economy with
money is a myth. Virtually all of the money it creates simply sits in
the reserve accounts of banks.
That is the technical answer, but the motive behind it may be
something deeper . . . .
An Asset Swap Is Not a Helicopter Drop
As QE is practiced today, the money created on a computer screen
never makes it into the real, producing economy. It goes directly
into bank reserve accounts, and it stays there. Except for the
small amount of “vault cash” available for withdrawal from
commercial banks, bank reserves do not leave the doors of the central
bank. According
to Peter Stella, former head of the Central Banking and Monetary
and Foreign Exchange Operations Divisions at the International
Monetary Fund:
[B]anks do not lend “reserves”. . . .
Whether commercial banks let the reserves they have acquired through
QE sit “idle” or lend them out in the internet bank market 10,000
times in one day among themselves, the aggregate reserves at the
central bank at the end of that day will be the same.
Banks can’t “do” anything with all the extra
reserve balances. Loans create deposits—reserve balances don’t
finance lending or add any “fuel” to the economy. Banks don’t
lend reserve balances except in the federal funds market, and in that
case the Fed always provides sufficient quantities to keep the
federal funds rate at its . . . interest rate target.
Reserves are used simply to clear checks between banks. They move
from one reserve account to another, but the total money in bank
reserve accounts remains unchanged. Banks can lend their
reserves to each other, but they cannot lend them to us.
QE as currently practiced is simply an asset swap. The central
bank swaps newly-created dollars for toxic assets clogging the
balance sheets of commercial banks. This ploy keeps the banks from
going bankrupt, but it does nothing for the balance sheets of federal
or local governments, consumers, or businesses.
Central Bank Ignorance or Intentional
Sabotage?
Another Look at the Japanese Experience
That brings us to the motive. Twenty years is a long time to
repeat a policy that isn’t working. UK
Professor Richard Werner invented the term quantitative easing
when he was advising the Japanese in the 1990s. He says he had
something quite different in mind from the current practice. He
intended for QE to increase the credit available to the real
economy. Today, he says:
[A]ll QE is doing is to help banks increase the liquidity
of their portfolios by getting rid of longer-dated slightly less
liquid assets and raising cash. . . . Reserve expansion is a standard
monetarist policy and required no new label.
Werner contends that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) intentionally
sabotaged his proposal, adopting his language but not his policy; and
other central banks have taken the same approach since.
In his book Princes of the Yen (2003),Werner
maintains that in the 1990s, the BOJ consistently foiled government
attempts at creating a recovery. As summarized in a review
of the book:
The post-war disappearance of the military triggered a
power struggle between the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan
for control over the economy. While the Ministry strove to
maintain the controlled economic system that created Japan’s
post-war economic miracle, the central bank plotted to break free
from the Ministry by reverting to the free markets of the 1920s.
. . . They reckoned that the wartime economic system and
the vast legal powers of the Ministry of Finance could only be
overthrown if there was a large crisis – one that would be blamed
on the ministry. While observers assumed that all policy-makers
have been trying their best to kick-start Japan’s economy over the
past decade, the surprising truth is that one key institution did not
try hard at all.
Werner contends that the Bank of Japan not only blocked the
recovery but actually created the bubble that precipitated the
downturn:
[T]hose central bankers who were in charge of the
policies that prolonged the recession were the very same people who
were responsible for the creation of the bubble. . . . [They] ordered
the banks to expand their lending aggressively during the 1980s.
In 1989, [they] suddenly tightened their credit controls, thus
bringing down the house of cards that they had built up before. .
. .
With banks paralysed by bad debts, the central bank held
the key to a recovery: only it could step in and create more credit.
It failed to do so, and hence the recession continued for years.
Thanks to the long recession, the Ministry of Finance was broken up
and lost its powers. The Bank of Japan became independent and its
power has now become legal.
In the US, too, the central bank holds the key to recovery. Only
it can create more credit for the broad economy. But reversing
recession has taken a backseat to resuscitating zombie banks,
maintaining the feudal dominion of a private financial oligarchy.
In Japan, interestingly, all that may be changing with the
election of a new administration. As reported in a January 2013
article
in Business Week:
Shinzo Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party swept back
into power in mid-December by promising a high-octane mix of monetary
and fiscal policies to pull Japan out of its two-decade run of
economic misery. To get there, Prime Minister Abe is threatening
a hostile takeover of the Bank of Japan, the nation’s central bank.
The terms of surrender may go something like this: Unless the BOJ
agrees to a 2 percent inflation target and expands its current
government bond-buying operation, the ruling LDP might push a new
central bank charter through the Japanese Diet. That charter would
greatly diminish the BOJ’s independence to set monetary policy and
allow the prime minister to sack its governor.
From Bankers’ Bank to Government Bank
Making the central bank serve the interests of the government and
the people is not a new idea. Prof.
Tim Canova points out that central banks have only recently been
declared independent of government:
[I]ndependence has really come to mean a central bank
that has been captured by Wall Street interests, very large banking
interests. It might be independent of the politicians, but it
doesn’t mean it is a neutral arbiter. During the Great
Depression and coming out of it, the Fed took its cues from
Congress. Throughout the entire 1940s, the Federal Reserve as a
practical matter was not independent. It took its marching orders
from the White House and the Treasury—and it was the most
successful decade in American economic history.
To free the central bank from Wall Street capture, Congress or the
president could follow the lead of Shinzo Abe and threaten a hostile
takeover of the Fed unless it directs its credit firehose into the
real economy. The unlimited, near-zero-interest credit line made
available to banks needs to be made available to federal and local
governments.
When a
similar suggestion was made to Ben Bernanke in January 2011,
however, he said he lacked the authority to comply. If that was what
Congress wanted, he said, it would have to change the Federal Reserve
Act.
And that is what may need to be done—rewrite the Federal Reserve
Act to serve the interests of the economy and the people. Webster
Tarpley observes that the Fed advanced $27 trillion to financial
institutions through the TAF (Term Asset Facility), the TALF (Term
Asset-backed Securities Loan Facility), and similar facilities. He
proposes an Infrastructure Facility extending credit on the same
terms to state and local governments. It might offer to buy $3
trillion in 100-year, zero-coupon bonds, the minimum currently needed
to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. The collateral backing
these bonds would be sounder than the commercial paper of zombie
banks, since it would consist of the roads, bridges, and other
tangible infrastructure built with the loans. If the bond issuers
defaulted, the Fed would get the infrastructure.
Quantitative easing as practiced today is not designed to serve
the real economy. It is designed to serve bankers who create money as
debt and rent it out for a fee. The money power needs to be restored
to the people and the government, but we need an executive and
legislature willing to stand up to the banks. A popular movement
could give them the backbone. In the meantime, states
could set up their own banks, which could leverage the state’s
massive capital and revenue base into credit for the local economy.
by GoldCore
Today’s AM fix was USD 1,608.50, EUR 1,228.80 and GBP 1,062.28 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,597.25, EUR 1,219.65 and GBP 1,052.07 per ounce.
Silver is trading at $29.13/oz, €22.32/oz and £19.33/oz. Platinum is
trading at $1,611.00/oz, palladium at $736.00/oz and rhodium at
$1,200/oz.
Gold climbed $19.30 or 1.3% yesterday in New York and closed at
$1,613.90/oz. Silver surged to as high as $29.456 and ended with a gain
of 1.2%. Cross Currency Table – (Bloomberg)
Gold’s 1.3% gain yesterday was its biggest one-day gain in three
months, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s defense of U.S. debt
monetisation confirmed bullion’s inflation hedging appeal.
‘Helicopter Bernanke’ confirmed the Fed’s ultra dovish monetary
policies are to continue which supported gold as a hedge against central
banks’ cash printing.
Gold is trading flat today near a one and a half week high hit
yesterday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended the U.S.
ultra loose monetary policy.
The selloff in gold ETFs in February underscores the weakness in gold
sentiment among retail investors that has been prominent recently.
Our trading desk has never been so busy – on the sell side – as weak
hands and lack of conviction buyers have engaged in panic selling.
However, the sell off’s genesis was again hedge fund and bank paper
players on the COMEX many of whom still have large concentrated short
positions. Total Known ETF Holdings of Gold – (Bloomberg)
February is set to be the weakest month in terms of gold ETF outflows
thus far, and the decline is set to exceed the 2.3 million ounces
liquidated back in January 2011.
Total known gold holdings held by exchange traded funds worldwide
include the SPDR, ETF Securities, ZKB, iShares, Swiss & Global,
Central Fund, Credit Suisse, Source, New Gold, Sprott Gold, Deutsche
Bank, Central Goldtrust, Claymore (now iShares), and Goldist.
It is important to note that despite the significant decline in gold
holdings in January 2011, gold bottomed at $1,313/oz on January 27, 2011
and then embarked on its nearly 50% increase or $600 increase to record
nominal highs above $1,900/oz.
World powers and Iran ended two-days of talks over the Islamic
Republic’s disputed nuclear program with a pledge to hold further
discussions at both technical and political levels, an Iranian official
said.
The officials adjourned without an announcement on a proposal by the
U.S. and its partners to ease some banking, petrochemical and gold
sanctions if Iran curbs its atomic activities. Gold in USD (February 2010 To Today) – Support At $1,540/oz to $1,550/oz Level – (Bloomberg)
Jim Grant, astute monetary economist and respected author of the
Interest Rate Observer said in a Bloomberg interview overnight that the
dollar would crash and a new Gold Standard would be the end result of
the U.S. Federal Reserve’s irresponsibilities.
Although the interviewer said that Grant’s remarks were inflammatory
Grant said that it is important to examine our monetary affairs over the
sweep of time.
“Over 100 years ago the U.S. Fed was founded and in 1944 at Bretton
Woods they decided there would be no more Gold Standard but rather a
U.S. dollar that was backed by gold. If you fast forward to the present
we now have a full blown PhD standard where the former heads of Economic
Departments are running federal institutions. Central Banks across the
world are waging an all out struggle against the price mechanism which
is going against Adam Smith’s invisible hand.”
A guest host said that no one in academia is calling for a Gold
Standard and suggested it would result in a deflationary period for the
U.S.
Grant disagreed and said that the Gold Standard is the only answer as
it was monetary system good practice for the 100 years ending in 1914,
whereas everything else since has been a “try out”.
Grant says that he expects more quantitative easing from the U. S.
Fed, and likens their single mindedness to a doctor prescribing to a
patient that is clearly overmedicated.
He notes, credit in the world is an infinite sum of numerous
simultaneous equations. He notes that if humans knew how to allocate
credit than the USSR would have been a success. Socialists unions over
manipulating credit don’t work.
Therefore, just as central banks are continually try to print their
way out of our current global debt crisis their manipulation is not
working.
Click here in order to read GoldCore Insight – Currency Wars: Bye Bye Petrodollar – Buy, Buy Gold
These
same banks, and the Federal Reserve System which they control, are
drowning this country and the entire world in order for them to stay
afloat and maintain a global monopoly over money and credit creation.
