July 10th 2009 Telegraph
China criticises dollar
Dai Bingguo, who is standing in for the Chinese president Hu Jintao at the G8 meetings, raised questions over the dominant role of the dollar as the world's reserve currency.
The discussion, which took place between the leaders of five emerging economies and the G8 industrialised nations, including Barack Obama, caused concern among western leaders.
"We should have a better system for reserve currency issuance and regulation, so that we can maintain relative stability of major reserve currencies exchange rates and promote a diversified and rational international reserve currency system,” said Mr Dai, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
+++
July 10th 2009 Bloomberg
Medvedev Shows Off Sample Coin of New ‘World Currency’ at G-8
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev illustrated his call for a supranational currency to replace the dollar by pulling from his pocket a sample coin of a “united future world currency.”
“Here it is,” Medvedev told reporters today in L’Aquila, Italy, after a summit of the Group of Eight nations. “You can see it and touch it.”
The coin, which bears the words “unity in diversity,” was minted in Belgium and presented to the heads of G-8 delegations, Medvedev said.
The question of a supranational currency “concerns everyone now, even the mints,” Medvedev said. The test coin “means they’re getting ready. I think it’s a good sign that we understand how interdependent we are.”
Medvedev has repeatedly called for creating a mix of regional reserve currencies as part of the drive to address the global financial crisis, while questioning the U.S. dollar’s future as a global reserve currency. Russia’s proposals for the G-20 meeting in London in April included the creation of a supranational currency.
July 1 2009 (Reuters) -
China has asked to debate proposals for a new global reserve currency
at next week's Group of Eight summit in Italy and the issue could be referred to briefly in the summit statement, G8 sources said on Wednesday.
One G8 source who was involved in the negotiations said China made the request during preparatory talks about a joint statement to be issued on the second day of the summit in L'Aquila by the G8 plus the G5 (Brazil, India, China, Mexico and South Africa) and also Egypt.
This forum, the so-called "G14", meets on July 9 to discuss the financial crisis, trade and climate change and for the first time a G8 summit will also produce a joint G14 statement.
A European source with knowledge of preparations for the summit also said China had raised the subject of a reserve currency debate and that it might be mentioned during the meeting, though the source added: "Any country at the meeting can raise issues they see fit."
"But whether there is a specific mention in the communique remains open," said the European source, adding that sherpas would discuss this further in preparatory talks on Friday.
The debate centres on proposals by some emerging powers that an alternative should be found to the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency, to reflect the shifting balance of power in the globalised economy.
China's central bank governor said in March the world should consider using the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) as a super-sovereign currency. The SDR is an international reserve asset allocated to IMF members and its exchange rate is determined by a basket of dollars, euros, sterling and yen.
But the Chinese proposal failed to gain ground after several world leaders, and officials from the IMF, backed the dollar as the global reserve currency. (Reporting by Reuters bureaux) (Thank you Reuters)
China argues to replace US dollar (from the BBC) 25th June 2009
The dollar has been the world's reserve currency for decades
China's central bank has reiterated its call for a new reserve currency to replace the US dollar.
The report from the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said a "super-sovereign" currency should take its place.
Central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan has loudly led calls for the dollar to be replaced during the financial crisis.
The bank report called for more regulation of the countries that issue currencies that underpin the global financial system.
"An international monetary system dominated by a single sovereign currency has intensified the concentration of risk and the spread of the crisis," the Chinese central bank said.
The dollar fell after the report was released. The US currency dropped 1% against the euro to $1.4088, and declined 0.8% versus the British pound to $1.6848.
SDRs
Mr Zhou caused a stir earlier this year when he said the dollar could eventually be replaced as the world's main reserve currency by the Special Drawing Right (SDR), which was created as a unit of account by the IMF in 1969.
CURRENCY RESERVES
Foreign currency held by a government or a central bank
Used to pay foreign debt obligations or influence exchange rates
The dollar is viewed as the world's reserve currency as the vast majority of reserves are held in the US currency
Smaller amounts are held in euros, pounds and yen
Dollar poses dilemma for China
The PBOC said in the report that not only should the world adopt the SDR, but that the IMF should be entrusted with managing a portion of its member countries' foreign currency reserves.
"To avoid intrinsic shortcomings in using a sovereign currency as a reserve currency, we need to create an international reserve currency that is divorced from sovereign states and can maintain a stable value over the long term," the PBOC report said.
It also issued some veiled criticism of the US policies, saying that one of the major issues was that it was difficult to balance the needs of domestic politics with the requirements of being the world's reserve currency.
"The economic development model of debt-based consumption is most difficult to sustain," the PBOC said.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Smuggled bonds - Japanese
Suitcase With $134 Billion Puts Dollar on Edge: William Pesek
Commentary by William Pesek
June 17 (Bloomberg) -- It’s a plot better suited for a John Le Carre novel.
Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland. Details are maddeningly sketchy, so naturally the global rumor mill is kicking into high gear.
Are these would-be smugglers agents of Kim Jong Il stashing North Korea’s cash in a Swiss vault? Bagmen for Nigerian Internet scammers? Was the money meant for terrorists looking to buy nuclear warheads? Is Japan dumping its dollars secretly? Are the bonds real or counterfeit..............http://www.bloomberg.com/ap...
+++
I am fascinated with this story and wonder why it is not front page news.
I have never seen one of thse bonds, not many people have. I assume that they pay interest on an annual basis. That would be about $6,000,000,000 a year. Or $30,000,000 a day (correct me if I am wrong). Surely someone is still collecting it and would be easy to trace.
+++
June 22nd 2009
Few details have been revealed beyond a June 4 statement by the Italian finance police announcing the seizure of 249 US Treasury bills, each of $500 million, and 10 'Kennedy' bonds, used as inter-government payments, of $1 billion each. The men were apparently tailed by the Italian authorities.
The mystery deepened on Thursday as an Italian blog quoted Colonel Rodolfo Mecarelli of the Como provincial finance police as saying the two men had been released. The colonel and police headquarters in Rome both declined to respond to questions from the Financial Times.
Few details have been revealed beyond a June 4 statement by the Italian finance police announcing the seizure of 249 US Treasury bills, each of $500 million, and 10 'Kennedy' bonds, used as inter-government payments, of $1 billion each. The men were apparently tailed by the Italian authorities.
The mystery deepened on Thursday as an Italian blog quoted Colonel Rodolfo Mecarelli of the Como provincial finance police as saying the two men had been released. The colonel and police headquarters in Rome both declined to respond to questions from the Financial Times.
June 22nd 2009
(Make up your own mind about the photo, nothing rings true about this story. Do the hats make youn think it the real thing?)
+++ June 30th 2009
This story has gone far away! All I can find is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLfuv_8yVL0
(Japanese television news.)
+++
July 9th 2009
More information is emerging about these smuggled bonds in the Asia Newsit. Perhaps the main stream media will have more news as the days go by. It really is an odd story.
I hope to find time to follow the story.
Commentary by William Pesek
June 17 (Bloomberg) -- It’s a plot better suited for a John Le Carre novel.
Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland. Details are maddeningly sketchy, so naturally the global rumor mill is kicking into high gear.
Are these would-be smugglers agents of Kim Jong Il stashing North Korea’s cash in a Swiss vault? Bagmen for Nigerian Internet scammers? Was the money meant for terrorists looking to buy nuclear warheads? Is Japan dumping its dollars secretly? Are the bonds real or counterfeit..............http://www.bloomberg.com/ap...
+++
I am fascinated with this story and wonder why it is not front page news.
I have never seen one of thse bonds, not many people have. I assume that they pay interest on an annual basis. That would be about $6,000,000,000 a year. Or $30,000,000 a day (correct me if I am wrong). Surely someone is still collecting it and would be easy to trace.
+++
June 22nd 2009
Few details have been revealed beyond a June 4 statement by the Italian finance police announcing the seizure of 249 US Treasury bills, each of $500 million, and 10 'Kennedy' bonds, used as inter-government payments, of $1 billion each. The men were apparently tailed by the Italian authorities.
The mystery deepened on Thursday as an Italian blog quoted Colonel Rodolfo Mecarelli of the Como provincial finance police as saying the two men had been released. The colonel and police headquarters in Rome both declined to respond to questions from the Financial Times.
Few details have been revealed beyond a June 4 statement by the Italian finance police announcing the seizure of 249 US Treasury bills, each of $500 million, and 10 'Kennedy' bonds, used as inter-government payments, of $1 billion each. The men were apparently tailed by the Italian authorities.
The mystery deepened on Thursday as an Italian blog quoted Colonel Rodolfo Mecarelli of the Como provincial finance police as saying the two men had been released. The colonel and police headquarters in Rome both declined to respond to questions from the Financial Times.
June 22nd 2009
(Make up your own mind about the photo, nothing rings true about this story. Do the hats make youn think it the real thing?)
+++ June 30th 2009
This story has gone far away! All I can find is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLfuv_8yVL0
(Japanese television news.)
+++
July 9th 2009
More information is emerging about these smuggled bonds in the Asia Newsit. Perhaps the main stream media will have more news as the days go by. It really is an odd story.
I hope to find time to follow the story.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
INVESTING IN GOLD
INVESTING IN GOLD
Firstly let me say that I am not involved with selling gold or shares in gold mines apart from my own personal investments.
I haven't done the maths but think that if I had purchased an ounce of gold every month for thirty years I would have done as well or better than with a pension fund, bonds or the stock market. At todays prices the 360 ounces I had saved would be worth some $330,000 which I could easily sell as required and would probably at least keep up with inflation - or deflation.
I do not writen news letters or give advice on investing in gold or gold mine shares. I say this because many people are giving/selling advice for monetary gain. No names are mentioned here but a few google searches will reveal a multitude. Some of them are very helpful,others are not! You must do your own due diligence.
The following observations come from my own learning experiences and investing over the last seven years.
It is summed up by:
"Invest some money in gold and then you have money over for risky ventures".
Years ago the prudent advice,(from bankers!), was to keep 10% of your savings in gold. I think this advice is just about right depending on where you live and how much paper money governments are printing. This advice is rarely seen today and buying gold is no longer popuar in the western wold. In India, Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Arab countries gold shops can be found in every town. Probably 10% is still about right but personally I think that so much money is being printed by governments at the moment that my own preference is to hold considerably more than 10% of my savings in gold.
If you have made up your mind to invest in gold how do you go about it?
Firstly be aware that the gold price can move in both directions very quickly. Take a long look at the ten year gold chart given daily by KITCO.COM. Even 3% a year will be better than putting money in a bank account anything more will be a bonus.
Remember to make adjustments for your own currency as the Kitco chart is shown in dollars. If, for example, you are Icelandic or from the UK it will look very different because of currency devaluations.
Secondly be aware that there is the possibility that the market is not free and open. Many "gold bugs" suspect that a cabal operates which manipulates the price of gold. There is known to be an oil cartel so why not an oil cartel?
Buy physical gold from a registered gold dealer and keep it in a safe place. Some bullion dealer will hold your gold for an annual charge. This can be in the form of gold coins, kruggerrands, maples, sovereigns etc or certified gold bars. There is quite a large mark up for buying and selling physical gold though with coins you could try ebay. At the moment physical gold is usually tradig well above the prices quoted in the press and is not always available.
Buy gold ETS's. This are easily purchased from stock brokers. You never see the gold but your "paper shares" are easy and to buy and sell and have low trading costs.
Shares in gold mines. These are generally more volatile than most other shares and tend to rise and of course fall with the price of gold.
Mines can be subject to all kinds of difficulties and are often in unstable countries. The perils of strikes, accidents, false accounting, gold price hedging and unreliable survey reports come to mind.
My suggestion would be that after doing as much research as you can, you buy shares in at least ten different companies possibly using the unhedged mines shown in the HUI index. Buying shares is considerably more speculative than investing directly in gold.
In normal times, gold mining companies sell – or "hedge" – a chunk of their output in advance through bullion banks. These banks cover their positions by leasing gold from central banks. This bread-and-butter trade created excess supply of 500 tonnes each year until the start of this decade.
There are then several different types of mining shares:
Hedged and unhedged
Mines in full production with proven reserves in the ground.
Developing mines.
Exploraton companies.
etc.
Gold trades 24 hours a day around the world so watching it trade around the clock will soon make you dizzy. Day trading is a risky business!
Thousands of books have been written about gold investing and daily commentaries, gold forums and news items are easily found on the internet.
At the time of writing there are reports that gold bars and coins are becoming scarce, partly due to fears that futures contracts and other forms of paper gold may not prove reliable if there is a serious break-down in the global financial system.
Pure metal -- whether Krugerrands, Maple Leaf coins, or the "five tael biscuit" favoured by the Chinese – entail no counterparty risk.
Buying some gold may well help you to weather the economic crises as an individual and returning to a gold standard may help stamp out countries cheating on currency devaluations. As a long term solution - the next two thousand years - it does not solve the worlds problems.
Your comments and observations are welcomed but is not my intention that this site should become another gold forum! Many people are much better informed than me, this blog entry is intended to offer some impartial remarks for the novice investor.
There is an article on the Invisiblescience.blogspot.com 10/5/08
titled:
"Spinning Straw into Gold, Where is Rumpelstiltskin today?"
which was first published n NEW VIEW magazine in Summer 2006. It attempts to give a warning (from a spiritual perspective) of the now visible economic crises.
+++
May 6th 2009
Richard Russell, the venerable and highly respected newsletter writer wrote overnight of how all markets including the gold market appear to be being manipulated at the moment. The government is on record regarding intervening and manipulating the bond market through purchases of their own bonds. Russell concurs with the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) that elements in the US government are suppressing the gold price through financial proxies in order to maintain faith in the dollar and US government debt. GATA’s credibility was recently greatly enhanced when their long held but disparaged assertions that the Chinese Central Bank was accumulating gold were proven correct (the commonly-accepted World Gold Council and GFMS gold holding data was proved incorrect). GATA are meeting press in London this week and should their contentions receive a fair hearing in the media it could have material impact on the price.
June 18th 2009
Bullion Vault
Adrian Ash:
There was a chap called Gordon, and he decided he didn't like it too much, he had some friends from Goldman Sachs I understand, who advised him in the late 1990s that gold was a non-yielding, non-productive asset, it had been in a bear market for 20 years, there were much much better places to put money, and so he decided he would sell 415 tonnes of it.
He thought he would give the market a couple of months' notice, so it could get itself nicely short. What's interesting in fact is that, looking at the data from the Bank of England, the Bank of England actually had an awful lot of gold out on loan, on lease, to the bullion banks going into that announcement, thereby enabling the market to get nice and short. I don't think the Bank of England was willingly, was party to the decision, as I understand it there was quite a hoo-haa over on Threadneedle Street about the whole idea of getting rid of, what, 60% of our reserves.
It's interesting, because the newspapers make a lot about that now, but the net loss to the Treasury is about £4 billion, compared to what they could have sold it for today.
++++
HUMPTY DUMPTY
Humpty dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty dumpty had a great fall.
All the Kings horses
and all the Kings men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
I got to be thinking about this little riddle as many have done before me.
Of course the horses could do nothing to help, whether this represents the intellectual or animal nature.
The men could not put an egg back together, bringing something back to life is still beyond us.
We are however not told that the King Himself is unable to put the egg back together.
Having created the egg in the first place it is surely possible.
Firstly let me say that I am not involved with selling gold or shares in gold mines apart from my own personal investments.
I haven't done the maths but think that if I had purchased an ounce of gold every month for thirty years I would have done as well or better than with a pension fund, bonds or the stock market. At todays prices the 360 ounces I had saved would be worth some $330,000 which I could easily sell as required and would probably at least keep up with inflation - or deflation.
I do not writen news letters or give advice on investing in gold or gold mine shares. I say this because many people are giving/selling advice for monetary gain. No names are mentioned here but a few google searches will reveal a multitude. Some of them are very helpful,others are not! You must do your own due diligence.
The following observations come from my own learning experiences and investing over the last seven years.
It is summed up by:
"Invest some money in gold and then you have money over for risky ventures".
Years ago the prudent advice,(from bankers!), was to keep 10% of your savings in gold. I think this advice is just about right depending on where you live and how much paper money governments are printing. This advice is rarely seen today and buying gold is no longer popuar in the western wold. In India, Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Arab countries gold shops can be found in every town. Probably 10% is still about right but personally I think that so much money is being printed by governments at the moment that my own preference is to hold considerably more than 10% of my savings in gold.
If you have made up your mind to invest in gold how do you go about it?
Firstly be aware that the gold price can move in both directions very quickly. Take a long look at the ten year gold chart given daily by KITCO.COM. Even 3% a year will be better than putting money in a bank account anything more will be a bonus.
Remember to make adjustments for your own currency as the Kitco chart is shown in dollars. If, for example, you are Icelandic or from the UK it will look very different because of currency devaluations.
Secondly be aware that there is the possibility that the market is not free and open. Many "gold bugs" suspect that a cabal operates which manipulates the price of gold. There is known to be an oil cartel so why not an oil cartel?
Buy physical gold from a registered gold dealer and keep it in a safe place. Some bullion dealer will hold your gold for an annual charge. This can be in the form of gold coins, kruggerrands, maples, sovereigns etc or certified gold bars. There is quite a large mark up for buying and selling physical gold though with coins you could try ebay. At the moment physical gold is usually tradig well above the prices quoted in the press and is not always available.
Buy gold ETS's. This are easily purchased from stock brokers. You never see the gold but your "paper shares" are easy and to buy and sell and have low trading costs.
Shares in gold mines. These are generally more volatile than most other shares and tend to rise and of course fall with the price of gold.
Mines can be subject to all kinds of difficulties and are often in unstable countries. The perils of strikes, accidents, false accounting, gold price hedging and unreliable survey reports come to mind.
My suggestion would be that after doing as much research as you can, you buy shares in at least ten different companies possibly using the unhedged mines shown in the HUI index. Buying shares is considerably more speculative than investing directly in gold.
In normal times, gold mining companies sell – or "hedge" – a chunk of their output in advance through bullion banks. These banks cover their positions by leasing gold from central banks. This bread-and-butter trade created excess supply of 500 tonnes each year until the start of this decade.
There are then several different types of mining shares:
Hedged and unhedged
Mines in full production with proven reserves in the ground.
Developing mines.
Exploraton companies.
etc.
Gold trades 24 hours a day around the world so watching it trade around the clock will soon make you dizzy. Day trading is a risky business!
Thousands of books have been written about gold investing and daily commentaries, gold forums and news items are easily found on the internet.
At the time of writing there are reports that gold bars and coins are becoming scarce, partly due to fears that futures contracts and other forms of paper gold may not prove reliable if there is a serious break-down in the global financial system.
Pure metal -- whether Krugerrands, Maple Leaf coins, or the "five tael biscuit" favoured by the Chinese – entail no counterparty risk.
Buying some gold may well help you to weather the economic crises as an individual and returning to a gold standard may help stamp out countries cheating on currency devaluations. As a long term solution - the next two thousand years - it does not solve the worlds problems.
Your comments and observations are welcomed but is not my intention that this site should become another gold forum! Many people are much better informed than me, this blog entry is intended to offer some impartial remarks for the novice investor.
There is an article on the Invisiblescience.blogspot.com 10/5/08
titled:
"Spinning Straw into Gold, Where is Rumpelstiltskin today?"
which was first published n NEW VIEW magazine in Summer 2006. It attempts to give a warning (from a spiritual perspective) of the now visible economic crises.
+++
May 6th 2009
Richard Russell, the venerable and highly respected newsletter writer wrote overnight of how all markets including the gold market appear to be being manipulated at the moment. The government is on record regarding intervening and manipulating the bond market through purchases of their own bonds. Russell concurs with the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) that elements in the US government are suppressing the gold price through financial proxies in order to maintain faith in the dollar and US government debt. GATA’s credibility was recently greatly enhanced when their long held but disparaged assertions that the Chinese Central Bank was accumulating gold were proven correct (the commonly-accepted World Gold Council and GFMS gold holding data was proved incorrect). GATA are meeting press in London this week and should their contentions receive a fair hearing in the media it could have material impact on the price.
June 18th 2009
Bullion Vault
Adrian Ash:
There was a chap called Gordon, and he decided he didn't like it too much, he had some friends from Goldman Sachs I understand, who advised him in the late 1990s that gold was a non-yielding, non-productive asset, it had been in a bear market for 20 years, there were much much better places to put money, and so he decided he would sell 415 tonnes of it.
He thought he would give the market a couple of months' notice, so it could get itself nicely short. What's interesting in fact is that, looking at the data from the Bank of England, the Bank of England actually had an awful lot of gold out on loan, on lease, to the bullion banks going into that announcement, thereby enabling the market to get nice and short. I don't think the Bank of England was willingly, was party to the decision, as I understand it there was quite a hoo-haa over on Threadneedle Street about the whole idea of getting rid of, what, 60% of our reserves.
It's interesting, because the newspapers make a lot about that now, but the net loss to the Treasury is about £4 billion, compared to what they could have sold it for today.
++++
HUMPTY DUMPTY
Humpty dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty dumpty had a great fall.
All the Kings horses
and all the Kings men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
I got to be thinking about this little riddle as many have done before me.
Of course the horses could do nothing to help, whether this represents the intellectual or animal nature.
The men could not put an egg back together, bringing something back to life is still beyond us.
We are however not told that the King Himself is unable to put the egg back together.
Having created the egg in the first place it is surely possible.
The public has a short memory
The public has a short memory. Politicians are very happy that we can quickly forget.
This addition to my blog is a memory jogger. Additions are welcomed, I forget too.
Scientists Resurrect Deadly Flu Virus
By William Hathaway
As published in The Hartford Courant, October 6, 2005.
Scientists have resurrected one of the world’s great killers in the laboratory, hoping that the genetic secrets within the 1918 influenza virus will help them predict and combat the next major microbial threat to mankind.
In a contained laboratory at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, scientists used reverse genetics to re-create the 1918 flu virus that killed 20 million to 50 million people, according to studies released Wednesday. Scientists say that although the 1918 strain probably does not represent a significant human health threat today, it can provide insight into dangerous types of contemporary influenza, such as the highly lethal avian strain now circulating among birds, which some scientists fear could evolve into the next catastrophic pandemic.
There is a war in Iraq
Obamas promises:
President Obama promised in March 2008 that he would end the
war in Iraq.
So when I am Commander-in-Chief, I will set a new goal
on Day One: I will end this war. Not because politics
compels it. Not because our troops cannot bear the
burden — as heavy as it is. But because it is the
right thing to do for our national security, and it
will ultimately make us safer.
In order to end this war responsibly, I will
immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. We
can responsibly remove 1 to 2 combat brigades each
month.
Sadams weapons of mass destruction no yet found. Mr Blair asks for a little more patience.
(Are they in Sadams secret bunkers? They havent been found either!}
There is a war in Afghanistan
Afghanistan death toll spikes for U.S. in 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
KABUL (AP) — U.S. deaths in Afghanistan increased threefold during the first two months of 2009 compared with the same period last year, after thousands more troops deployed and commanders ramped up winter operations against an increasingly violent insurgency.
As troops pour into the country and violence rises, another sobering measure has also increased: More Afghan civilians are dying in U.S. and allied operations than at the hands of the Taliban, according to a count by The Associated Press. In the first two months of the year, U.S., NATO or Afghan forces have killed 100 civilians while militants have killed 60.
President Barack Obama recently announced the deployment of 17,000 additional troops to bolster 38,000 already in the country, increasing the U.S. focus on Afghanistan as a drawdown begins in Iraq.
Twenty-nine U.S. troops died in Afghanistan the first two months of 2009 — compared with eight Americans in the first two months of 2008.
Deaths are no longer reported. Many think this is a useless, pointless unwinable war.
If the entire Defense Department budget
were eliminated, the United States government would still run a
deficit of well over a trillion dollars in fiscal 2009. Defense
absorbs about half a trillion dollars a year, not counting
pensions. In addition money is being spent by by other countries.
+++
Is Ariel Sharon alive or dead?
I am wondering about the former leader of Israel Ariel Sharon if he is still alive or dead last I heard was that he was in a coma following a stroke can anyone tell me if he still alive? Question on Yahoo. (I do not know the answer.)
Sharon was hospitalized on 18 December 2005 after reportedly suffering a minor ischemic stroke.
+++
Guantanamo Bay still holds unconvicted prisoners
Obamas promises:
+++
Lisbon Treaty is not yet ratified.
Referendums in
France - NO
Holland - NO
Ireland - NO (Second referendum in 2009)
England - NO REFERENDUM (but was promised)
Other EU countries - NO REFERENDUMS
EU trains a new diplomatic corps - without waiting for Lisbon Treaty
The European Union was accused of "contempt for democracy" on Sunday after it emerged that hundreds of members of a new diplomatic service are being trained - even though the Lisbon Treaty that creates it has not come into effect.
Telegraph April 12th 2009
+++
Just before he became Prime Minister in 2007, chancellor Gordon Brown congratulated the city on their ingenuity and creativity during his tenure: 'An era that history will record as the beginning of a new golden age for the city of London'. He couldn't have been more wrong. +++
June 16th 2009
UK
NOW BROWN DECLARES A TAX ON EVERY PHONE
MILLIONS of homes will be slapped with a telephone stealth tax to fund the Government’s digital revolution.
They will be hit with a £6 levy from next year to raise an annual £150-£175million for a new super-fast broadband network across the whole of Britain.
(Only a small thing, unless you are living on a low income. Neil Kinnock has trousered 12 million pounds during his socialist years of dedicated public servce.)
+++
Just a note on China
Population: 1.33 billion
Average life expectancy: 72 years
Average per capita income: US$2,370
Total UK aid received (2007/08): £83.7m
Is the idea is to give the Chinese aid so they can invest the money in banks? Some things economic are quite beyond me.
This addition to my blog is a memory jogger. Additions are welcomed, I forget too.
Scientists Resurrect Deadly Flu Virus
By William Hathaway
As published in The Hartford Courant, October 6, 2005.
Scientists have resurrected one of the world’s great killers in the laboratory, hoping that the genetic secrets within the 1918 influenza virus will help them predict and combat the next major microbial threat to mankind.
In a contained laboratory at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, scientists used reverse genetics to re-create the 1918 flu virus that killed 20 million to 50 million people, according to studies released Wednesday. Scientists say that although the 1918 strain probably does not represent a significant human health threat today, it can provide insight into dangerous types of contemporary influenza, such as the highly lethal avian strain now circulating among birds, which some scientists fear could evolve into the next catastrophic pandemic.
There is a war in Iraq
Obamas promises:
President Obama promised in March 2008 that he would end the
war in Iraq.
So when I am Commander-in-Chief, I will set a new goal
on Day One: I will end this war. Not because politics
compels it. Not because our troops cannot bear the
burden — as heavy as it is. But because it is the
right thing to do for our national security, and it
will ultimately make us safer.
In order to end this war responsibly, I will
immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. We
can responsibly remove 1 to 2 combat brigades each
month.
Sadams weapons of mass destruction no yet found. Mr Blair asks for a little more patience.
(Are they in Sadams secret bunkers? They havent been found either!}
There is a war in Afghanistan
Afghanistan death toll spikes for U.S. in 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
KABUL (AP) — U.S. deaths in Afghanistan increased threefold during the first two months of 2009 compared with the same period last year, after thousands more troops deployed and commanders ramped up winter operations against an increasingly violent insurgency.
As troops pour into the country and violence rises, another sobering measure has also increased: More Afghan civilians are dying in U.S. and allied operations than at the hands of the Taliban, according to a count by The Associated Press. In the first two months of the year, U.S., NATO or Afghan forces have killed 100 civilians while militants have killed 60.
President Barack Obama recently announced the deployment of 17,000 additional troops to bolster 38,000 already in the country, increasing the U.S. focus on Afghanistan as a drawdown begins in Iraq.
Twenty-nine U.S. troops died in Afghanistan the first two months of 2009 — compared with eight Americans in the first two months of 2008.
Deaths are no longer reported. Many think this is a useless, pointless unwinable war.
If the entire Defense Department budget
were eliminated, the United States government would still run a
deficit of well over a trillion dollars in fiscal 2009. Defense
absorbs about half a trillion dollars a year, not counting
pensions. In addition money is being spent by by other countries.
+++
Is Ariel Sharon alive or dead?
I am wondering about the former leader of Israel Ariel Sharon if he is still alive or dead last I heard was that he was in a coma following a stroke can anyone tell me if he still alive? Question on Yahoo. (I do not know the answer.)
Sharon was hospitalized on 18 December 2005 after reportedly suffering a minor ischemic stroke.
+++
Guantanamo Bay still holds unconvicted prisoners
Obamas promises:
+++
Lisbon Treaty is not yet ratified.
Referendums in
France - NO
Holland - NO
Ireland - NO (Second referendum in 2009)
England - NO REFERENDUM (but was promised)
Other EU countries - NO REFERENDUMS
EU trains a new diplomatic corps - without waiting for Lisbon Treaty
The European Union was accused of "contempt for democracy" on Sunday after it emerged that hundreds of members of a new diplomatic service are being trained - even though the Lisbon Treaty that creates it has not come into effect.
Telegraph April 12th 2009
+++
Just before he became Prime Minister in 2007, chancellor Gordon Brown congratulated the city on their ingenuity and creativity during his tenure: 'An era that history will record as the beginning of a new golden age for the city of London'. He couldn't have been more wrong. +++
June 16th 2009
UK
NOW BROWN DECLARES A TAX ON EVERY PHONE
MILLIONS of homes will be slapped with a telephone stealth tax to fund the Government’s digital revolution.
They will be hit with a £6 levy from next year to raise an annual £150-£175million for a new super-fast broadband network across the whole of Britain.
(Only a small thing, unless you are living on a low income. Neil Kinnock has trousered 12 million pounds during his socialist years of dedicated public servce.)
+++
Just a note on China
Population: 1.33 billion
Average life expectancy: 72 years
Average per capita income: US$2,370
Total UK aid received (2007/08): £83.7m
Is the idea is to give the Chinese aid so they can invest the money in banks? Some things economic are quite beyond me.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
A World Currency - Ideas from G20
For a global reserve currency to work, it must be backed by a resource we want people to use less, like carbon.
This excellent article is written by
Mark Braund
for the
The Guardian,
April 9th 2009
A paper written ahead of the recent G20 summit by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the Chinese central bank, caused quite a stir. Zhou called for the establishment of a global reserve currency, a step which would firmly tip the balance of economic power in the direction of emerging economies like China and India, but would also bring benefits to poorer nations in the developing world.
Until recently such a suggestion would have been dismissed by the major powers. It's a sign of fundamentally changed times that it's being taken seriously in many quarters, gaining support from India, Russia and Brazil and even an equivocal response from US Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner.
Two very obvious changes have prompted this reaction: First, there is a growing recognition that the course towards the current crisis was plotted when President Nixon severed the link between the dollar and gold in 1971. Second, the fact that, quite unlike any president before him, not only does Barack Obama believe in a more just and inclusive world, he also seems to recognise that creating such a world requires some levelling of the global economic playing field. The creation of a global reserve currency would be an essential first step in that process.
In his paper, Zhou succinctly defines the qualities of an effective reserve currency: it should be anchored to a stable benchmark; its issue should be subject to clear rules so as to ensure an orderly supply; that supply should be flexible enough to permit adjustment as global demand for money changes; and it not should be linked to the currencies of any particular nation or nations.
Zhou cites Keynes' Bretton Woods proposal for a super-sovereign currency – the bancor – the value of which, Keynes urged, should be linked to a basket of 30 commodities in order to insulate it from the the economic conditions and policy decisions of individuals nations. Back in 1944, the United States was not prepared to subordinate the dollar to a global currency over which it would have little control. Instead, the world settled for a system under which everyone fixed their exchange rates to the dollar, which was in turn linked to gold. That system lasted nearly three decades; but only now, nearly 40 years after its collapse, is anyone acknowledging the need to replace it.
Currently five currencies – the dollar, the euro, the yen, sterling and the swiss franc act as reserve currencies. But with 65% of global foreign exchange reserves held in dollars, and with China holding more than a $1tn of these, no wonder the Chinese are getting jumpy. They fear the Obama administration's attempts to spend its way out of recession will erode the value of their foreign reserves. By switching to a neutral reserve currency before the spectre of inflation raises its head, their hard-earned savings would be protected. But the United States is unlikely to give up its reserve currency status without a struggle because it carries immense economic advantages, not least the capacity to run the kind of budget and current account deficits which would cripple other nations.
Zhou's motivation is not a desire for greater global economic justice. It is, understandably, to protect China's interests at a time when millions of Chinese have yet to experience the benefits of his country's recent economic miracle. Russia's motivation is even more transparent: Dmitry Medvedev suggested that any new reserve currency should be at least partially backed by gold. As one of the world's leading producers of gold, this would put Russia at a distinct advantage.
In the Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is not persuaded. He believes "the politics of global monetary management would be poisonous". But this misses the point. A reserve currency would only work if there was a widespread commitment to moving the global economy towards one in which co-operation between nations, rather than competition, was the defining feature. If the outcome of efforts to escape global recession is simply a return to business as usual, then a new reserve currency will have no chance.
But even Evans-Pritchard concluded that "10 years hence the picture may look different, a world currency may come into being". That being the case, it should be done properly and for the right reasons. Zhou's suggestion that the IMF's special drawing rights (SDRs ) – a quasi currency established by the IMF in 1969 to try and save the ailing Bretton Woods system – should form the basis of a new reserve currency is unambitious and gives additional power to an institution too closely associated with the Washington consensus that systematically undermined development in the poorer nations.
A better idea comes from the economic philosopher Richard Douthwaite. In his 1999 briefing for the Schumacher Society, the Ecology of Money, he argued that "an international currency should be based on the global resource whose use it is highly desirable to minimise". Today, obviously, that resource is energy. Douthwaite therefore suggests an energy-backed currency unit, or ebcu, as the international reserve currency. His excellent pamphlet can be downloaded for free, here.
His proposal to link the international monetary system to the need to reduce carbon emissions, thus promoting both economic stability and environmental sustainability, is an idea whose time has surely come.
This excellent article is written by
Mark Braund
for the
The Guardian,
April 9th 2009
A paper written ahead of the recent G20 summit by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the Chinese central bank, caused quite a stir. Zhou called for the establishment of a global reserve currency, a step which would firmly tip the balance of economic power in the direction of emerging economies like China and India, but would also bring benefits to poorer nations in the developing world.
Until recently such a suggestion would have been dismissed by the major powers. It's a sign of fundamentally changed times that it's being taken seriously in many quarters, gaining support from India, Russia and Brazil and even an equivocal response from US Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner.
Two very obvious changes have prompted this reaction: First, there is a growing recognition that the course towards the current crisis was plotted when President Nixon severed the link between the dollar and gold in 1971. Second, the fact that, quite unlike any president before him, not only does Barack Obama believe in a more just and inclusive world, he also seems to recognise that creating such a world requires some levelling of the global economic playing field. The creation of a global reserve currency would be an essential first step in that process.
In his paper, Zhou succinctly defines the qualities of an effective reserve currency: it should be anchored to a stable benchmark; its issue should be subject to clear rules so as to ensure an orderly supply; that supply should be flexible enough to permit adjustment as global demand for money changes; and it not should be linked to the currencies of any particular nation or nations.
Zhou cites Keynes' Bretton Woods proposal for a super-sovereign currency – the bancor – the value of which, Keynes urged, should be linked to a basket of 30 commodities in order to insulate it from the the economic conditions and policy decisions of individuals nations. Back in 1944, the United States was not prepared to subordinate the dollar to a global currency over which it would have little control. Instead, the world settled for a system under which everyone fixed their exchange rates to the dollar, which was in turn linked to gold. That system lasted nearly three decades; but only now, nearly 40 years after its collapse, is anyone acknowledging the need to replace it.
Currently five currencies – the dollar, the euro, the yen, sterling and the swiss franc act as reserve currencies. But with 65% of global foreign exchange reserves held in dollars, and with China holding more than a $1tn of these, no wonder the Chinese are getting jumpy. They fear the Obama administration's attempts to spend its way out of recession will erode the value of their foreign reserves. By switching to a neutral reserve currency before the spectre of inflation raises its head, their hard-earned savings would be protected. But the United States is unlikely to give up its reserve currency status without a struggle because it carries immense economic advantages, not least the capacity to run the kind of budget and current account deficits which would cripple other nations.
Zhou's motivation is not a desire for greater global economic justice. It is, understandably, to protect China's interests at a time when millions of Chinese have yet to experience the benefits of his country's recent economic miracle. Russia's motivation is even more transparent: Dmitry Medvedev suggested that any new reserve currency should be at least partially backed by gold. As one of the world's leading producers of gold, this would put Russia at a distinct advantage.
In the Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is not persuaded. He believes "the politics of global monetary management would be poisonous". But this misses the point. A reserve currency would only work if there was a widespread commitment to moving the global economy towards one in which co-operation between nations, rather than competition, was the defining feature. If the outcome of efforts to escape global recession is simply a return to business as usual, then a new reserve currency will have no chance.
But even Evans-Pritchard concluded that "10 years hence the picture may look different, a world currency may come into being". That being the case, it should be done properly and for the right reasons. Zhou's suggestion that the IMF's special drawing rights (SDRs ) – a quasi currency established by the IMF in 1969 to try and save the ailing Bretton Woods system – should form the basis of a new reserve currency is unambitious and gives additional power to an institution too closely associated with the Washington consensus that systematically undermined development in the poorer nations.
A better idea comes from the economic philosopher Richard Douthwaite. In his 1999 briefing for the Schumacher Society, the Ecology of Money, he argued that "an international currency should be based on the global resource whose use it is highly desirable to minimise". Today, obviously, that resource is energy. Douthwaite therefore suggests an energy-backed currency unit, or ebcu, as the international reserve currency. His excellent pamphlet can be downloaded for free, here.
His proposal to link the international monetary system to the need to reduce carbon emissions, thus promoting both economic stability and environmental sustainability, is an idea whose time has surely come.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
WARNING - ECONOMIC MELTDOWN
+++
+++
"WHEN SOMETHING IS WRONG - CHANGE IT!"
“A healthy social life is found only, when in the mirror of each soul the whole community finds its reflection, and when in the whole community the virtue of each one is living”
Dr Rudolf Steiner
WARNING
Our world community, with people unemployed and people starving to death, is an unhealthy community.
It has always been impossible to give a date when world economic melt down would happen. It still is impossible. It may however prove prudent to assume that what has happened in Argentina and Iceland will soon happen in many more countries.
(May 6th 2009).
Everything seems to be going wonderfully with the world stock markets. Inflation and interest rates low.
I am tempted to remove this blog and put on a dunces cap. Mind you unemployment is very high almost everywhere, house prices are falling, the banks are not lending, negative equity people living in tents....It could be that trouble has been postponed again......... Time will tell..... and it depends where you are The number of Spaniards unable to pay their debts has risen by 26 per cent to 2.7million in 2009, compared with the first four months of last year. During the same period 232,000 companies joined the list of bad debtors, a 67 per cent rise, according to AsNef-Equifax, a Spanish credit agency))Invisible Science Blogspot
4th March 2009
+++
LATVIA 11th June 2009 from the Telegraph
With the Lat heavily overpriced, any devaluation could lead to massive defaults, bringing misery to many Latvians and threatening the balance sheets of the Swedish banks.
Some Latvians are already stashing euros under their mattresses and speaking fearfully of Argentina where, during a similar crisis in 2001, police searched homes to force citizens to change hoarded foreign bank notes back into local currency.
Does history repeat itself?
\
It was Dr Rudolf Steiner who told us that now and for the last two thousand years it is rhythms of 33.3 years that are important............
So 333 year rythms are very important!
1339 AD England declared bankruptcy under Edward III
+333 years
1672AD Charles II shut down the Exchequer and suspended payment on its floating debt
+333 years
2005 AD the present economic crisis became apparent.
1339AD +
333
1672AD +
333
2005AD
Hopefully someone will be able to say more about these dates. Please post here if you see anything.
+++
The following are news clips coming AFTER this warning.
+++
April 27th 2009
Developing countries face "especially serious consequences with the crisis driving more than 50 million people into extreme poverty, particularly women and children," the IMF bank said Sunday
April 21st 2009
Bank losses are even bigger than expected one year ago, the IMF says
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that potential losses from the credit crunch could reach $4,000,000,000,000 and damage the financial system for years to come.
One year ago, the IMF estimated that total losses from the credit crunch would be $1 trillion, which has been exceeded, showing how rapidly the financial meltdown has escalated.
(It also shows how dreadfully wrong the 1000 economists at the IMF were in their forecasting!)
and now this,
The IMF, which oversees the global financial system, said bank rescues could cost taxpayers £200billion - soaking up a staggering 13.4 per cent of national income
The IMF, which oversees the global financial system, said bank rescues could cost taxpayers £200billion - soaking up a staggering 13.4 per cent of national income.
But in an unprecedented move, the organisation last night dramatically withdrew its forecast after it was disputed by the Treasury
Do we really want these unelected people in charge of a wrorld curreny?
and this:
The global economy is set to decline by 1.3% in 2009, in the first global recession since World War II, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says.
In January, the IMF had predicted world output would increase by 0.5% in 2009. (Boy their forecasting is DREADFUL!)
But other major economies are predicted to shrink even more, with Germany declining by 5.6%, Japan by 6.2%, and Italy by 4.4% in 2009.
The IMF says this represents "by far the deepest post-World War II recession" with an actual decline in output in countries making up 75% of the world economy.
(April 22nd 2009)
Which is why I gave a warning!
+++
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF,
said millions of people risk being pushed back into poverty as the economic storm ravages the most vulnerable countries. "The human consequences could be absolutely devastating. This is a truly global crisis, and nobody is escaping," April 17th 2009
(It would be helpful to have a list of his "vulnerable countries".)
Bloomberg has estimated that all the various packages thus far propagated by the US government total more than $12 trillion $12,000,000,000,000 I think thats right!). Where will this huge amount of money come from? It comes from the US budget, to be found in ballooning deficit numbers. Only a year ago Mr Paulson said that $100.000.000.000, ($100 billion) would be enough to sort out the mess.
Q.So who wants to hold dollars especially if they dont live in the USA?
A.Only the banks not individuals. With the development of electronic money and electronic banking, the transaction function has become vital to continuing economic activity. Nearly every time you make a transaction a bank is involved. This is why Governments are so determined to save their national banking systems, but this requires them to absorb all the bad investments and derivatives from the loan side of the banks. (Thanks to Alf Field)
+++
Unemployment is rising around the world. It is an unhealthy society that does not allow all its citizens to contribute and benefit the community.
+++
Frank Beck, 03.24.09, 06:45 PM EST
The world's financial powers seem to understand that the U.S. needs to print its way out of this mess.
I still contend that we are headed for a massive dollar devaluation, regardless of the means--whether it is planned and accomplished by central banks, or by the markets reacting to huge government money printing that force the devaluation. Unlike during the Great Depression, we are no longer on the gold standard. Currencies are free to float and can be manipulated by central banks or politicians and moved by markets. In fact, I believe that one or both has already begun.
+++
Modern capitalism is based on a global ponzi scheme. There is no quick fix to this very severe crisis. It will transform global reality in a similar way as the collapse of the Soviet Union transformed the global system 20 years ago."
said Former German vice-chancellor Joschka Fischer
+++
UK: Chancellor Alistair Darling admitted the Treasury got it wrong over the length and depth of the recession.
+++
Mr Obama = The Obama administration on Thursday informed CIA officials who used waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics on terror suspects that they will not be prosecuted, senior administration officials told The Associated Press.
+
One in 10 Americans is now claiming 'food stamps', figures show, as the nation's unemployment figures reach their highest level in 25 years.
April 16th 2009.
+++
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans claiming jobless aid hit a record in early April and groundbreaking for new homes slumped last month, but a top Federal Reserve official voiced hope the recession was ending.
April 16th 2009
+++
NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Growth Properties Inc, the second-largest U.S. mall owner, declared bankruptcy on Thursday in the biggest real estate failure in U.S. history.
+++
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund on Thursday forecast a prolonged, deep global recession, a "sluggish" recovery, and weak capital flows to emerging economies that would hammer Eastern Europe.
+++
17th April 2009
In an opinion piece in The Irish Times, 20 of Ireland's leading academic economists argue that the government has got it badly wrong.
"In normal circumstances, none of us would recommend a nationalised banking system," they wrote. "However, these are far from normal times, and we believe that in the current circumstances nationalisation has become the best option to the government.
+++
China calls for new reserve currency
By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing
Published: March 23 2009
China’s central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund.
In an essay posted on the People’s Bank of China’s website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank’s governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency “that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies”.
(This is VERY interesting. The idea was presented at the G20 in London but behind closed doors. Who would control a world currency? What happens when the dollar is no longer the4 reserve currency? Amazing that all this is discussed and billions of people are not being told!)
+++
Spain's unemployment rate hit 17.4% at the end of March, figures have shown, with the jobless total now having doubled over the past 12 months. April 24th 2009
+++
British MPs blame bankers for 'an astonishing mess'
There had been a "comprehensive failure of the banking system at all levels", said chairman John McFall In the committee's second report on the banking crisis published on Friday, May 1st 2009.
+++
EU economies will contract by 4% in 2009, the European Commission has forecast - more than twice what as it had predicted at the start of the year.
(another rather poor predicton! Better print a bit more money!))
+++
May 6th 2009
Retail sales in countries using the euro have fallen by a record amount over the last 12 months according to the EU's official statistics agency.
Eurostat's figures show High Street sales were down 4.2% between March 2008 and 2009
(Add inflation and it shows that many people have far less money to spend).
May 4th 2009
The Bank of England is concerned that the UK's banking system is heading for a third wave of crisis that could snuff out fragile signs of recovery in the economy.
On Thursday the Bank surprised the City by announcing that it would pump an extra £50bn of new money into the economy despite recent stockmarket rallies.
Now the Guardian has learned that this increase in quantitative easing was driven by fears in Threadneedle Street that the credit crunch is still sucking the life out of the British economy and the banking sector remains in deep trouble.
Guardian May 6th 2009
+++
May 8th 2009
The extent of the damage wrought on the Landesbanken, most of which are owned by state governments and local savings banks, was revealed late last month in a leaked document that was published by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, a newspaper. It said that the financial regulator, BaFin, reckoned that German banks—mostly Landesbanken—held €816 billion ($1.1 trillion) in toxic securities. On May 6th five Landesbanken had their ratings cut by Standard & Poor’s.
So deeply in debt are the hardest-hit of this unwieldy bunch that only the central government has the cash to prop them up.
++++
May 13th 2009
Govenor of the Bank of England gets his forecasting right:
“Growth has just as much chance of being positive over the next 12 months as it has of being negative,”
“We may well get a recovery that proves to be sustained, then again, we may not.”
+++
May 14th 2009
The Government must consider pumping more cash into struggling British banks and conceivably nationalise more of them, or consign itself to years of insipid growth, the Bank of England Governor has warned.
+++
My 21st 2009
Recovery Concerns Hit Wall Street- AP
U.S. stocks slid on Thursday as signs of further job market weakness and a disappointing Fed regional survey added to doubts that the economy was set for quick recovery. A reduced credit rating outlook for Britain also heightened investor concern that similar actions may loom elsewhere and reinforced fears that European economies may act as a drag on a global economic upturn. (This follows lots of up beat news over the last month)
June 24th 2009
Record lending to eurozone banks
Banks borrowed nearly half a trillion euros of unlimited one-year funds at the lowest rate the ECB has ever offered.
(This should provide Euro MPs with some very attractive mortgages.)
+++
Washington Post
The days of calling the dollar almighty may be numbered.
The financial crisis that started in the United States is dramatically intensifying the debate over the future of the dollar, and whether it can, or should, remain at the top of the financial food chain. Although a meaningful shift away from the dollar is likely to take years or more, some analysts believe that the debate is now reaching a tipping point.
(Please tell us all about the strong dollar policy.)
+++
June 24th 2009
New US jobless claims jump unexpectedly to 627,000; continuing claims rise to 6.74 million
+++
June 30th 2009
Thee UK economy contracted 2.4% in the first quarter of 2009, its biggest quarterly decline in 51 years, according to the latest official data.
The decline was more severe than the earlier estimate of a 1.9% fall, and worse than analyst expectations.
It also said the recession started earlier than first thought last year.
(These economists keep getting their forecasts wrong. Now Lord Miliband says they are not possible for the next two years!!!! - The future course of the economy is uncertain. Who is running the country?)
also
20,000,000,000 pounds needed (from somewhere) for new weapons of mass destruction - Trident replacedment. Plus the battleships being built have far exceeded estimated costs. (When were nuclear weapons discussed in the European Union?)
+++
July 1st 2009
The governor of California has declared a fiscal emergency in the US state to address a budget deficit of some $24.3bn (£14.5bn).
Mr Schwarzenegger said that despite the crisis, he was proud of California, saying 30more states were also yet to agree a budget.
+++
July 2nd 2009
The number of jobs lost in the US last month came in at 467,000, which was much more than had been expected.
The jobless rate rose to 9.5%, up from 9.4% in May 2009.
+++
+++
"WHEN SOMETHING IS WRONG - CHANGE IT!"
“A healthy social life is found only, when in the mirror of each soul the whole community finds its reflection, and when in the whole community the virtue of each one is living”
Dr Rudolf Steiner
WARNING
Our world community, with people unemployed and people starving to death, is an unhealthy community.
It has always been impossible to give a date when world economic melt down would happen. It still is impossible. It may however prove prudent to assume that what has happened in Argentina and Iceland will soon happen in many more countries.
(May 6th 2009).
Everything seems to be going wonderfully with the world stock markets. Inflation and interest rates low.
I am tempted to remove this blog and put on a dunces cap. Mind you unemployment is very high almost everywhere, house prices are falling, the banks are not lending, negative equity people living in tents....It could be that trouble has been postponed again......... Time will tell..... and it depends where you are The number of Spaniards unable to pay their debts has risen by 26 per cent to 2.7million in 2009, compared with the first four months of last year. During the same period 232,000 companies joined the list of bad debtors, a 67 per cent rise, according to AsNef-Equifax, a Spanish credit agency))Invisible Science Blogspot
4th March 2009
+++
LATVIA 11th June 2009 from the Telegraph
With the Lat heavily overpriced, any devaluation could lead to massive defaults, bringing misery to many Latvians and threatening the balance sheets of the Swedish banks.
Some Latvians are already stashing euros under their mattresses and speaking fearfully of Argentina where, during a similar crisis in 2001, police searched homes to force citizens to change hoarded foreign bank notes back into local currency.
Does history repeat itself?
\It was Dr Rudolf Steiner who told us that now and for the last two thousand years it is rhythms of 33.3 years that are important............
So 333 year rythms are very important!
1339 AD England declared bankruptcy under Edward III
+333 years
1672AD Charles II shut down the Exchequer and suspended payment on its floating debt
+333 years
2005 AD the present economic crisis became apparent.
1339AD +
333
1672AD +
333
2005AD
Hopefully someone will be able to say more about these dates. Please post here if you see anything.
+++
The following are news clips coming AFTER this warning.
+++
April 27th 2009
Developing countries face "especially serious consequences with the crisis driving more than 50 million people into extreme poverty, particularly women and children," the IMF bank said Sunday
April 21st 2009
Bank losses are even bigger than expected one year ago, the IMF says
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that potential losses from the credit crunch could reach $4,000,000,000,000 and damage the financial system for years to come.
One year ago, the IMF estimated that total losses from the credit crunch would be $1 trillion, which has been exceeded, showing how rapidly the financial meltdown has escalated.
(It also shows how dreadfully wrong the 1000 economists at the IMF were in their forecasting!)
and now this,
The IMF, which oversees the global financial system, said bank rescues could cost taxpayers £200billion - soaking up a staggering 13.4 per cent of national income
The IMF, which oversees the global financial system, said bank rescues could cost taxpayers £200billion - soaking up a staggering 13.4 per cent of national income.
But in an unprecedented move, the organisation last night dramatically withdrew its forecast after it was disputed by the Treasury
Do we really want these unelected people in charge of a wrorld curreny?
and this:
The global economy is set to decline by 1.3% in 2009, in the first global recession since World War II, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says.
In January, the IMF had predicted world output would increase by 0.5% in 2009. (Boy their forecasting is DREADFUL!)
But other major economies are predicted to shrink even more, with Germany declining by 5.6%, Japan by 6.2%, and Italy by 4.4% in 2009.
The IMF says this represents "by far the deepest post-World War II recession" with an actual decline in output in countries making up 75% of the world economy.
(April 22nd 2009)
Which is why I gave a warning!
+++
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF,
said millions of people risk being pushed back into poverty as the economic storm ravages the most vulnerable countries. "The human consequences could be absolutely devastating. This is a truly global crisis, and nobody is escaping," April 17th 2009
(It would be helpful to have a list of his "vulnerable countries".)
Bloomberg has estimated that all the various packages thus far propagated by the US government total more than $12 trillion $12,000,000,000,000 I think thats right!). Where will this huge amount of money come from? It comes from the US budget, to be found in ballooning deficit numbers. Only a year ago Mr Paulson said that $100.000.000.000, ($100 billion) would be enough to sort out the mess.
Q.So who wants to hold dollars especially if they dont live in the USA?
A.Only the banks not individuals. With the development of electronic money and electronic banking, the transaction function has become vital to continuing economic activity. Nearly every time you make a transaction a bank is involved. This is why Governments are so determined to save their national banking systems, but this requires them to absorb all the bad investments and derivatives from the loan side of the banks. (Thanks to Alf Field)
+++
Unemployment is rising around the world. It is an unhealthy society that does not allow all its citizens to contribute and benefit the community.
+++
Frank Beck, 03.24.09, 06:45 PM EST
The world's financial powers seem to understand that the U.S. needs to print its way out of this mess.
I still contend that we are headed for a massive dollar devaluation, regardless of the means--whether it is planned and accomplished by central banks, or by the markets reacting to huge government money printing that force the devaluation. Unlike during the Great Depression, we are no longer on the gold standard. Currencies are free to float and can be manipulated by central banks or politicians and moved by markets. In fact, I believe that one or both has already begun.
+++
Modern capitalism is based on a global ponzi scheme. There is no quick fix to this very severe crisis. It will transform global reality in a similar way as the collapse of the Soviet Union transformed the global system 20 years ago."
said Former German vice-chancellor Joschka Fischer
+++
UK: Chancellor Alistair Darling admitted the Treasury got it wrong over the length and depth of the recession.
+++
Mr Obama = The Obama administration on Thursday informed CIA officials who used waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics on terror suspects that they will not be prosecuted, senior administration officials told The Associated Press.
+
One in 10 Americans is now claiming 'food stamps', figures show, as the nation's unemployment figures reach their highest level in 25 years.
April 16th 2009.
+++
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans claiming jobless aid hit a record in early April and groundbreaking for new homes slumped last month, but a top Federal Reserve official voiced hope the recession was ending.
April 16th 2009
+++
NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Growth Properties Inc, the second-largest U.S. mall owner, declared bankruptcy on Thursday in the biggest real estate failure in U.S. history.
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WASHINGTON (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund on Thursday forecast a prolonged, deep global recession, a "sluggish" recovery, and weak capital flows to emerging economies that would hammer Eastern Europe.
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17th April 2009
In an opinion piece in The Irish Times, 20 of Ireland's leading academic economists argue that the government has got it badly wrong.
"In normal circumstances, none of us would recommend a nationalised banking system," they wrote. "However, these are far from normal times, and we believe that in the current circumstances nationalisation has become the best option to the government.
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China calls for new reserve currency
By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing
Published: March 23 2009
China’s central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund.
In an essay posted on the People’s Bank of China’s website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank’s governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency “that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies”.
(This is VERY interesting. The idea was presented at the G20 in London but behind closed doors. Who would control a world currency? What happens when the dollar is no longer the4 reserve currency? Amazing that all this is discussed and billions of people are not being told!)
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Spain's unemployment rate hit 17.4% at the end of March, figures have shown, with the jobless total now having doubled over the past 12 months. April 24th 2009
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British MPs blame bankers for 'an astonishing mess'
There had been a "comprehensive failure of the banking system at all levels", said chairman John McFall In the committee's second report on the banking crisis published on Friday, May 1st 2009.
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EU economies will contract by 4% in 2009, the European Commission has forecast - more than twice what as it had predicted at the start of the year.
(another rather poor predicton! Better print a bit more money!))
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May 6th 2009
Retail sales in countries using the euro have fallen by a record amount over the last 12 months according to the EU's official statistics agency.
Eurostat's figures show High Street sales were down 4.2% between March 2008 and 2009
(Add inflation and it shows that many people have far less money to spend).
May 4th 2009
The Bank of England is concerned that the UK's banking system is heading for a third wave of crisis that could snuff out fragile signs of recovery in the economy.
On Thursday the Bank surprised the City by announcing that it would pump an extra £50bn of new money into the economy despite recent stockmarket rallies.
Now the Guardian has learned that this increase in quantitative easing was driven by fears in Threadneedle Street that the credit crunch is still sucking the life out of the British economy and the banking sector remains in deep trouble.
Guardian May 6th 2009
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May 8th 2009
The extent of the damage wrought on the Landesbanken, most of which are owned by state governments and local savings banks, was revealed late last month in a leaked document that was published by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, a newspaper. It said that the financial regulator, BaFin, reckoned that German banks—mostly Landesbanken—held €816 billion ($1.1 trillion) in toxic securities. On May 6th five Landesbanken had their ratings cut by Standard & Poor’s.
So deeply in debt are the hardest-hit of this unwieldy bunch that only the central government has the cash to prop them up.
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May 13th 2009
Govenor of the Bank of England gets his forecasting right:
“Growth has just as much chance of being positive over the next 12 months as it has of being negative,”
“We may well get a recovery that proves to be sustained, then again, we may not.”
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May 14th 2009
The Government must consider pumping more cash into struggling British banks and conceivably nationalise more of them, or consign itself to years of insipid growth, the Bank of England Governor has warned.
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My 21st 2009
Recovery Concerns Hit Wall Street- AP
U.S. stocks slid on Thursday as signs of further job market weakness and a disappointing Fed regional survey added to doubts that the economy was set for quick recovery. A reduced credit rating outlook for Britain also heightened investor concern that similar actions may loom elsewhere and reinforced fears that European economies may act as a drag on a global economic upturn. (This follows lots of up beat news over the last month)
June 24th 2009
Record lending to eurozone banks
Banks borrowed nearly half a trillion euros of unlimited one-year funds at the lowest rate the ECB has ever offered.
(This should provide Euro MPs with some very attractive mortgages.)
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Washington Post
The days of calling the dollar almighty may be numbered.
The financial crisis that started in the United States is dramatically intensifying the debate over the future of the dollar, and whether it can, or should, remain at the top of the financial food chain. Although a meaningful shift away from the dollar is likely to take years or more, some analysts believe that the debate is now reaching a tipping point.
(Please tell us all about the strong dollar policy.)
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June 24th 2009
New US jobless claims jump unexpectedly to 627,000; continuing claims rise to 6.74 million
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June 30th 2009
Thee UK economy contracted 2.4% in the first quarter of 2009, its biggest quarterly decline in 51 years, according to the latest official data.
The decline was more severe than the earlier estimate of a 1.9% fall, and worse than analyst expectations.
It also said the recession started earlier than first thought last year.
(These economists keep getting their forecasts wrong. Now Lord Miliband says they are not possible for the next two years!!!! - The future course of the economy is uncertain. Who is running the country?)
also
20,000,000,000 pounds needed (from somewhere) for new weapons of mass destruction - Trident replacedment. Plus the battleships being built have far exceeded estimated costs. (When were nuclear weapons discussed in the European Union?)
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July 1st 2009
The governor of California has declared a fiscal emergency in the US state to address a budget deficit of some $24.3bn (£14.5bn).
Mr Schwarzenegger said that despite the crisis, he was proud of California, saying 30more states were also yet to agree a budget.
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July 2nd 2009
The number of jobs lost in the US last month came in at 467,000, which was much more than had been expected.
The jobless rate rose to 9.5%, up from 9.4% in May 2009.
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Sunday, February 8, 2009
President of Europe and economic crises
As there have been no blogs here for a good while here is an up date of world economic affairs from the Telegraph today as in the USA 500,000 people a month are losing their jobs and most possibly their houses:
The Japanese bank is already targeting equities on the Tokyo bourse. That is not enough for restive politicians. One bloc led by Senator Koutaro Tamura wants to create $330bn in scrip currency for an industrial blitz. "We are facing hyper-deflation, so we need a policy to create hyper-inflation," he said.
This has echoes of 1932, when the US Congress took charge of monetary policy. We are moving to a stage of this crisis where democracies start to speak – especially in Europe.
The European Central Bank's refusal to follow the lead of the US, Japan, Britain, Canada, Switzerland and Sweden in slashing rates shows how destructive Europe's monetary union has become. German orders fells 25pc year-on-year in December. French house prices collapsed 9.9pc in the fourth quarter, the steepest since data began in 1936. "We're dealing with truly appalling data, the likes of which have never been seen before in post-War Europe," said Julian Callow, Europe economist at Barclays Capital.
Spain's unemployment has jumped to 3.3m – or 14.4pc – and will hit 19pc next year, on Brussels data. The labour minister said yesterday that Spain's economy could not "tolerate" immigrants any longer after suffering "hurricane devastation". You can see where this is going.
Ireland lost 36,500 jobs in January – equal to a monthly loss of 2.3m in the US. As the budget deficit surges to 12pc of GDP, Dublin is cutting wages, disguised as a pension levy. It has announced "Rooseveltian measures" to rescue the foundering companies.
The ECB's obduracy has nothing to do with economics. It fears zero rates as a vampire fears daylight, because that brings the purchase of eurozone bonds ever closer into play. Any such action would usher in an EMU "debt union" by the back door, leaving Germany's taxpayers on the hook for Club Med liabilties. This is Europe's taboo.
Meanwhile, Eastern Europe is imploding. Industrial output fell 27pc in Ukraine and 10pc in Russia in December. Latvia's GDP contracted at a 29pc annual rate in the fourth quarter. Polish homeowners have had the shock from Hell. Some 60pc of mortgages are in Swiss francs. The zloty has halved against the franc since July.
Readers have berated me for a piece last week – "Glimmers of Hope" – that hinted at recovery. Let me stress, I was wearing my reporter's hat, not expressing an opinion. My own view, sadly, is that there is no hope at all of stabilizing the world economy on current policies.
End of todays Telegraph article
Tony Blair is poised to become the first President of Europe after it was confirmed that French leader Nicolas Sarkozy is determined to help him win the post.
A senior aide to President Sarkozy told a private gathering of senior British and French politicians that he is to tell fellow EU leaders that Mr Blair is the only man who can help Europe stand up to the rest of the world.
The remark by Alain Minc, a key member of Mr Sarkozy’s inner circle, is the second French blow to Gordon Brown’s standing in two days, coming
Mr Minc, a political wheeler-dealer, entrepreneur and TV show host, was attending a meeting last month of the Franco British Colloque, a high-powered discussion group of British and French politicians, civil servants and opinion-formers.
Members are under orders not to reveal the confidential discussions,*** but The Mail on Sunday has established that Mr Minc used the meeting to win support for Mr Sarkozy’s campaign to ensure Mr Blair becomes the President of Europe.
The role is due to be created next year – but only if the EU’s controversial Lisbon Treaty is ratified in the autumn by Ireland and the Czech Republic, the two EU countries which have so.****
End of todays Mail piece
*** Isn’t it disgraceful that “Members (elected politicians) are under orders not to reveal the confidential discussions?” It sounds like a secret society, the same people who ask for more transparency.
****This would have been a wonderful opportunity to mention LIBERTAS. LIBERTAS is yet to get a mention in the mainstream news as far as I am aware. See the blog here or go to the LIBERTAS site. They give European voters the last chance to stop the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and a President. Millions of people in France, Holland and Ireland clearly voted NO to the Lisbon treaty. Millions more were never asked. When will governments listen to people instead of dictating from the top?
The Japanese bank is already targeting equities on the Tokyo bourse. That is not enough for restive politicians. One bloc led by Senator Koutaro Tamura wants to create $330bn in scrip currency for an industrial blitz. "We are facing hyper-deflation, so we need a policy to create hyper-inflation," he said.
This has echoes of 1932, when the US Congress took charge of monetary policy. We are moving to a stage of this crisis where democracies start to speak – especially in Europe.
The European Central Bank's refusal to follow the lead of the US, Japan, Britain, Canada, Switzerland and Sweden in slashing rates shows how destructive Europe's monetary union has become. German orders fells 25pc year-on-year in December. French house prices collapsed 9.9pc in the fourth quarter, the steepest since data began in 1936. "We're dealing with truly appalling data, the likes of which have never been seen before in post-War Europe," said Julian Callow, Europe economist at Barclays Capital.
Spain's unemployment has jumped to 3.3m – or 14.4pc – and will hit 19pc next year, on Brussels data. The labour minister said yesterday that Spain's economy could not "tolerate" immigrants any longer after suffering "hurricane devastation". You can see where this is going.
Ireland lost 36,500 jobs in January – equal to a monthly loss of 2.3m in the US. As the budget deficit surges to 12pc of GDP, Dublin is cutting wages, disguised as a pension levy. It has announced "Rooseveltian measures" to rescue the foundering companies.
The ECB's obduracy has nothing to do with economics. It fears zero rates as a vampire fears daylight, because that brings the purchase of eurozone bonds ever closer into play. Any such action would usher in an EMU "debt union" by the back door, leaving Germany's taxpayers on the hook for Club Med liabilties. This is Europe's taboo.
Meanwhile, Eastern Europe is imploding. Industrial output fell 27pc in Ukraine and 10pc in Russia in December. Latvia's GDP contracted at a 29pc annual rate in the fourth quarter. Polish homeowners have had the shock from Hell. Some 60pc of mortgages are in Swiss francs. The zloty has halved against the franc since July.
Readers have berated me for a piece last week – "Glimmers of Hope" – that hinted at recovery. Let me stress, I was wearing my reporter's hat, not expressing an opinion. My own view, sadly, is that there is no hope at all of stabilizing the world economy on current policies.
End of todays Telegraph article
Tony Blair is poised to become the first President of Europe after it was confirmed that French leader Nicolas Sarkozy is determined to help him win the post.
A senior aide to President Sarkozy told a private gathering of senior British and French politicians that he is to tell fellow EU leaders that Mr Blair is the only man who can help Europe stand up to the rest of the world.
The remark by Alain Minc, a key member of Mr Sarkozy’s inner circle, is the second French blow to Gordon Brown’s standing in two days, coming
Mr Minc, a political wheeler-dealer, entrepreneur and TV show host, was attending a meeting last month of the Franco British Colloque, a high-powered discussion group of British and French politicians, civil servants and opinion-formers.
Members are under orders not to reveal the confidential discussions,*** but The Mail on Sunday has established that Mr Minc used the meeting to win support for Mr Sarkozy’s campaign to ensure Mr Blair becomes the President of Europe.
The role is due to be created next year – but only if the EU’s controversial Lisbon Treaty is ratified in the autumn by Ireland and the Czech Republic, the two EU countries which have so.****
End of todays Mail piece
*** Isn’t it disgraceful that “Members (elected politicians) are under orders not to reveal the confidential discussions?” It sounds like a secret society, the same people who ask for more transparency.
****This would have been a wonderful opportunity to mention LIBERTAS. LIBERTAS is yet to get a mention in the mainstream news as far as I am aware. See the blog here or go to the LIBERTAS site. They give European voters the last chance to stop the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and a President. Millions of people in France, Holland and Ireland clearly voted NO to the Lisbon treaty. Millions more were never asked. When will governments listen to people instead of dictating from the top?
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