Apparently the head of the Republican party was also vacationing in Hawaii while the nefarious crotch bomber was out and about his business.
Rush Limbaugh was rushed to a Honolulu hospital “in serious condition” Wednesday afternoon after complaining of chest pains, several local news sources in Hawaii are reporting.
ABC affiliate KITV reports that paramedics took the arch-conservative radio host to Queen’s Medical Center just after 2:30 p.m. local time Wednesday after Limbaugh complained of chest pains at the resort where he was spending his holidays.
Sorry, I’m not up to speed on whether Rush made any special on-air comments about the crotch bombing while on vacation. More likely his lack of access to a microphone resulted in an embolism brought about by too many unuttered lies blocking his colon.
The Republicans have a long history of playing the national security card.
[T]he GOP charges after the Yalta conference, Nixon and the House Committee on Un-American Activities, the accusations that Democrats “lost” China, Joe McCarthy — historians note that Republicans have been much more willing than their Democratic counterparts to play the national security card to score political points, especially when out of power.
And just to tie this all into the healthcare debate and Wall Street bailout, if Rush is too fucked up to go back to work, which insurance company will be left holding the bag on his massive salary, and will they go under as a result?
[Glenn Greenwald on O's Hawaiian vacation]
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A Ramsey County judge has ruled Gov. Pawlenty’s budget cutting to be unConstitutional and a restraining order has been issued.
“The authority of the Governor to unallot is an authority intended to save the state in times of a previously unforeseen budget crisis,” wrote Gearin. “It is not meant to be used as a weapon by the executive branch to break a stalemate in budget negotiations with the Legislature or to rewrite the appropriations bill.”
This will screw up Minnesota’s budget procedure, but that’s not surprising given Pawlenty’s unilateralism. He refused to participate in the legislative process and instead played critic after the fact.
The best thing for Minnesota? A deficit.
Now is not the time to pinch pennies, not when so many Minnesotans are hurting. Unplowed streets are a mandate for additional accidents and car repairs in general.
So far the Strib’s online poll shows support for the judge.
Expect this to turn into a giant mess as this matter gets appealed to judges appointed by Pawlenty. If nothing else, the state supreme court has a majority of Pawlenty cronies on the bench, and they’ll reverse this — and every other lawsuit meant to help average Minnesotans — just as quickly as they can ratchet this case through the courts.
[more links at Bring Me The News and more analysis from David Lillehaug and Eric Black]
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The PiPress lets Edward Lotterman, an actual liberal, have some op-ed space today, and the result deserves national links in.
Congressional Republicans have opposed the Obama administration’s health care bill because it will increase the federal government’s role in U.S. health care and increase government outlays by tens of billions of dollars per year.
But in 2003, most of these same Republicans voted for establishing a Medicare drug benefit despite the fact that it would increase the federal government’s role in health care and increase federal outlays by tens of billions of dollars per year.
Slowly but surely, the media seems to be picking sides again, and beginning to realize that the upside of giving free space to Republican bloviators is quickly becoming bad marketing strategy. Readers don’t want to know why we’re not getting change. Readers want change, and more change.
And I wouldn’t mind reading more from Edward Lotterman. I’d love to hear what he has to say about Goldman Sachs….
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Nick Kristoff on microsavings, and how they’re rocking the Third World.
Kristoff also explains one of the major reasons why the poor remain poor: with no banks to save money in, they spend their money on “a combination of alcohol, cigarettes, prostitution, soft drinks and extravagant festivals.”
Or pretty much everything they see advertised.
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The media simply cannot stop lying about the stock market.
Whores. Flogging the overpriced in a desperate attempt to shovel the last of the lies onto the middle class.
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Is Fox News about to get yanked from Time Warner Cable’s lineup?
It won’t save my parents. They have a dish.
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The lying liars may have an audience, but increasingly their fan base seems less enthusiastic.
Also from Digby, Joe Klein comes close to pulling his head out of his ass, but then admits he’s hooked on the smell of butt blossoms.
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Wolcott on doughy pantsload.
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eTc:
The iSlate rumor mill just keeps chugging along
Another rejected nominee Obama needs to renominate
Booman says love it or leave it (Booman can go fuck himself)
The Rev. Sun Myung Moon is no longer interested in shaping American opinion regarding sports
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Loads of tunes tonight at the other blog. Drinking by yourself is totally underrated and not going out into New Year’s Eve traffic is the secret to a long life.
Obama: Seven things he got wrong (at least so far).
01. Healthcare: instead of ramming through an excessive social spending bill that the vast majority of Americans do NOT support, Obama should have listened to the voice of the people and killed the bill and his efforts to pass it. He could have then devoted more time to truly pressing issues such as the war in Afghanistan and the actions of Iran, not to mention the economy. Instead of fighting tooth and nail for a government take-over 12% of the economy, spending we can’t afford, Obama should have been fighting tooth and nail to destroy North Korea’s ability to create nuclear weapons.
02. Afghanistan. Instead of giving McCrystal the minimum number of troops asked for, Obama should have put his full support behind the military’s “surge” plan (that Obama says he supports)—if you’re going to do it, do it right. Second, Obama should not have spoken about predetermined troop withdrawal, which he did as a political move, and for no other reason than to abate the Left. This political maneuvering puts his party-politics before national security.
03. Defense Spending. Instead of signing into law last week’s Defense Bill that contained 4.2 billion dollars of pork spending, Obama should have stuck by his word and vetoed the pork- using the “savings” to fund the production of more F-22 strike fighters. Instead of building the world’s most advanced fighter jet that would guarantee air-superiority for years to come, Obama is giving hundreds of millions of dollars to things like visitor centers and museums. It’s pathetic.
04. Iran. Instead of trying to be the ‘nice guy’ president who gets along with everyone (even tyrannical regimes), Obama should take swift decisive action against Iran for its continued movement towards nuclear weapons. Stern words will not suffice to cow Iran’s dictator, it is going to take precise military action.
05. North Korea. Remember Obama’s stiff words warning North Korea to refrain from launching a rocket? Remember when North Korea launched that very rocket? Remember those U.N. sanctions and strong words warning North Korea to cut it out? Remember when North Korea launched another rocket? Remember that Obama is our Commander in Chief? Shouldn’t something be done about it now, BEFORE North Korea reaches nuclear weapons capability? When will Obama realize that his smooth talking (that earned him the election) is not sufficient to the Presidency? Precise, direct military action is required to quell regime’s like North Korea’s in order to stay their ability to create such weapons. Not war, tactical strikes. In and out. Send their military infrastructure to the stone age.
06. Climate Change. Instead of flying to Copenhagen to partake in the political puppet show, and instead of taking the time and energy he used to spin the results of Copenhagen—making it seem substantial when even members of his own party concede it was a useless failure—Obama should have been focused on the actions of Iran (mentioned above) as well as putting his energy into the U.S. economy (mentioned below). This is the mistake he has made again and again, putting party politics—playing to his left base—before the real needs of his country. Drop the climate issues, real or not they can wait; drop the healthcare issue, needed or not, we can’t afford it now and the people do not want it. Drop these social reform ideas and become what he must become, a war-time President. I know he doesn’t want it, I know he didn’t run thinking he’d be a war-time President, but that’s the reality. He needs to wake up and step out of the DNC plan-book for a while and really take action concerning our national security. Drop the political correctness, drop the euphemisms, drop the liberal friendliness, and get to work on the hard decisions facing him.
07. The U.S. Economy. Any U.S. President that supports continued spending in the face of TRILLIONS of dollars of debt is a wrongdoer and a pockmark on the face of our great nation. This stands true for Presidents on both sides of the political spectrum. The government is literally out of control in spending, and it’s been the case even before President Obama came along. Economic weakness equals military weakness equals fragility and vulnerability, exactly the things enemy nations and terrorists are waiting for. It has perhaps never been more important to attain financial stability in the face of such issues, but instead of acting in accordance with these realities, President Obama has continued to operate as if we’re not in a recession as if he were not in a war and as if he were overseeing economic high times affording him the indulgence to focus on social reform spending.
Our President has his priorities out of order and his blinders on. Three issues should be continually in the forefront of Obama’s schedule (and chance nothing else):
National Security at home
National Security abroad
The U.S. Economy
Period. End of sentence. All the other social wizardry and ideological scheming must wait for another day. Put politics aside and run this nation as the Constitution allows.
Though President Obama has clearly forgot his campaign promises, let’s hope he hasn’t yet forgotten the oath he took to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
The veteran Justice Department voting rights section chief who recommended going forward on a civil complaint against members of the New Black Panther Party after they disrupted a Pennsylvania polling place in last year’s elections has been removed from his post and transferred to the US attorney’s office in South Carolina.
Justice Department officials confirmed Monday that Christopher Coates, who signed off on the complaint’s filing in federal court in Philadelphia in January accusing the party and three of its members of civil rights violations, would begin his new assignment next month.
The complaint, which accused party members of intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place while wearing black berets, black combat boots, black dress shirts and black jackets with military-style markings, and wielding a nightstick, was later dismissed by Obama administration political appointees at the Justice Department.
The incident gained national attention when it was captured on videotape and distributed on YouTube.
The dismissal resulted in outrage by some Republican members of Congress and in a formal investigation by the US Commission on Civil Rights, which subpoenaed Mr. Coates and J. Christian Adams, the lead attorney in the case, to testify on why the complaint was dismissed. The commission also is seeking documents to explain why the charges were dropped just as a federal judge was about to approve sanctions…
Justice Department insiders said Mr. Coates’ transfer was not unexpected, despite the fact that many within the department consider the veteran prosecutor as key to efforts by Justice to apply federal civil rights laws in a fair and neutral manner.
For full post: http://www.newmediajournal.us/the_fifth_column/12292009.htm
It is very easy for us to just hop into our car and pop down to the local store and get a couple of items. Not a thought about fuel, pollution, or cost in maintenance and wear and tear on the car. I know, you are saying to yourself – boring information, dont have the time to even think about it. Besides it is too far and I am always in a hurry.
With a bit of thought we, just maybe, could have ridden a bike, even walked, or got someone else to pick it up because they were passing. We can make better choices about how we can get ourselves from A to B or how often we use our vehicles.
I think I am really sowing a seed. Because maybe next time you need something from the store you might get one of the kids to go get it or even walk there yourself. Not all of you will sit up and take notice but some of you might.
Here is a few suggestions from a website called http://1millionwomen.com.au/. This wesite was started by a group of women who are intent on making the world a better place for us all. You can sign up for this website and take up the challenge and get or give some informative information.
I personally think the Women of the World have a great power to make this world a more peaceful and beautiful place to live.
Anyway back to the subject of transport. Here are a few suggestions.
GO PUBLIC.. When I travel to Brisbane or I am in Sydney or I am in Houston Texas, USA and I see bumper to bumper cars in the morning and the evening going to work, I give my head a shake and think “Why” would you do it to yourself. If there was a train or public transport why would you not take it. You can sit and relax, read, dream, talk to who ever you are sitting next to, find romance anything but be stuck in traffic every day. In some cases I know that because of the time you have to be at work it may not be possible but I cant believe that everyone I see on the road that at least half of them could have taken public transport. If I am wrong let me know.
GROUNDED. – Air Travel causes a great deal of pollution and is probably the least ever mentioned by those who are supposed to be concerned about pollution. I dare to say that it should be more of a concern than cars.
Anyway if possible instead of traveling for business use the internet or telecommunications as much a possible. They have great web seminar opportunities now where you dont even have to leave your office.
CABLE, NOT CAR. With modern telecommunications such as internet and tele – conferenceing means we can cut out many work related car trips and flights. Video conferencing has added advantage of allowing us to see all important body anguage and facial expressions when speaking to colleagues all around the world..
It makes economic sense when you factor in the time and travel expense. The video chat can also be a great saving with Skype and ichat. You are able to talk to family anywhere in the world and a great way to say “Hello”.
ECONOMY DRIVE. Taking care of your car and keeping up with the maintanance of your vehicle. Drive at a steady pace to cut your fuel usage. If you improve your vehicle efficiency by 10% you save 300 kilograms or mor of CO2 pollution each year.
FOOTLOOSE.. Ride your bike as much as possible. Walk as much as possible. Walk the children to school and to the shops if possible. Walk to the gym.
All of these suggestions not only helps with your fitness it helps with your expenses as well. It gives you time to look around and enjoy the scenery, enjoy the fresh air and is good for the soul.
Because if you don’ do different nothing will change
‘Vision 2020 likely to be put back by 10 years’
Dec 18, 09 1:08pm
Malaysia’s vision of becoming a developed nation by the year 2020 will be delayed by 10 years, said the country’s best known economist, Dr KS Jomo.
According to Jomo, who is a senior United Nations official, the average GDP (gross domestic product) growth of 9 percent before the 1997/1998 financial crisis have been slashed to only around 5 percent.
He said private investments in Malaysian has significantly reduced and public spending is now becoming more prominent as the engine of growth.
Jomo, who was a professor of economics in Universiti Malaya before joining the UN in 2005, met with senior Selangor government leaders yesterday to give a private briefing on the global economic crisis and its impact on Malaysia’s most industralised state.
“Also attended the lecture at the State Secretariat building in Shah Alam were Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, Selangor economic adviser Anwar Ibrahim, members of the state executive council including Teresa Kok and Dr Hasan Ali,” said a statement issued by the MB’s office.
S’gor in better position than other states
Jomo argued that Selangor has an advantage over other states because of its location, existing infrastructure and the fact that it is already the preferred investment destination for many industry players.
He said it was imperative for Selangor to attract high value-added industries and create jobs with decent salary scale.
“He proposed for Selangor to focus on the developing strategies to attract these industries without using too much of the government’s resources,” said the statement.
During the briefing, which involved showing a number of slides, Jomo provided an example of the public-private partnership (PPP) model that benefits both the government and the private investors as one of the way to propel the state forward.
But he cautioned the state against embarking the old PPP model which promotes corruption.
The assistant secretary-general for economic development in United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs, who is in Malaysia for a visit, also gave a lecture on global economics to a packed hall two weeks ago.
Writing in the Sunday Times today, Michael Portillo forecasts that David Cameron will be Prime Minister “whatever the Maths.” In other words, even if there is a hung Parliament which gives Labour a larger number of seats, Labour will not be allowed to be the Party of Government.
If the Conservatives are the largest party in Parliament, then there is no doubt that David Cameron will form the next Government. The scenario that I have trouble with is where Labour has the largest number of seats in a hung parliament but where that number is still significantly ahead of the Conservatives.
Portillo says
“If Labour fails to secure a majority — even if it wins more seats than the Conservatives — it ought to be booted out and in all likelihood would be.”
Portillo’s argument centres on the attitude of the minority parties, particularly the Liberal Democrats. He says
“It would be especially difficult for the Liberal Democrats to support Labour if it had lost to the Tories in terms of the popular vote — the number of actual votes cast — which seems all but certain.”
Thre is little doubt that Clegg would not support Labour if the Conservatives were the largest party in Parliament. Clegg partly declared his position on this scenario more than 18 months ago. Clegg would support the setting of a budget but reserve the right to oppose public non-financial measures taken by the Government. In the first year of the new parliament (at least), Cameron would effectively have a free hand to govern.
What is Clegg’s position if Labour is the largest party?
The Conservatives only need a (uniform) swing of 1.5% against Labour to become the largest party in terms of the number of votes cast. However, because the Conservatives pile up their supporters in the safe seats, they would need a (uniform) swing of 4.4% to become the party in Parliament with the largest number of seats (source: UK polling report swing calculator).
Speaking to the BBC on the Andrew Marr show, Nick Clegg recently said
“Whichever party has the strongest mandate from the British people, it seems to me obvious in a democracy they have the first right to seek to try and govern, either on their own or with others “
What does “strongest mandate” mean – the largest number of MPs or the largest number of votes cast? Unfortunately, the point was not properly “nailed” in that interview.
If it means the largest number of votes cast, then on a 1.5% uniform swing, the Conservatives could end up with just 234 seats compared with Labour’s 324. Labour would only be 2 seats short of an overall majority in Parliament. In practice, with Sinn Fein winning 5 seats and not sitting in parliament, they would effectively have an overall majority.
Let us now suppose that there is a uniform swing against Labour of 4.39%. In that scenario, the Conservatives are just short of being the largest party in Parliament. Labour would be the largest party in Parliament with 282 seats but with only 31.8% of the votes cast. The Conservatives would have 37.66% of the vote and 281 seats. Labour would be 44 seats short of an overall majority. There is no way that Labour could effectively govern without the support of the Lib Dems. The Conservatives might be able to form a Government with the forbearance of the Lib Dems but it would be highly unstable. It would not be possible for the Conservatives to legislate the most controversial aspects of their manifesto. A further General Election (perhaps within 2 years) would seem likely.
In between the two extremes of Labour having the largest number of seats in a hung parliament, there is a grey area where the smaller minority parties could make the difference. In such a scenario, MPs from the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the SDLP and the DUP could extract concessions from Labour to keep them in power. For example, they could agree not to alter the Barnett formula. Such a strategy would not be without considerable risk for Labour in the medium and longer term.
In the end, the onus is on the Prime Minister to offer his resignation to the Queen. If Labour is still the largest parliamentary party, they would be within their rights to review the possibility of continuing in Government. There is already some historical precedent.
In February 1974, Labour won the largest number of seats (301 against 297 for the Conservatives) but fell short of an overall majority by 19 seats. The outgoing Prime Minister, Ted Heath, did not resign immediately. He only did so after attempting to form a coalition Government with the Liberals, led by Jeremy Thorpe. In theory Ted Heath could have tried to form a coalition with the Ulster Unionists (then 11 MPs) but the price would have been the dismantling of Sunningdale. Harold Wilson became prime minister for the second time but his Government did not have the stability that it needed. After some of its bills were voted down in the Commons, Wilson called another general election later that year. Labour won the October 1974 election with a slim overall majority. They held power until May 1979.
In theory, even if Labour is the largest party in a hung Parliament, they could continue in Government so long as they are not too far short of an overall majority. It is hard to say what the “tipping” point would be here. Labour could probably just about continue in power 20 short of an overall majority with the sort of deal that I have suggested. Labour would be in this position with a uniform swing against them of about 2.7%. The likelihood?
In their worst opinion poll this year (November 15), the Conservative lead was only 6%. (Con 37%, Lab 31%, L.Dem 17%) Even on those figures, the Conservatives would still (just) be the largest party in Parliament.
The bookies will not take your bet on David Cameron becoming Prime Minister. However, the events of 1974 demonstrate how difficult it is for the party in power to govern efficiently and securely without a sufficient number of MPs. It also is a reminder to all of us in the Conservative Party and the UUP that the votes cast for the Northern Ireland Parliamentary seats will play a crucial part in determining the strength of the next UK Government.
We are pretty humorous people. You do have to wonder what parts of our culture would look like to an outside observer. Our Christmas shopping is a classic example. We start the madness early (and it is really early) on the Friday morning following Thanksgiving. The stories begin to be reported later that day about the ridiculously long lines beginning ridiculously early in the morning with people fighting for ridiculous bargains often resulting in ridiculous behavior. The intrepid survivors of the mayhem recount the stories of their experiences as veterans of this annual battle of militaristic merchandising. Even though things begin to ease up for the next couple of weeks, as Christmas Eve inches into view, the trips to any shopping district become more and more infuriating.
Eventually we come to this day–the day after Christmas. While the malls, etc. were not as crazy as they were a week ago they were still not very much fun–but we go through some headaches to save money, don’t we?–so while some of us are still out shopping, the others are returning the gifts that their friends and family so thoughtfully searched for and presented so lovingly to them. Even though there are many types of gifts that get returned and there are many reasons for them being returned, the returns are massive–in December of 2008 Kohl’s department store reported that of all the people that received gifts of clothing 74% of them would be making returns–and that is just clothing. A gift card sounds more brilliant all the time. A lot of other people must think the same thing–according to the National Retail Federation approximately 24.9 billion dollars will be spent be spent on gift cards during the Christmas shopping season.
Isn’t it fascinating that the most wonderfully anticipated day of gift giving on the calendar is accompanied by such an exercise of discontent? Why is there such discontent? Why is contentment so rare? Would you (or I) consider ourselves contented people? If not, why not? Is there a secret to contentment? We know that being contented will never be satisfied by “stuff”–because there will never be enough. So where does it come from? The Bible makes it so clear that contentment is based on knowing who God is and in knowing who I am in relation to Him. It is never about what–it is always about who. So after we have opened the gifts, thrown out the wrappings, and put the tree on the curb will we know a deep, soul-level satisfaction that comes from within? By the way, we won’t find it at the return counter.
Hello Friends here we come up with the Latest Agri Commodities updates from various parts of the globe.
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Industry expects 44% rise in sugar output next season
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Industry expects 44% rise in sugar output next season:
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India’s sugar output is expected to rise by 44% to 23 million tonne in the crop year that starts from October 2010, an industry official said, as higher prices are likely to support cane cultivation.
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The output in 2010-11 would be substantially higher than an expected 16 million tonne during 2009-10, Vinay Kumar, managing director of the National Cooperative Federation of Sugar Factories Ltd, told.
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Bumper planting is going on in Uttar Pradesh because of higher prices.
Producers are raising price of cane every week, Kumar said.
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In Other major Commodities Updates we can read that Corn, Soybeans are expected to rise with the rise in crudeoil prices and decline in dollar value.
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Corn, Soybeans May Advance as Crude Oil Rises, Dollar Declines
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Corn, soybeans and wheat were little changed and may climb on speculation that the dollar’s decline and rising crude oil may increase demand for the crops used for food, animal feed and alternative fuel.
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Corn for March delivery fell 0.1 percent to $4.0425 a bushel in electronic trading on the Chicago Board of Trade at 10:51 a.m. in Tokyo after gaining 1.5 percent yesterday, the biggest gain since Dec. 11.
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Before today, the contract fell 3.1 percent this month, the first drop in four months. March-delivery soybeans climbed 0.3 percent to $10.12 a bushel.
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The contract rose 1.1 percent yesterday after the Department of Agriculture said U.S. exporters sold a total of 367,000 metric tons in transactions with Italy, China and buyers that weren’t identified.
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Cumulative U.S. sales from Sept. 1 to Dec. 10 are up 53 percent to 29.554 million tons.
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Note : For More Latest Industry, Stock Market and Economy News and Updates, please Click Here
On Dec. 21 Ford Motor F – news – people announced it would be offering buyout or retirement incentive packages to all 41,000 of its hourly, United Automobile Workers-represented workers in the U.S.
via The Weekly Layoff Report: Tough Times At Ford – Forbes.com – Mozilla Firefox.
MCX COMDEX captures diversified sectors encompassing futures contracts drawn on metals, energy and agricultural commodities that are traded on MCX.
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It is the significant barometer for the performance of commodities market and
would be an ideal investment tool in commodities market over a period of time.
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The MCX COMDEX futures give users the ability to efficiently hedge commodity and inflation exposure and lay off residual risk.
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Protection can be established regardless of overall market direction.
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MCX COMDEX, India’s first composite commodity futures index was launched on June 7, 2005.
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Advantage:
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Investors who own stocks of companies having exposure to primary commodities
could use the COMDEX as a guide to hedge their risk in the commodity exchange,
thereby bringing stability to the financial markets and strengthening linkages.
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Weight age (%) of Commodities in MCX COMDEX:
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On the MCX-COMDEX, Agricultural sub-group carries 20% weighting.
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It includes ref. soy oil, potato, chana, crude palm oil, kapaskhali & mentha oil.
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Metals also carry 40% weighting and comprise gold, silver, copper, zinc, aluminium, nickel & lead.
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The energy sub-group consists of crude oil & natural gas and carries 40% weighting.
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Weight age (%) of Commodities in MCX COMDEX:
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Performance 2009:
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The chart above depicts that with the bull-run in commodities,
this index has outperformed throughout in the year 2009,
as compared to other years, where they had shown a sideways movement.
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Also Group Indices for MCX AGRI, MCX METAL & MCX ENERGY on commodity futures prices have been developed
to represent different commodity segments as traded on the exchange.
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Performance 2009
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Note : For More Latest Industry, Stock Market and Economy News and Updates, please Click Here
When you see the word “government” used to describe any entity or in any topic, it means YOUR TAX DOLLARS GOING TO THE WEALTHY AND NOT YOU, THE COMMUNITY YOU LIVE IN OR INTO INVESTING IN FUTURE GENERATIONS:
Story:
Billions in profits made during the panic
David Tepper’s hedge fund earned a whopping $7 billion by betting against the U.S. recession.
In this comeback year for investors, David Tepper may have scored one of the biggest paydays of all.
Mr. Tepper’s hedge-fund firm has racked up about $7 billion of profit so far this year—with Mr. Tepper on track to earn more than $2.5 billion for himself, according to people familiar with the matter. That is among the largest one-year takes in recent years.
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On Feb. 10 of this year, Mr. Tepper read that the Treasury Department was introducing the so-called Financial Stability Plan. It included a commitment by the government to inject capital into banks by buying their preferred stock, (THAT MEANS YOUR MONEY TAXPAYERS !!!) or shares that carry less chance of reward but also less risk than common stock.
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….the government would stand behind the banks….
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Just months earlier, the government had injected billions of dollars to keep companies such as American International Group Inc…
The United Nations International Day for Abolition of Slavery is observed across the world, including Pakistan, on December 2 every year. This year, too, the day was remembered and the pledge renewed to end slavery in any form, according to a news agency report.
The God-fearing people are in search of any such electronic and print media reporter who can tell them if any activity was witnessed anywhere in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, or any human rights advocate, or non-governmental organisation, had arranged any function on the occasion in any urban or rural area around the federal capital territory to provide an opportunity to men, women and children to open their mouth against poverty, illiteracy and exploitation, which drove them to slavery. The common man, feeling crippled financially by surging food prices and aggressive utility bills, has lost confidence in political leaders and very often says most of them, in power or out of it, are intellectually slave to monetary institutions under the clout of an imperialist country whose president at the beginning of the 21st century asserted more than once that he’s the mightiest on the earth.
The common man says “there’s crisis of leadership in my country, 40 per cent of the country’s population live below the poverty line, we beg billions of dollars as loans from IMF, World Bank and the US on their exploitative conditions, how we spend such borrowed huge amounts, who takes away the money, and what’s the net result of such financial and economic policies, we the poor masses have no knowledge of real facts, we just feel we’re slaves — our children at the mercy of feudal lords and capitalists who sit in the so-called assemblies — and our rulers seek blessing as slaves from a foreign power.
Why don’t they seek guidance from God almighty? Doesn’t the Quran provide a complete code of life of mankind — social, economic, educational, cultural and political?” Haven’t we forgotten Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who established the first-ever people’s welfare state in the world? Don’t we urgently need it now?
By the way, one purpose of the Anti-Slavery Day reportedly observed across the world is to remind the people that the modern slavery works against human rights, another is to exhort people and their governments to translate the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that “no one shall be held in slavery or servitude” through their actions. Does the Anti-Slavery Day have any impact on members of the United Nations Organization, like the United States of America, Israel and India? No! Not at all, not even in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, which was achieved after long arduous struggle against an imperialist power at the cost of more than a million human lives — men, women and children — with a great vision. And that was to evolve a state with a people’s government based on principles of equality and social justice, in other words socialism which emphasises equality and brotherhood of man, and equal opportunities for all.
About 13 centuries before the birth of the UNO (1945), of Pakistan (1947) and adoption of the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (Resolution 317-IV) of December 2, 1949, God’s last Prophet (PBUH) set up the welfare state as role model for the world for all times to come. He was a great socialist who found that the masses were being exploited economically and socially by a section of people who practiced usury. He forbade it and introduced the system of Zakat, Sadqah and Fitr. The distribution of wealth in the society dealt a deathblow to capitalism and feudalism. He encouraged the people to turn attention to trade and agriculture. Many such measures contributed to building of national economy. He abolished the slavery system in vogue among the Arabs.
The slavery system prevailed among the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews and the Christians, who treated the slaves very inhumanly and possessed the life-and-death power over them. They did nothing for the welfare of the slaves. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) raised the status of the slaves, declaring “there’s no service more acceptable to God than the emancipation of slaves.” He himself purchased the slaves to set them free and advised his followers to treat them with kindness and justice.
The elders of the twin cities, including school and college teachers and media persons, recall the struggle of the lawyers, doctors, poets, writers and youths of revolutionary ideas to eliminate the system of slavery in whatever form it existed in the country. They blame the failure of the united effort on the feudal elements in the assemblies under the covert patronage of the imperialists who wanted perpetuation of class system in the country. That’s why and how slavery still exists in the country. The question also is alive: how to get rid of slavery? The answer, say the educated youths, is simple: unity of the people, both civil and military, with faith in God almighty and working discipline to develop Pakistan into a social welfare state with strong national economy and defence.
Suppose that some rogue state, such as North Korea, entered the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit and effectively shut it down due to its unwillingness to participate with the rest of the world in light of its own economic concerns … what would be the appropriate recourse from the global community?
I usually think that these non-participatory rogue states, whose actions have the potential to harm other peoples around the world, should be sanctioned.
But unfortunately this time it is not Iran or North Korea, etc., but it is us, and I cannot help but think that on a fair playing field we, America, might need a threat of sanctioning posed against us by the rest of the world.
I am very lucky. I do not have to do a great deal of Christmas shopping. Deb takes care of all of our mutual shopping and for my family. That means that I really only have to shop for Deb. This year we have decided to get Kenwood GPS, iPod and bluetooth ready units installed in our vehicles. So, I really only had to do a little bit of shopping for her. I chose to do it today, yes the last weekend before Christmas.
I was prepared for crowds, not being able to move and definitely having trouble finding parking spots. I went to the first mall and I got a parking spot right away, even close to the door. The mall was far from packed. The only thing that made it look any different from other days were the extra kiosks in the mall. I did not have to put up with packed stores or crowded tills.
On to the second mall. I had to do some errands and then some grocery shopping. Again, I had no trouble parking and this mall actually closed at 6 pm. The stores were not packed – not even London Drugs. Then I went to Save-On and it wasn’t crowded either.
I have been to these malls during other Christmas Seasons and they have certainly been way more packed. I am guessing the economy is not as recovered as our politicians would have us all believe. It will be interesting to see what the actual retail numbers are when they come out in early 2010.
What else? Well my stamina is still not great. I was out shopping for about 3 hours and that was all I could take in terms of walking around. My pain level has been quite high – likely because my immune system is ramping up. I see the colitis specialist at the end of January so I hope to have some answers by then. I will probably only get booked for another scope in reality.
I know that I rave about how much I am loving our little Zoe. Everyday, it is a little bit more. She is so good in many ways and so bratty in other ways:
Good:
She lets you groom her with no hassle – nails, hair, trimming etc. I have never seen a dog be so cooperative.
She is the best cuddle bug ever. She can lay flat on her back and fall asleep. I can move her and she does not wake up.
She gives the best dog kisses ever!
She is awesome at the park off-leash. She comes when she is called.
She loves her food and she eats really well.
Waking up with a cuddle from Zoe is the best!
Bad
She hates to go out to pee and she has to be put out.
She is obsessed with the guinea pigs. She jumps and barks at them. She stands on her hind legs for what seems like forever trying to see them. It is very cute.
When you call her she will decide if she is going to come. Sometimes she does, other times she does not.
She loves to lay on the tables but when she does she becomes crash the shihtzu pretty quickly.
She can be pretty sneaky. She once went out the front door while everyone was coming in. She barked pretty quickly to be let back in!
The driving force for a nation today is the economic strength. Bangladesh is striving to become one of the middle income countries by 2021. A country’s overall economic performance is measured the total productive power of the economy in a year. While it is expected that the gross domestic product (GDP) of Bangladesh will continue to grow, the growth rate of GDP will determine the pace of the progress. A higher growth rate will enable Bangladesh to utilize is abundant manpower efficiently.
Once agriculture sector had the major contribution in GDP but as Bangladesh is developing, the contribution from agriculture sector is decreasing. And the contribution of financial sector such as industries, banks and remittance (foreign and domestic) is increasing. In 1986 agriculture sector directly contributes around 46 percent, in 1996 around 35 percent and in 2007-08 around 20.87 percent of the GDP. In 1986 industrial sector contributes around 10 percent, in 1996 around 11 percent and in 2007-08 around 17.77 percent of the GDP. Since 1996 economy has grown 5 to 6 percent per year before it was around 3 percent or less.
After the independence in 1971, everything was controlled by the government and government did not encourage private investment, and most industries were nationalized. In 1975-80 Bangladesh was slowly moving toward liberalization. In 1980-90 it was beginning of liberalization; government gave permission more liberally to private sector investment. In 1990 on-ward it was a period of liberalization and privatization. Financial sector became a driving force for growth since 1990 and domestic money supply also increased after 1990. CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE.
Every now and again, Outlook Portland takes some time to address an issue that is neither zombie or bacon oriented. That issue, of course, usually relates in some way to Kelly Clarke’s definition of “personal space”…and ends in lots of awkwardness for everyone.
This time, however, the subject is somewhat different. If you live in Oregon, the odds are high that you are either unemployed or facing a cutback in your employment; if you live elsewhere, the odds may be slightly more in your favor, but only slightly.
Adding to that trouble is the fact that seemingly no one understands the complexities of unemployment-related bureaucracy:
How long can you get benefits?
How can you get an extension?
Where does the money for unemployment benefits come from, anyway? (Hint: your first guess is almost certainly wrong… mine was.)
And… as the recession continues, will the benefits run out? What if there simply are no more jobs?
Join us this Sunday, as Outlook Portland discusses unemployment benefits, the recession, and Oregon jobs. Our special guests Patrick Emerson (no relation, he’s proud to say) and Tom Byerly will shine some light on all of the above questions… and will give us a glimpse of what the future might hold for Oregon’s economy (and our own personal financial stability.)
Rafe Needleman at CNET (http://www.cnet.com/profile/rafe/) writes a good article on his opinion of paying once for digital newspapers subscription (full story at http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10417065-250.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20).
I think it’s absolutely right to pay for some kind of informations or VAS (Value Added Services), though it’s absolutely correct to have a “flat subscription” where you pay for the information but you don’t for the media bringing it.
And cannot be penalized those having acces through diferent media.
I think that information providers (but also media providers,…) look at making big money in short time to maximize initiative ROI instead of creating a stable and fidelized subscriber base.
It’s the distortion (and subsequent error) we’ve been through last years and that is triggered by market: it’s better to grow short than consolidate in long time.
This post as a comment also at http://news.cnet.com/8618-19882_3-10417065.html?communityId=2127&targetCommunityId=2127&blogId=250&messageId=8817126
4 Big Mortgage Backers Swim in Ocean of Debt – NYTimes.com.
Even as the biggest banks repay their government debt in what is being heralded as a successful rescue program, four troubled giants of the financial world remain on government life support.
These companies, the American International Group, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and GMAC, are not only unable to repay the government, they are in need of continuing infusions that make them look increasingly like long-term wards of the state.
The United States has now an Unemployment Rate (UR) of 10% and yearly deficits in the trillions. Dems like to rationalize it by saying that following the collapse of Lehman on 9/15 2008 “we had the worst economy since the great depression, therefore we have these deficits and high unemployment.”
This excuse if junk and needs to be shot down once and for all: The 9/11 attacks which happened during a recession, was initially more devastating to the economy than was the financial meltdown (you remember how much the Dow lost when the markets opened almost a week after the attacks?). Yet back then, the unemployment rate rose only one and a half percent to peak at 6.3%, not like the current rate which rose a few percent to be at 10%. In addition, the deficits in the two years following 9/11 totaled a few hundred billion dollars, not TRILLIONS like we have now. You know why? Because the tax-cutting policies of the Republicans back then did its job to save the economy, vs. the policies of the Dem majority following the meltdown did NOT do its job. The Dems were and still are more focused on wasteful spending and ideological agendas than to actually save the economy.
Does this sound like a talking-point for Republicans? It sure does, but it spells the truth.
So, as anyone anywhere close to the political classes will tell you this last few days since the announcement of the Budget has seen not the long anticipated and – let’s be honest, feared – tsunami of discontent and anger at the Government parties but instead a strange silence. There were some indications of a public sector campaign of emails and calls, but low level in the main. So, all told the Government politicians are counting this as a job well done.
Are they right?
I’m not so sure. The next round of polls will tell their own story, but most intriguing to me is whether we see an upward tilt in the Fianna Fáil poll numbers. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised. And yet, this surely must mark the point at which Fianna Fáil voters in the public sector have finally lost faith with that party. And given that many, if not indeed most – statistics would be useful on this score, people have PS workers in their families as brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters you’d think that the recent cuts would have finally nailed the trope about not sharing this nebulous ‘pain’ and that that might concentrate minds when pay packets come in in the New Year. So, to anticipate some gains for Labour and Fine Gael is hardly the stuff of divine prophecy and more like basic logic.
That said the media and business and econommentariat plaudits for the Budget are unlikely to have gone unnoticed and one wonders if that will support or even strengthen FF numbers. And there’s more than one FG tending voter who likes the lash of firm government, particularly if the crack descends elsewhere.
As regards the Green Party I’d wonder if further collateral damage has been incurred (and let’s leave Deputy Gogarty’s intervention aside… btw a good friend has met the man and found him pretty charming). Where we saw a bizarre, but for them pleasing, dynamic in the first year or so of the Coalition whereby their poll ratings drifted largely free of political events (our beloved former Taoiseach’s antics apparently having zero impact on their general popularity), only to begin to descend precipitously with the arrival of more straitened economic times. They’ve yet to recover, albeit their base is unlikely to be hugely upset by the measures taken against the public sector in the Budget. And yet, and yet. They too have – rhetorically – played it fairly fast and loose with the PS and this too will do them no good politically. An awful lot of second and even first preferences came from those employed in that sector who believed they saw kindred spirits of the very soft centre left. More than one has been disabused of that notion. To suggest that the Green Party may be out of power for a generation following the next election, may indeed slump largely back into the voluntary sector having lost most of its representation, sure ain’t the stuff of prophecy either. I think that’s a pity, I genuinely do – there are people of enormous capability and sincerity inside the GP who are indeed part of the centre left, but the trajectory of their journey over the past two and a half years has near enough cemented that outcome with a public just barely getting to grips with the outline of what the next three or so years are going to be like for them personally. And once it gets personal… well… that’s bad news for the Government parties, and perhaps particularly so for the smallest one.
Moreover, the point reiterated time and again that they have been supporting Fianna Fáil and it’s pomps and works is cruelly underlined by the Budget votes. No Green Party, no Government, no Budget – or at best a staggering on by FF for a short period with the support of a fractious crew of Independents of various stripes, and for progressives, however suspicious we are of FG and – perhaps in part Labour – it’s hard to believe that such a combination wouldn’t have exhibited at least a slightly greater level of social awareness in its machinations. Nothing too great, it must be noted, but perhaps eschewing social welfare cuts in favour of slightly increased on middle and higher income earners.
And talking about the Independents… well, they’re not necessarily doing themselves any great favors. We seem to have seen a remarkable divergence between types of Independents in the past number of years, those who solidly vote with the Government on foot of deals. And those who don’t at all. Telling to see Joe Behan, formerly of Fianna Fáil slot right into the latter category and hear him saying that he was ‘ashamed’ of his former party. But Behan got out at the right time, which is not to ascribe any cynicism to his move, but rather to point that to head to the exit any later and FF Deputies were blooded by Budget 2009. Hence the remarkably diverse rationales emanating from the good Dr. McDaid as regards his stance on the Budget. Eyebrows were certainly raised at other pronouncements during this period, which perhaps we’ll come back to at a later date.
And that is, what I’d hazard, is at the root of the current silence. There’s little point in shouting when it is absolutely clear that your voice isn’t going to be listened to. What’s in it for the Government, unloved and waiting out its days before its inevitable demise to cut and run? Nothing at all if the most recent polls are to be believed. Indeed the events of the previous two or three weeks where (dis)organised labour crashed and burned on the rocks of the Governments almost complete indifference may well have provided an object lesson to many who otherwise would be marching. It’s not merely that the Government won’t listen. It is now clear that alternative viewpoints will not, in the main, be given even a token sympathetic hearing. Indeed quite the opposite, as was made clear by the ’statement to the Nation’ on one of our more high-profile media outlets during last week.
That’s the new consensus. Gogarty’s words might well have been right, albeit directed at the wrong target… we are indeed screwed.
In case you haven’t noticed, the U.S. economy today is actually being hit by two tsunamis at once: The Great Recession and the Great Inflection.
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Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Thomas L. Friedman
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The Great Inflection is the mass diffusion of low-cost, high-powered innovation technologies — from hand-held computers to Web sites that offer any imaginable service — plus cheap connectivity. They are transforming how business is done. The Great Recession you know.
The “good news” is that the Great Recession is forcing companies to take advantage of the Great Inflection faster than ever, making them more innovative. The bad news is that credit markets and bank lending are still constricted, so many companies can’t fully exploit their productivity gains and spin off the new jobs we desperately need.
Two examples, one small, one large: The first is my childhood friend, Ken Greer, who owns a marketing agency in Minneapolis, Greer & Associates. The Great Recession has forced him to radically downsize, but the Great Inflection has made him radically more productive. He illustrated this by telling me about a film he recently made for a nonprofit.
“The budget was about 20 percent of what we normally would charge,” said Greer. “After one meeting with the client, almost all our communication was by e-mail. The script was developed and approved using a collaborative tool provided by www.box.net. Internally, we all could look at the script no matter where we were, make suggestions and get to a final draft with complete transparency — easy, convenient and free. We did not have a budget to shoot new footage, yet we had no budget either for stock photography the old way — paying royalties of $100 to $2,000 per image. We found a source, istockphoto.com, which offered great photos for as little as a few dollars.
“We could easily preview all the images, place them in our program to make sure they worked, purchase them online and download the high-resolution versions — all in seconds,” Greer added. “We had a script that called for 4 to 5 voices. Rather than hiring local voice talent — for $250 to $500 per hour — we searched the Internet for high-quality voices that we could afford. We found several sites offering various forms of narration or voice-overs. We selected www.voices.com. In less than one minute, we created an account, posted our requirements and solicited bids. Within five minutes, we had 10 to 15 ‘applicants’ ” — charging 10 percent of what Greer would have paid live talent.
“Best part,” he said, “within minutes we had sample reads, which could be placed into our film to see if the voices fit. We selected our finalists, wrote them with more specific instructions and within hours had the final read delivered to us via MP3 files over the Web. We could get any accent or ethnicity we wanted. For music, we used a site called www.audiojungle.net,” where he could sample thousands of cuts of music and sound effects with the click of a mouse, and then buy them for pennies.
By being able to access all these cheap tools, Greer got to focus on his value-add: imagination. The customer got a better product for less money. But he didn’t create many new jobs. For that, he needs the economy to pick up. “If we could only borrow a buck and invest,” said Greer, “we’d all be rolling again.”
Farooq Kathwari, the longtime C.E.O. of Ethan Allen Interiors, had to accelerate reinvention of his company for the same reasons. In the last year, he reduced his work force by 25 percent, consolidated several U.S. manufacturing plants, including transferring all upholstery manufacturing into a large state-of-the-art facility in North Carolina, enabling Ethan Allen to substantially decrease its production time. The most labor-intensive upholstery work is done in the company’s new plant in Mexico, and the components are shipped to the North Carolina facility for completion.
“Five years ago,” said Kathwari, “it would take about 20 hours of labor time to make a high-quality custom sofa. Now, due to our investments in technology and a smaller work force that is more highly skilled, the labor time to make this sofa is about three hours.”
Everywhere he can, Kathwari says he is leveraging technology to cut costs and improve quality to retain his competitive position in world markets. This enabled Ethan Allen to maintain sufficient cash to survive. “We now produce all our advertising programs in-house, including national television commercials, at a fraction of the cost we spent a few years back — just as your friend is doing,” said Kathwari. “Our associates recognize that reinvention is vital to our survival.”
Given its new state of hyperefficiency, any uptick in business would really help Ethan Allen’s bottom line and stimulate hiring, but that requires credit markets to loosen for its customers and store owners. Said Kathwari, “Credit is still a vital issue, and it is not happening at the grass-roots level — or when it is, it is very expensive.”
Strange times: The Great Recession and Great Inflection are making our companies ultralean, innovative and productive. But with credit still constricted, we’re like a superfit track star with a weak heart. We’ve got to get credit pumping to our industrial muscles again.
At the Ito Yokado supermarket, I’ve been surprised by clerks telling me to take my reciept to the cash back counter. For three days, Ito Yokado is offering a huge discount on many products in an effort to appeal to customers whose families have suffered job losses or reduced or even no bonuses. Everybody’s hurting in this difficult economy, as deflation and a really high yen takes it out on the Japanese consumer, according to Bloomberg’s report on Aeon and Ito Yokado discounts.
On Friday, I picked up a few pairs of socks and was surprised to find that the clerks accepted my point card, which I redeemed for about 200 yen, and handed me a receipt which I then took to the front counter for a further discount of nearly 70 yen. At the register, every time I refuse a bag, my purchase price is discounted by 2 yen.
So, tonight, I’m going back to pick up a few more things for tonight’s dinner, cashmere socks and some other bits and pieces to keep me through the week.
by Giordano Bruno
Published: Dec. 08, 2009 – Neithercorp Press
One thing I have learned in my work with the Liberty Movement over the years, a fact which I will never again take for granted, is that the world can turn on a dime, without warning, or pity. We often expect that these drastic changes will be for the worse, but now I realize that this is not always so. A dramatic turn towards good, a turn towards truth, is just as possible as any other, as long as we endeavor to make it so.
Not long ago, only a couple years back, the idea of finally achieving a full audit of the privately controlled Federal Reserve was thought by many to be a naïve fantasy. The Fed was a massive internationally coordinated entity with unlimited resources (they print their own capital from thin air), how could we possibly compete with the political clout or the tremendous media sway they held at their fingertips? The masses had absolutely no inkling of what the Fed was let alone why they should care about its stranglehold on U.S. politics or financial mechanics. We were screaming at the proverbial “brick wall.” An economic collapse was imminent, and all we could do was wait.
Proponents of the Fed scoured internet chat boards and forums arguing that the Central Bank was part of the Government, that it was public, that it was audited yearly. The bigger the lie, the more effective it was in distracting people from the obvious and documented facts. But again, the world can turn on a dime…
The Federal Reserve Exposed!
It took a deflationary meltdown in credit and housing markets to finally inspire the average American to take an interest in the Fed, but the necessary curiosity and the subsequent and understandable rage over the so far unaccountable financial monstrosity has now taken hold.
The destructive interest rate policies that caused the Housing bubble and the derivatives bubble have now been exposed. The Fed kept interest rates in housing markets artificially low during the 90’s, primarily because the U.S. economy was already showing signs of deflation due to the continuous devaluation of the U.S. Dollar since 1913 and the exportation of America’s manufacturing base. Central Bankers stepped in, and the cheap money which followed created the so called “sub-prime” mortgage boom, which prolonged the effects of a collapse through easy credit, but also lured millions of people into crushing debt.
As sub-prime mortgages timed out and their low introductory rates expired, American homeowners suckered by the rain of cheap loans were suddenly confronted with payments they could not possibly afford. Many of these sub-prime mortgage rates expired, strangely, in a very short span of time, which then led to massive and simultaneous bankruptcies, the bubble collapse, and the panic in derivatives markets, which are invested heavily in debt based securities.
What people must realize is that the economic meltdown we are witnessing today is not a sudden and unpredictable event, but an easily foreseeable chain reaction that took decades to coalesce. Numerous people, including men like Ron Paul and Peter Schiff, predicted the collapse years in advance:
Instead of investigating the Federal Reserve and its role in the collapse with a full audit, the government instead opened the door for the Central Bank to create an even larger and more devastating bubble in the Dollar by passing the Banker Bailout Bills.
The validity of the banker bailouts (which the vast majority of Americans did not want) have now been consistently challenged in the House. The arbitrary $700 Billion number given to Americans when the bailouts were being organized has been revealed as fraudulent. The Fed is completely unrestrained and able to print fiat capital at will. The real estimate for the size of the Banker Bailouts comes to around $24 Trillion!
This act alone warrants heavy handed scrutiny of the Fed. But how is it possible that the Fed can take and spend taxpayer money without any oversight? For decades the Fed has argued that they are a “part of the government”, but their recent actions bring the truth to the surface. The Fed is in fact not public, but a private entity not subject to FOIA requests or Congressional oversight (Congress has the right to pursue a full audit of the Fed, but this right has not been exercised until now). This is the ONLY reason why they can refuse to tell Congress where our money has gone. Finally, Alan Greenspan himself was forced to admit that the Fed is “independent” (private), and answers to no one:
Today, the Fed along with spokesman/PR-man Ben Bernanke are desperately trying to maintain damage control on the Central Bank’s public image. Ron Paul’s HR.1207 has been hugely successful and a vote on the bill appears to be unstoppable. The bill presents Fed officials with their most dreaded of all scenarios: an audit!
But why do Central Bankers need to be dragged kicking and screaming into an audit? What are they so afraid of? First, let’s examine some of the Fed’s primary arguments against an audit, and why all of them are absurd…
The Fed’s Arguments Against Audit
False Argument #1: The Fed must remain independent or it will come under political pressure and will not be able to do its job.
This argument is summed up quite well in the following quote from Anil Kashyup, an economist for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve:
“Economic theory and massive amounts of empirical evidence make a strong case for maintaining the Fed’s independence. When central banks are subjected to political pressure, authorities often pursue excessively expansionary monetary policy in order to lower unemployment in the short run. This produces higher inflation and higher interest rates without lowering unemployment in the long term. This has happened over and over again in the past, not only in the United States but in many other countries throughout the world.
The Fed’s independence is critical to its credibility. During the financial crisis, this credibility allowed the Fed to take extraordinary action to prevent a possible depression without triggering inflation. But eventually the Fed will have to scale back its unprecedented monetary accommodation. When it does move to tighten monetary conditions, it must be allowed to do so without political interference.”
I find this argument fascinatingly ironic for a couple of reasons. First, Anil makes no reference to what “empirical evidence” he is referring to. At what point has the Fed ever been subjected to “political pressure” which resulted in inflation it did not want, and who then studied and compiled data on this event that no one has ever heard of? It would certainly be sporting of Mr. Kashyup to at least cite where he is getting this evidence from.
Second, why is an audit of the Fed being equated with “political pressure”? An audit of the private Central Bank does not necessarily lead to political influences. It is a compiling of accounts. It is an examination of how much of our money the Fed has spent and where they spent it. It is not about telling the Fed how it should form and enact its policies. Mr. Kashyup’s argument is erroneous because there is no connection at all between examining the Fed’s accounts and controlling how the Fed operates… unless, of course, the Fed has been lying about its accounts, or has been involved in criminal activities. In that event, political pressure is not only warranted, but necessary to protect the interests of the American people.
Another point to consider: the Federal Reserve may be “independent” of the political motivations of Congress, but is it independent of the political motivations of the globalist bankers who run it? If it is not, then it would certainly be better for the Fed to be controlled by a Congress with an “agenda” who answer to the public, instead of a consortium of rich elites with an agenda who answer to no one.
Third, Kashyup presents these supposed consequences of an audit like some phantasmal bogey man, but the fact is, every item he warns about is already being caused by the Fed without any political pressure at all. The Fed on its own recognizance has inflated the money supply so much so that it deliberately stopped reporting its M3 measurement, which records among other things how many U.S. Dollars are held by foreign banks and the true level of inflation in the money supply:
The Fed has created this inflation while doing nothing to substantially stop unemployment levels from rising to between 17% and 18% (counting U-6 measurements). The Fed has attempted to claim that the recent decline in job losses is due to their bailout efforts along with the lowering of interest rates to near zero. However, it has been revealed that most of the fiat money printed out of thin air and flooded into large banks was not spent on balancing credit markets so that Americans could get loans, nor was it spent to create new jobs. In fact, banks that received trillions of dollars in taxpayer funds have either hoarded the cash, or bet it on stocks, propping up the Dow and creating an illusory “recovery” in the markets:
Money sitting idle in the coffers of corporate banking entities is not going to help create jobs, nor is printing money out of thin air a solid foundation for stopping job loss. It is much more likely that unemployment has leveled off on its own, until the next bubble collapse, and the next wave of layoffs.
So, all the terrible things Mr. Kashyup warns will happen if we audit the Fed are already happening. Yet, he still claims the current relationship between the Fed and the American people is fine the way it is?
A private group of bankers controlling the money supply of an entire country without accountability or transparency? Is this “reasonable” under any circumstance? I think not…..
False Argument #2: If the Fed were audited, it would ruin the economy’s chance at “recovery”, and the collapse would spiral out of control.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday congressional proposals to audit the Fed and strip it of regulatory powers as part of post-crisis reforms could damage prospects for economic and financial health in the future.
“These measures are very much out of step with the global consensus on the appropriate role of central banks, and they would seriously impair the prospects for economic and financial stability in the United States,” Bernanke wrote in a column posted on the Washington Post’s website.
This appears to be more scare mongering, reminiscent of the threats the Fed made when American’s opposed the Banker Bailouts, however, in this case, the threat is probably real, and in a sense, comical. Why? Because in making this statement, Bernanke is basically admitting that if the Fed is audited, we will find something terrible, and when we do, all hell will break loose.
This argument is made to look as though it is based on financial concerns, but it is really a philosophical debate.
Should American’s be allowed to know the whole truth of their economic situation, thereby opening the door to anger and civil unrest? Or, should they go on believing naively that tomorrow will be exactly the same as today, and that all is well?
The fact that Bernanke fears an audit plainly spells out the reality that all is not well. If the Fed’s operations were sound and the economy is on a legitimate track towards recovery, then Bernanke should have nothing to fear from an audit. However, he states openly that he has much to fear, and so apparently do we.
The truth is its own reason, its own purpose. It drives forward with or without us. We can either embrace it, or neglect it, and eventually be destroyed by our lack of knowledge.
Will an audit of the Federal Reserve cause negative effects in the markets? Absolutely! If we find that even half of what we suspect about the Fed’s balance sheet is true, then the effects on the health of the economy and most especially the Dollar will be nightmarish. There is no mistake. The problem is, such events are going to occur regardless of a Fed audit, just over a greater period of time.
So, is it better to experience a collapse knowing exactly who is responsible and why? Or, is it better to experience a collapse in total ignorance of the facts?
The so called recovery is a sham, as we have covered and outlined in numerous articles:
http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=199
http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=167
http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=105
Bernanke is simply stalling the inevitable fall of the Dollar bubble, just as Greenspan stalled the inevitable fall of the housing bubble. The sooner a collapse occurs, the less time it will take to sort out and restructure the economy. The longer these events are delayed, the bigger the bubble becomes, and the more catastrophic the breakdown will be when it finally happens. But perhaps, this is what the Fed has wanted all along…
False Argument #3: The Federal Reserve is necessary.
The Fed was founded in 1913 under dubious and subversive circumstances. Its purpose has been to centralize financial control of the U.S. into the hands of a small group of men. During its existence, we have suffered the Great Depression, many recessions, and now the “Great Recession” which will probably turn out to be the worst depression in the history of the world. The Dollar has been removed entirely from the gold standard which once gave our currency strength and stability. Subsequently, the Fed has been able to inflate our currency into oblivion. For instance, in 1913, if you bought an item for $20, that same item would now cost you $436. That is a rate of inflation of over 2000%!
The rate of inflation has only increased exponentially for every year that passes, and this does not even take into account the trillions of dollars now flooding into our economic system due to the recent bailouts. If this trend continues, the Dollar, the reserve currency of the world, will devalue to the point that no country will want to invest in it, or trade in it. This would not mean total failure by itself if other countries also inflated their currencies, but very few countries in history have ever printed fiat money at the level we are now while at the same time amassing a projected $9.2 Trillion national deficit. This combination of circumstances, all facilitated by the Fed, will cause the international dumping of T-Bonds, the collapse of the dollar, and thus, the default of the U.S. Treasury, which now relies on foreign credit just to keep our government, our military, and all other public services running.
If the Fed was designed to somehow protect the stability of the American economy as Central Bankers assert, it has so far failed miserably.
Before the formation of the Fed, it was the Treasury itself that coined money and determined interest rates. The Treasury is an actual part of the government, and is therefore accountable to the people, unlike the Federal Reserve. Most of America’s greatest economic achievements were made during the time before the Fed was founded. We lived, worked, and progressed as a society, all without a permanent private Central Bank.
So, is the Fed really necessary? The truth is we are much better off without it.
Demand An Audit Of The Fed
The House Financial Services Committee recently voted 41-28 to approve the amendments presented by Ron Paul to audit the Fed. Paul’s bill is now ready for a full House Vote:
The Fed is clamoring to stop the vote and frighten the public with threats of economic doom. Unfortunately for the Fed, and according to recent polls, 79% of Americans want the Central Bank audited:
This kind of consensus cannot be ignored, if only because to do so would create a groundswell of anger financial elites could not control.
The Fed directly determines the course of the economy, and so far it seems only for ill. In turn, this affects the livelihood of every citizen in this country. As long as America is a Democratic Republic, we the people have the right to know what they are doing and why at all times. Ironically, the Fed is attempting to appeal to the American sense of individual sovereignty (which they are attempting to destroy), but Governments and corporate institutions like Central Banks have no right to privacy when they are given the power to possibly disrupt the destinies of millions. The Fed’s concerns over their “independence” are ultimately irrelevant. They are secondary to the concerns of the American people, and the people have loudly and clearly spoken; it is time to know the truth. The gains far outweigh the costs. One way or another, the Fed will answer to us.
“There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.”
John Maynard Keynes
Source: http://neithercorp.us/npress/?p=201
Related:
The Planned Global Economic Crisis
20 reasons America has lost its soul and collapse is inevitable (With Video)
Ron Paul: Obama’s ‘goal’ is economic collapse…
DOCUMENTARY – Fall Of The Republic by Alex Jones (Full Movie HQ)
USA Sick and Ready to Collapse for Three Reasons (With Video)
VIDEO – The US National Debt Road Trip
DOCUMENTARY – Monopoly Men, Federal Reserve Fraud, 1999 (47 min.)
Be Prepared for the Worst
DOCUMENTARY – The Money Masters – How International Bankers Gained Control of America (210 min.)
The End of Money and the Future of Civilization
The Rich Have Stolen The Economy
Are You Ready for the Next Crisis?
UN Calls For Bank Of The World, New Global Currency
The Economic Crisis and What Must be Done
Half Of US Debt Is Owed to Fed
Bilderbergers want Global Currency Now
As Americans Rack Up Billions More On Their Credit Cards The U.S. Economy Is Coming Apart Like A 20 Dollar Suit
Achieving Network Marketing/MLM success is not a mystery, but it seems like everyone knows somebody who has failed with a network marketing opportunity. As a result, some people have become very skeptical. How can you expect to succeed if you focus on the fears and attitudes of those who have failed?
The path to success is clear when you focus on the mlm success strategies used by mlm winners. Here are 11 strategies for success that separate the winners from the failures.
Have the Right Mindset. Before you even get started in multilevel marketing (or any home-based business), you have to have the right mindset. This means setting aside all the negativity you’re hearing from everyone else, and focusing in on how to be successful in this industry. If you can do this then you will find yourself moving up the ladder instead of being stagnate.
Set Goals and Follow Through. MLM success will come more easily if you take a few minutes to set some real goals and write them down. Then develop an action plan to work your way to achieving those goals. Now, it’s easy to set goals, but it’s difficult to follow through with them. And the truth is that the “fortune is in the follow-up.” Sometimes life’s events just get in the way and keep you from accomplishing your dreams. Or do they? Listen, there is no easy road to success and there will be many obstacles in the way. The MLM winners are those who overcome each one and continue to move forward.
Look for Successful People to Prospect. Most people who join a network marketing company are afraid to prospect to successful business people. However, successful business people know what it takes to succeed and they are the ones who are most likely to be successful with the opportunity your offer. While I agree wholeheartedly that you shouldn’t pre-judge people and exclude prospects just because they may not be employed at the time, why not maximize your success by going to people who already know how to be successful?
Use Your Sponsor. Many newcomers to network marketing start out working with their upline and then they drift away and start trying to go it alone. Remember, your upline’s success is tied directly to your success, so ask for his help, watch how he does things, and learn from him. If your upline is only a few minutes more experienced than you, go to his upline until you find a real expert who can guide you.
Take Advantage of Training Opportunities. MLM success is not a mystery. Good companies offer load of training. Take advantage of it. Keep taking advantage of it, even if you have already heard it before.
Win the Numbers Game. MLM is, at many levels, a numbers game. The more people who hear about your opportunity, the more likely it is that larger numbers will join. If 10% of those who hear about an opportunity join, that means that if you share the full opportunity with 10 people, 1 will join. If you share it with 100, 10 will join. Learn that stats for the company you belong to and set hard targets for presenting the opportunity. Then develop a plan and follow through.
With Life Force International, the average person has a 50% success rate on prospects actually looking at the opportunity and, 50% of those will actually become a member. This is a higher than average ratio for many reasons discussed in the following paragraph.
Choose the Correct Company. THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION YOU WILL MAKE is starting out with a good company. Network Marketing or Multi Level Marketing is a wonderful business model, BUT, there are many companies that are not that great in supporting or paying its distributors. Life Force International is “One of the best kept secrets in Network Marketing that is out there”. Below are 10 highlights as to why Life Force International IS the best decision you can make as the “Maker of Your Dreams”;
1) No start up fee
2) Net profit in your first month
3) Do not have to carry inventory
4) 25 year history in good standing with all relationships
5) Highest payout in the industry (60% back to business partners)
6) 25 year history of QUALITY products
7) No quotas
8) NEVER short on support
9) Company has no debt on its books
10) Pays to infinity levels
Organize Your Time. Planning everything out is crucial part of everyday life. Those who fly by the seat of their pants end up having more issues, than those who prefer an organized schedule. Poor time management is one of the things that cause new network marketers to flounder. Time is your most precious resource. MLM success depends on learning how to manage it.
EDUCATE, Don’t SELL! Time and time again, I see people trying to sell their MLM business as opposed to educating their contacts. Remember, these people you’re speaking with day in and day out only know a small portion about your company. If you can teach them the path to success, it will build a good rapport. They will also be able to see the big picture as opposed to short-term success. Remember, nobody likes a hard sell and nobody trusts someone who acts like the stereotype of a used car salesman (no offense to the several excellent and honest used car salesmen that I know).
Support with Exposures. If you’ve ever tried to be involved with an MLM company, everyone always talks about getting a hold of your “warm list.” This is simply all the friends, relatives, and co-workers you know that you have a good relationship with for the most part. Unfortunately, these same people have become extremely skeptical and want to see you make money first (well most of them anyways). As someone I know who has been extremely successful with network marketing puts it, “Your friends and family won’t believe that you are an expert on a business you just learned about 5 minutes ago. However, they will believe that you met someone who is an expert.” So, invite your close friends and family to learn about the opportunity, and then put them in front of an expert (your upline) to do the actual presenting. Make sure you establish that person as an expert before they start, and then sit back and let your upline explain the business. Eventually, you will be presenting to the friends and family of your downline, so take advantage of this opportunity to listen closely to how it’s done.
Be the Team Member You Want Your Team Members to Be. Your team will follow you. If they see you staying in action, they will stay in action. If they see you setting goals, they will set goals. If they see you attending training, they will attend training. Get the picture? Take a moment and write down the characteristics that you would like to see in your downline. Then be those things. Your team will look to you to show them the path to MLM success.
If you would like to learn more about the products/history of the company/business, go to www.lifeforcerewards.com and if you would like to try Body Balance, go to www.byebyejob.biz.
Mark Penn’s two firms awarded millions from stimulus for PR push
December 9, 2009 by Alexander Bolton
A contract worth nearly $6 million in stimulus funds was awarded by the Obama adminstration to two firms run by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton’s pollster in 2008.
Federal records show that a contract worth $5.97 million, part of the $787 billion stimulus Congress passed this year, helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller, the global public-relations and communications firm headed by Penn.
Burson-Marsteller won the contract to work on a public-relations campaign to advertise the national switch from analog to digital television. Nearly $2.8 million of the contract was awarded through a subcontract to Penn’s polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland, according to federal records.
Federal records also show that a former adviser to President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign received nearly $70,000 from that contract to help alert viewers in difficult-to-reach communities that their televisions would ssoon no longer receive broadcast signals.
The adviser, Alfredo J. Balsera, who heads a public-affairs firm based in Coral Gables, Fla., helped craft Obama’s Hispanic advertising message.
Republicans on Tuesday criticized the federal spending on the advertising project as a waste of taxpayer dollars. They noted that the advertising campaign took place on May 5, only 39 days before the digital television transition was scheduled (June 12).
TARP money was supposed to be for emergencies, wasn’t it?
Well, it came a bit before the Budget, indeed it came on Tuesday. The bit where:
Mr Lenihan conceded last night that the budget would be very difficult but he forecast that, “it is going to be the last of the very difficult budgets”.
Some of you may have noticed that on matters economic Pat McArdle and I don’t see eye to eye… well, I don’t see him… he’s never seen me… or heard of me either come to think of it…
But where I do agree with Pat McArdle 100% is his thought that this is only the beginning of a process. This the ‘last of the very difficult budgets’? Not even close Minister. Not even close.
Actually my second favourite part was when Lenihan during the speech called the income levy ‘highly progressive’… you’d wonder does he understand the technical term as used in reference to taxes either… because it’s anything but.
And of all else, how come Richard Curran of the Sunday Business Post is the only one on RTÉ panel yesterday afternoon directly after the Budget speech, to actually seem to have an intuitive grasp of why all the talk about welfare and other rates going back to 2006 levels as if that were ‘easy’ was pointless since, as he noted, people had adjusted to 2008-9 rates in the meantime and such an ‘readjustment’ would incur real pain.
As it happens last night I went out for pints, first time in weeks, with a bunch of friends from national school. So, apologies if this is thin. I arrived home in time to watch Prime Time and Lenihan and Richard Bruton (who I once recall addressing a hall in Finglas in the 1980s to an – ahem – not so friendly crowd filled with us WP types, kudos to Bruton, in fairness even if I didn’t agree with him in the slightest) shout at each other. I’d love to know about the 20%, 30% wage cuts in the private sector Brian Lenihan was talking about. I have no doubt that in scattered individual case, sole traders and the like, and they have my sympathy, that has happened, but systemically? Hmmmm….
As for the guy from KPMG making the ‘comparisons’ between public and private sector workers to see how the Budget affected it… well, he couldn’t refrain from trying to drag in the pension premium (did he even listen to Lenihan’s words on the public service pensions? Apparently not), and other intangibles, i.e. people with jobs as against those who don’t… well, yes, but we could compare living people with dead, but it’s not a hugely useful way of looking at this… but he had to accept that PS workers had taken significant hits…very significant hits.
And Richard Curran, reprise, was saying that emigration was going to take place and while sympathetic seemed unable to offer options. I mean, is this how low we’ve gone as a society, that somehow seeing the export of our young is now an acceptable option? We’ve been degraded as a people and as a society. And that’s the reality of the bottom line analyses we’ve seen over the past while.
Anyhow, perhaps now the sniping at the Public Sector will end. All that can be said is that we’re looking at a society where the last twelve to eighteen months have seen, for my money, a catastrophic approach where the name of the game has been to talk about social solidarity and then to pit different sectors of the economy against each other. As someone who remains effectively outside the public sector I fear that we’ll all repent at leisure for that days work.
Last weekend, Beth and I decided to continue our annual visit to the Great Dickens Christmas Fair and Victorian Holiday Party. I wrote about this last year, too, and won’t spend a lot of time on it here, only to mention that we had a great time in spite of the gate cost.
What amazes me every year is that in an era of mass commercial production of goods, there exists an entire subculture economy of people who still hand-craft their products. We had a pleasant conversation with a couple who make clothes and sell them not only at the Dickens Fair but all of the Renaissance Faires and SCA events, too. You can visit their website at http://www.VelvetBedlam.com.
The cost of these goods is considerably more than what you’ll find at retailers like Target and Wal-Mart. Quality hand-crafted goods will always be more expensive. But if you’re the kind of person who would rather buy the cheap plastic crap at those stores, then the Dickens Fair/Renaissance Faire/SCA really isn’t for you anyway.
We spent most of our time taking in the stage shows and other presentations, which were free if you don’t count the gate cost. We splurged and bought some roasted chestnuts and fudge, but for the most part, the food was way over priced, and the argument could not be made that it was hand-crafted.
This is not only alarming but it is getting out of hand…
(The workings of a well oiled hawala system – source: IMF)
This should have caused alarms to go off in the offices of the PM, MACC, Police and any other law enforcement agencies linked with fight of corruption and finding and prosecution of traitors of nation’s economy:-
The case came out in the open when Batu MP Chua Tian Chang revealed that Negri Sembilan MB Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan had used Salamath Ali money changers in KLCC Suria to send RM10 million to London.
The money changer lost its licence and its shoplot is now closed, ostensibly for renovations.
Money changers say however that authorities should not focus on the hawala system but rather on why some politicians have access to so much money and moving it abroad.
(Source: The Malaysian Insider)
The money changers are right – why the authorities (in this case, Bank Negara) are focussing on the lesser side of the problem when questions should have raised is how did the politicians were able to gather so much money and have the nerve to be sending the millions overseas illegally?
And in the case of money changers – was the only sanction provided is revoke of license and nothing more? How of many of them has been jailed and fined severely so that the next one who been asked to transfer money illegally will think twice before acceding to the request for high commissions?
Politicians sending millions of cash illegally overseas and been made known to the public only confirms that :-
1. There is a widespread corruption and misuse of public funds in Malaysia and it is getting out of hand, and
2. The so-called enforcement agencies seems powerless (prove us wrong) when it comes to enforcement against well connected politicians from the ruling parties.
By right, the fact that the money changers were caught “red-handed” should have been a wake up call for many of the enforcement agencies that this “tip of the ice-berg” cannot be allowed to be continued with one closed eyes for long. The Interpol cites that in the hawala system, there is a lack of paper trail and leads to tax evasion.
Not when the interest of the nation as whole has become secondary to corrupt individual’s interest, as one reader in Malaysiakini commented:-
They are not leaders but robbers in suits who robbed the rakyat’s money and then used the state apparatus to prevent anyone from bringing them to justice
There is no wonder why many Malaysians are afraid that it will be just a matter of time before Malaysia ends up becoming another Zimbabwe in Asia – certainly when corruption is riding high and fine in Malaysia.
It’s high time the so-called enforcement agencies to get down to real business and dirty their hands catching these economic traitors.
after they disrupted a Pennsylvania polling place in last year’s elections has been removed from his post and transferred to the US attorney’s office in South Carolina.
Dec 18, 09 1:08pm
He said private investments in Malaysian has significantly reduced and public spending is now becoming more prominent as the engine of growth.
He said it was imperative for Selangor to attract high value-added industries and create jobs with decent salary scale.
But he cautioned the state against embarking the old PPP model which promotes corruption.
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Every now and again, Outlook Portland takes some time to address an issue that is neither zombie or bacon oriented. That issue, of course, usually relates in some way to Kelly Clarke’s definition of “personal space”…and ends in lots of awkwardness for everyone.
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
by Giordano Bruno
