Another day another devalued dollar.
The Yen has risen to a 14 year high against the dollar reports Bloomberg. Bloomberg also reports that the Russian central bank is buying reserves of Canadian dollars instead of American dollars. Meanwhile countries buy more gold from the IMF and the price of oil goes up.
Remember, where the $ goes the £ follows!
We get force fed from the BBC and the compliant press about 'recovery'. The powers that be know that there are massive problems lurking under the surface. Let's look at a little more evidence.
Today we have a:
Red Alert:
The Second Wave of The Financial Tsunami
From Matthias Chang writing in his website Axis of Logic. He warns:
"This Red Alert is to enable visitors to my website to take appropriate actions to safeguard their wealth and welfare of their families in the coming months."
"Since the last quarter of 2008, unrelenting currency warfare has been waged by the key global economies and while this competition thus far has been non-antagonistic, it will soon be antagonistic because the inherent differences are irreconcilable. The consequences to the global economy will be devastating and for the ordinary people, massive unemployment and social unrest are assured."
"And unless the creditor is willing to write off the debt, resorting to drastic means to collect the outstanding debt is inevitable.
It would be naïve to think that the US would quietly allow itself to be foreclosed! When we reach that stage, war will be inevitable. It will be the US-UK-Israel Axis against the rest of the world. "
Gulp. Then let's take a sneeky peeky at an article by Peter Schwarz. Writing for http://www.wsws.org/ Peter opens thus:
"Within Germany’s top political circles fear is growing of a second international financial crash exceeding in intensity and impact that of autumn 2008."
Talking about the rising values of global stock exchanges in recent months Schwarz writes:
"The rally in stock prices is due to the enormous liquidity that governments and central banks have pumped into the economy."
According to one German magazine about stock prices, Schwarz continues:
"the price-earnings ratio—comparing the market value per share to the annual earnings per share of the respective enterprise—has reached a historic maximum of 133. A price-earnings ratio of 14 or more is considered to mean shares are valued excessively." (numbers resized by me).
He refers to a Der Spiegel editorial:
“risk of hyperinflation—a breakneck rapidly progressing monetary depreciation, as Germany experienced at the beginning of the 1920s.”
In the end Peter agrees with Matthias's conclusion:
"The vehemence with which Der Spiegel now attacks the American finance sector expresses the acuteness of the mutual tensions that are seldom openly addressed."
"This must all be seen as a warning for working people. The global crisis of capitalism has reached a point where social and political compromise is no longer possible. Workers must prepare for fierce social struggles."
Mmm, what happened to those 'green shoots' and all that garbage about 'recovery'? Does Gordon Brown think he's going to escape from the mayhem he is responsible for? He's been buying time with taxpayers' money to save him from the taxpayers' wrath!
It's time people woke up. The SNP needs to sit down and talk real politics. The outside world is breaking through and Scotland must bravely face reality. The alternative of bankrupt Britain truly will be hellish!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
No Recovery Dummies!
It's late but this is a must read from John Embry of Sprott Asset Management! Is anyone out there listening? No 'recovery' dummies!
I especially appreciate the following quote:
"In my opinion, the current equivalent of the mythical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are
our financial leaders in the western world who are enthusiastically promoting and aggressively implementing quantitative easing in an attempt to sustain an obviously failed system and to bail out their banking cronies. They would include the atavistic Lawrence Summers, President Obama’seconomic guru and a key figure in the gold suppression scheme, the extremely naive Fed chairman,Ben Bernanke; the truly feckless U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner and Bernanke’s British equivalent, the hapless Mervyn King, head of the Bank of England. To be fair to the latter, he has partially redeemed himself in my eyes by recently calling for a breakup of the largest British banks, a move that drew a frosty response from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. I’m on the side of anybody opposing Brown,who is the true villain in the British saga and one of the world’s great hypocrites.There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that what these gentlemen are trying to engineer is going to end in an utter debacle. Any serious attempt to withdraw the stimulus at this point will trigger a deflationary depression and a continuation of the current policies will put us firmly on the road to hyperinflation.The futility of this was foreseen in the middle of the last century by the father of Austrian economics, the brilliant Ludwig Von Mises, who correctly observed that:
“There is no means of avoiding a final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is onlywhether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system.”
Click on John
I especially appreciate the following quote:
"In my opinion, the current equivalent of the mythical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are
our financial leaders in the western world who are enthusiastically promoting and aggressively implementing quantitative easing in an attempt to sustain an obviously failed system and to bail out their banking cronies. They would include the atavistic Lawrence Summers, President Obama’seconomic guru and a key figure in the gold suppression scheme, the extremely naive Fed chairman,Ben Bernanke; the truly feckless U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner and Bernanke’s British equivalent, the hapless Mervyn King, head of the Bank of England. To be fair to the latter, he has partially redeemed himself in my eyes by recently calling for a breakup of the largest British banks, a move that drew a frosty response from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. I’m on the side of anybody opposing Brown,who is the true villain in the British saga and one of the world’s great hypocrites.There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that what these gentlemen are trying to engineer is going to end in an utter debacle. Any serious attempt to withdraw the stimulus at this point will trigger a deflationary depression and a continuation of the current policies will put us firmly on the road to hyperinflation.The futility of this was foreseen in the middle of the last century by the father of Austrian economics, the brilliant Ludwig Von Mises, who correctly observed that:
“There is no means of avoiding a final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is onlywhether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system.”
Click on John
The Wizard Of Oz
Now that the end to the theology of Bubble Economics is nigh where to from here? Was the Wizard of Oz a big clue? Ditch Brown, the banksters and all the rest - the new politics awaits. The SNP has an opportunity!
Britain Is Being Looted!
It takes time and eventually economists and economics journalists catch up.
Oh yeah, remember the Brownster talked about how 'fiscal stimulus' and his general overall financial brilliance meant Britain was best placed to 'recover'? Yep, he was smoking them green shoots.
Goldman Sachs has tried to discredit these GDP figures but then Goldman Sachs now runs the US government. Of course they're covering up. Why? They want more of that quantative easing in the system and Brown is a money printer. He making them uber-rich.
If anything these figures are exaggerated to look good. Why? Well, remember that debt is included as a positive in the GDP figures. So all that borrowing is included to look like economic activity. While the Bank of England prints and that money goes into the economy it gives a short term spurt as people have some cash to spend but it is not wealth being created by the productive economy - that has disappeared. The printing doesn't let you see that in these GDP figures but one day very soon it will and it will be very ugly.
There are so many lies about unemployment figures, GDP figures, inflation figures and so on that people don't know what to trust anymore. Well, just look at the empty shops in the high street, ask yourself who has lost a job or had a pay cut, ask yourself if there are more taxes, fines and charges to replace tax-take losses etc. You'll soon realise that Britain PLC is going to hell in a hand-basket as our American cousins say.
Brown knows the mess Britain's in and so does Golmine Sachs. Don't listen to their bull - they're out to rob you. They've been looting you, they are looting you and they intend to continue looting you.
Where is the anger? If it was a burglar you'd be mad - this is no different!
The scale of the derivatives collapse, the consequent quantative easing, the obvious recent history of the mad theology of debt driven consumer economics, debt to income ratios and so on obviously mark out Britain and the US for a severe depression and likely currency and economic collapse.
The journos and those corporate economists who bought into the debt is good dogma have been way off for a generation. That's why they didn't see it coming, that's why their 'stimulus' religeon is a nonsence and that's why they don't see how deep in the doo Britain's economy is.
Take a look a this chart:
Oh yeah, remember the Brownster talked about how 'fiscal stimulus' and his general overall financial brilliance meant Britain was best placed to 'recover'? Yep, he was smoking them green shoots.
Goldman Sachs has tried to discredit these GDP figures but then Goldman Sachs now runs the US government. Of course they're covering up. Why? They want more of that quantative easing in the system and Brown is a money printer. He making them uber-rich.
If anything these figures are exaggerated to look good. Why? Well, remember that debt is included as a positive in the GDP figures. So all that borrowing is included to look like economic activity. While the Bank of England prints and that money goes into the economy it gives a short term spurt as people have some cash to spend but it is not wealth being created by the productive economy - that has disappeared. The printing doesn't let you see that in these GDP figures but one day very soon it will and it will be very ugly.
There are so many lies about unemployment figures, GDP figures, inflation figures and so on that people don't know what to trust anymore. Well, just look at the empty shops in the high street, ask yourself who has lost a job or had a pay cut, ask yourself if there are more taxes, fines and charges to replace tax-take losses etc. You'll soon realise that Britain PLC is going to hell in a hand-basket as our American cousins say.
Brown knows the mess Britain's in and so does Golmine Sachs. Don't listen to their bull - they're out to rob you. They've been looting you, they are looting you and they intend to continue looting you.
Where is the anger? If it was a burglar you'd be mad - this is no different!
Independence Light
Independence is the idea in dire need of a campaign!
In order to connect the idea with voters we need to cleverly convey how far reaching independence goes. I mean the line that we should be talking about jobs instead of constitutional naval gazing is a disgraceful piece of rhetoric. Yet it resonates in with Scots who like the sound of anything that smacks of 'no-nonsence'.
Let's turn this round. One line which really resonates and is doing the rounds on the blogosphere is:
"With devolution we get to ban air guns, with independence we get to ban Trident."
The SNP should be hammering this message home. Especially on the economy.
With devolution we get to tackle drink-driving, with independence we can save jobs.
Now is the time to push the big idea. The SNP has shown it is competent. It's time to argue that that competence is needed with jobs. The economy is in such bad state that we need the powers of independence to fix it! It's not a difficult message to get across and it puts the management in London under the microscope. Let the fightback commence!
In order to connect the idea with voters we need to cleverly convey how far reaching independence goes. I mean the line that we should be talking about jobs instead of constitutional naval gazing is a disgraceful piece of rhetoric. Yet it resonates in with Scots who like the sound of anything that smacks of 'no-nonsence'.
Let's turn this round. One line which really resonates and is doing the rounds on the blogosphere is:
"With devolution we get to ban air guns, with independence we get to ban Trident."
The SNP should be hammering this message home. Especially on the economy.
With devolution we get to tackle drink-driving, with independence we can save jobs.
Now is the time to push the big idea. The SNP has shown it is competent. It's time to argue that that competence is needed with jobs. The economy is in such bad state that we need the powers of independence to fix it! It's not a difficult message to get across and it puts the management in London under the microscope. Let the fightback commence!
When Do We Declare Britain Bankrupt?
The bankruptcy of the United States is now certain
According to Porter Stansberry in the S&A Digest yesterday reports The Daily Crux:
"Within the next 12 months, the U.S. Treasury will have to refinance $2 trillion in short-term debt. And that's not counting any additional deficit spending, which is estimated to be around $1.5 trillion. Put the two numbers together. Then ask yourself, how in the world can the Treasury borrow $3.5 trillion in only one year? That's an amount equal to nearly 30% of our entire GDP. And we're the world's biggest economy. Where will the money come from?"
This article is riveting. It explains the rules that countries follow to avoid 'default' or bankruptcy:
"To avoid a default, countries should maintain hard currency reserves equal to at least 100% of their short-term foreign debt maturities."
Ok, what does this mean then?:
"The principle behind the rule is simple. If you can't pay off all of your foreign debts in the next 12 months, you're a terrible credit risk. Speculators are going to target your bonds and your currency, making it impossible to refinance your debts. A default is assured."
So, the US holds around $500 billion in foreign currencies, gold and oil reserves. While on top of the budget deficit of $1.5 trillion, The US Treasury (according to themselves) will have to borrow $2 trillion more in the next 12 months. Apparently 44% of that debt is owed to foreigners meaning $880 billion which is a lot more than the US's reserves.
Mmm, the US has to finance $3 trillion this year. The entire population save only $600 billion so even if the entire population stuck their saving into treasury bonds (T-Bills) it still wouldn't pay the deficit. Nowhere close! Foreign countries have stopped buying T-bills and are buying gold instead..
What are they going to do then? Print and Print and Print. Watch that $ collapse and watch gold sky-rocket!
Meanwhile, back in Blighty? The Bank of England continues to print money too. A large % of the UK's budget is pure new money printing. Watch how the pound slides. And if you thought that that was good for exporters. It is but Britain is an import country, thanks to Brown, so it makes matters worse.
If you haven't bought gold or silver, start thinking about growing food and buying storeable food. As prices rocket you'll be glad you stock-piled when you did. Expect to see a growth in scavenging through bins, thefts, robberies etc. And civil unrest? When people's kids go hungry, no amount of soap operas, phoney terror wars or SNP spent a tenner on a pizza stories are going to distract them from getting food whatever way they can.
Listen to the bull about recovery today, go hungry tomorrow!
Brown and the banksters are not to be trusted people. Switch off the BBC and start thinking for yourselves!
According to Porter Stansberry in the S&A Digest yesterday reports The Daily Crux:
"Within the next 12 months, the U.S. Treasury will have to refinance $2 trillion in short-term debt. And that's not counting any additional deficit spending, which is estimated to be around $1.5 trillion. Put the two numbers together. Then ask yourself, how in the world can the Treasury borrow $3.5 trillion in only one year? That's an amount equal to nearly 30% of our entire GDP. And we're the world's biggest economy. Where will the money come from?"
This article is riveting. It explains the rules that countries follow to avoid 'default' or bankruptcy:
"To avoid a default, countries should maintain hard currency reserves equal to at least 100% of their short-term foreign debt maturities."
Ok, what does this mean then?:
"The principle behind the rule is simple. If you can't pay off all of your foreign debts in the next 12 months, you're a terrible credit risk. Speculators are going to target your bonds and your currency, making it impossible to refinance your debts. A default is assured."
So, the US holds around $500 billion in foreign currencies, gold and oil reserves. While on top of the budget deficit of $1.5 trillion, The US Treasury (according to themselves) will have to borrow $2 trillion more in the next 12 months. Apparently 44% of that debt is owed to foreigners meaning $880 billion which is a lot more than the US's reserves.
Mmm, the US has to finance $3 trillion this year. The entire population save only $600 billion so even if the entire population stuck their saving into treasury bonds (T-Bills) it still wouldn't pay the deficit. Nowhere close! Foreign countries have stopped buying T-bills and are buying gold instead..
What are they going to do then? Print and Print and Print. Watch that $ collapse and watch gold sky-rocket!
Meanwhile, back in Blighty? The Bank of England continues to print money too. A large % of the UK's budget is pure new money printing. Watch how the pound slides. And if you thought that that was good for exporters. It is but Britain is an import country, thanks to Brown, so it makes matters worse.
If you haven't bought gold or silver, start thinking about growing food and buying storeable food. As prices rocket you'll be glad you stock-piled when you did. Expect to see a growth in scavenging through bins, thefts, robberies etc. And civil unrest? When people's kids go hungry, no amount of soap operas, phoney terror wars or SNP spent a tenner on a pizza stories are going to distract them from getting food whatever way they can.
Listen to the bull about recovery today, go hungry tomorrow!
Brown and the banksters are not to be trusted people. Switch off the BBC and start thinking for yourselves!
Banksters Lying Again
Labour and the Bank of England's MPC recently admitted that Britain's financial services sector was insolvent. Congratulations to the Brownster!
Today Reuters reports the IMF's big cheese announcing that Europe's banks are still hiding *HALF* their losses:
Hiding? Isn't that accountancy fraud? How are they getting away with it? Did Brown change the rules to let them hide it? Did he make the regulators look the other way? Is he up to his neck in complicity? Yes, he is.
HALF? That means that they all definately are insolvent. It also means they'll be looking for more bail-outs. Yes, that means you, the taxpayer are to get shafted all over again.
And the IMF are talking about Europe in general. The big loser in all this is Britain. Why? Well, The City was a major world player in derivatives and financial services in general. Their losses are exploding in Sterling and in Britain. Now Wall Street may have about the same losses as The City but the US has a population around 6 times that of Britain to absorb the problem.
Hiding? What about lying, cheating, thieving scum? Aided and abetted by Prime Minister Brown. An economic and currency crash coming your way soon.
WAKE UP SCOTLAND!
Today Reuters reports the IMF's big cheese announcing that Europe's banks are still hiding *HALF* their losses:
Hiding? Isn't that accountancy fraud? How are they getting away with it? Did Brown change the rules to let them hide it? Did he make the regulators look the other way? Is he up to his neck in complicity? Yes, he is.
HALF? That means that they all definately are insolvent. It also means they'll be looking for more bail-outs. Yes, that means you, the taxpayer are to get shafted all over again.
And the IMF are talking about Europe in general. The big loser in all this is Britain. Why? Well, The City was a major world player in derivatives and financial services in general. Their losses are exploding in Sterling and in Britain. Now Wall Street may have about the same losses as The City but the US has a population around 6 times that of Britain to absorb the problem.
Hiding? What about lying, cheating, thieving scum? Aided and abetted by Prime Minister Brown. An economic and currency crash coming your way soon.
WAKE UP SCOTLAND!
War and Commodities
"the average family will be hurt by that, and then in order to distract the attention of the people, the governments will go to war"
- said Marc Faber, on the subject of governments' money printing, last week in Singapore.
Mark Faber is a Swiss Fund manager and economist and is highly regarded internationally. His comments reported here are in regard to the failed stimulus policies by governments:
"I think eventually there will be a big bust and then the whole credit expansion will come to an end,"
"Before that happens, governments will continue printing money which in time will lead to a very high inflation rate, and the economy will not respond to stimulus".
Mr Faber advises people to invest in commodities. That would be a good way to financially survive a military conflagration:
"At some stage, somewhere in future, we will have a war - that you have to be prepared for. And during war times, commodities go up strongly,” said Faber.
Among his predictions: "has been warning about a collapse of the capitalistic system 'as we know it today,' massive government debt defaults and the impoverishment of large segments of Western society." And he goes on to say:
"I repeat what I have said in the past, no decent citizen should trust the Federal Reserve for one second. It’s very important that everyone own some gold because the government will make the dollar (in the long term) useless."
I think we can assume that the Bank of England and the pound sterling can be put in that category too.
I'd like to see the SNP stepping up the pressure on Brown and Britain's economic situation. Scots should be told that independence is the only escape option from a collapsing British state.
- said Marc Faber, on the subject of governments' money printing, last week in Singapore.
Mark Faber is a Swiss Fund manager and economist and is highly regarded internationally. His comments reported here are in regard to the failed stimulus policies by governments:
"I think eventually there will be a big bust and then the whole credit expansion will come to an end,"
"Before that happens, governments will continue printing money which in time will lead to a very high inflation rate, and the economy will not respond to stimulus".
Mr Faber advises people to invest in commodities. That would be a good way to financially survive a military conflagration:
"At some stage, somewhere in future, we will have a war - that you have to be prepared for. And during war times, commodities go up strongly,” said Faber.
Among his predictions: "has been warning about a collapse of the capitalistic system 'as we know it today,' massive government debt defaults and the impoverishment of large segments of Western society." And he goes on to say:
"I repeat what I have said in the past, no decent citizen should trust the Federal Reserve for one second. It’s very important that everyone own some gold because the government will make the dollar (in the long term) useless."
I think we can assume that the Bank of England and the pound sterling can be put in that category too.
I'd like to see the SNP stepping up the pressure on Brown and Britain's economic situation. Scots should be told that independence is the only escape option from a collapsing British state.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Very Big Thinking Time
I remember being active in the SNP when I was young. The party membership is full of myths, cliches and a strange tendency to put down debate about strategy - open discussion is an attack on the leadership apparently.
Now, I like loyalty as a principle but for me my first political loyalty is to the idea of Scottish independence. That idea goes above and beyond any loyalty to the SNP. I see it as my duty as a Scot to debate the strategies that will lead Scotland to national liberation.
Salmond has my loyalty to a point. I mean who can doubt his acumen and sincerity. Like all of us though, you ready for this party apparatchiks? He has some weaknesses too. There, it's out - my crime is there for all to witness. I'm sure Alex himself would admit to mistakes - that is a strength in itself.
Alex understands how things work very well. He is a mover and shaker and the dignity of the nation is never undermined - he is the consumate diplomat. He has served his country with distinction. His vision of civic nationalism has been a blessing.
It is in the area of strategy that I see some cracks. This is a debate which is pivotal. How do we get from here to independence? That debate must be had.
In facing up to this debate we must have a clear understanding of where we are. Frankly, I haven't read very much of anything on the blogs or in the newspapers that shows me that anyone has a grip on what's happening in Britain PLC.
To me, Britain is facing moral, political and economic collapse. Yet, the SNP is positioning itself for a recovery. The party is so locked into Holyrood management that the real world is passing it by. I'm concerned about civil liberties and human rights and the party is holding a steady ship so that they will seem like competent treasurers. I see civil unrest and a threat to law and order and the party is tackling binge-drinking. I envision war and bankruptcy and the party clamps down on airguns.
So what is the world we live in really like now?
Some bullets from an article written about Wall Street from MarketWatch:
Goldman's secret moral pathology
15 symptoms of a Wall Street disease destroying democracy and capitalism
"
1. Gross denial of any moral damage caused by their rampant greed
2. Narcissistic egomaniacs with secret 'God complexes'
3. Paranoid obsessives about secrecy, guilt and non-disclosure
4. Power-hungry need to control government using Trojan Horses
5. Borderline personalities who regularly ignore conflicts of interest
6. Pathological liars incapable of honesty even with own investors
7. Sole fiduciary duty to insiders, not investors, never the public
8. Moral issues are PR glitches, violations of 'don't get caught' rule
9. Charitable donations are tax and PR opportunities, not moral issues
10. When exposed in a massive fraud, feign humility, fake an apology
11. When bankruptcy threatens, bribe friends in 'Happy Conspiracy'
12. Engage co-conspirators to cover up, distract, do your dirty work
13. As money-hungry vultures they will prey on vulnerable Americans
14. Treat everyone not in the 'Happy Conspiracy' with tough love
15. Addicts consumed by money: 'Jesus would throw them out ...' "
The banks have literally transferred the entire wealth of the US working and middle class to themselves. The amount of complicity by government involved to do this is staggering. All that new money in the system is going to explode and people will realise they've lost everything. The country has been hollowed out by the international bankers. The same is true in Britain. The regulators have been lying, the government and civil service have been lying, the rating agencies co-opted all to try and pretend that the financial system can be rescued. This is the biggest robbery in history but you only know a small percentage of that so far. When the money flood hits there'll be devaluation or hyper-inflation. Interest rates and taxes will sky-rocket and millions more jobs with them. Services will be cut to the bone.
In this context Britain's currency will likely fail and in many ways democracy with it. Standards of living are going to plunge dramatically.
With less than half the budget that it now has Britain will not be able to afford key services. Police numbers will be cut just as crime goes ballistic. The army will likely be used to keep order.
Every month in the States another 300, 000 people have their houses foreclosed. Bodies in Detroit go unclaimed as people can't afford burials. Millions live in their cars or in tunnels. It all goes unreported except for alternative media sources.
What goes unreported in the UK? Half the unemployed for a start.
There is the real threat of economic and political collapse in Britain. Some people are out there trying to tell people that but the media ain't telling the story.
The game has changed. Things are not the same anymore. The SNP needs to take a good hard look at what's really going on. The stimulus theology was garbage and there isn't going to be a recovery.
It's time, not for devolution managerialism, it's time for very big thinking!
Now, I like loyalty as a principle but for me my first political loyalty is to the idea of Scottish independence. That idea goes above and beyond any loyalty to the SNP. I see it as my duty as a Scot to debate the strategies that will lead Scotland to national liberation.
Salmond has my loyalty to a point. I mean who can doubt his acumen and sincerity. Like all of us though, you ready for this party apparatchiks? He has some weaknesses too. There, it's out - my crime is there for all to witness. I'm sure Alex himself would admit to mistakes - that is a strength in itself.
Alex understands how things work very well. He is a mover and shaker and the dignity of the nation is never undermined - he is the consumate diplomat. He has served his country with distinction. His vision of civic nationalism has been a blessing.
It is in the area of strategy that I see some cracks. This is a debate which is pivotal. How do we get from here to independence? That debate must be had.
In facing up to this debate we must have a clear understanding of where we are. Frankly, I haven't read very much of anything on the blogs or in the newspapers that shows me that anyone has a grip on what's happening in Britain PLC.
To me, Britain is facing moral, political and economic collapse. Yet, the SNP is positioning itself for a recovery. The party is so locked into Holyrood management that the real world is passing it by. I'm concerned about civil liberties and human rights and the party is holding a steady ship so that they will seem like competent treasurers. I see civil unrest and a threat to law and order and the party is tackling binge-drinking. I envision war and bankruptcy and the party clamps down on airguns.
So what is the world we live in really like now?
Some bullets from an article written about Wall Street from MarketWatch:
Goldman's secret moral pathology
15 symptoms of a Wall Street disease destroying democracy and capitalism
"
1. Gross denial of any moral damage caused by their rampant greed
2. Narcissistic egomaniacs with secret 'God complexes'
3. Paranoid obsessives about secrecy, guilt and non-disclosure
4. Power-hungry need to control government using Trojan Horses
5. Borderline personalities who regularly ignore conflicts of interest
6. Pathological liars incapable of honesty even with own investors
7. Sole fiduciary duty to insiders, not investors, never the public
8. Moral issues are PR glitches, violations of 'don't get caught' rule
9. Charitable donations are tax and PR opportunities, not moral issues
10. When exposed in a massive fraud, feign humility, fake an apology
11. When bankruptcy threatens, bribe friends in 'Happy Conspiracy'
12. Engage co-conspirators to cover up, distract, do your dirty work
13. As money-hungry vultures they will prey on vulnerable Americans
14. Treat everyone not in the 'Happy Conspiracy' with tough love
15. Addicts consumed by money: 'Jesus would throw them out ...' "
The banks have literally transferred the entire wealth of the US working and middle class to themselves. The amount of complicity by government involved to do this is staggering. All that new money in the system is going to explode and people will realise they've lost everything. The country has been hollowed out by the international bankers. The same is true in Britain. The regulators have been lying, the government and civil service have been lying, the rating agencies co-opted all to try and pretend that the financial system can be rescued. This is the biggest robbery in history but you only know a small percentage of that so far. When the money flood hits there'll be devaluation or hyper-inflation. Interest rates and taxes will sky-rocket and millions more jobs with them. Services will be cut to the bone.
In this context Britain's currency will likely fail and in many ways democracy with it. Standards of living are going to plunge dramatically.
With less than half the budget that it now has Britain will not be able to afford key services. Police numbers will be cut just as crime goes ballistic. The army will likely be used to keep order.
Every month in the States another 300, 000 people have their houses foreclosed. Bodies in Detroit go unclaimed as people can't afford burials. Millions live in their cars or in tunnels. It all goes unreported except for alternative media sources.
What goes unreported in the UK? Half the unemployed for a start.
There is the real threat of economic and political collapse in Britain. Some people are out there trying to tell people that but the media ain't telling the story.
The game has changed. Things are not the same anymore. The SNP needs to take a good hard look at what's really going on. The stimulus theology was garbage and there isn't going to be a recovery.
It's time, not for devolution managerialism, it's time for very big thinking!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Currency Crisis
Currency crisis predictions are on the rise. A few examples from today for your entertainment
- MarketWatch:
Einhorn bets on major currency 'death spiral'
Apparently Greenlight Capital is betting on a collapse and a spike in interest rates.
- Over at ZeroHedge there's:
Here Is Why The Dollar Is Now Effectively Worthless
And then there's another scary prediction of major crisis:
These all relate to the $ but don't forget that in many ways Britain's problems are worse! How long is it going to take to sink in? It's a shame that the SNP are stuck in the position of trying to make sure Scotland gets it share of the freshly printed money. As a government of an independent Scotland they could have stopped the debt spiral.
It's time that the SNP changed tactics or at least prepare for the worst. If as seems likely Britain has some kind of crisis then the nationalists must be ready to pounce. The groundwork needs to be prepared now. Clearly, the SNP should be hammering Labour for the state of the economy. Secondly they should be banging on about the danger of Britain being bankrupt. If you warn Scots now that being part of Britain is dangerous then when the crisis hits, the message that independence is a solution will resonate strongly.
Now is the time for the SNP to show some character. They've shown that they are responsible, now they must show that they have vision and political substance. There is a huge opportunity to outmanouvre unionism. If Salmond and company can think outside of the box of debt driven consumer economics and see that we're heading straight over a cliff, they could position themselves well for that referendum and carry a lot of Scotland with them.
Come on guys, smell the coffee!
- MarketWatch:
Einhorn bets on major currency 'death spiral'
Apparently Greenlight Capital is betting on a collapse and a spike in interest rates.
- Over at ZeroHedge there's:
Here Is Why The Dollar Is Now Effectively Worthless
And then there's another scary prediction of major crisis:
These all relate to the $ but don't forget that in many ways Britain's problems are worse! How long is it going to take to sink in? It's a shame that the SNP are stuck in the position of trying to make sure Scotland gets it share of the freshly printed money. As a government of an independent Scotland they could have stopped the debt spiral.
It's time that the SNP changed tactics or at least prepare for the worst. If as seems likely Britain has some kind of crisis then the nationalists must be ready to pounce. The groundwork needs to be prepared now. Clearly, the SNP should be hammering Labour for the state of the economy. Secondly they should be banging on about the danger of Britain being bankrupt. If you warn Scots now that being part of Britain is dangerous then when the crisis hits, the message that independence is a solution will resonate strongly.
Now is the time for the SNP to show some character. They've shown that they are responsible, now they must show that they have vision and political substance. There is a huge opportunity to outmanouvre unionism. If Salmond and company can think outside of the box of debt driven consumer economics and see that we're heading straight over a cliff, they could position themselves well for that referendum and carry a lot of Scotland with them.
Come on guys, smell the coffee!
Financial Oligarchy
Taking on the Banksters. Why is it that the citizens can get ripped off and say nothing? It'll come.
Great document from Janet Tavakoli. She be an expert on structured finance and known by all the big players on Wall Street.
http://www.tavakolistructuredfinance.com/web2.pdf
This reminds me of one my favourite clips on financial oligarchs:
Great document from Janet Tavakoli. She be an expert on structured finance and known by all the big players on Wall Street.
http://www.tavakolistructuredfinance.com/web2.pdf
This reminds me of one my favourite clips on financial oligarchs:
Babel and The Brownster
Interesting headline in Today's TimesOnline
IMF warns second bailout would 'threaten democracy'
It already is threatening democracy. This is partly what they were talking about at the G20. The bail-out theology is championed by the Brownster. It seems France and Germany are getting out of recession and want to pump the brakes on money printing.
The Brownster exported manufacturing jobs by letting the financial sector go exponential. By encouraging house prices speculation taxation moved away from property and onto labour and business. The result is that Britain's manufacturing jobs went abroad. He got us up to our ears in credit card debt - worse than all the EU combined and the national debt under the Brownster has rocketed.
Without manufacturing jobs Britain can't make money. You have to buy stuff from abroad and so the deficit grows. As Brown prints more money so the pound loses value and things from abroad become more expensive. So, unless Brits start making things, they ain't going to have things. Capital formation is about using less than you produce. Debt is not wealth, savings are wealth. You can borrow money based on savings and build factories for example. The problem is that the Brownster has Britain in the pawn shop. The Germans manufacture and a lot of them rent. They learned from their Weimar experience.
Ok, so let's start manufacturing then. Eh, we can't. Why? To encourage saving you have to put up interest rates. If they went up to 10% all that debt will strangle the taxpayers/home-owners. Even worse though is that the government would then have to pay a lot of interest on the money it borrowed and those interest payments alone could well consume half of the normal public spending budget by around 2014.
Brown thinks he simply has to get all the banking fraud going again and things will 'recover'. Let me tell people this: The isn't a snowballs chance in hell of Britain ever again being what it was a couple of years ago. When Brown dropped the regulation on banking an epidemic fraud, corruption and greed ensued. Now it is crumbling - there isn't going to be a 'recovery'.
Babel
The financial sector is dead. That is putting a massive hole in the public finances. Britain can expect more unemployment, a lot more, huge budget cuts everywhere and a massive hike in taxes. And all he had to do was let the banks die. The debts would be wiped clean and investors would have picked up the pieces and started new banks.
Britain can't borrow more money and the taxpayers are maxed. All the Brownster can do is print and print and print...
Get him out or there'll be real problems for your liberties!
IMF warns second bailout would 'threaten democracy'
It already is threatening democracy. This is partly what they were talking about at the G20. The bail-out theology is championed by the Brownster. It seems France and Germany are getting out of recession and want to pump the brakes on money printing.
The Brownster exported manufacturing jobs by letting the financial sector go exponential. By encouraging house prices speculation taxation moved away from property and onto labour and business. The result is that Britain's manufacturing jobs went abroad. He got us up to our ears in credit card debt - worse than all the EU combined and the national debt under the Brownster has rocketed.
Without manufacturing jobs Britain can't make money. You have to buy stuff from abroad and so the deficit grows. As Brown prints more money so the pound loses value and things from abroad become more expensive. So, unless Brits start making things, they ain't going to have things. Capital formation is about using less than you produce. Debt is not wealth, savings are wealth. You can borrow money based on savings and build factories for example. The problem is that the Brownster has Britain in the pawn shop. The Germans manufacture and a lot of them rent. They learned from their Weimar experience.
Ok, so let's start manufacturing then. Eh, we can't. Why? To encourage saving you have to put up interest rates. If they went up to 10% all that debt will strangle the taxpayers/home-owners. Even worse though is that the government would then have to pay a lot of interest on the money it borrowed and those interest payments alone could well consume half of the normal public spending budget by around 2014.
Brown thinks he simply has to get all the banking fraud going again and things will 'recover'. Let me tell people this: The isn't a snowballs chance in hell of Britain ever again being what it was a couple of years ago. When Brown dropped the regulation on banking an epidemic fraud, corruption and greed ensued. Now it is crumbling - there isn't going to be a 'recovery'.
Babel
The financial sector is dead. That is putting a massive hole in the public finances. Britain can expect more unemployment, a lot more, huge budget cuts everywhere and a massive hike in taxes. And all he had to do was let the banks die. The debts would be wiped clean and investors would have picked up the pieces and started new banks.
Britain can't borrow more money and the taxpayers are maxed. All the Brownster can do is print and print and print...
Get him out or there'll be real problems for your liberties!
Friday, November 20, 2009
The 'Arc of Insolvency' is Lucky!
He told us he had "saved the world". Yet public borrowing in October 2009 was 88 times more than October 2008. Could it be that Britain is in Brownruptcy?
After promising a bill that will halve the budget deficit within four years we hear this from the OECD as reported in today's Torygraph.
"The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said that even if Britain reduces its deficit in line with other leading nations, it will still have the rich world's biggest deficit from now until 2017 and potentially beyond, casting serious doubt on its economic credibility. "
Didn't Jim Murphy from The Ministry of Truth, sorry The Scottish Office coin the phrase 'The Arc of Insolvency' and oh how his assorted clones, trolls and shills hooted heartily and at length. Forgetting of course that the most appropriate model of the 3 was Norway which is surviving the crisis swimmingly.
What of the other 2? Ireland and Iceland?
The OECD says:
"Britain's deficit will remain higher than any other major country, including even Iceland and Ireland, unless the Government takes far more drastic action to repair it, said the OECD's acting chief economist Jørgen Elmeskov."
Jings, even the 'Arc of Insolvency' is better than the 'Arse of Insolvency':
Still waiting for the SNP to get stuck in, tum ti tum ti tum.
After promising a bill that will halve the budget deficit within four years we hear this from the OECD as reported in today's Torygraph.
"The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said that even if Britain reduces its deficit in line with other leading nations, it will still have the rich world's biggest deficit from now until 2017 and potentially beyond, casting serious doubt on its economic credibility. "
Didn't Jim Murphy from The Ministry of Truth, sorry The Scottish Office coin the phrase 'The Arc of Insolvency' and oh how his assorted clones, trolls and shills hooted heartily and at length. Forgetting of course that the most appropriate model of the 3 was Norway which is surviving the crisis swimmingly.
What of the other 2? Ireland and Iceland?
The OECD says:
"Britain's deficit will remain higher than any other major country, including even Iceland and Ireland, unless the Government takes far more drastic action to repair it, said the OECD's acting chief economist Jørgen Elmeskov."
Jings, even the 'Arc of Insolvency' is better than the 'Arse of Insolvency':
Still waiting for the SNP to get stuck in, tum ti tum ti tum.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The Celtic Tiger Is Dead
After all the cruel twists and turns of Irish history (and part of mine and Scotland's belongs to it) it turned out that bubble economics was just the latest.
Blowing up bubbles has made international merchant bankers extremely powerful and rich down the ages. Banks like Goldman Sachs who Matt Taibbi described as:
"a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money."
Volatility is their speciality because they make their money on the way up and then on the way back down. They just need to con and bribe the vulnerable political class into it. Not so long ago it was Argentina, now it's the US and most of the rest of the world. Naturally, the first to take the hit would be smaller countries like Latvia or Iceland or countries with historical structural problems like Spain.
Ireland is going through hell right now trying to pick up the pieces but don't get carried away, bankrupt Britain can stretch this out a bit longer but what's happening in Ireland is a taste of what's to come for Britain.
I was at a reading last night in the centre of Madrid. Mostly in English. In among all the fiction was the following cracking poem by David R Wall:
After the Tiger
The infant wonder of Europe,
Has come crawling back to the teat,
We’ve spent your monopoly money,
A little more’s all we need,
Just give us this last dig-out,
We promise we’ll put things right,
We’ll make the tough decisions,
We’ll fix things overnight,
Just a measly sixty billion,
At least that’s the latest cost,
To plug this sinking disaster,
If we don’t it’ll all be lost,
We’ve had an ingenious idea,
To shovel off all the dirt,
We’re going to buy the assets,
For a whole lot more than they’re worth,
See the bankers are short of money,
At risk of losing their jobs,
What kind of cruel society,
Would throw this lot to the mobs,
We must save these noble fellas,
And the poor investors too,
Didn’t you know when you gamble,
You can win but you can’t lose?
Just think what they’d say abroad,
If the government bought the banks!
Kindly overlook the fact,
It’s been done by the Brits and the Yanks,
The burden must fall in the proper place,
You’ll agree, it’s only fair,
The guilty party knows who it is,
You, the formerly flush taxpayer,
Of course the load will be even,
We’re all in this together,
Rich and poor will both alike,
Have a decade of debt to weather,
And cuts to public services,
On which so much we have spent,
Though now it’s over it’s hard to tell,
Where all that money went,
Ah the innocent Irish nation,
So new to the self-rule game,
Your carefree childhood has ended,
You’ve only yourself to blame,
Grow up and face the future,
’s time someone got up and lead,
For the decade’s myth is over,
And the Celtic tiger is dead.
Blowing up bubbles has made international merchant bankers extremely powerful and rich down the ages. Banks like Goldman Sachs who Matt Taibbi described as:
"a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money."
Volatility is their speciality because they make their money on the way up and then on the way back down. They just need to con and bribe the vulnerable political class into it. Not so long ago it was Argentina, now it's the US and most of the rest of the world. Naturally, the first to take the hit would be smaller countries like Latvia or Iceland or countries with historical structural problems like Spain.
Ireland is going through hell right now trying to pick up the pieces but don't get carried away, bankrupt Britain can stretch this out a bit longer but what's happening in Ireland is a taste of what's to come for Britain.
I was at a reading last night in the centre of Madrid. Mostly in English. In among all the fiction was the following cracking poem by David R Wall:
After the Tiger
The infant wonder of Europe,
Has come crawling back to the teat,
We’ve spent your monopoly money,
A little more’s all we need,
Just give us this last dig-out,
We promise we’ll put things right,
We’ll make the tough decisions,
We’ll fix things overnight,
Just a measly sixty billion,
At least that’s the latest cost,
To plug this sinking disaster,
If we don’t it’ll all be lost,
We’ve had an ingenious idea,
To shovel off all the dirt,
We’re going to buy the assets,
For a whole lot more than they’re worth,
See the bankers are short of money,
At risk of losing their jobs,
What kind of cruel society,
Would throw this lot to the mobs,
We must save these noble fellas,
And the poor investors too,
Didn’t you know when you gamble,
You can win but you can’t lose?
Just think what they’d say abroad,
If the government bought the banks!
Kindly overlook the fact,
It’s been done by the Brits and the Yanks,
The burden must fall in the proper place,
You’ll agree, it’s only fair,
The guilty party knows who it is,
You, the formerly flush taxpayer,
Of course the load will be even,
We’re all in this together,
Rich and poor will both alike,
Have a decade of debt to weather,
And cuts to public services,
On which so much we have spent,
Though now it’s over it’s hard to tell,
Where all that money went,
Ah the innocent Irish nation,
So new to the self-rule game,
Your carefree childhood has ended,
You’ve only yourself to blame,
Grow up and face the future,
’s time someone got up and lead,
For the decade’s myth is over,
And the Celtic tiger is dead.
God's Away On Business
Are banks responsible for the biggest financial crime in history? Are governments colluding? Are citizens the victims?
I have a couple of vidz for you.
First the new 'Keiser Report' from Russia Today. Keep in mind that Brown deregulated the banks so that they could do the same thing and the 'The City' has as much debt exposure to the derivative market as Wall St.
Trust Tom Waits to have been well ahead of the game. He got what was going on after Enron.
I have a couple of vidz for you.
First the new 'Keiser Report' from Russia Today. Keep in mind that Brown deregulated the banks so that they could do the same thing and the 'The City' has as much debt exposure to the derivative market as Wall St.
Trust Tom Waits to have been well ahead of the game. He got what was going on after Enron.
Britain's Bubble Economy (Shh, don't tell anyone)
Someone yesterday asked me what I thought was the reason why Scotland fares worse coming out of recessions than the UK as a whole.
The problem here is the theology of 'modern economics'. In relatively recent times people began to believe the lie that when the economy went into recession the government should spend money to rescue the problem.
They get addicted those politicians. I mean, if you improve things by government spending then you can do that all the time right? All you need is a money printing machine and the world is you oyster. Isn't it Gordon?
So, they pump all this money into the economy to get re-elected. This drives up asset prices (people saw the house above their heads as investments) and gives the illusion of wealth. The problem is that the money has to come from somewhere. It gets borrowed.
Look at this population v consumer credit graph in the USA from 1970 till today:
As the government and financial services print and lend more money so the consumer debt expands. More $s in the system has seen massive $ devaluation. You could buy an ounce of gold in 1971 for $35.00, now that would cost you around $1140.00 (that doesn't mean that gold is going up, in means the dollar is going down = inflation or money printing)
Let's see consumer debt in relation to total debt:
Debt has been driving the economy. The government includes debt in its GDP figures making it look like the country has a positive GDP. If you look more into the debt figures for the US you will see that debt has been responsible for 'growth' since the late 1950s. Britain is probably in a worse position than the US.
BUBBLE ECONOMICS
What happens is that the government borrows money or allows banks to leverage money and lend you it. You spend it, businesses make money, prices and assets like houses go up and so do salaries. Looks good on the surface, right?
Until we can't borrow anymore.
You see the flip side to this is that we need to borrow from countries with surpluses. Who has the surpluses?
Well, when you drive up salaries and costs artificially by printing money it makes industry uncompetative. So, you export manufacturing jobs (under free trade) to cheap labour economies. Indeed, if you can pay a Chinese worker $2 per day how can an American compete?
So, the Chinese undercut US products and the money flows into their economy. That makes them lots of $. They don't have to spend it on their people so they make huge surpluses. Indeed, they have trillions of $s. They then lend them to the US (at interest) because the US has a deficit because it imports instead of exporting. Mmm, the Chinese lend you the money so that you can buy their things..
Look at this online exhibition by a Chinese pollution photographer to see what our consumer 'bubble' economics done to the Chinese:
(So that you can keep on partying and living of their credit and labour they get to wash in contaminated rivers. Meanwhile the international bankers get richer)
Eventually the debt gets so large that you can't pay it off from taxpayers money without putting up taxes and cutting services. So, you print it quietly. This annoys China because their $ bonds lose value as you dilute the value of each $.
So, they stop lending. Argggggghhhhhhhh, how do we finance that big budget deficit now? We don't. How do we pay our debts? We can't. It's bankruptcy. Companies close and the tax-take shrinks just as you need more money..
Ladies and gentlemen. The game is over. The countries that grew their debts and became 'finance' economies with no manufacturing are NOT coming out of recession. Think depression. The party was great - all those cheap gadgets; the walkmans, playstation II, another car every year, sushi restaraunts - everything you could throw your many away at. THE PARTY IS OVER.
Brown doesn't want to get it. His problem is that those who were his friends - the bankers - are making a fortune and they don't care about the taxpayer or Brown. He is printing more and more in trying to re-inflate the bubble. The problem is that debt was the problem and so debt can't be the solution. There was too much credit and now it has imploded. It got too much and had to run out eventually. The market is fixing the problem itself. What needs to happen is that the insolvent banks (who got us into this mess through derivatives and then bail-outs and quantative easing) need to be allowed to die. The economy should be allowed to correct itself. The government should leave the economy alone as it only causes more damage. (this has implications for political presentation)
No, the politicians will never accept that the consumer society was all an illusion. They talk about stimulus and recovery. It is a theology. Stimulus will keep us down the rabbit hole longer and there is not going to be a recovery. As they throw more taxpayers money at it so the banks demand more and more to fill their big black hole of $2, 000 trillion in fraudulant derivatives on their books.
Why does Scotland fare worse in recessions was the question? The answer is because we get less of the stimulus and less of the free printed money than the bubble economy in the South. Their distortions are being re-pumped or new ones created and so the short term fix make them look healthy (till the election) but when Britain PLC can't borrow more money on the international markets and the printing press burns out London will crash down to earth with an almighty bang. The UK will be where it deserves to be - somewhere next to Portugal and the oil that made it all possible will be gone.
The people will be broke and extremely angry. The political and banking classes are afraid of that. They are preparing for it already..
The problem here is the theology of 'modern economics'. In relatively recent times people began to believe the lie that when the economy went into recession the government should spend money to rescue the problem.
They get addicted those politicians. I mean, if you improve things by government spending then you can do that all the time right? All you need is a money printing machine and the world is you oyster. Isn't it Gordon?
So, they pump all this money into the economy to get re-elected. This drives up asset prices (people saw the house above their heads as investments) and gives the illusion of wealth. The problem is that the money has to come from somewhere. It gets borrowed.
Look at this population v consumer credit graph in the USA from 1970 till today:
As the government and financial services print and lend more money so the consumer debt expands. More $s in the system has seen massive $ devaluation. You could buy an ounce of gold in 1971 for $35.00, now that would cost you around $1140.00 (that doesn't mean that gold is going up, in means the dollar is going down = inflation or money printing)
Let's see consumer debt in relation to total debt:
Debt has been driving the economy. The government includes debt in its GDP figures making it look like the country has a positive GDP. If you look more into the debt figures for the US you will see that debt has been responsible for 'growth' since the late 1950s. Britain is probably in a worse position than the US.
BUBBLE ECONOMICS
What happens is that the government borrows money or allows banks to leverage money and lend you it. You spend it, businesses make money, prices and assets like houses go up and so do salaries. Looks good on the surface, right?
Until we can't borrow anymore.
You see the flip side to this is that we need to borrow from countries with surpluses. Who has the surpluses?
Well, when you drive up salaries and costs artificially by printing money it makes industry uncompetative. So, you export manufacturing jobs (under free trade) to cheap labour economies. Indeed, if you can pay a Chinese worker $2 per day how can an American compete?
So, the Chinese undercut US products and the money flows into their economy. That makes them lots of $. They don't have to spend it on their people so they make huge surpluses. Indeed, they have trillions of $s. They then lend them to the US (at interest) because the US has a deficit because it imports instead of exporting. Mmm, the Chinese lend you the money so that you can buy their things..
Look at this online exhibition by a Chinese pollution photographer to see what our consumer 'bubble' economics done to the Chinese:
(So that you can keep on partying and living of their credit and labour they get to wash in contaminated rivers. Meanwhile the international bankers get richer)
Eventually the debt gets so large that you can't pay it off from taxpayers money without putting up taxes and cutting services. So, you print it quietly. This annoys China because their $ bonds lose value as you dilute the value of each $.
So, they stop lending. Argggggghhhhhhhh, how do we finance that big budget deficit now? We don't. How do we pay our debts? We can't. It's bankruptcy. Companies close and the tax-take shrinks just as you need more money..
Ladies and gentlemen. The game is over. The countries that grew their debts and became 'finance' economies with no manufacturing are NOT coming out of recession. Think depression. The party was great - all those cheap gadgets; the walkmans, playstation II, another car every year, sushi restaraunts - everything you could throw your many away at. THE PARTY IS OVER.
Brown doesn't want to get it. His problem is that those who were his friends - the bankers - are making a fortune and they don't care about the taxpayer or Brown. He is printing more and more in trying to re-inflate the bubble. The problem is that debt was the problem and so debt can't be the solution. There was too much credit and now it has imploded. It got too much and had to run out eventually. The market is fixing the problem itself. What needs to happen is that the insolvent banks (who got us into this mess through derivatives and then bail-outs and quantative easing) need to be allowed to die. The economy should be allowed to correct itself. The government should leave the economy alone as it only causes more damage. (this has implications for political presentation)
No, the politicians will never accept that the consumer society was all an illusion. They talk about stimulus and recovery. It is a theology. Stimulus will keep us down the rabbit hole longer and there is not going to be a recovery. As they throw more taxpayers money at it so the banks demand more and more to fill their big black hole of $2, 000 trillion in fraudulant derivatives on their books.
Why does Scotland fare worse in recessions was the question? The answer is because we get less of the stimulus and less of the free printed money than the bubble economy in the South. Their distortions are being re-pumped or new ones created and so the short term fix make them look healthy (till the election) but when Britain PLC can't borrow more money on the international markets and the printing press burns out London will crash down to earth with an almighty bang. The UK will be where it deserves to be - somewhere next to Portugal and the oil that made it all possible will be gone.
The people will be broke and extremely angry. The political and banking classes are afraid of that. They are preparing for it already..
Gordon Brown and The French Revolution
Another day passes and Scottish democracy is under attack yet again by Das Herald Sturmer.
This time the cost to the tax-payer of MSPs' staff and expenses is being 'scrutinised'. A constant drip drip drip against The Scottish Parliament - that's the kind of 'journalism' that s(w)erves Scotland.
The headline?
MSPs’ expenses cost taxpayers £11 million
The substance?
The cost of employing staff and other expenses by the country's MSPs turns out, on these figures, to be around £2.20 per Scot every year. If you were to buy Das Herald Sturmer (and fewer and fewer are) you would not be able to buy it for 4 days at that price.
Mmm, good governance for a year or propaganda garbage for 3 days. I know where I see the value for money.
Let's dig a little deeper. Gordon Brown's relationship to Das Herald Sturmer (DHS) is well-known. After years of co-ordinated propaganda campaigns there is no doubt that it smells of Brown substance. Alf Young and Gordon are buddies etc.
Does DHS then regularly campaign for 'value for money' from government? What about the taxpayer money Gordon Brown has given to bankers (his corporate doners) in The City in recent months?
***More than £1,000,000,000,000.00***
That works out to be about £24, 000.00 per Scot. No OUTRAGE from DHS!
Fantastic, £24K per Scot to bankers (for no return) but Das Herald Sturmer front-pages £2 per Scot for Scottish parliamentary costs. The inference being that the Scottish parliament is profligate and the reason why your standard of living is nose-diving. Nothing to do with Brown - we can't let you reach that obvious conclusion you understand.
You're being lied to. Why? What are they afraid of? The French Revolution still worries them.
This time the cost to the tax-payer of MSPs' staff and expenses is being 'scrutinised'. A constant drip drip drip against The Scottish Parliament - that's the kind of 'journalism' that s(w)erves Scotland.
The headline?
MSPs’ expenses cost taxpayers £11 million
The substance?
The cost of employing staff and other expenses by the country's MSPs turns out, on these figures, to be around £2.20 per Scot every year. If you were to buy Das Herald Sturmer (and fewer and fewer are) you would not be able to buy it for 4 days at that price.
Mmm, good governance for a year or propaganda garbage for 3 days. I know where I see the value for money.
Let's dig a little deeper. Gordon Brown's relationship to Das Herald Sturmer (DHS) is well-known. After years of co-ordinated propaganda campaigns there is no doubt that it smells of Brown substance. Alf Young and Gordon are buddies etc.
Does DHS then regularly campaign for 'value for money' from government? What about the taxpayer money Gordon Brown has given to bankers (his corporate doners) in The City in recent months?
***More than £1,000,000,000,000.00***
That works out to be about £24, 000.00 per Scot. No OUTRAGE from DHS!
Fantastic, £24K per Scot to bankers (for no return) but Das Herald Sturmer front-pages £2 per Scot for Scottish parliamentary costs. The inference being that the Scottish parliament is profligate and the reason why your standard of living is nose-diving. Nothing to do with Brown - we can't let you reach that obvious conclusion you understand.
You're being lied to. Why? What are they afraid of? The French Revolution still worries them.
Gordon and the bankers are terrified that when we find out that they are robbing us blind that we'll go berserk. Expect more terror, flu pandemics, wars, tabloid politics trivia and so on and then, when you're too fried to remember that you were promised a recovery - you'll get hit for another bail-out! Remember I said this.
You want truth? Stop watching the tv and reading newspapers. They simply lie to you. Read blogs and alternative news on the internet. That's the only place you get anything approaching truth.
You want truth? Stop watching the tv and reading newspapers. They simply lie to you. Read blogs and alternative news on the internet. That's the only place you get anything approaching truth.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
SNP and Politics 101
What is Swinney playing at?
The recession (depression more like) is a result of a bankrupt British state and Scotland is worse off because of decades of mismanagement from London and patronage economics. The only reason Brown can pretend that the UK economy isn't economically dead is because of North Sea oil. The City in London, thanks to Gordon Brown, is bleeding the taxpayers dry and so causing huge cuts in public services.
Yet they are not only getting let off the hook but we are letting them, in a death defying twist of logic, blame the SNP!
Indeed, Swinney wants to talk about "Cautious Optimism" in the Scottish economy? (Where is the evidence of this?) And what can he do about it anyway? Almost nothing.Yet, as he plays the reassuring banker and tries to make it look like he's the one in charge of it all the entire unionist propaganda machine is killing the SNP.
In Das Herald Sturmer the headline screams:
Scotland’s recession far deeper than rest of UK
The article has a picture of Swinney looking like a puppy in front of a pile of poo as if suddenly he was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and responsible for it all.
For heavens's sakes, he should be telling the press that this was all about London being bankrupt and that only the financial levers of independence can give him the ability to turn Scotland around. This is monumental naivity and it will do untold and lasting damage to the cause of independence if it is not tackled head on and fast.
In this article New Labour feel confident to make moronic assertions like the following:
However, Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray warned it painted a “worrying picture” for Scotland and blamed the weak recovery on the SNP Government.
For a start, there is no recovery - that's idiotic, and how on earth can that have anything to do with the SNP? Did the SNP learn nothing from Glasgow North-East?
It seem that Labour has. They have realised that they can get away with blue murder:
Mr Gray said: “The decision to cancel the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (Garl) is an example of how they get it wrong. Garl alone will cost 1300 jobs. It also puts Scottish business at a disadvantage to our competitors.”
Labour should be on the ropes over the economy. Yet, thanks to the SNP's lack of political guile Labour can land all the punches and recruit their shills in the media to run this garbage as lead stories.
Everyone in Scotland is going to blame the SNP for the state of the economy! Come on, this is politics 101. There's no excuse for this kind of negligence.
A 'Bankrupt Britain' campaign would put Labour on the back foot in Scotland. Yet, we insist on letting the culprits land all the punches? What blind stupidity.
As part of a co-ordinated propaganda campaign Das Schottishman leads on:
SNP will miss key target on boosting economy
Of course it has an equally unflattering picture of our First Minister.
Again Ian Gray, who is illiterate on the subject of economics, feels comfortable saying about the SNP:
"They are more interested in pursuing the narrow interests of the SNP than the interests of Scotland and ordinary Scots concerned about jobs and the economy,"
This from the party that has bankrupt Britain through wars, Trident and giving their corporate donors in The City trillions of pounds in bail-outs and quatative easing finance whilst millions lose their jobs.
The SNP is flush with economic talent. Why don't they unleash it? The strategy is going off the rails badly here.
Change the strategy NOW!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Sterling Crisis
Where the $ goes the £ follows. Gold is a hedge against currency devaluation - a store of wealth. So let's see what investors and traders are saying about Gold:
Gulp, and people say that the £ will collapse before the $. I'm thinking Brown's gonnie keep the money printing boogie going until the election. He doesn't really give a funky's muck what happens thereafter. Will the election hit before hyper-inflation?
The £ has devalued around 30% in the last year or so. That means your house, shares, bonds, benefits and salary are worth 30% less in the world market. Did you get the printed money that is devaluing everyone's wealth? No, the bankers did. Mmm, transfer = robbery and you still don't get it. It goes on and on and no-one gets it. Why is that when the banks bend you over the table and repeatedly abuse you, you ask for more? More quantative easing, yes yes - pillage me Gordon, harder harder more..
Another hedge against currency devaluation is oil - that's why the latter is going up in price = inflation. Just as well Brown has some of the black stuff to sell or no-one would buy OUR debt. It buys a little more time before the lights go out.
Gulp, and people say that the £ will collapse before the $. I'm thinking Brown's gonnie keep the money printing boogie going until the election. He doesn't really give a funky's muck what happens thereafter. Will the election hit before hyper-inflation?
The £ has devalued around 30% in the last year or so. That means your house, shares, bonds, benefits and salary are worth 30% less in the world market. Did you get the printed money that is devaluing everyone's wealth? No, the bankers did. Mmm, transfer = robbery and you still don't get it. It goes on and on and no-one gets it. Why is that when the banks bend you over the table and repeatedly abuse you, you ask for more? More quantative easing, yes yes - pillage me Gordon, harder harder more..
Another hedge against currency devaluation is oil - that's why the latter is going up in price = inflation. Just as well Brown has some of the black stuff to sell or no-one would buy OUR debt. It buys a little more time before the lights go out.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Warnings Issued - Britain is Bankrupt
Jupiter Finance yesterday issued gilt warnings. The Financial Times Advisor writes:
"Fund managers are warning of an "almighty shake-out" on the gilt market amid mounting fears the Bank of England will lose control of inflation and send interest rates rocketing."
But Jupiter income star Tony Nutt is quoted:
"There is an unprecedented amount of Weimar Republic wheelbarrow money being thrown at the system.
"The Bank of England will think 'I'm in control, I'm in control - oh, whoops, no I'm not'. We will wake up one morning and find interest rates are already higher than we were anticipating the day before."
Now is the time for Salmond and Co to get busy; The choice of an 'Independent Scotland' or 'Bankrupt Britain' must now be conveyed to the Scottish electorate!
"Fund managers are warning of an "almighty shake-out" on the gilt market amid mounting fears the Bank of England will lose control of inflation and send interest rates rocketing."
But Jupiter income star Tony Nutt is quoted:
"There is an unprecedented amount of Weimar Republic wheelbarrow money being thrown at the system.
"The Bank of England will think 'I'm in control, I'm in control - oh, whoops, no I'm not'. We will wake up one morning and find interest rates are already higher than we were anticipating the day before."
Now is the time for Salmond and Co to get busy; The choice of an 'Independent Scotland' or 'Bankrupt Britain' must now be conveyed to the Scottish electorate!
The Scottish Office?
What is the Scottish Office for?
Thanks to the Westminster electoral system Labour has an inbuilt massive majority of Scottish MPs. This means eternal control over the Scottish Office.
What does Jim Murphy, Secretary of State for Scotland actually do with it?
Mmmm, many have pondered on the function of the Scottish Office since the Scottish Parliament came into being.
Pondering on Labour's By-election victory in Glasgow, I wondered how the, busy in Holyrood, SNP could lose touch with the street but Labour (cash-starved) had message management well organised.
Then it dawned on me: The Scottish Office is 'Minitrue' - Orwell's Ministry of Truth.
At vast expense to the taxpayer Jim and assorted minions sit around all day dreaming up anti-SNP propaganda. They then fire over their media directives to shills in the BBC, Das Herald Sturmer and Das Schottishman and others for obedient dissemination.
What were the slogans of The Party in 1984 again?: "War is Peace," "Freedom is Slavery," "Ignorance is Strength."
Are these the guiding principles of 'Murphy's Law'? The SNP better realise what it's up against and fast. A counter-propaganda vehicle is required by the nation.
Thanks to the Westminster electoral system Labour has an inbuilt massive majority of Scottish MPs. This means eternal control over the Scottish Office.
What does Jim Murphy, Secretary of State for Scotland actually do with it?
Mmmm, many have pondered on the function of the Scottish Office since the Scottish Parliament came into being.
Pondering on Labour's By-election victory in Glasgow, I wondered how the, busy in Holyrood, SNP could lose touch with the street but Labour (cash-starved) had message management well organised.
Then it dawned on me: The Scottish Office is 'Minitrue' - Orwell's Ministry of Truth.
At vast expense to the taxpayer Jim and assorted minions sit around all day dreaming up anti-SNP propaganda. They then fire over their media directives to shills in the BBC, Das Herald Sturmer and Das Schottishman and others for obedient dissemination.
What were the slogans of The Party in 1984 again?: "War is Peace," "Freedom is Slavery," "Ignorance is Strength."
Are these the guiding principles of 'Murphy's Law'? The SNP better realise what it's up against and fast. A counter-propaganda vehicle is required by the nation.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Labour and Institutionalisation
Orwellian.
I mean look at this photo review of Glasgow North-East. Yet people voted Labour? Some blogs I read tell me to cheer up, most that things ain't so bad. The SNP promise to fight Labour's negativity from now on. Why was there no fight for Glasgow North-East? I'm ashamed.
This is institutionalisation. Poverty is a prison. Reflecting on that today I thought about those whose lives were over before they were even borne. They exist as cheap labour, soldiering and voting for people like Gordon Brown. Aspiration isn't for people like them. 74 years of Labour rule and those lost generations!
Remember the Shawshank Redemption? The scene where Brooks can't make it on the outside of prison. This seemed to me to be the best filmic representation, I could think of, of a Labour victory in Glasgow North-East yesterday.
I mean look at this photo review of Glasgow North-East. Yet people voted Labour? Some blogs I read tell me to cheer up, most that things ain't so bad. The SNP promise to fight Labour's negativity from now on. Why was there no fight for Glasgow North-East? I'm ashamed.
This is institutionalisation. Poverty is a prison. Reflecting on that today I thought about those whose lives were over before they were even borne. They exist as cheap labour, soldiering and voting for people like Gordon Brown. Aspiration isn't for people like them. 74 years of Labour rule and those lost generations!
Remember the Shawshank Redemption? The scene where Brooks can't make it on the outside of prison. This seemed to me to be the best filmic representation, I could think of, of a Labour victory in Glasgow North-East yesterday.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Glasgow North-East Needs Fighters!
I've been reading all sorts of comforting excuses about how this seat is unwinnable and how the SNP has learned its lessons about how by-elections are not important.
People, this seat needs fighters. Generations are lost in this Labour ghetto. When the soul of your nation is the issue you don't shirk these kinds of responsibilities. We don't need a good second place and a nice, polite party favourite who will appeal to the better off in Scotland. We needed a fighter!
A battle royal was the order of the day here. These people are fellow Scots who need to find their anger. How can the SNP be thought of as 'Scotland's party' if they do what Labour have done and downplay the relevance of these people to our nation?
The video below should bring shame on all so-called politicians who play games with people's lives!
People, this seat needs fighters. Generations are lost in this Labour ghetto. When the soul of your nation is the issue you don't shirk these kinds of responsibilities. We don't need a good second place and a nice, polite party favourite who will appeal to the better off in Scotland. We needed a fighter!
A battle royal was the order of the day here. These people are fellow Scots who need to find their anger. How can the SNP be thought of as 'Scotland's party' if they do what Labour have done and downplay the relevance of these people to our nation?
The video below should bring shame on all so-called politicians who play games with people's lives!
The hearts and minds of every community in Scotland should be fought for with guile AND passion.
Glasgow North-East and Edward Bernays
Being a Glasgwegian and from a peripheral housing scheme, I know what this by-election in Glasgow North-East is all about.
It's about Edward Bernays.
Indulge me a bit:
Edward Bernays. Nephew of Sigmund Freud and father of public relations. He believed that public opinion had to be manipulated using the subconscious mind. The 'irrational herd' are dangerous and need to be manipulated so that they behave properly. Modern propaganda.
According to Father Ted dangerous libidinal energies lurk just below the surface of every individual and these should be harnessed and channeled by a corporate elite for economic benefit.
Public relations became a science. Through advertising women were conned into smoking because they were 'educated' to believe that smoking would make them equal to men. He called cigarettes "Torches of Freedom". Myths are powerful tools indeed. You can get people to act against their own best interests by pressing certain buttons.
Which brings us to Glasgow North-East. Labour have ruled there for 74 years. The resultant social degeneration is well-known: Worst poverty in the European Union, male life-expectancy worse than in war-torn Iraq etc. Wonderful people kept shackled to poverty.
Why? What good has it done Labour to keep these people downtrodden? Poverty reduces the ability of individuals to stop self-defeating cyclical behaviour. Habits are harder to kick such as unhealthy eating, drug-taking and voting Labour. The poverty is about political patronage. Keep them down and their collective power is in your gift. It's social and economic suicide but they believe in the church of Labour.
Many of these people live without hope and they think that the only influence they can have on the world is to stick two fingers up to the bosses and that voting Labour achieves that end. They identify with each other through voting Labour. People say such things as "I'm a Labour man"
I remember having a pint with a man in the West end whose family rejected him, his wife and kids didn't get on with him and he didn't go home till he was drunk. He told me he was unhappy with his life. Then I asked him if he was "a Labour man" and his answer was: "are you trying to get inside my heid?"
Yep, Labour have Edward Bernays to thank for serving up Glasgow North-East on a platter. As for the 'irrational herd'?
Poverty and Labour gang thegither.
It's about Edward Bernays.
Indulge me a bit:
Edward Bernays. Nephew of Sigmund Freud and father of public relations. He believed that public opinion had to be manipulated using the subconscious mind. The 'irrational herd' are dangerous and need to be manipulated so that they behave properly. Modern propaganda.
According to Father Ted dangerous libidinal energies lurk just below the surface of every individual and these should be harnessed and channeled by a corporate elite for economic benefit.
Public relations became a science. Through advertising women were conned into smoking because they were 'educated' to believe that smoking would make them equal to men. He called cigarettes "Torches of Freedom". Myths are powerful tools indeed. You can get people to act against their own best interests by pressing certain buttons.
Which brings us to Glasgow North-East. Labour have ruled there for 74 years. The resultant social degeneration is well-known: Worst poverty in the European Union, male life-expectancy worse than in war-torn Iraq etc. Wonderful people kept shackled to poverty.
Why? What good has it done Labour to keep these people downtrodden? Poverty reduces the ability of individuals to stop self-defeating cyclical behaviour. Habits are harder to kick such as unhealthy eating, drug-taking and voting Labour. The poverty is about political patronage. Keep them down and their collective power is in your gift. It's social and economic suicide but they believe in the church of Labour.
Many of these people live without hope and they think that the only influence they can have on the world is to stick two fingers up to the bosses and that voting Labour achieves that end. They identify with each other through voting Labour. People say such things as "I'm a Labour man"
I remember having a pint with a man in the West end whose family rejected him, his wife and kids didn't get on with him and he didn't go home till he was drunk. He told me he was unhappy with his life. Then I asked him if he was "a Labour man" and his answer was: "are you trying to get inside my heid?"
Yep, Labour have Edward Bernays to thank for serving up Glasgow North-East on a platter. As for the 'irrational herd'?
Poverty and Labour gang thegither.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Britain's Default Position
"Which big country will default first?"
asks Martin Hutchinson on his website http://www.prudentbear.com/ :
"The worst budget balance of the three deficit countries is in Britain "
The UK's estimated GDP before the depression started was £1.41 trillion. It is estimated that the governments public borrowing requirement is around £700 billion for 2009 or 47.5% of GDP. Of course as tax from income and profits drop this position is deteriorating rapidly. How can the BoE raise interest rates when the government is borrowing like a drunken sailor?
Hey Martin, do you think that instead of borrowing Brown might just print some more dosh on-the-fly?
"..the Bank of England has been slightly more irresponsible in its financing mechanisms than even the Federal Reserve, leaving interest rates above zero but funding fully one third of public spending through direct money creation."
Interesting, so the Bank of England has been printing money faster than the Federal Reserve. Jings, economist and international investor Marc Faber, in a compelling interview on Canada's BNN, has told us that the $ is going to collapse because of printing and maybe in the next few years.
part 2
part 3
part 4
Where does all this leave the £?
asks Martin Hutchinson on his website http://www.prudentbear.com/ :
"The worst budget balance of the three deficit countries is in Britain "
The UK's estimated GDP before the depression started was £1.41 trillion. It is estimated that the governments public borrowing requirement is around £700 billion for 2009 or 47.5% of GDP. Of course as tax from income and profits drop this position is deteriorating rapidly. How can the BoE raise interest rates when the government is borrowing like a drunken sailor?
Hey Martin, do you think that instead of borrowing Brown might just print some more dosh on-the-fly?
"..the Bank of England has been slightly more irresponsible in its financing mechanisms than even the Federal Reserve, leaving interest rates above zero but funding fully one third of public spending through direct money creation."
Interesting, so the Bank of England has been printing money faster than the Federal Reserve. Jings, economist and international investor Marc Faber, in a compelling interview on Canada's BNN, has told us that the $ is going to collapse because of printing and maybe in the next few years.
part 2
part 3
part 4
Where does all this leave the £?
Black Stains on Our National Character
In major oil producing nations the print media covers the ebb and flow of the international oil market. The press in the US, Iran, Mexico, Canada, Iraq, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Russia and so on pour over every detail which comes out of the IEA.
What's the IEA? The International Energy Authority. You didn't know? Perhaps that's because the Scottish press doesn't cover oil economics and politics. Indeed, one has to mine the English press for real oil stories. Wonder why? See my recent entry on Fool's Gold.
It's to the English paper The Guardian then that we must turn for the most recent scoop on oil. Energy editor Terry Macalister filed this story:
'Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower'
What's the IEA? The International Energy Authority. You didn't know? Perhaps that's because the Scottish press doesn't cover oil economics and politics. Indeed, one has to mine the English press for real oil stories. Wonder why? See my recent entry on Fool's Gold.
It's to the English paper The Guardian then that we must turn for the most recent scoop on oil. Energy editor Terry Macalister filed this story:
'Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower'
By contrast, in this - a Westminster by-election week our old friend David 'Mad-Dog' Maddox of Das Schottishman prioritises such major issues affecting Scotland like:
'Taxpayers helped Alex Salmond to treat dentist'
So, what sort of oil story is irrelevant to a major oil producing nation like Scotland then? Only the approaching collapse of the global industrial economy - nothing serious you understand. Oil is in everything from nylon, fuels, lubricants, plastics, detergents, solvents, elastomers, fibers, polyesters etc. Every day would not be the same without it. That's why there are wars in the Middle-East and tensions in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and increasingly in South America etc. (keep an eye on Venezuela and them new US military bases in Columbia.)
What does a global post-industrial economy look like? Try reading Dmitry Orlov's riveting blog on the subject. Let's just say life is going to be nothing like it is now. When the price of oil reaches around 6% of GDP an economy starts contracting. As it runs out prices will go through the roof until it becomes so expensive that demand will collapse. It can't be replaced. Nuclear energy can't run cars and by the time we have the alternative energies to keep some of the industrial economy going, and even if it is cheap enough, the industrial economy will be gone anyway.
According to The Guardian mole the huge influence of the gas dependent Americans on the IEA has led to an overestimation of existing and future supplies:
"The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying."
The US wouldn't tell fibs about oil would they? Those wars really are about terrorism, no? And the US poodle doesn't need its own figures when it has the IEA's:
"The British government, among others, always uses the IEA statistics rather than any of its own to argue that there is little threat to long-term oil supplies."
(Unless it's North Sea Oil that is, cough cough. That runs out before every election involving Scotland.)
Anyway, if this is happening faster than we thought then this is a huge story and impacts on Scotland now and must be central to our economic planning.
A little reminder from The Independent about historical importance of oil to the UK economy:
"..while we are apt to attribute the sudden spurt in Britain's prosperity in the mid- to late-1980s to a deregulated and reinvigorated City, it owed far more to the massive windfall from the North Sea. "
The point is though that there is no staged movement towards a 'post-industrial economy' so dependency will continue until another crisis ensues. In the meantime prices are going to spike. This could and should be Scotland's big chance to get out of bankrupt Britain.
As the US's partner in global mayhem, Britain is not going to make such sensible preparations for future generations. As for we Scots, that role must be assumed by an independent Scotland.
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Numbers
It seems that the problem in Scottish politics is that no-one seems to understand numbers.
To understand the reality of Britain's economy you have to understand that The City is liable for about 25% of all the derivative's debt in the world.
Let's look at the world's derivative's debt then.
![[Exter%27s%20Pyramid_0.png]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJEhgInHBBnaBu3dcSHzZ2xrrx64pu_BNXajLqm8rl5JwBWvSDaAlgyPC0ZUKqCFIVZQlwwLWgIN_dP2JxtMFZ-jgxUtzlBIr7VgVTVt7rTPLZUuHRGcT4SIYqVcWhHnDNqV6KxJeRvZA/s1600/Exter%2527s%2520Pyramid_0.png)
The Exter Pyramid. Courtesy of ZeroHedge.
The ticking timebomb is that $2 quadrillion of liquidity will collapse into whatever truly tangible assets exist. And you thought gold was already overpriced?
Yes, the Bank of England prints the money to prop up the derivatives markets. It can't work. At some point a lot of that money will find its way into consumer prices, gold and commodities.
This pyramid shows many things such as why the UK's financial sector is insolvent, why the £ is history, why hyper-inflation is a real possibility and why Britain is bankrupt.
Another thing it shows is that Scotland needs to escape from Bankrupt Britain.
To understand the reality of Britain's economy you have to understand that The City is liable for about 25% of all the derivative's debt in the world.
Let's look at the world's derivative's debt then.
![[Exter%27s%20Pyramid_0.png]](http://www.theoildrum.com/files/credit-contraction2.jpg)
The Exter Pyramid. Courtesy of ZeroHedge.
The ticking timebomb is that $2 quadrillion of liquidity will collapse into whatever truly tangible assets exist. And you thought gold was already overpriced?
Yes, the Bank of England prints the money to prop up the derivatives markets. It can't work. At some point a lot of that money will find its way into consumer prices, gold and commodities.
This pyramid shows many things such as why the UK's financial sector is insolvent, why the £ is history, why hyper-inflation is a real possibility and why Britain is bankrupt.
Another thing it shows is that Scotland needs to escape from Bankrupt Britain.
Bankrupt Britain or Scottish Independence?
Standing around looking pretty doesn't get you into bed with the electorate. At some point you have to do some chatting up.
Das Herald Sturmer finally has a genuinely bad SNP story. The headline is about an opinion poll that shows a surge in support for New Labour for the upcoming Westminster elections and screams:
"Salmond poll blow as voters shun SNP"
Labour is pumping the message that voting SNP might let the Tories in by the back door. Let's look at what the English papers are saying. Jackie Ashley of the Labour leaning Guardian writes:
"Some Labour people may think I'm sounding too gloomy, but those who have been privy to recent private polling are a lot more than gloomy. This suggests that Labour could return to the Commons with just 120 MPs or thereabouts, taking the party back to 1930s territory. As ministers look for jobs to keep themselves going after politics, a Miliband move to Europe looks sensible."
In The Times we hear that Labour can't afford to run a full election campaign. Polling in the South of England is particularly catastrophic for the prudent money-printer Brown.
Now, normally in Scotland we hear about how Scotland is too poor and too small to have any influence on the world. When it comes to Westminster elections though, Labour propaganda magically transforms. Apparently, the outcome of the next general election will not be decided in England but in Scotland and voting SNP will let the Tories in by the back door.
Pernicious propaganda? Yes, but what do we expect from said source. And it works. The SNP is down to 25% and Labour up to 39% in voting intentions for the next UK election. 43% are still undecided and that will help the SNP but only if they help themselves.
So, in the cut and thrust of the battle for hearts and minds, what is the SNP's strategy? Eh, stand around and pout. The British economy is bankrupt and Labour are getting slaughtered in England. This is an open goal; a sitter. No, the 'message' is that increasing the number of SNP MPs will send a strong signal that blah blah blah blah.
It's a little late for a thingy, what do you call it, oh yes - a campaign strategy. However some ground can be made up and the foundations of the Holyrood and referendum elections laid.
So, where and how is the SNP taking a beating and what can be done? Robbie Dinwoodie, an actual real-deal Scottish journalist, writes in Das Herald Sturmer that the SNP government:
"has been under heavy fire over the Glasgow Airport Rail Link cancellation, the planned clampdown on alcohol, failure to reduce class sizes and job losses such as those planned at Diageo – all giving opponents a sense that a corner is being turned."
Technocratic rebuttals ala Swinney isn't going to cut it. People don't realise that unemployment, house prices inflation, tax rises and so on are a consequence of economic policy set in London under Gordon Brown.
TELL THEM! John McFall and the BoE MPC have admitted that Britain's entire financial system is insolvent. International investors are talking about a sterling currency crisis, the OECD says that Britain is 'uniquely vulnerable' in the economic crisis. The SNP should be telling people that they fear the future because of the union - it's bankrupt.
TELL THEM! The SNP core policy of independence is a soft target. Unionists will forecast hell in an independent Scotland. Well, the SNP must forecast hell with the union. The disadvantage that the SNP had before was that you can't really provide evidence of the viability of an alternative future. That can now become an advantage in that the SNP can prove that the union will not provide a viable economic future for Scots. This should be a visceral battle. Offer the bright future of independence and an economic reason for leaving the union. This way you can exploit all that positive capital that has been built up without losing it. The truth is that Britain's finances are seriously minging. The UK faces the combination of an economic, currency and monetary collapse. There is no manufacturing base to dig the UK out of depression and so generations are going to be stuck with debt that they can't pay back. They'll emigrate if they can. The TRUTH (not propaganda) is that Britain is going bankrupt.
TELL THEM! Robbie's interview with the pollsters brings out interesting observations:
"Chris Eynon of TNS-BMRB said the poll showed no evidence of a Cameron effect north of the Border, nor “any particular disenchantment with Gordon Brown,” adding: “It is the SNP who have most to be concerned about in these results."
Brown should be getting hammered. His economy is impacting on the Scottish government's finances but by holding back on the 'Bankrupt Britain' campaign the SNP are allowing their opponents to blame them for their opponents' problems. This is monumentally naive! The reason that Labour's propaganda works is because Scots distrust the Tories and because Labour is an old habit. Well, if you want to make the SNP the Scottish party then this bad 'habit' must be kicked. Scots should know that it's not Tories nor Labour, it's London government, that's the problem. The choice is bankrupt Britain or Scottish independence. The SNP must turn this corner. It must refocus the minds of the Scottish electorate away from an anti-Cameron celebrity UK tabloid election. The SNP must seize the agenda - it has a fantastic opportunity.
Scots need to be informed that the Tories are going to win anyway and that if the election is a 2 horse London race then it's a two horse race to bankruptcy.
TELL THEM!
Das Herald Sturmer finally has a genuinely bad SNP story. The headline is about an opinion poll that shows a surge in support for New Labour for the upcoming Westminster elections and screams:
"Salmond poll blow as voters shun SNP"
Labour is pumping the message that voting SNP might let the Tories in by the back door. Let's look at what the English papers are saying. Jackie Ashley of the Labour leaning Guardian writes:
"Some Labour people may think I'm sounding too gloomy, but those who have been privy to recent private polling are a lot more than gloomy. This suggests that Labour could return to the Commons with just 120 MPs or thereabouts, taking the party back to 1930s territory. As ministers look for jobs to keep themselves going after politics, a Miliband move to Europe looks sensible."
In The Times we hear that Labour can't afford to run a full election campaign. Polling in the South of England is particularly catastrophic for the prudent money-printer Brown.
Now, normally in Scotland we hear about how Scotland is too poor and too small to have any influence on the world. When it comes to Westminster elections though, Labour propaganda magically transforms. Apparently, the outcome of the next general election will not be decided in England but in Scotland and voting SNP will let the Tories in by the back door.
Pernicious propaganda? Yes, but what do we expect from said source. And it works. The SNP is down to 25% and Labour up to 39% in voting intentions for the next UK election. 43% are still undecided and that will help the SNP but only if they help themselves.
So, in the cut and thrust of the battle for hearts and minds, what is the SNP's strategy? Eh, stand around and pout. The British economy is bankrupt and Labour are getting slaughtered in England. This is an open goal; a sitter. No, the 'message' is that increasing the number of SNP MPs will send a strong signal that blah blah blah blah.
It's a little late for a thingy, what do you call it, oh yes - a campaign strategy. However some ground can be made up and the foundations of the Holyrood and referendum elections laid.
So, where and how is the SNP taking a beating and what can be done? Robbie Dinwoodie, an actual real-deal Scottish journalist, writes in Das Herald Sturmer that the SNP government:
"has been under heavy fire over the Glasgow Airport Rail Link cancellation, the planned clampdown on alcohol, failure to reduce class sizes and job losses such as those planned at Diageo – all giving opponents a sense that a corner is being turned."
Technocratic rebuttals ala Swinney isn't going to cut it. People don't realise that unemployment, house prices inflation, tax rises and so on are a consequence of economic policy set in London under Gordon Brown.
TELL THEM! John McFall and the BoE MPC have admitted that Britain's entire financial system is insolvent. International investors are talking about a sterling currency crisis, the OECD says that Britain is 'uniquely vulnerable' in the economic crisis. The SNP should be telling people that they fear the future because of the union - it's bankrupt.
TELL THEM! The SNP core policy of independence is a soft target. Unionists will forecast hell in an independent Scotland. Well, the SNP must forecast hell with the union. The disadvantage that the SNP had before was that you can't really provide evidence of the viability of an alternative future. That can now become an advantage in that the SNP can prove that the union will not provide a viable economic future for Scots. This should be a visceral battle. Offer the bright future of independence and an economic reason for leaving the union. This way you can exploit all that positive capital that has been built up without losing it. The truth is that Britain's finances are seriously minging. The UK faces the combination of an economic, currency and monetary collapse. There is no manufacturing base to dig the UK out of depression and so generations are going to be stuck with debt that they can't pay back. They'll emigrate if they can. The TRUTH (not propaganda) is that Britain is going bankrupt.
TELL THEM! Robbie's interview with the pollsters brings out interesting observations:
"Chris Eynon of TNS-BMRB said the poll showed no evidence of a Cameron effect north of the Border, nor “any particular disenchantment with Gordon Brown,” adding: “It is the SNP who have most to be concerned about in these results."
Brown should be getting hammered. His economy is impacting on the Scottish government's finances but by holding back on the 'Bankrupt Britain' campaign the SNP are allowing their opponents to blame them for their opponents' problems. This is monumentally naive! The reason that Labour's propaganda works is because Scots distrust the Tories and because Labour is an old habit. Well, if you want to make the SNP the Scottish party then this bad 'habit' must be kicked. Scots should know that it's not Tories nor Labour, it's London government, that's the problem. The choice is bankrupt Britain or Scottish independence. The SNP must turn this corner. It must refocus the minds of the Scottish electorate away from an anti-Cameron celebrity UK tabloid election. The SNP must seize the agenda - it has a fantastic opportunity.
Scots need to be informed that the Tories are going to win anyway and that if the election is a 2 horse London race then it's a two horse race to bankruptcy.
TELL THEM!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Britain is in Brownruptcy
Praise the Lord. This Sunday ZeroHedge brings good tidings for our economy.
The pressure is off! Notional global value of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives' contracts in 2008 have been revised down to $592,000,000,000,000.00 from $683,700,000,000,000.00
Lots of zeros, eh.
Ok, that's $592 trillion down from $683.7 trillion.
Big numbers, someone should put them in context. In 2008, the entire real economy of the world was around $55 trillion - less than 10% of the banks' dodgy derivatives scam (DDS). So, when all the fraud in those derivatives exploded last year and this $700 trillion market collapsed where did that leave Britain's banks?
Well, let's say London was responsible for 25% of these contracts. In pounds that amounts to £90-100 trillion. The British GDP was £2 trillion (top of my head figure but doesn't matter anyway). So, the financial sector in Britain's financial sector has dodgy derivative contracts worth 50 times Britain's GDP.
Brown's odds against saving these banks are approximately (the zeros above help here) 1000,000,000,000:1. a trillion to one against.
Since Gordon got us into such a fankle, I've decided to refer to Britain's debt, not as enormously 'in the red' but massively 'in the Brown'. Or Britain is Brownrupt.
The pressure is off! Notional global value of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives' contracts in 2008 have been revised down to $592,000,000,000,000.00 from $683,700,000,000,000.00
Lots of zeros, eh.
Ok, that's $592 trillion down from $683.7 trillion.
Big numbers, someone should put them in context. In 2008, the entire real economy of the world was around $55 trillion - less than 10% of the banks' dodgy derivatives scam (DDS). So, when all the fraud in those derivatives exploded last year and this $700 trillion market collapsed where did that leave Britain's banks?
Well, let's say London was responsible for 25% of these contracts. In pounds that amounts to £90-100 trillion. The British GDP was £2 trillion (top of my head figure but doesn't matter anyway). So, the financial sector in Britain's financial sector has dodgy derivative contracts worth 50 times Britain's GDP.
Brown's odds against saving these banks are approximately (the zeros above help here) 1000,000,000,000:1. a trillion to one against.
Since Gordon got us into such a fankle, I've decided to refer to Britain's debt, not as enormously 'in the red' but massively 'in the Brown'. Or Britain is Brownrupt.
Britain's Insolvent Financial Sector
Remember the John McFall interview on the BBC where he admits that Britain's financial sector is entirely insolvent. According to John that's also the view of the BoE monetary policy committee!
I've heard howls from unionists about how it was all Scottish banks getting the bail-outs etc. One commentor in Das Schottishman even ventured to suggest that Scottish independence was dead forever because Scots would never be able to pay off the bail-outs to the shareholders from the English taxpayer. Eh, the English taxpayers are the 'shareholders'.
Back to reality. Today is a RED alert day. John Waples and Iain Dey of The Times reveal that Lloyds, which is not a Scottish bank, is:
"being kept afloat with £165 billion of loans and guarantees from the Bank of England and other central banks around the world"
Maybe John and Iain can pass comment on John McFall's view that the banking crisis is systemic?
"The bank’s reliance on state funding, detailed in a document released last week in connection with a separate £21 billion fundraising, gives the first insight into the huge scale of aid extended to banks during the financial crisis."
Many unionists were saying last week that RBS was the worst run bank of all of them. That apparently is a sign of innate and unique Scottish managerial incompetence. Is this true?
"Royal Bank of Scotland is less exposed — it has about £40 billion in state funds. It has cut its dependency on state funding by 69% since the peak of the crisis."
Then there was HBOS. Another bunch of incompetent Scots getting bailed out by the largesse of the English taxpayer?
"Lloyds inherited most of the government loans from HBOS after it agreed to acquire the bank in September 2008. "
£165+ billion. That's 10% of Britain's GDP!
I've heard howls from unionists about how it was all Scottish banks getting the bail-outs etc. One commentor in Das Schottishman even ventured to suggest that Scottish independence was dead forever because Scots would never be able to pay off the bail-outs to the shareholders from the English taxpayer. Eh, the English taxpayers are the 'shareholders'.
Back to reality. Today is a RED alert day. John Waples and Iain Dey of The Times reveal that Lloyds, which is not a Scottish bank, is:
"being kept afloat with £165 billion of loans and guarantees from the Bank of England and other central banks around the world"
Maybe John and Iain can pass comment on John McFall's view that the banking crisis is systemic?
"The bank’s reliance on state funding, detailed in a document released last week in connection with a separate £21 billion fundraising, gives the first insight into the huge scale of aid extended to banks during the financial crisis."
Many unionists were saying last week that RBS was the worst run bank of all of them. That apparently is a sign of innate and unique Scottish managerial incompetence. Is this true?
"Royal Bank of Scotland is less exposed — it has about £40 billion in state funds. It has cut its dependency on state funding by 69% since the peak of the crisis."
Then there was HBOS. Another bunch of incompetent Scots getting bailed out by the largesse of the English taxpayer?
"Lloyds inherited most of the government loans from HBOS after it agreed to acquire the bank in September 2008. "
£165+ billion. That's 10% of Britain's GDP!
Is Brown the 'Arse of Insolvency'
Britain is "uniquely vulnerable" - that's the IMF's view on Brown's Britain as the crisis endures.
What do we need in this, our darkest hour? Churchill, according to an article written by Liam Halligan for The Telegraph. Never, in the field of human finance has so much wealth been transferred from so many to so few.
Liam, you jest man. What about 'green shoots', 'recovery' and all those growth projections from the Treasury? What kind of danger are we in if those are the forecasts?
"What is in jeopardy, though, is the prosperity of the British people for at least the next 15 to 20 years."
What do we need in this, our darkest hour? Churchill, according to an article written by Liam Halligan for The Telegraph. Never, in the field of human finance has so much wealth been transferred from so many to so few.
Liam, you jest man. What about 'green shoots', 'recovery' and all those growth projections from the Treasury? What kind of danger are we in if those are the forecasts?
"What is in jeopardy, though, is the prosperity of the British people for at least the next 15 to 20 years."
Yikes, that's a looong time. The unionists tell us that Scotland reaps great benefits from being part of Britain and its humungus global influence. Britain is so powerful it will overcome, no?
"In the balance, is nothing less than this country's place among the world's top-ranking nations."
Hang on, Labour told people in Scotland that if they voted SNP at the Scottish elections, Scots would be saddled with an extra £5, 000 tax bill. How much is Britain's crisis costing its citizens?
"an extra £32,000 will be added to the existing sovereign debt burden of every British household."
Gulp. Brits were already up to their necks too. Do you think that Britain could be labelled as a bankrupt then?
"Behind the scenes, though, even Brown and Co have grasped that yet another "fiscal stimulus" would see a sovereign debt downgrade, in turn provoking a creditors' strike – under which the UK would be rendered "insolvent", unable to roll-over its debts."
Has Gordon Brown single-handedly killed the 'union dividend' myth? Is he the 'Arse of Insolvency?'
Global Currency Crisis? New World Order?
Alasdair Darling will tell you that the G20 will be discussing "long term growth" this weekend in St. Andrews ('The home of golf'). Such a smokescreen is par for the course for Mr. Personality. We hear that in the 19th hole a glass will be raised to a new global reserve currency. Adios greenback. As the US's caddie, Britain's sterling will be found dead in the bunker loyally alongside.
Many economists, traders, analysts and even bloggers are talking about an impending international currency crisis. So, what are the hedge fund managers thinking?:
Many economists, traders, analysts and even bloggers are talking about an impending international currency crisis. So, what are the hedge fund managers thinking?:
Friday, November 6, 2009
FOOL'S GOLD
Nothing exposes the politics of unionism in Scotland more than oil.
Deceit in relation to the economic importance of North Sea oil is thicker than 'Texan Tea'. How have Scots been kept informed about the enormous wealth off our shores? Have our authorities, politicians and newspapers given us balanced information?
Some words that describe unionist propaganda in regards to Scotland's oil wealth:
fraudulant, fallacious, dishonorable, dishonest, Janus-faced, duplicitous, double-dealing, fork-tongued, deceptive, hypocritical, insincere, disingenuous, underhanded, treacherous, deceptive, specious, unstrustworthy,scamming, propagandist, thieving, swindlling, game-rigging, cheating, defrauding, bluffing, embezzling, wangling, counterfitting, falsifying, phoney, faking, dissembling, betraying, double-dealing, sand-bagging, conning, feigning, simulating, oily....
Am I getting my feelings across here?
Over the years Scots have been told the oil was running out. We've been told that oil is nothing compared to the massive profits made by The City and that an independent Scotland would have a massive deficit even with the oil. The people have been lied to so much that they switch off when the subject arises. What a shame. With that oil money Scotland may well have become the richest country in the world. Instead, well we know about the life-expectancy of men in Glasgow being lower than war-torn Iraq, we know that our pensioners die of the cold, we know that hundreds in Scotland die of malnutrition each year..
We're not a greedy people, we Scots. Well, if you subtract the political and banking class - and I wish we would - that is. It wouldn't bother us an inch to see the living standards of our English, Northern Irish and Welsh cousins improving from our oil proceeds. The problem is that everyone in Britain PLC has got poorer. The oil money has been blown on wars, nuclear weapons, City bankers, in short; expanding the Ukanian/US empire.
So, what is the truth about oil?
Recently The Independent ran an article by Sarah Arnott interviewing John Gallagher, vice president of Shell's European upstream business.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/how-to-make-the-last-oil-pay-1800653.html
How important has North Sea oil been to the UK John?
"The North Sea is the UK's unsung industrial hero,"
So, what sort of contribution does Sarah tell us that oil has made during the economic crisis?: "The woeful state of the public finances will no doubt make it harder for the Government to rein back on a regime that produces an annual £20bn in taxes."
Now that oil is running out Scotland, a small nation of 5 million people, has no real asset that could propel our economy if Scots decide to vote for independence. That's obvious, no? What sort of money does The Independent think is left in the tank?: "Of the 25 billion barrels that are left, 10 billion are accounted for in commercial production plans. But the rest are not. If the last, hard-to-reach resources are too expensive to pursue, the difference to the UK economy – at an oil price of $70 – would be more than £1 trillion." (the oil price is around $80 now and rising).
Mmm, so the economy is still going to receive many trillions? That would buy Scotland some teachers, rail links, roads and trams, no?
Then yesterday another English newspaper tells it like it is:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/edmundconway/6505670/North-Sea-oil-is-dragging-us-into-the-red.html
The Telegraph's sub-header says: "Oil wealth was the secret saviour of the economy, but no longer". It seems, according to Edmund Conway that without oil, the UK economy is and was hugely subsidised.
Hey Edmund, has the truth been told about oil's contribution to the UK economy?
"One of the peculiarities of British politics – and economics – is the reluctance to take into account the critical contribution of oil to the economy."
A 'peculiarity' or crude propaganda? What significant is oil to Britain's recent economic history?:
"the industry that powered Britain towards prosperity in the 1980s"
"made us one of the most dynamic and successful nations in the Western world"
"described by a prime minister as "God's gift" to the British economy"
Oh stop gushing Edmond. Don't forget that Britain's economy was really built on financial services and not oil at all, right?
"the truth is that, for the past quarter of a century, Britain has been a petro-economy."
Yeh yeh. The oil off Scotland's shores is a mere drop in the ocean compared to what the Arab's have. The superpowers are all over there jostling for supply rights. That's real geo-politics!
"In 1999, we were producing more oil than Iraq, Kuwait or Nigeria."
Really? What about gas reserves?
"The following year, we pumped out almost twice as much natural gas as Iran – a country with reserves that are the envy of the world."
Hang on John, during the Thatcher years and since Scots have been told that it was London that was making us all 'rich' and that oil was insignificant and running out anyway. What exactly was fueling the British economy?
"..while we are apt to attribute the sudden spurt in Britain's prosperity in the mid- to late-1980s to a deregulated and reinvigorated City, it owed far more to the massive windfall from the North Sea. "
So, in a global context oil has helped Britain do things like be in the G7 and act like a big player on the world stage?
"Were it not for the cushion provided by oil exports, the deficit in Britain's current account – its international ledger – would have been one of the worst in the Western world."
What about all those international businesses that were established in London and the UK over the last 30 years. They performed well and international investors have shown confidence in Britain and the pound sterling. Surely they were the real reason for Britain's wealth during this era?
"much of the massive rise in business investment in the years before the financial collapse was due entirely to spending in the North Sea."
Waow. I wonder what it would have been like had Scotland had all that oil money to itself. I guess it would be like Norway which has the same population as Scotland?
"Unlike the Norwegians, who diverted a slice of their North Sea revenues into an investment fund designed to provide for them when the oil started to run dry, chancellors of every political hue treated North Sea taxes as current income."
So, the UK blew it. Maybe an independent Scotland with one-twelfth of the UK's budget spend could have invested for the future of Scots? Isn't that what Norway did?
"Norway's prudence has helped it withstand this crisis and establish itself as the Switzerland of the 21st century"
I don't doubt your indepth knowledge of oil economy but what are international investors saying. Do they think oil is important to the UK? Are they saying, like you, that without it the UK will suffer?
"Jim Rogers, a renowned investor, has predicted that the demise of the North Sea will send the pound crashing downwards, taking the UK into banana-republic territory."
Finally, someone is telling the truth about how Scotland's oil was keeping Britain plc in the black.
And that truth comes from English newspapers. What sort of shadow of ourselves are we that the articles above would never be printed in Scotland's newspapers? Why no TRUTH? Priorities of our democratic press towards Scots? Das Herald Sturmer's and Das Schottishman's priorities clearly lie elsewhere.
Rabbie, will you help me out here man?
"O wad, ere I had seen the day
That Treason thus could sell us
My auld gray heid had lain in clay
Wi Bruce an loyal Wallace
But pith an pouer, till my last hour
I'll mak this declaration -
We're bocht an sold for English gold
Sic a parcel o rogues in a nation!"
Deceit in relation to the economic importance of North Sea oil is thicker than 'Texan Tea'. How have Scots been kept informed about the enormous wealth off our shores? Have our authorities, politicians and newspapers given us balanced information?
Some words that describe unionist propaganda in regards to Scotland's oil wealth:
fraudulant, fallacious, dishonorable, dishonest, Janus-faced, duplicitous, double-dealing, fork-tongued, deceptive, hypocritical, insincere, disingenuous, underhanded, treacherous, deceptive, specious, unstrustworthy,scamming, propagandist, thieving, swindlling, game-rigging, cheating, defrauding, bluffing, embezzling, wangling, counterfitting, falsifying, phoney, faking, dissembling, betraying, double-dealing, sand-bagging, conning, feigning, simulating, oily....
Am I getting my feelings across here?
Over the years Scots have been told the oil was running out. We've been told that oil is nothing compared to the massive profits made by The City and that an independent Scotland would have a massive deficit even with the oil. The people have been lied to so much that they switch off when the subject arises. What a shame. With that oil money Scotland may well have become the richest country in the world. Instead, well we know about the life-expectancy of men in Glasgow being lower than war-torn Iraq, we know that our pensioners die of the cold, we know that hundreds in Scotland die of malnutrition each year..
We're not a greedy people, we Scots. Well, if you subtract the political and banking class - and I wish we would - that is. It wouldn't bother us an inch to see the living standards of our English, Northern Irish and Welsh cousins improving from our oil proceeds. The problem is that everyone in Britain PLC has got poorer. The oil money has been blown on wars, nuclear weapons, City bankers, in short; expanding the Ukanian/US empire.
So, what is the truth about oil?
Recently The Independent ran an article by Sarah Arnott interviewing John Gallagher, vice president of Shell's European upstream business.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/how-to-make-the-last-oil-pay-1800653.html
How important has North Sea oil been to the UK John?
"The North Sea is the UK's unsung industrial hero,"
So, what sort of contribution does Sarah tell us that oil has made during the economic crisis?: "The woeful state of the public finances will no doubt make it harder for the Government to rein back on a regime that produces an annual £20bn in taxes."
Now that oil is running out Scotland, a small nation of 5 million people, has no real asset that could propel our economy if Scots decide to vote for independence. That's obvious, no? What sort of money does The Independent think is left in the tank?: "Of the 25 billion barrels that are left, 10 billion are accounted for in commercial production plans. But the rest are not. If the last, hard-to-reach resources are too expensive to pursue, the difference to the UK economy – at an oil price of $70 – would be more than £1 trillion." (the oil price is around $80 now and rising).
Mmm, so the economy is still going to receive many trillions? That would buy Scotland some teachers, rail links, roads and trams, no?
Then yesterday another English newspaper tells it like it is:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/edmundconway/6505670/North-Sea-oil-is-dragging-us-into-the-red.html
The Telegraph's sub-header says: "Oil wealth was the secret saviour of the economy, but no longer". It seems, according to Edmund Conway that without oil, the UK economy is and was hugely subsidised.
Hey Edmund, has the truth been told about oil's contribution to the UK economy?
"One of the peculiarities of British politics – and economics – is the reluctance to take into account the critical contribution of oil to the economy."
A 'peculiarity' or crude propaganda? What significant is oil to Britain's recent economic history?:
"the industry that powered Britain towards prosperity in the 1980s"
"made us one of the most dynamic and successful nations in the Western world"
"described by a prime minister as "God's gift" to the British economy"
Oh stop gushing Edmond. Don't forget that Britain's economy was really built on financial services and not oil at all, right?
"the truth is that, for the past quarter of a century, Britain has been a petro-economy."
Yeh yeh. The oil off Scotland's shores is a mere drop in the ocean compared to what the Arab's have. The superpowers are all over there jostling for supply rights. That's real geo-politics!
"In 1999, we were producing more oil than Iraq, Kuwait or Nigeria."
Really? What about gas reserves?
"The following year, we pumped out almost twice as much natural gas as Iran – a country with reserves that are the envy of the world."
Hang on John, during the Thatcher years and since Scots have been told that it was London that was making us all 'rich' and that oil was insignificant and running out anyway. What exactly was fueling the British economy?
"..while we are apt to attribute the sudden spurt in Britain's prosperity in the mid- to late-1980s to a deregulated and reinvigorated City, it owed far more to the massive windfall from the North Sea. "
So, in a global context oil has helped Britain do things like be in the G7 and act like a big player on the world stage?
"Were it not for the cushion provided by oil exports, the deficit in Britain's current account – its international ledger – would have been one of the worst in the Western world."
What about all those international businesses that were established in London and the UK over the last 30 years. They performed well and international investors have shown confidence in Britain and the pound sterling. Surely they were the real reason for Britain's wealth during this era?
"much of the massive rise in business investment in the years before the financial collapse was due entirely to spending in the North Sea."
Waow. I wonder what it would have been like had Scotland had all that oil money to itself. I guess it would be like Norway which has the same population as Scotland?
"Unlike the Norwegians, who diverted a slice of their North Sea revenues into an investment fund designed to provide for them when the oil started to run dry, chancellors of every political hue treated North Sea taxes as current income."
So, the UK blew it. Maybe an independent Scotland with one-twelfth of the UK's budget spend could have invested for the future of Scots? Isn't that what Norway did?
"Norway's prudence has helped it withstand this crisis and establish itself as the Switzerland of the 21st century"
I don't doubt your indepth knowledge of oil economy but what are international investors saying. Do they think oil is important to the UK? Are they saying, like you, that without it the UK will suffer?
"Jim Rogers, a renowned investor, has predicted that the demise of the North Sea will send the pound crashing downwards, taking the UK into banana-republic territory."
Finally, someone is telling the truth about how Scotland's oil was keeping Britain plc in the black.
And that truth comes from English newspapers. What sort of shadow of ourselves are we that the articles above would never be printed in Scotland's newspapers? Why no TRUTH? Priorities of our democratic press towards Scots? Das Herald Sturmer's and Das Schottishman's priorities clearly lie elsewhere.
Rabbie, will you help me out here man?
"O wad, ere I had seen the day
That Treason thus could sell us
My auld gray heid had lain in clay
Wi Bruce an loyal Wallace
But pith an pouer, till my last hour
I'll mak this declaration -
We're bocht an sold for English gold
Sic a parcel o rogues in a nation!"