Nigel Farage Tells it Like it Is.
Nigel Farage tells it like it is – Europe is by no means a democracy – its run by big banks, big business, and big bureaucrats. There is no actual democratic movement. The EU Commission has no problem removing any politician who dares to stand up against them.
Attorney General say No Bank is Too Big to Indict – Right!
Attorney General Eric Holder claims no bank is too big to indict citing the fines he got from J.P. Morgan, reported by Reuters. But those are fines, not a criminal indictment of the bank that has shut such institutions down. When they actually go after Goldman Sachs then we can perhaps believe him. They are going after fines – absolutely. They need the money. But to actually put a bank down as they did to Drexel Burnham with Michael Milken resulting in over 50,000 people losing their jobs – oh sorry I forgot. Drexel competed with NYC it was a Philadelphia firm. Then there was REFCO, the largest commodity firm also destroyed by criminal indictment. But that was a Chicago firm. All prosecutions protect New York. Sorry – point to just one NYC major firm destroyed by indictment – just one in the past 30 years!
Europe Outlawing Short-Selling – And There Goes Britain?
Cameron loses fight with EU over allowing short-selling. The European politicians think they can prevent a collapse by outlawing short-selling. What these morons fail to grasp is that once a market turns down and confidence vanishes, the ONLY support is short-covering. Without that, you get the 90% declines as was the case during the Great Depression in the USA. They were hunting down shorts aggressively and nobody would play the short-side resulting in a steady erosion of the market value.
David Cameron promised a referendum on if Britain should leave the EU, but has refuses to set a date afraid of the outcome. At this point, the manufacturers threaten top leave but staying will eliminate Britain as the financial center for Europe. There will be no choice for capital but to flee even Britain. Of course, if Britain stays, it is unlikely they will see any reform in the EU and we will see the Draconian measures applied by the EU hit Britain as well.
The Scottish vote is September 18th, 2014 just after the turn in the ECM September 3rd. While everyone give this at best a 0.5% chance, events could still change this rapidly. The way the EU Parliament is being run, whatever they can do that history warns is the worst possible choice they are making. Between now and September, they can screw up an awful lot.
In France, the country is entering a serious economic depression. Job growth has collapsed and the only uptick is creating more state jobs. Government continues to grow which is precisely the reason they have all complained about Greece. France is dragging the EU down and in Germany, their austerity has about half of the municipal governments on the very of bankruptcy. Every step these people take is only to sustain their self-interests. Nobody is looking at what is best for the people.
Our long-term forecast for the decline in the Euro and even the pound start to make sense as we look ahead beyond 2015. The first leg is the rise in the currencies in a deflationary spiral. This is the same impact on the yen how it rose with the economic decline, the rise in the dollar between 1980 and 1985 with that economic decline, and of course the rise in the dollar during the Great Depression.
The pound and the euro will break only when the confidence collapses which is soon. They rise in the dollar will then put economic pressure on the USA as takes place with every economic downturn.
The latest drive to outlaw short-selling in Europe will be the kiss of death. This could very well seal the fate of Britain as well. For now, British property has been rising as is the case in Switzerland and we are seeing this in the major centers in the USA. But this is deceiving. It has been cash trying to get out of banks and off the grid. The trend toward electronic currency and negative interest rates in the future will only force capital into the Private Sector off the grid.
Inside Ukraine – The Same Tactics as Iran
The uprising in Iran was met with secret police going after anyone who joined the protests. Ukraine is adopting the same methods. Instead of confrontation that makes the TV, they are targeting anyone who participates in the protests individually and their families. This is not like civil war in the sense of one-armed group against another. This is now migrating to KGB methods against any of those who participate in the protest even if they are just journalists or students and did not do anything violent at all. This is a new development based upon our sources and pay close attention – for this is not merely the method of Iran that succeeded to squashing that uprising, but it is most likely going to become the new way ALL governments deal with the protests that will only gather steam especially after 2015.75.
The Ukraine government is adopting this new strategy to suppress the uprising yet be able to avoid putting on a mass show trying to avoid confrontation with the masses. There have been some monitoring of the internet, which the government is now claiming it is purely a technical coincidence. This strategy is working for it is the classic divide and conquer. This is removing any visible signs of confrontational events with the mass of the population as the city people keep going on living as nothing had happened.
This is the new strategy. Target the protesters and show up at their homes. It reduces the visible signs and succeeds in suppression.
Electronic Money – Coming Everywhere Sooner than you Think
When Larry Summers said interest rates should be negative, he was flying a balloon to see how it was taken. Negative interest rates are coming. When the economy turns down after 2015.75, they cannot lower rates that are already too low, so in their mind, they have to go negative. You will be taxed effectively on money you do not spend.
Of course, the mainstream press only put out the propaganda that government wants anyhow. I cannot telling how many talk about the top 1%, how guns on the streets are dangerous, and a host of other issues. Of course, taxes are going to be raised dramatically! They always claim to be targeting the top 1%, but somehow it always comes down to the middle class. The “rich” today isHOUSEHOLD income of $250,000 and they can justify if your children cannot find a job and struggle to pay student loans and now have to live at home, well gee wiz – that increases HOUSEHOLD income doesn’t it? The IRS can make that interpretation without Congress and what judge will ever say they are wrong? The “definition” of the rich will always decline because if they confiscate ALL the wealth of the top 1%, they are still broke.
And as for guns, real criminals do not buy their guns in stores – they prefer the black market that is everywhere. Even the guns confiscated and buy-back programs are corrupt for the police need money and have been caught selling the guns themselves from California to New Jersey. (see also Arizona, Texas,NY Times, national loophole.
The other balloon of Larry Summers was ELIMINATE cash. He called for moving to ELECTRONIC money. Behind the scenes, this is a HUGE topic. Banks have embraced it everywhere – even in Germany. The various tax authorities see this as a tremendous bonus for they claim it will eliminate the underground economy, law enforcement see it as eliminating drugs etc and the Mafia, but all of this will only create a barter underground economy. The future is going to change in ways you never imagined.
Education – Waste of Time & Money?
The plight of education is really becoming a total disaster. Historically, one learned the basics in school. However, the trade was acquired not by degree but by apprenticeship. It is indeed rare to find someone doing what they have a degree in these days outside of law and medicine. The great majority of CFO I have met at the largest corporations around the globe had engineering backgrounds – not MBAs. In Asia, to rise to the top of a company, one must go through all the departments so that they then understand the company as a whole. The same system is used in China to become head of state, one must head the various departments on the way up.
In other words, it is called experience. Even in economics, those that only had theories like Marx screwed everything up whereas those who actually emerged from business like David Ricardo caught a glimpse of how things really work.
In the USA, Forbes reported that 60% of graduates cannot find employment in the field that they went to school for. In Germany, a similar plight is surfacing. The German press has reported that approximately 688,000 graduates in 2012 are working as cheap laborers. Education has utterly failed because it is being taught by people who have never worked in the real world. A major company called me on the recommendation of a person in their central bank regarding hedging. The first words out of his mouth – “I have to tell you, I do not respect academics.” He assumed I was one and I had to explain no way. He then said OK. Let’s meet. Newspapers love to quote academics, but the old story is the world is searching for a one-handed economist for they always say on the hand the economy will boom, but on the other it will decline. They tend to forecast whatever trend is in motion will remain in motion.
We need not just political reform – but major rethinking about education. What I have learned came from doing – no books.
Tension Everywhere Rising?
The most unlikely place to see tensions rising just made the list – Australian v Indonesia. The real issue has been economics and trying to prevent the boat people from entering Australia. Australian warships have crossed into Indonesian waters and this has led to tensions rising with Indonesia now increasing its patrols against Australia. While war is unlikely, this simply illustrates the rising tensions everywhere. The main clash between the two will be sparked by religion – Islam v Christianity. But the real root cause is always economics.
Mario Draghi Says NEGATIVE Interest Rates are Possible
When Larry Summers stood up and called for Negative Interest rates, people were shocked. However, such stunts are all coordinated. This was a trial balloon so that the government can judge the reaction of an idea before its time. Negative Interest Rates are in the cards. So get use to the idea. These people cannot see what they are doing to the economy.
This is like a medieval doctor who bleeds people. It was never that he drained too much blood, but rather that he did not drain the subject soon enough. This is the same thing with interest rates. They cannot grasp that rising rates are normal and this artificial level kills the long-term investment markets.
Global Market Watch Jan 23rd, 2014
Ukraine – The Revolution in Full Motion
The violent protests in Ukraine have spread beyond the capital of Kiev. The city appears more like a war zone and we are watching a revolution in action. Make no mistake, this is the arrogance of a political administration that has shown it is willing to killing its own people to retain power. The protesters are demanding immediate elections, the resignation of the President Viktor Yanukovych, and a repeal of the anti-protesting laws he just enacted. Effectively, Yanukovych has demonstrated that he is ruthless and is completely out of touch with reality.
The governor of Lviv, in the west, found his offices stormed and he was forced to sign his resignation by protesters. This is about political corruption in Ukraine that is a beacon to the world of what is likely to come. Make no doubt about it, every government is watching this in horror for this revolution is not with guns, but with courage and using whatever means is available. Gasoline proves to be a formidable weapon when the people are stripped of arms. The political damage so far has made this a revolution complete. There is no going back to a normal life in Ukraine. Either Yanukovych resigns, or there will be civil war.
Behind closed doors, governments are watching how they themselves will be treated one day and how to defend against the people. The smart ones are starting to realize you cannot simply bully the people all of the time.
One primary difference between former Communist countries and the West is critical to understand. BECAUSE they have no social nets, the people do not trust nor rely upon government. In the West, people depend on government for everything. In Ukraine, they can grow their own food and family units still take care of all members. In the West, the downside of socialism is that the children have not planned to take care of parents for that was the State’s job. Socialism has endorsed the me-me-me culture and that is the weakness for there is no self-reliance and society has been totally dependent. The risks in the West are actually far greater.