Free Market Flawed, Says Survey

November 09, 2009 "BBC" -- Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new BBC poll has found widespread dissatisfaction with free-market capitalism.

In the global poll for the BBC World Service, only 11% of those questioned across 27 countries said that it was working well.

Most thought regulation and reform of the capitalist system were necessary.

There were also sharp divisions around the world on whether the end of the Soviet Union was a good thing.

Economic regulation

In 1989, as the Berlin Wall fell, it was a victory for ordinary people across Eastern and Central Europe.

It also looked at the time like a crushing victory for free-market capitalism.

Twenty years on, this new global poll suggests confidence in free markets has taken heavy blows from the past 12 months of financial and economic crisis.

More than 29,000 people in 27 countries were questioned. In only two countries, the United States and Pakistan, did more than one in five people feel that capitalism works well as it stands.

Almost a quarter - 23% of those who responded - feel it is fatally flawed. That is the view of 43% in France, 38% in Mexico and 35% in Brazil.

And there is very strong support around the world for governments to distribute wealth more evenly. That is backed by majorities in 22 of the 27 countries.

If there is one issue where a global consensus seems to emerge from the survey it is this: there are majorities almost everywhere wanting government to be more active in regulating business.

It is only in Turkey that a majority want less government regulation.

Opinion about the disintegration of the Soviet Union is sharply divided.

Europeans overwhelmingly say it was a good thing: 79% in Germany, 76% in Britain and 74% in France feel that way.

But outside the developed West it is a different picture. Almost seven in 10 Egyptians say the end of the Soviet Union was a bad thing and views are sharply divided in India, Kenya and Indonesia.

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UN investigator accuses US of shameful neglect of homeless

UN special rapporteur says wealthy US ignoring deepening homeless crisis while pumping billions into bank rescues

A United Nations special investigator who was blocked from visiting the US by the Bush administration has accused the American government of pouring billions of dollars into rescuing banks and big business while treating as "invisible" a deepening homeless crisis.

Raquel Rolnik, the UN special rapporteur for the right to adequate housing, who has just completed a seven-city tour of America, said it was shameful that a country as wealthy as the US was not spending more money on lifting its citizens out of homelessness and substandard, overcrowded housing.

"The housing crisis is invisible for many in the US," she said. "I learned through this visit that real affordable housing and poverty is something that hasn't been dealt with as an issue. Even if we talk about the financial crisis and government stepping in in order to promote economic recovery, there is no such help for the homeless."

She added: "I think those who are suffering the most in this whole situation are the very poor, the low-income population. The burden is disproportionately on them and it's of course disproportionately on African-Americans, on Latinos and immigrant communities, and on Native Americans."

Rolnik toured Chicago, New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Wilkes-Barre, a Pennsylvania town where this year the first four sheriff sales – public auctions of seized property – in the county included 598 foreclosed properties. She also visited a Native American reservation.

The US government does not tally the numbers but interested organisations say that more than 3 million people were homeless at some point over the past year. The fastest growing segment of the homeless population is families with children, often single parents. On any given night in Los Angeles, about 17,000 parents and children are homeless. Most will be found a place in a shelter but many single men and women are forced to sleep on the streets.

Los Angeles, which is described as the homeless capital of America, has endured an 18-fold increase in housing foreclosures. Evictions from owned and rented homes have risen about tenfold, with 62,400 people forced out last year in Los Angeles county.

Welfare payments are not enough to meet the rent, let alone food and other necessities. A single person on welfare living in Los Angeles receives $221 (£133) a month – an amount that hasn't changed in a decade. The rent for one room is typically nearly double that.

Rolnik said that while she saw difficult conditions in all the places she visited, the worst was on the Native American reservation of Pine Ridge in South Dakota.

"You see total hopelessness, despair, very bad conditions. Nothing I have seen in other cities compared to the physical condition of the housing at Pine Ridge. Nothing compared to the overcrowding. They're not visible, they're isolated, they're far away. They're just lost," she said.

Rolnik says that one of the greatest matters of shame is that the US has the resources to provide decent housing for everyone.

"In the US, it's feasible to provide adequate housing for all. You have a lot of money, a lot of dollars available. You have a lot of expertise. This is a perfect setting to really embrace housing as a human right," she said.

Rolnik has given a verbal report to the US state department, which has a month to respond to her observations. She will submit a final written report to the UN human rights council early next year.

America Is An Over-Indebted, Profligate, Spoiled Nation In Decline

In the following video interview with Tech Ticker Charles Ortel of Newport Value Partners discusses some of the reasons why the U.S. is in deep decline. Martel believes there’s a slight possibility for the federal government to default on its debts. He also goes into detail about how governments at every level have lost their fiscal discipline and how their irresponsible decisions will affect future generations.

Port Richey Dying on the Vine

Today I recorded the following footage to show how badly the Port Richey economic climate is deteriorating. A few days ago Target announced they were going to close their Port Richey location. The store closing will be a big blow to a plaza that presently has a vacancy ratio of over 40%.

Nine U.S. States Face California-Type Budget Crisis, Pew Says

Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- At least nine U.S. states face similar fiscal strains brought on by the global recession as those that left California on the brink of insolvency four months ago, according to the Pew Center for the States.

Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin are dealing with declining tax revenue, resurgent deficits and increasing unemployment and home foreclosure rates, the center, a public policy research group, said in a report. All but New Jersey, Illinois and Wisconsin also have been hampered by a rule requiring a two- thirds legislative vote to approve tax increases, the report said.

Lawmakers in California, which accounts for 13 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, have slashed $32 billion from spending, cutting into funding for schools, universities and welfare programs and raised taxes by $12.5 billion in the last nine months to close budget gaps brought on by the recession. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an $85 billion budget on July 28. The state expects another $14 billion of deficits over the next 19 months.

“California’s problems are in a league of their own,” the report said. “But the same pressures that drove it toward fiscal disaster are wreaking havoc in a number of states, with potentially damaging consequences for the entire country.”

中國‧中方：身為美首位黑人總統‧奧巴馬理解中維護統一

（中國‧北京）中國週四（11月12日）表示，即將訪華的美國總統奧巴馬作為美國首位黑人總統，更應該理解中國維護國家統一的決心。

外交部發言人秦剛當天在例行新聞發佈會上，被問及奧巴馬可能在訪華後，會見西藏流亡精神領袖達賴喇嘛時表示：“中方堅決反對奧巴馬或任何外國政要會見達賴喇嘛，這一立場是堅定和明確的。”

他指出，奧巴馬作為一名黑人總統，必然瞭解其偶像林肯總統當年解放黑奴的重大意義。

他說，在達賴統治的舊西藏，實行的是黑暗的農奴制度，而中國在1959年徹底廢除了農奴制度，與林肯廢除黑奴制度的性質一樣。

訪華之行備受關注

因此，他說：“我們希望奧巴馬能比其他任何一位外國政要都能更好、更深刻地理解中國在維護國家主權和領土完整問題上的立場。”

奧巴馬今次亞洲之行有一半的時間在中國，日程總計4天3夜，因此訪華之行最受關注。

據瞭解，奧巴馬將於15日抵達上海，16日行程先是和上海市長韓正會面，接著可能安排在上海市政府內和約50名青年學生對話2小時，談論話題應該圍繞中美關係。

交通大學消息人士透露，交大被挑選6名學生參加與奧巴馬的對話，學生們早前已被限制部份自由，集中活動和生活。

胡錦濤：新中關係飛躍‧李光耀是奠基人

（新加坡）中國國家主席胡錦濤稱，新加坡內閣資政李光耀為“新中兩國關係發展的奠基人”。

他週三（11月11日）晚上在新加坡總統府與李光耀會談時輕鬆地對李光耀說，儘管中國和新加坡都不同程度地受到國際金融危機的影響，但是他一路上看到的新加坡工地還不少，這表明新加坡政府採取的振興經濟配套還是發揮了效用。

這項原定45分鐘的會面，最終進行了1小時15分鐘。

另一方面，新中兩國週四（11月12日）早上簽署在新加坡設立中國文化中心的合作備忘錄。

新加坡總理李顯龍週四早上在瑞吉酒店會見到訪的中國國家主席胡錦濤，雙方就進一步發展兩國友好合作關係深入交換意見。

李顯龍和胡錦濤見證兩國官員簽署了共4項協議及備忘錄，其中一個備忘錄是在新加坡設立中國文化中心。

中國‧天價乾隆玉璽疑屬仿製品

（中國）南京博物院特聘文物鑑定專家李路平發表驚人言論，指早前於倫敦蘇富比拍賣行拍賣並以約4000萬元人民幣成交的乾隆“八徵耄念之寶”玉璽（圖），其實是仿偽品。

據中國江蘇網報導，李路平是在比較了故宮珍寶館的25個玉璽實物及《明清帝后寶璽》圖冊中大量圖片後，作出這樣的定論。他指出，如果把這次拍賣的玉璽放大與真品圖片作精密對比，即可發現達十多處的差異。其中，從大片紋理目測，拍賣玉璽屬普通玉料，而皇家玉璽不可能選用如此低檔次玉料製作；此外，玉璽上的篆書文字死板，毫無中國書法的書寫線條；龍的雕刻無生氣，面部表情更呈驚恐狀，無代表天子龍威的風範。

李路平又指，從玉璽的印泥痕跡及放置玉璽的底座來看，更顯示出此玉璽是有人刻意偽冒，因此可肯定蘇富比拍賣的其實是“冒牌貨”。

美國‧拜登不在車內‧副總統專車撞死人

（美國‧華盛頓）據美國媒體週四（11月12日）報導，美國副總統拜登的專車當地時間11日在華盛頓發生車禍，造成一名路人死亡。

馬里蘭州警察局正在調查這起車禍的具體經過和細節，目前尚不清楚拜登專車當時是否超速駕駛或者闖紅燈。警方稱需要大約一週時間才能有初步結果，並表示不會因為出事的是副總統的專車就特殊對待。

報導指出，當時特勤局的兩名工作人員分別駕駛兩輛裝備了防彈裝置的SUV和豪華轎車開往華盛頓 特區。當汽車行駛到馬里蘭州坦普希爾斯市蘇特蘭德大道和內勒路交叉口時發生了車禍，撞倒了一名行人。兩名特勤人員在車禍發生後立即下車，對被撞的路人實施 急救，救護車隨後趕到將傷者送往醫院，但他最終因傷勢過重死亡。

據悉，這兩輛車均是拜登的專用車輛，不過事故發生時拜登正在華盛頓州出差，並不在車內。

中國‧訪華前夕提問奧巴馬‧中網民問題五花八門

（中國‧北京）美國總統奧巴馬即將訪華，中國網民透過互聯網，以“市政廳”會議形式，向這位人氣總統提問，涉及層面廣泛，從貿易糾紛到籃球到達賴喇嘛，問題五花八門，有一名網民甚至問奧巴馬，是否願意割讓加州給中國。

奧巴馬預定週日抵達北京，展開為期4天的訪華行程，他此行主要是為了鞏固美中關係，期間他週一將到上海與中國青年進行互動交流，特別引人注目。

中國各大官方網站，包括新華社、《人民日報》早前已透過互聯網徵集來自全國各地的各類提問，目前共收穫有效提問3102條。

這些向奧巴馬提出的五花八門提問，也反映出中國人民對美國總統既期待又怕受傷害的複雜心情。

擔憂奧巴馬或見達賴

奧巴馬未來可能會接見達賴喇嘛，更是最受中共領導層及中國民眾擔憂的。

一名網民提問：“在訪問中國後，您會計劃見達賴喇嘛嗎？我們希望您能尊重中國人民的感受，不要向這位威脅中國領土完整的人物傳達錯誤的訊息。”

中國也不滿美國協防台灣，有網民就問：“美國是甚麼？中國朋友還是敵人？”

也有一些網民在貿易問題上向奧巴馬施壓，指華盛頓實施虛偽的保護主義政策，卻不斷地投訴中國的商品反傾銷。

不過，中國網民也提及較輕鬆的問題。有一名網民拜託奧巴馬：“可不可以向NBA傳話，讓姚明及休斯敦火箭隊贏一屆總冠軍？”

另一些網民則提出更大的期許。

“是否割讓加州給中國？”

一名網民問：“俄羅斯媒體報導，2010年時，美國將會把加利福尼亞州割讓給中國。你怎麼看呢？”

其中一名網民則針對中國當局審查網站言論，特別向奧巴馬提問。

他在人民網上提問：“中國中宣部經常過濾網上評論及甚至刪除有關言論，您怎麼看這種中國式的言論自由？”

啟程訪亞被抨獨厚中

奧巴馬今日（週五，11月13日）展開上任以來的首次亞洲4國之行，其中停留中國4天3夜，幾乎佔去一半的行程，其它日本、新加坡、韓國只是行色匆匆，被媒體形容是“獨厚中國”。

奧巴馬週五下午抵達東京，逗留一晚，週六（11月14日）晚間抵達新加坡，出席亞太經濟合作論壇（APEC）高峰會，15至18日訪問中國，18日晚間抵達韓國首爾，19日返美。

這也是奧巴馬出任美國總統以來的首次亞洲之行。

奧巴馬在亞洲7天的行程中，在中國就停留4天3夜，對中國的訪問無疑是奧巴馬亞洲行的重頭戲。現在中美關係對美國變得空前重要，美國現在和未來的利益，都取決於良好的中美關係。所以在亞洲之行當中，奧巴馬把實質的內容安排在中國。

美駐中使館：應稱歐巴馬

美國總統Obama的中文名應譯為“奧巴馬”還是“歐巴馬”？

中國官方與媒體均譯為“奧巴馬”，但在美國總統訪問中國前夕，美國駐中國大使館公開正名為“歐巴馬”，使館工作人員說，這個譯音聽起來更接近英語發音。

“毛巴馬”熱爆

在奧巴馬即將到訪之際，北京的旅遊區早已掀起一股“毛巴馬”旋風，街頭巷尾正在熱賣的是一款奧巴馬T恤，衣服上的肖像容貌明明是奧巴馬，但卻穿起橄欖綠色的毛澤東裝束，頭戴紅星帽，被冠以“毛巴馬主席”的名號。

這款衫的商販說：“中國民眾大都喜歡奧巴馬，覺得他人很好、風趣幽默。還有，他是第一個美國黑人總統。”

中國網民近期對奧巴馬的關注度也有增無減。若於谷歌中國（GoogleChina）網站上搜尋奧巴馬的資料，可找到搜尋結果接近500萬項，較胡錦濤的400萬項還要多。最近在網上迅速流傳的一幅“毛巴馬”合成照片更成了網民的熱門話題，相中的奧巴馬也穿了橄欖綠色裝束，髮型與毛主席不謀而合。

“市政廳”形式與青年交流

奧巴馬自選舉以來一直注重運用網絡工具與青年溝通。今次訪華也貫徹其注重與“未來主人翁”溝通的特點，一改以往在大學發表演講的做法，將於下週一（16日）上海採取以“市政廳”形式與中國青年交流1小時。交流的內容和中方參與者的身份，引起外界多番猜測。

美方希望參與座談的青年人數在500至700人之間，來自不同大學各類學生。但人數、地點、與會者身份目前仍是機密。座談會與一些新聞網站合作播出，收集網民問題。

中國互聯網上傳言，27歲的知名青年作家韓寒將是會面人選之一。也有消息指，上海交通大學已挑選了6名學生與奧巴馬的對話。

奧巴馬訪華twitter直播
美使館邀網友“吹風”

奧巴馬訪華前夕，美方週四（11月12日）罕有地邀請一批中國網絡活躍份子對話，瞭解中國“非 主流”新媒體對奧巴馬訪華的期望。訪華期間，奧巴馬將著眼與“未來與美國打交道的人”溝通，在上海會與青年代表座談，訪華團也將透過網誌、twitter 等Web2.0工具發送即時消息。

美國駐北京、上海、廣州3地使領館週四下午視訊連線，為中國部落客吹風。安替、陳亮、北風等十多名中國知名部落客主獲邀出席，為方便各人線上直播，美使領館破天荒允許與會者攜帶電話、電腦、攝錄設備等入內。

與會部落客主多希望奧巴馬關注中國網絡信息自由、言論新聞自由、維權人士的處境。有人關心奧巴馬在華期間會否更新其twitter及facebook，請奧巴馬到北京的網吧感受中國網民的“困境”；也有人希望奧巴馬能與被囚維權人士家屬會面。

美國官員認為，信息傳播自由極為重要，美國很希望在這方面看到進展。美方稱不確定中美領導人會面時將談何議題，但稱奧巴馬的twitter等訪華期間會照常更新，隨行團隊亦將透過網絡發佈消息。

據悉，長期被中國當局封鎖的twitter、facbook等社交網站，近日在上海已重開，廣州、北京等地也將陸續解封。

評估奧巴馬訪華利弊
80%中國網友不看好

近日中國一項網路民調顯示，對於奧巴馬此行是否為中國帶來利多，超過80%中國網友並不看好。

香港《文匯報》報導，北京“環球網”的調查顯示，對於奧巴馬訪華，約86%的中國網友“不期待”或“覺得無所謂”，而46%的網友直言“不喜歡奧巴馬”。

被問到對於“奧巴馬的訪問是否會給中國帶來好處”時，高達83.3%的網友選擇“否定”，僅16.7%網友認為會為中國帶來好處。

另外，“人民網”另一項調查顯示，有92.4%的網友認為“美國目前正在遏制中國”。

相較於2008年底美國大選期間，中國社會調查所（SSIC）曾在中國12個城市進行調查，結果顯示，在“誰執政將更有利於美國經濟、中美關係、維護世界和平及全球經濟的發展”4個方面，分別有85%、81%、86%及78%的受訪者選擇奧巴馬。

據統計，奧巴馬上任以來，美國已對中國產品展開至少10次“反傾銷、反補貼”合併調查，2起反傾銷調查，1起特保調查，引發中國網友不滿。

上海復旦大學美國研究中心教授徐以驊說，奧巴馬在中國人心中的形象，很大程度上取決於中美關係的發展，因為中國民眾非常“務實”。

中國網民有話說

嚴肅篇

來中國會和你在深圳的親弟弟見面嗎？——采帥哥的小蘑菇

作為美國歷史上第一個黑人總統，我很欽佩你！——徐楓林

你口口聲聲說打擊貿易保護主義，可是在美國國內你卻採取保護性政策，請你給中國人民一個合理的解釋。——李雲龍

整點實際的，欠咱家的錢你拿甚麼來還？趕緊還了，還不了就直說！這回你是來申請破產保護的嗎？——五運山人

作為諾貝爾和平獎的得主，請問如果伊朗和朝鮮核問題通過外交途徑得不到解決，您會不會發動對這兩個國家的戰爭？——騎烏龜狂奔

不要做拿著和平獎同時發動戰爭的第一人啊。——wolfsssss

把達賴接到白宮去住吧，別一會見一會不見地煩我們。——天地無用hxr

你們能不能別老管別人家的事了呀，有那心思還是好好管管你家賬本吧，別啥時候又出問題連累全世界。——不醒的沉眠

小奧，簽證為啥那麼難？！中國人民堅決反對美國在簽證政策上歧視中國護照！——小豬笨笨乖乖乖

搞笑篇

開記者會不，我準備扔你一隻鞋，請選擇耐克還是阿迪。——淡薄志遠

奧哥，有空買買雙色球，你也可以中3億。——真的8懂

WIN7賣10塊行不？賣10塊才符合中國國情撒！——積蘆灰以止

哥，給個州長當當。——蓋世太飽

你們惠普電腦售後太差。——薄霧中的5月陽光

核武發射密碼是甚麼？——taodei

巴馬哥，聽說你被個甚麼和平獎砸中鳥，內個獎金能分我一半不？——jiangxixiaobing

你能不能告訴我，這世界上到底有沒有UFO啊？——leoshenlan

奧巴馬，你兄弟奧特曼（馬克）喊你回家吃飯了！！！——evilone008

中國‧華北雪災‧40死逾百傷‧百萬人受影響．溫家寶勘災

（中國‧北京）罕見暴雪天氣連日突襲中國北部地區，釀成雪災，目前已導致逾40人死亡，上百人受傷，超過百萬人受災，總理溫家寶已親赴災區勘災。

華北大片地區本週遭遇雨雪天氣，多省市暴雪成災，一週來的降雪已達到60年來最高紀錄，部份地區甚至超過百年紀錄。

目前，北京、山西、河北、河南等“重災區”，雪情已趨結束，週5天氣好轉，多地癱瘓的交通正逐漸恢復，部份關閉的高速公路和機場也陸續恢復運行。

暴雪將轉戰東北部

不過，中央氣象台預報，暴雪區今日（週五，11月13日）“轉戰”至東北東部地區，未來3天，新疆、內蒙、遼寧、吉林、黑龍等部份地區有大雪或暴雪。

過去一週，包括河北、河南、山西、陝西、山東、寧夏、甘肅等地都出現雪災造成的人員傷亡，多間房屋被積雪壓塌，陸空交通癱瘓，整體受災人數則超過百萬人。

其中，傷亡最嚴重的是山西省，暴雨引發近500宗交通意外，造成至少24人死亡，約70人受傷。

溫家寶週四（11月12日）下午乘坐火車親赴降雪最嚴重的石家莊勘災，要求要求地方政府和民政部門加強救災工作，確保供水供電，和市場物資供應，防止出現波動。

司機公路上滯留多天

他還特地前往探望因風雪滯留公路上的司機，部份人已滯留超過2天。

據悉，公安部週五深夜下發緊急通知，下令全國公安機關進入應急狀態，加強雪天交通管理工作；民政部也啟動了3級救災應急相應，為雪災地區居民提供幫助；而鐵路部亦啟動應對不良天氣的1級預案，動員全路幹部職工投入到戰風雪、保暢通的戰鬥中。

2008年初，中國也曾發生大規模的冰雪霜凍天氣，特別是南方地區出現雪災和凍雨，嚴重干擾交通和居民生活，造成嚴重損失。

暴雪壓塌建築
危險校舍停用

鑑於華北暴雪中，有多處發生學校因不堪大雪重壓坍塌，導致學生死傷，教育部已發佈緊急通知，要求各地教育部門停用一切不安全校舍。

中新網報導，教育部發出緊急通知，要求各地教育行政部門，應對當週三（11月11日）氣變化帶來的不利影響，有效預防學校發生各類安全事故。

通知要求，地方各級教育行政部門要進一步完善應急預案，立即對區內中小學校，尤其是農村寄宿制學校和邊遠山區學校的校舍、廁所、圍牆以及校園周邊建築情況進行檢查，及時消除安全隱患。凡是不能保證學生安全的校舍，要立即停止使用。

華北暴雪造成直接經濟損失逾4億元人民幣。

河北、天津、山西、河南等地受降雪影響，菜價也明顯上漲。溫家寶特別前往石家莊一家超市，瞭解農產品的供應情況。

預計隨著降雪持續，包括蔬菜在內的鮮活農產品價格短期將繼續上漲。

新加坡‧控方需時間研究求情陳詞‧明義失信案‧展下週六判

（新加坡）原定今日（週五，11月13日）下判的仁慈醫院前院監明義法師失信案，展期下週六早上9點30分下判。

控方說，週四（11月12日）才收到明義的求情陳詞，需要時間研究，法庭逐宣佈展期下判。

週五早上，記者到福海禪寺，沒有看見明義蹤影，約有10多名信徒到福海禪寺拜拜。

275萬成交
楊志恆賣出香港住家

另外，在明義案件下判前又傳出驚人消息，原來明義前助理楊志恆在香港的住家，已在7月底放盤賣出，成交價113萬新元（約馬幣275萬令吉）。

根據媒體查獲資料顯示，楊志恆在香港的這個住家，位於香港北角城市花園，屬於中上級私人住宅，一般白領根本沒有能力購買。

這個單位是在2004年以393萬港元（約70萬5000新元）購入，7月底以630萬元港元（約113萬新元）賣出，這個單位在短短5年內，增值了42萬5000新元，漲幅驚人。

身為仁慈醫院前院監的明義法師（47歲），涉及失信、偽造付款單等罪行，而前助理楊志恆（34歲）則涉及與他串謀，雙雙被控後一起打官司，成為媒體焦點。兩人10月被判罪名成立，先後針對罪成的裁決，通過律師向高庭提出上訴。

在這起官司中，明義法師借給楊志恆的一筆5萬元數額，向來都是案件的重點。而根據楊志恆的說法，他借這5萬元，就是為了借錢給朋友裝修在香港的這個住所。

他表示，自己並不是房子的業主，不過自己每次回香港都住在那邊。根據記錄，這棟房子的業主是一名叫梁卓偉的男子。

這名男子的職業不詳，不過名下並沒有注冊公司，相信不是商人。

楊志恆的香港住所，位於北角，前往地鐵站不過短短數分鐘，交通便利，逛街購物都容易，可用應有盡有來形容。

單位位於15樓，面向著名的維多利亞海景，單位面積有88平方公尺，約比新加坡的三房式單位稍大。

單位裡頭有3個房間，兩個廁所，其中主人房附設廁所，8個單位共用兩部電梯。

新加坡人在大馬車禍‧高庭裁決在新加坡索賠

（新加坡）新加坡人在馬來西亞出車禍，如果涉及馬來西亞註冊的車輛，應在哪個國家展開索賠行動？

代表馬來西亞汽車的保險公司，就為了訴訟地點，打了四輪官司。最高法院上訴庭早前發表判詞，裁決索賠地應該是在新加坡。

不過，上訴庭告誡說，訴訟人如果以為在新加坡打官司就能獲得比事發地更高賠償的話，那可不一定，因為損害賠償金額可能由事發地的法律來決定。

等待一個恰當索賠案

由兩個上訴庭法官趙錫燊和維克拉惹組成的二司，今年5月駁回上訴，早前發表判詞。

根據傳統情況，一般訴訟人獲得的賠償，都以訴訟地的法律為依據。但二司持上述不同見解，認為這並非真實的情況。

二司表明，這是個開放式、有爭論的問題，他們還得等待一個恰當的索賠案，才能作出實際的裁決。

這起車禍發生在前年1月21日。馬來西亞司機吳宣喜（42歲）在柔佛開車時撞向新加坡人張澤德的汽車後部，導致後者的頸椎和大腿軟骨受傷。

事發時，張澤德身懷六甲的妻子和兩歲多的女兒也在車上，她們都受了傷。

張澤德過後在新加坡就醫和修理汽車，吳宣喜被馬來西亞交警罰款300令吉（約120新元）。

張澤德到初庭，就吳宣喜的疏忽行為提出索償申請。代表他的律師蒂瓦莉認為，張澤德和他的4名證人（包括兩名醫生、修車員和測量師）都在新加坡，索償案在新加坡審理會比較方便。

可是，吳宣喜的保險公司Pacific&Orient Insurance Co通過律師周美玲向法庭申請，要把案件轉到馬來西亞審理，因為車禍是在馬來西亞發生，唯一的證人吳宣喜也在馬來西亞。

保險公司的這項申請原被駁回，後來獲准，第3次被推翻，第4次無法再翻身——訴訟地被確定在新加坡。

兩造都認為，馬來西亞法庭的裁決額應該比新加坡法庭少。

More Hedge Funds Joining the Gold Rush - Max Keiser

Click this link ...... http://bit.ly/lbYyR

The Global Oil Scam: 50 Times Bigger than Madoff

$2.5 Trillion - That’s the size of the global oil scam.

It’s a number so large that, to put it in perspective, we will now begin measuring the damage done to the global economy in "Madoff Units" ($50Bn rip-offs). That’s right - $2.5Tn is 50 TIMES the amount of money that Bernie Madoff scammed from investors in his lifetime, yet it is also LESS than the MONTHLY EXCESS price the global population is being manipulated into paying for a barrel of oil.

Where is the outrage? Where are the investigations?

Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), BP (BP), Total (TOT), Shell (RDS.A), Deutsche Bank (DB) and Societe Generale (SCGLY.PK) founded the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in 2000. ICE is an online commodities and futures marketplace. It is outside the US and operates free from the constraints of US laws. The exchange was set up to facilitate "dark pool" trading in the commodities markets. Billions of dollars are being placed on oil futures contracts at the ICE and the beauty of this scam is that they NEVER take delivery, per se. They just ratchet up the price with leveraged speculation using your TARP money. This year alone they ratcheted up the global cost of oil from $40 to $80 per barrel.

A Congressional investigation into energy trading in 2003 discovered that ICE was being used to facilitate "round-trip" trades. " Round-trip” trades occur when one firm sells energy to another and then the second firm simultaneously sells the same amount of energy back to the first company at exactly the same price. No commodity ever changes hands. But when done on an exchange, these transactions send a price signal to the market and they artificially boost revenue for the company. This is nothing more than a massive fraud, pure and simple.

"Traders of the the ICE core membership (GS, MS, BP, DB, RDS.A, GLE & TOT) wouldn’t really have to put much money at risk by their standards in order to move or support the global market price via the BFOE market. Indeed the evolution of the Brent market has been a response to declining production and the fact that traders could not resist manipulating the market by buying up contracts and “squeezing” those who had sold oil they did not have. The fewer cargoes produced, the easier the underlying market is to manipulate." - Chris Cook, Former Director of the International Petroleum Exchange, which was bought by ICE.

How widespread are “round-trip’‘ trades? The Congressional Research Service looked at trading patterns in the energy sector and this is what they reported: This pattern of trading suggests a market environment in which a significant volume of fictitious trading could have taken place. Yet since most of the trading is unregulated by the Government, we have only a slim idea of the illusion being perpetrated in the energy sector.

DMS Energy, when investigated by Congress, admitted that 80 percent of its trades in 2001 were “round-trip” trades. That means 80 percent of all of their trades that year were bogus trades where no commodity changed hands, and yet the balance sheets reflect added revenue. Remember, these trades are sham deals where nothing was exchanged. Duke Energy (DUK) disclosed that $1.1 billion worth of trades were “round-trip” since 1999. Roughly two-thirds of these were done on the InterContinental Exchange; that is, the online, nonregulated, nonaudited, nonoversight for manipulation and fraud entity run by banks in this country. That means thousands of subscribers would see false pricing. Under investigation, a lawyer for JPMorgan Chase (JPM) admitted the bank engineered a series of “round-trip” trades with Enron.

You can chart the damage done by Goldman Sachs and their gang of thieves by looking at commodity pricing pre and post ICE. Before ICE, commodities followed a more or less normal growth path that matched global GDP and was always limited in price appreciation by the fact that, ultimately, someone had to take delivery of a physical commodity at a set price.

ICE threw that concept out the window and turned commodity trading into a speculative casino game where pricing was notional and contracts could be sold by people who never produced a thing, to people who didn’t need the things that were not produced. And in just 5 years after commencing operations, Goldman Sachs and their partners managed to TRIPLE the price of commodities.

Goldman Sachs Commodity Index funds accounted for $60Bn out of $100Bn of all formula-managed funds in 2007 and investors in the GSCI lost 15% in 2006 while Goldman had a record year. John Dizard, of the Financial Times, calls this process "date rape" by Goldman Sachs as the funds index rolls cost investors 150 basis points of return annually ($9Bn on the Goldman funds) but GS, under the prospectus, is able to "manage our corresponding position," which means that it has to deliver a price at the end of the roll period. If Goldman can cover that obligation at a better price, they will, and GS pockets the difference. This is why we see such wild moves in the days before rollover, there are Billions riding on GS hitting their target every month…

It is not surprising that a commodity scam would be the cornerstone of Goldman Sachs’s strategy. CEO Lloyd Blankfein rose to the top through Goldman’s commodity trading arm J Aron, starting his career at J Aron before Goldman Sachs bought them over 25 years ago. With his colleague Gary Cohn, Blankfein oversaw the key energy trading portfolio. According to Chris Cook: "It appears clear that BP and Goldman Sachs have been working collaboratively – at least at a strategic level - for maybe 15 years now. Their trading strategy has evolved over time as the global market has developed and become ever more financialised. Moreover, they have been well placed to steer the development of the key global energy market trading platform, and the legal and regulatory framework within which it operates." According to Cook:

It appears to me that what has been occurring in the oil market may have been that – through the intermediation of the likes of J Aron in the Brent complex – long term funds have been lending money to producers – effectively interest-free - and in return the producers have been lending oil to the funds. This works well for as long as funds flow into the market, or do not withdraw in quantity, but once funds withdraw money from the market, there is a sudden collapse in price.

A combination of market hype, the opacity of the Brent Complex and the relatively small scale of trading of the benchmark BFOE crude oil contract enabled the long run up in prices, and several observers believe that the dramatic spike to $147.00 per barrel was the specific outcome of the collapse of SemGroup, which that company’s management subsequently blamed mainly on Goldman Sachs.

Mike Riess issued a study of "Modern Market Manipulation" in which he describes how GS, MS, DB et al have systematically created an environment that rewards those who manipulate the system, robbing the poor to send the money up they company ladder in exchange for record bonus payouts, which (by design) are the majority of their traders’ salaries:

Before the ‘80’s, there were just us traders. "Rogue" traders arrived on the scene with the large institutional participants, both private and public. Today’s companies and government marketing boards are large enough for senior management to distance itself from controversy, including market manipulation.

In a competitive, amoral environment, middle managers in these mega-organizations have the authority to hijack an institution’s reputation and the financial clout to manipulate the market—and they do. As long as they succeed, they enjoy promotions and perks and, sometimes, the fruits of embezzlement. If the manipulation unravels, the company denies any knowledge and hangs the rogue out to dry. We’ve seen this over and over again, most recently with D’Avila and Codelco, Hamanaka and Sumitomo, Leeson and Barings and Tsuda and Daiwa Bank.

The CFTC’s definition of manipulation is:

• A planned operation that causes or maintains an artificial price
• Unusually large purchases or sales in a short period of time in order to distort prices
• Putting out false information in order to distort prices.

In mid-2008 it was estimated that some $260 billion was invested in the Brent energy markets on the ICE while the value of the oil actually coming out of the North Sea each month, at maybe $4 to $5 billion at most. NYMEX trading follows a similar path with 258,000, 1,000-barrel contracts open for December delivery (258M barrels), which were traded 327,000 times yesterday alone yet, at the end of the period, less than 40M barrels of oil will actually be delivered as that is the total capacity at Cushing, Okla. - where NYMEX contract deliveries are settled. Every single one of those traders know it is not even possible for 80% of the contracts they are trading to be fulfilled - it's a joke, but the joke is on YOU!

Over the course of an average month at the NYMEX, 5 BILLION barrels of oil will be traded, with a fee being collected on every single transaction which is ultimately passed down to US consumers, yet less than 40M barrels will actually be delivered. That is just 8 tenths of 1 percent of actual demand for the product that is being traded - 99.2% of the oil transaction fees being paid by the American people do nothing more than create fees for the traders and record profits and bonuses for the trading firms!

Index Speculators have now stockpiled, via the futures market, the equivalent of 1.1 billion barrels of petroleum, effectively adding eight times as much oil to their own stockpile as the United States has added to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the last five years. Today, in many commodities futures markets, they are the single largest force. The huge growth in their demand has gone virtually undetected by classically trained economists who almost never analyze demand in futures markets. As money pours into the markets, two things happen concurrently: The markets expand and prices rise. One particularly troubling aspect of Index Speculator demand is that it actually increases the more prices increase. This explains the accelerating rate at which commodity futures prices (and actual commodity prices) are increasing.

Before ICE, the average American family spent 7% of their income on food and fuel. Last year, that number topped 20%. That’s 13% of the incomes of every man, woman and child in the United States of America, over $1Tn EVERY SINGLE YEAR, stolen through market manipulation. On a global scale, that number is over $4Tn per year - 80 Madoffs! Why is there no outrage, why are there no investigations? Well, the answer is the same - $4Tn per year buys you a lot of political clout, it pays to have politicians all over the world look the other way while GS and their merry men rob from the poor and give to the rich on such a vast scale that it’s hard to grasp the damage they have done and continue to do to the global economy.

CIBC Chief Economist Jeff Rubin issued a report last year that blames the current recession on high oil prices, saying defaulting mortgages are only a symptom. According to Rubin, these higher oil prices caused Japan and the Eurozone to enter into a recession even before the most recent financial problems hit. Higher oil prices started four of the last five world recessions; we shouldn’t be too surprised if they started this one also:

Oil shocks create global recessions by transferring billions of dollars of income from economies where consumers spend every cent they have, and then some, to economies that sport the highest savings rates in the world. While those petro-dollars may get recycled back to Wall Street by sovereign wealth fund investments, they don’t all get recycled back into world demand. The leakage, as income is transferred to countries with savings rates as high as 50%, is what makes this income transfer far from demand neutral.

There is NO shortage of oil. OPEC alone has 6-7 Million barrels a day of spare capacity, more than the total disruption of any single country and any two countries other than Saudi Arabia could offset. Additionaly, ICE partners Total and JPM are part of the cartel that is totally skewing the global demand picture by storing 125M barrels of oil in offshore tankers. That’s 15 days of US imports that have been "ordered" but never delivered so they show up as an extra 1Mbd of global demand, even though nobody actually wants them. Land-based storage is also bursting at the seams, with global supplies up to 61 days of total consumption (84Mbd) up from 52 days last year.

That’s 5 BILLION barrels of oil already out of the ground, in barrels and ready to go AND THEY KEEP MAKING 86M MORE EVERY DAY!!! Where is the shortage? Mainly, it is media hype pushed by "analysts" at the very firms that profit the most from high oil prices. Goldman Sachs issues bullish opinions on oil and builds large positions in oil, while it is the cartel’s job to hide oil in offshore tankers, and then sell forward all the oil, with futures contracts, locking in the high price. Of course they have their media hounds as well, most notably the Drudge Report. As noted by Goldmansachsrules:

Type in the word "OIL" inside the "Drudge Report" search engine. It returns 1,965 headlines with the word "OIL." Over the last couple years, The Drudge Report has ran 1,965 headlines with the word "OIL." Most of these articles were hosted by the worthless organizations of Yahoo, Breibart, APNews, and Reuters. The Drudge Report just creates the headline, and links it the article hosted by who ever is doing the "hyping."

Search on the word "credit crisis" and you only get 12 archived headlines. The word "bailout" yields only 268. The word "bank" returns only 568. So you have the Drudge Report hyping the oil market, because they bring it up almost 2,000 times. Unlike the "credit crisis" or "Wall Street Bailout" that actual did happen, the oil market and what did/didn’t happen between Israel/Iran is plugged 10 times more!

Of all the 1,965 articles that the Drudge Report ran with the word "OIL" in the title, most were hyping the oil market. The most notorious cases, a few times a week, were hosted by Yahoo, Breibart, and AP News. Most of these articles were plugged with the same paragraph that stated if "Israel were to attack Iran, Iran would retaliate by taking over the straits of Hormuz, the largest pathway for oil and we all know what that would do to the price of oil.

It truly takes a global village of manipulators and their lackeys to pull off a con on the scale of oil but it’s also the most profitable scam ever perpetrated on the people of this planet, as they take control of a vital resource and then create artificial shortages and drive speculative demand in order to charge you an extra dollar per gallon of gas. You don’t complain because it’s "only" $15-$20 every time you fill up your tank, but that’s what they count on and that’s where you’re wrong - it’s $20 from you and $20 from EVERY SINGLE ONE of your customers once or twice a week and $20 more your employees need just to get to work. It’s money that could be going into your business instead of a new gold bathtub for a Saudi Prince or a Goldman trader.

Global drivers consume 1.7Bn gallons of gas every single day, that $1 is $50Bn a month, a Madoff per month that is being taken away from YOU and YOUR business and the non-energy/financial businesses you invest in. Of course we can give up and invest in those sectors (we do) but that doesn’t do much for the global economy and, even as you sit here now, not doing anything, those oil profits have been plowed into the copper and gold markets and now the same Goldman energy cartel is bidding to take over you clean air (through Carbon Credit trading) and your clean water.

Maybe when they are charging you $80 a gallon for water and ten cents a breath you’ll want to do something about it. I think I’ll start right now and you can too! Here are the Email addresses and Fax numbers for all of your Senators, Congresspeople and Governors. Send this article to them and let them know you’d like to see an investigation. Take a few minutes of your time to save a few bucks on your next gallon of water!

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