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Post by Onyango Oloo on Sept 25, 2011 14:45:06 GMT 3
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Post by marikopolitico on Sept 25, 2011 15:27:07 GMT 3
IMHO there's no way the Euro will collapse. Why? Simple: Libya & the Arab Spring.Cant be a coincidence that the 'peoples revolution' started off when the Euro crisis began.
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Post by jakaswanga on Oct 26, 2011 19:26:15 GMT 3
IMHO there's no way the Euro will collapse. Why? Simple: Libya & the Arab Spring.Cant be a coincidence that the 'peoples revolution' started off when the Euro crisis began. MarikoPolitico, For further details check the NYT magazine this week, for the full article of Professor Paul Krugman --Nobel price winner economics 2008.This is my summary of his WHY THE EURO COULD BE DOOMED! His [originally very long and technical lecture can be reduced to the famous --THERE IS A WHOLE IN MY BUCKET. A song about a lazy farmer with a whole in his bucket, who asks his wife to repair it, but every proposal to repair it is rejected because there is always a precondition to be met before that step can be taken. And lazy guy wont meet it. 1. The politicians run the euro, not the central bank. Cardinal mistake. Caveat: it is possible to have extremely high debt, and yet continue to be credit worthy: Krugman lists UK, Japan. They can relatively maintain the value of their currency --even printing the cash if they wish! The European central bank cannot do that with the euro! [Bernard Bernanke printed $11.2 Trillion dollars to bail out banks and fund wars!] 2. At its inception, the politicians of Europe chose a rigid and locked monetary system --reminiscent of the now obsolete GOLD STANDARD! The euro will die the same way... unless.... 3.The european emergency fund is a paper tiger [--Officially EFSF: European Finance Security Fund]. The fund is guaranteed by the strongest economies of the euro-zone. But three of them France, Italy, Spain are [check their recent ratings] paupers! So, according to Krugman, how does it look to you, when someone who is already bankrupt, guarantees your debt? There is an a hole in my bucket! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NB: Norway, not a member of the euro-zone, has enough reserves in her OIL FUND, to fortify the European emergency fund. Given the longterm and historical resiliency of the euro economies, especially the benelux, germany and France, some norwegian economists have proposed a massive purchase of ECB bonds... a lifeline for the euro...?
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Post by jakaswanga on Oct 28, 2011 19:36:00 GMT 3
UPDATE: THE EU MOVES TO SAVE THE EURO.
I had forgotten how important a day it would be, so when the security net closed, I was in the wrong place, and had to stay there until code white came. But the security men were cordial, apologising and offering us meal compensations, explaining there would be no legal room for sueing the authorities. The whole of the Euro premiers [not many are presidents here] were in Brussels for a save the euro marathon, and even Italian Berlusconi had yanked his mind off his bunga-bunga parties and get some work done. [Bunga-bungas are erotical parties majorly of young women paired with the ageing rich]. As Merkozy, a kind of conjoined political monster, worked hard, Papandreou of Greece looked like a corpse while Cameron, feeling and treated like a gatecrusher since UK maintains her pound, kept a poker face. It was a desperate gang of determined politicians, and I felt jelousy, thinking of the lack of determination back home with the thinning shilling.
To while away the time as I waited for securty greenlight, I wrote the following dispatch for Jukwaa.
LETS GO! To save the Euro, Greece and a host of other dominos from derailing the European project of civilisation, Top EU leaders under the captaincy of Germany's Angela Merkel produced several rats from their collective hats, the biggest of which is the upgrading of the EFSF [European Financial Stability Facility, or European Finance Security Fund] from Euros 250 Billion to 1 Trillion.
This is a massive cash pile which can not be raised without external aid, chiefly the IMF. But the IMF is merely her constituent members, and the top ones are the same ones in deep red!
ENTER THE BRIC. Brazil has a neat pile of cash to invest, but she is till weighing her options, whether to do this within the auspices of the IMF, or individually coming to the rescue of some EU state more directly in line with her own interests. Historically that would be Portugal.
India is abit coy, averse to playing the big money man on the international stage. She prefers to loan her cash reserves to her big businesses to fight it out on the world stage. Think Tata, Mittal steel, and some other software companies. And Putin's Russian needs all her money to rebuild lost glory.
This leaves only one act in town. China. 10% of her foreign reserves [majorly in dollars] is enough to sort out the EU problem. But China has her confusions too, like Brazil, and more so, she knows the West fears her more than it did the Soviet Union. She is a giant trying to walk on egg shells without making a noise.
In 2009 or thereabouts, it took a power-play to have Zhu Min inserted as an IMF senior vice President. To block rising chinese influence, the EU brothers raised their contribution from $100 billion to 175 --[ and this would later pay off in the smooth transition from frenchman DSK to french chic Christine Lagarde], but at that time it was already obvious to Dominic Strauss Khan that the EU was cash-strapped, and an IMF basing her power on the Western Powers was a limping ship. DSK asked for Chinese involvement and facilitated the so called Voting Rights Adustment, or voting rights ammendment. The power arrangement shifted, became USA, Japan, Germany, and four, enter the dragon.
By this time major banks were being bailed out, people were short on cash or had already printed their limits, and some bastard euro countries like Greece were begging around desperately even if discreetly. This was when a chilling rumour said the dragon together with the BRICS could form their own 'IMF' after all! And Lo, those who had derided Zhu Min, now asked him if there were more Zhu Mins from wherever he came! And if he could invite them to come fortify the IMF!
Today 28/10/11, Klaus Regling, the head of the EFSF, is off to Beijin or Peking. And it is an open secret what he is going to do.
TITBITS. China already holds Eur 600 billion of European governments debts. And Europe is her biggest export market. China needs Europe. Also to make sure the EU continues to be in a position to service this debt, and also safegaurd her already massive investments in Europe. One of the explanations given for the euros relative stability in the face of her existential crisis, is chinese investment, and purchase of it. The people's republic can not let endanger her own stability. Her economic forecasts presuppose a euro[pe] that is not collapsed! Ahaaa!
Looks like the euro isn't dying yet! It is in the stars!
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Post by jakaswanga on Oct 30, 2011 16:27:14 GMT 3
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Post by jakaswanga on Nov 7, 2011 23:38:29 GMT 3
BIRD'S EYE VIEW FROM CANNES: G-20, 2011 TOP.
Cannes the week ending friday 4/11/11, was a caucus of the G20. The current economic super powers of the world. Power yes, but all was not well. So from a distance I was trying a little Kremlinology.
Incase there are Jukwaaists who were born after the fall of the (Berlin) Wall, Kremlinology was the political science of deducing the power relations at the top of the Soviet state [--the USSR, or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics!]. Because the going ons in the Kremlin where the Politburo of the then ruling Communist Party was headquartered were so secretive, the labour day parade in May and the October parade when the revolution of Lenin was celebrated with millitary pomposity, formed a tunnel of light to the the heart of the Soviet power structure. Down in the basements of Langley at CIA headquarters, hours on end months long, Kremlinologists poured over photographs of these parades [like some african shaman over his scattered bones trying to tell your fortunes. Who stood next to who? where did he stand the last parade? what did he wear? how did he wave? How did Tass, the then Soviet press agency refer to him in the communique for external consumption? And how did Pravda, the paper called the Truth but was reputed to never have published a single truth since its inception, report it internally? Who kissed who and for how long and where?
This is what Kremlinology was, and many spy book authors ridiculed it page after page. Kremlinology was a blind man isolated in a cave telling you how the weather was outside. Nevertheless, Kremlinologists made a very good living for half a century! That is a lifetime of work. So lets get serious.
Obama was annoyed with Angela Merkel, the woman who runs the country which runs the Euro. He wanted Germany to do more, read 1. Increase contribution to the IMF, 2. Increase contribution to EFSF [European emergency fund], and 3: Save Greece whose defaults had already led to the collapse of one American finance House, triggering a fear in Wall Street for a further domino effect. Merkel rudely told Obama his re-election was not everbody's chief worry!
Obama publicly at length praised the beauty of Carla Mrs. Sarkozy Bruni, joking that she looked much better than her husband. Obama did not catch Sarkozy's coded quip which went something like, yeah, and her husband looks much much better than your wife!
The Chinese held all their cards to their asian chests. Neither would they directly disburse into the EFSF, nor the IMF. But they would study the situation and act on merit. That is the waiting game languague of a vulture, or a confused giant, unable to make a decision in a crisis.
Russian Putin does not do his business in public, and he has a political agenda which will be negotiated separately. He does not want the 'NATO shield' extending to his borders [that is eastwards to include Poland and Georgia and Ukraine]. Out of the 1 trillion EUROs needed for the European Finance Stability Fund, he pledged 10 billion Euros. Our lady of Begging Christine Lagarde of the IMF followed him to Moscow with a bowl which will pass through Tokyo, Beijin and Brasilia. And London? the famous financial center of the World? Cameron had promised something less than Russia for the IMF, but political problems at home dictate he does not actually pay. There is a wing of his Tory party which knows the IMF, under the French enchatress Christine, is actually begging for the EFSF, which is to save the [French and Italian banks] and the Euro which they abhor, and prefer the UK never join! Davy boy is their captive. Italian Berlusconi was bullied my Merkozy into surrendering fiscal autonomy. The IMF will 'monitor' Italy's budgets and run her central bank! Too big to let fail, too big to bail! Italy goes, France goes and the Euro dies. Berlusconi may be on his last days as Premier of Italy.
Papandreau of Greece was kicked to pulp. Not only surrendering financial autonomy, but also political autonomy. Angela Merkel banned him from holding a referendum in his own country! Greek papers carried cartoon of Merkel as Female Hitler! He will resign and a grand coalition government will run Greece. The Greek elite can not think of a world outside the euro, so they will impoverise common greeks to save Italian and French banks.
There are enough economists who think Greece should go the Argentinian way.Totally collapse, then take 15 years to rise from from the ash.. Wanted: greek oracle which tells the future? Europe being a name derived from a greek mythological heifer!
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Post by jakaswanga on Dec 9, 2011 22:06:14 GMT 3
FIRST THIS INTRO: The knave of a god Jupiter was enthralled by the young damsel Europa. So he changed himself into a tame white bull which she could ride like a horse. One day he sped off with her to the deep sea, where she became his. That the story be remembered forever, Jupiter gave Europa, now his wife by hook and crook, a still then unnamedd land mass. Current day Europe! The continent would go on to lead humanity from industrialisation onwards, majoring in the extermination of people who did not look like them, and ocassionally themselves too in multiple civil wars. But well, nothing lasts forever... The european union and the euro are part of an on-going project to end war between european nations forever. But due to what now are refered to as intrinsic design-faults, the euro has been written off by critics. But like a thing which takes decades to die the euro isn't going yet. Angela Merkel and Nikolai Sarkozy do not want that as an epitaph on their graves. So after 12 hours of meeting in Brussels [ 9-10 december 2011] a giant step was taken... SAVING THE EURO BY LOOSING SOVEREIGNITYThe verdict of the markets is awaited in earnest. The UK will be the odd man out.
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Post by amadain on Dec 10, 2011 5:31:37 GMT 3
Onyango how about changing the title of this thread to "Eurogeddon".
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Post by merlin on Dec 10, 2011 12:43:19 GMT 3
FIRST THIS INTRO: The knave of a god Jupiter was enthralled by the young damsel Europa. So he changed himself into a tame white bull which she could ride like a horse. One day he sped off with her to the deep sea, where she became his. That the story be remembered forever, Jupiter gave Europa, now his wife by hook and crook, a still then unnamedd land mass. Current day Europe! The continent would go on to lead humanity from industrialisation onwards, majoring in the extermination of people who did not look like them, and ocassionally themselves too in multiple civil wars. But well, nothing lasts forever... The european union and the euro are part of an on-going project to end war between european nations forever. But due to what now are refered to as intrinsic design-faults, the euro has been written off by critics. But like a thing which takes decades to die the euro isn't going yet. Angela Merkel and Nikolai Sarkozy do not want that as an epitaph on their graves. So after 12 hours of meeting in Brussels [ 9-10 december 2011] a giant step was taken... SAVING THE EURO BY LOOSING SOVEREIGNITYThe verdict of the markets is awaited in earnest. The UK will be the odd man out. The Euro ZonePeople are fearful for the world outside this is why they cluster together in family, tribes, countries sharing culture which makes the world familiar and less fearful to them. Though even in family circle it can be dangerous as Cain killed Abel and a few more were killed when we clustered in Nations especially in Europe. Although we cluster together out of fear we also learn that we can live together in peace if we share what we have and in sharing what challenge us. It is a learning process going the hard way like we experienced in 2008. Like with any learning process some are fast learners and some never learn. The proud warriors protecting the cultural values never learn. It is the fearless who are looking beyond the boundaries of the tribe who take interest in the world around discovering the universal values that link people worldwide. They chip on the walls that separate us from other cultures till the walls tumble down like the Europeans did with the Berlin Wall. Europe is ahead of us. Peace and prosperity has overtaken sovereignty, arrogance, pride, superiority and most of all fear. Europe still meets challenges; the Union needs a better constitution turning it in a federative organisation (which may be a dream for the PAN Africans) and yes some proud warriors like (Great)Britain are dropping out though not all the Britons. They have to overcome the loss of sovereignty and Rule Britannia but most of all their fear. They will be back; they are a Nation of many fast learners who are able to look beyond. The Europe of Peace and Prosperity will stand. Together the people of Europe will solve the attack of moneylenders because there is no Monarch who rules Europe. Europe is from the people. The next step; a World federation of Peace, Prosperity and Sustainability it shines beyond the walls of the continents. The PEV of 2008 was a hard learning process and the year 2012 could be the beginning of peace and prosperity for Kenya though we have to look beyond. An African continent with each Nation protecting their sovereignty will never lead to a peaceful continent. The people should join together across tribal and national borders and not the Bashirs, Mugabes, Musevenis, Kibakis, having tea parties together. The will of the people: Peace and prosperity, brothers and sisters you have to get rid of your fear and start chipping on the walls of our culture.
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Post by jakaswanga on Feb 5, 2012 16:22:09 GMT 3
german idea to take control over greek budgetwww.reuters.com/article/2012/02/05/It was revealed in Cannes last month, that the Germans had entered a serious proposal to have an EU-commissioner from Brussels take over the financial affairs of Greece, to ensure that damn country complies and carries out the necessary draconian reforms imposed upon her by the terms of the loans she is to recieve from the ECB [Central Bank), EFSF (European Financial Stablisation Facility/Fund), and the IMF. Nobody trusts the {..} greeks to that on their own. GERMANS WANT GREECE UNDER FINANCIAL 'CURATELE'But this proposal is, in effect, the end of Greek Independence. Politically Greece had been annexed when she was forced to change Prime Minister Papandreau without public consultation. Now the financial annexation was to follow. The Greeks breathed fire and brimstone, but when they realised the EU is ready to let Greece go bust and leave the euro --because taxpayers up North will not give their leaders a carte blanche, the greek ruling class has swallowed their pride behind the scenes. But not in public! NB: Opinion is divided in Greece. There is a nationalist chore ready to quit the Eurozone, re-introduce the drachme [old greece currency], devalue it and practice orthodox common sense economics, and ride the bust like Argentina did. They reckon Greece is an old country which has gone through countless bankruptcies in her history and will surmount this one too. Meanwhile there is a mass exodus of other less confident but more pragmatic Greeks. Anybody who can leave is leaving the titanic. A wonderful opportunity for illegal AFRICAN immigrants in the Aegean peninsular to jump in and do the rough work. [The EU has turned countless greek islands into prison camps out of bound for the media. Black and Arabs and Asians from as far as Afghanistan waste away far from the limelight. Crime? they tried to illegally enter Fort Europa] Meanwhile earlier on, putting even more pressure on the eurozone. FITCH DOWNGRADES FIVE EUROZONE COUNTRIESSo behind the scenes the question is: can all be saved, or must some be let go? Surgeons operating pregnant women have a name for it. LUXEMBURG february 5 2012. Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxemburg, and the chairman of the college of the Finance ministers of the Eurozone, has refused to outrule the bankruptcy of Greece within 2 months. If they do not do as is dictated, the financial tap will be 'offed', and the consequences follow. [As I go to press/Jukwaa, link not yet available in english]
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Post by jakaswanga on Feb 21, 2012 23:06:31 GMT 3
These marathon meetings by european leaders to rectify one or other mulfunctioning part of the eurozone, are becoming the norm. Here is the result of the latest 15-hour marathon keep Greece on board! latest temporary GREEK BAIL OUT 21/02/2011 [Financial Times] The price is high. Eurocrats appointed by Brussels will control the Greek government accounts where all monies are stashed, and make sure Greece pays off her scheduled amount for the defined period, before she embarks on her other legitimate activities which governments do. Brussels takes her cut first, then the Greeks can fight over the rest! This is, political-economically speaking, an occupation regime. But Greece is very familiar with occupation. Turks ...., and most recently Nazi Germans! But there are elections scheduled for april which could upset the arrangement. So Greece has been ordered to change her constitution, so that even when the new government decides to renege, nationalist and fiery, the chains of financial servitude stay! If you fail to run your country well, others will run it for you! ---Githae beware!
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Post by paulhomy on Feb 22, 2012 21:22:16 GMT 3
It is interesting to read some of the responses on the Euro-crisis. Some are simply tinfoil conspiracy theories, cold-war hysteria to down right to irrelevant mythology. I like and respect krugman and he is an exceptionally brilliant mind but i have learn't to take him with a pinch of salt. Greece is a problem of its own making trying to keeping up with the Joneses. They are the new sickman of Europe. No insurmountable amount of bailout will solve their economic problems the basis of their bailout is to pay off their creditors. It evidently they ran like a third world, you can't fault them on that as late as the 70's they had political strife coupled with coups. Interesting the other countries in the euro with economic problems have had political problems during the seventies. Politicians involvement in political patronage promising massive benefits on borrowed debt, a culture of tax evasion on goods and services, entitled social service based on heavy borrowing and a bloated government work force. No clear vision economic growth and development, their exports can be replicated by one of Asian-tigers for a dime and the only thing that may be unique may be tourism. As on of my favorite movie antagonist states "Hear that Mr Anderson.. that is the sound of inevitability" Agent Smith. So I would blame the Eurocract for imposing some draconian austerity reforms on Greece as they just came to fix what the Greeks had f**k*d (pardon my language)
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Post by jakaswanga on Feb 23, 2012 21:35:51 GMT 3
But there are elections scheduled for april which could upset the arrangement. So Greece has been ordered to change her constitution, so that even when the new government decides to renege, nationalist and fiery, the chains of financial servitude stay! [/b][/quote] German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble has now proposed the EU should ask Greece to POSTPONE THE ELECTIONS!
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Post by jakaswanga on Mar 28, 2012 20:32:12 GMT 3
The UK, or Great Britain, has always thumbed her nose at the Eurozone, both as a currency and as a project toward closer political union. But morally speaking the price of this independence is apparently very high, as two incidences emanating from London this week will attest. The gunning down of a former Russian banker, and the resignation of the chairman of the tory party. The man was caught on tape promising, in exchange for cash donations to the party above 240 thousand pounds, dinner with Prime Minister David Cameron in his private quaters! [What the the heck, in the USA they openly hawk presidential dinners to raise campaign funds! But this is the old continent, stuck with aristocratic idiosyncrasies of the past] cash for access: dinergateBut this is just the sleaze. The real juice is in the banking sector. But first, a historical note. The late Robin Cook was among the young turks blackspoted by Neil Kinnock, and who after their apprentice under John Smith, matured into office during the Tony Blair premiership. This group included Jack Straw, David Blunkett and Gordon Brown. [--Blackspoted in the sense of talent-scouted, as opposed to the old classical meaning of blackspot, made most famous by Louis Stevenson in his stories about pirates [ Treasure Island] and their democratic choice and demotion of their Jack Sparrows!] Robin Cook talked about a moral foreign policy for Britain. This was the most visible symptom of the conflict between morality and expediency, in so far as it troubled a new breed of idealistic politicians. But someone once said, the more things change the more they stay the same. Cook lost. One of the richest State Investment funds currently in the world, is that of Abu Dhabi. In 2008 they poured over 1.2 billion euros into Barclays bank of Britain --(compare Kenya's IMF loan is $549m disbursed over a year!)--. This made this British Institute sail through the banking crisis, which to date is still threatening the eurozone. But Abu Dhabi is also the place which needed the services of the british security and millitary corps to solve a few problems at home! The crushing of pro-democracy and pro-reform fellows. The Abu Dhabi fund also took options on RBS, Ro yal Bank of Scotland, which was nationalised at a cost of 45 billion british pounds. That is they put up about 40% of that amount, and now, in 2012, the finance minister having announced a plan to sell RBS back to the public, the Abu-Dhabis kind of want to own it all! --making some people jittery in the UK. Arab Sheikhs controlling british banking, is that really better than eurozone [German and French] diktat? Questions are being asked if some on the board of Barclays have dined privately with the PM, and if that could explain why the bank was brazen enough to engage in a construction which amounts to tax evasion! Barclays Bank to repay 500m tax evasion Not to mention whether, by remote, the Arab sheikhs of Abu Dhabi, to whom they owe their salvation in riding out the crisis so smoothly, uses them to puppet the british prime minister. And in the eurozone? to rub the salt in, the bank of england is cheekily called the royal bank of Arabia! or the black bank of Russia! PS: Uhuru Kenyatta's propagandists, should not have blasted Haig [the british foreign secretary] for interference in kenyan affairs. Not with our army in Somalia completely dependent of the british for logistics and a few other goodies. It would have been better propaganda to say we always welcome a frank exchange of views on all subjects with our historic friends. But is is when they assume a morally superior tone, lecturing us on this and that, that we find a need to repose and inject a dose of reality in their self-serving hypocrisy. We know the British are chummy with governments elsewhere whose records on democracy are far beneath Kenya's. And their whole government is on sale for the monies from those regions. Haig should stop being childish, we are grown up here!This is the kind of rebuke Mr. Kenyatta's staff should have authored. Delivered with a polite smile and diplomatic courtesy! {These Brits are watching out for our troops in Somalia. They deserve some respect! -- Unasikia wewe muthamaki?] No public rants against them! kumbafu!
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Post by jakaswanga on Apr 28, 2012 9:53:38 GMT 3
A curious event happened this past week in the euro-zone. The ever stellar performer, the royal kingdom of the Netherlands, went on the verge of loosing her economic birthright status, the AAA rating awarded by credit-rating bureaus like Standard and Poor, Finch and the rest. We will note euro-zone attempts to rest the monopoly of market ratings from the Americans, has stalled for the moment. [more about that later]. Holland has been a financial hawk, and of late, under the right-wing premiership of Mark Rutte of the liberal center-right party, she had become even more hawkish, reading southern [lazy] nations like Spain, Portugal and Greece the lessons of financial discipline. In fact it was the dutch who proposed the 0.1% of GDP fine for defaulters --those are countries who fail to reduce their budget deficit to below 3% of GDP. And it was Holland, in a shock move after the Fins, who indicated they would like some of the Greek Islands [the Aegean archipelago is swarming with lovely islands, some of them sold to Hollywood stars] as collateral for the dutch money being pumped into what a dutch politician called the mediterranean bottomless hole of corruption and tax evasion and eternal siestas! [Racist or Truth?] And too, it was the thrifty dutch who insisted a german accountant be appointed by the EU to oversee Greece's state finances! Then this week the dutch cabinet collapsed, failed to reach an austere budget which would meet their own proposal of fiscal discipline, and Holland received a letter from the Brussels, specifying the penalties --which were authored in Den Haag by the same guys now receiving them from the capital of the euro empire! Deadline 30th april 2012 for this financial year. Then the other bombshell. The rating bureaus were rumoured to be reconsedering the TRIPLE A status of dutch finances. The markets reacted with horror, forcing the interest rates on the dutch state loans to shoot up by 0.8 percent. [That is an extra 100 Million euros per day, up from last week] It is called pride goes before a fall, but the continental phrase is falling on your own sword. . And that is what faced the dutch, as amusement rained in Europe! [If you told a good dutch financial joke, free cup of coffee in some cafes in Brussels this week!]
With the whole of Europe laughing at the dutch with headlines like --Holland goes junk. Pot City becomes Junk City [this is a jab at finance capital Amsterdam and her famous coffee shops where cannabis is smoked freely]. Not the South but goodly Holland as the weakest link in the euro! shocked, Dutch politicians went into overdrive and in one day of historic wheeling and dealing, parliament reached a compromise budget which meets Brussel's standards. [This is a historic first in the Netherlands: Parliament usually only gets to comment on the budget presented by the cabinet through the finance minister]. This time parliament wrote the budget [in the absence of a mandated cabinet! and will mandate the prime and his finance minister to take it to Brussels. A unicum! [unprecidented].
And the elections which should have followed the collapsed government have been postponed by several months! HA HA HA! exactly what happened in the third world country called Greece! far from Holland.
Brussels ordered them to postpone elections, and they did. Now Holland rather than wait for the imperial order has decided to submit on own volition. Something has changed in the World.
Meanwhile it is Spain, already on the slow financial infuse, which is the real emergency case. With unemployment of professional workers at 24%, and [10-year] state debts interest rates at 6% [Hollands is 2.5%, Germany 1.8%], and Spain being the EU's fourth economy, she could be the rotten foundation. She is too big to bail out. ---That is, if the europeans maintain their rigid german-imposed fiscal pact.
What does indiscipline prescribe? the printing press. You print money like hell, and precipitate inflationary tendencies. To pay off her stupid wars in the gulf and Afghanistan, and her banking crisis, that is what the USA has done. Print and print.
Some will remember last year when the american congress repealed the ceiling law, which curtailed the size of the national debt. Otherwise the USA could have been officially bankrupt! and the dollar a ... an expensive toilet paper.
That is the war in the euro-zone now. Maintain the german ceiling, or become normal, devalue the currency --print money like newspapers!
The dutch fiasco is a clear warning. What happens if the voters reject the 'Brussels pact' of collective suicide [as it is derogatively called?]
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Post by merlin on Apr 28, 2012 11:27:51 GMT 3
A curious event happened this past week in the euro-zone. The ever stellar performer, the royal kingdom of the Netherlands, went on the verge of loosing her economic birthright status, the AAA rating awarded by credit-rating bureaus like Standard and Poor, Finch and the rest. We will note euro-zone attempts to rest the monopoly of market ratings from the Americans, has stalled for the moment. [more about that later]. Holland has been a financial hawk, and of late, under the right-wing premiership of Mark Rutte of the liberal center-right party, she had become even more hawkish, reading southern [lazy] nations like Spain, Portugal and Greece the lessons of financial discipline. In fact it was the dutch who proposed the 0.1% of GDP fine for defaulters --those are countries who fail to reduce their budget deficit to below 3% of GDP. And it was Holland, in a shock move after the Fins, who indicated they would like some of the Greek Islands [the Aegean archipelago is swarming with lovely islands, some of them sold to Hollywood stars] as collateral for the dutch money being pumped into what a dutch politician called the mediterranean bottomless hole of corruption and tax evasion and eternal siestas! [Racist or Truth?] And too, it was the thrifty dutch who insisted a german accountant be appointed by the EU to oversee Greece's state finances! Then this week the dutch cabinet collapsed, failed to reach an austere budget which would meet their own proposal of fiscal discipline, and Holland received a letter from the Brussels, specifying the penalties --which were authored in Den Haag by the same guys now receiving them from the capital of the euro empire! Deadline 30th april 2012 for this financial year. Then the other bombshell. The rating bureaus were rumoured to be reconsedering the TRIPLE A status of dutch finances. The markets reacted with horror, forcing the interest rates on the dutch state loans to shoot up by 0.8 percent. [That is an extra 100 Million euros per day, up from last week] It is called pride goes before a fall, but the continental phrase is falling on your own sword. . And that is what faced the dutch, as amusement rained in Europe! [If you told a good dutch financial joke, free cup of coffee in some cafes in Brussels this week!]
With the whole of Europe laughing at the dutch with headlines like --Holland goes junk. Pot City becomes Junk City [this is a jab at finance capital Amsterdam and her famous coffee shops where cannabis is smoked freely]. Not the South but goodly Holland as the weakest link in the euro! shocked, Dutch politicians went into overdrive and in one day of historic wheeling and dealing, parliament reached a compromise budget which meets Brussel's standards. [This is a historic first in the Netherlands: Parliament usually only gets to comment on the budget presented by the cabinet through the finance minister]. This time parliament wrote the budget [in the absence of a mandated cabinet! and will mandate the prime and his finance minister to take it to Brussels. A unicum! [unprecidented].
And the elections which should have followed the collapsed government have been postponed by several months! HA HA HA! exactly what happened in the third world country called Greece! far from Holland.
Brussels ordered them to postpone elections, and they did. Now Holland rather than wait for the imperial order has decided to submit on own volition. Something has changed in the World.
Meanwhile it is Spain, already on the slow financial infuse, which is the real emergency case. With unemployment of professional workers at 24%, and [10-year] state debts interest rates at 6% [Hollands is 2.5%, Germany 1.8%], and Spain being the EU's fourth economy, she could be the rotten foundation. She is too big to bail out. ---That is, if the europeans maintain their rigid german-imposed fiscal pact.
What does indiscipline prescribe? the printing press. You print money like hell, and precipitate inflationary tendencies. To pay off her stupid wars in the gulf and Afghanistan, and her banking crisis, that is what the USA has done. Print and print.
Some will remember last year when the american congress repealed the ceiling law, which curtailed the size of the national debt. Otherwise the USA could have been officially bankrupt! and the dollar a ... an expensive toilet paper.
That is the war in the euro-zone now. Maintain the german ceiling, or become normal, devalue the currency --print money like newspapers!
The dutch fiasco is a clear warning. What happens if the voters reject the 'Brussels pact' of collective suicide [as it is derogatively called?]
Borrow till you have no money left for livingIf the going gets tough you can do two things; work harder, invest more and let your economy grow. This can only be done if your economy can handle this and if you can borrow money with a lower interest rate as the rewards from your harder work activities. If not then you are doomed. Economical problems can be solved by investment though not by borrowing. This is the classical problem of Greece; borrowing money though has no activities for investment. Borrowing is no problem; it is the ability to pay the interest on the borrowed money. If the interest reaches the level of your total income you are doomed as you have no money left for living. This danger is lurking on America. They increased the plafond on borrowed money hoping the growth of their economy will cover the interest due. It is a gambling tactic that periodically lead to big loses. The other thing you can do is reducing your expenditure. It reduces the interest you have to pay on borrowed money though it cripples the growth of your economy. Lay-offs, increased unemployment, increased spending for social welfare. It can work if there is enough fat in your economy, if there is room for less spending. It will work in Germany, The Netherlands, maybe France though it could be complicated in Spain, Portugal and Italy. It will not work in Greece. Greece tries to do both: borrow heavily to get his economy growing and reduce expenditure to keep interest under control which means the Greeks have to work harder for less money. The problems of Greece are a bit similar to Kenya: corruption, grandstanding, white elephants and no solid plan for economic growth. Europe has chosen for less expenditure keeping the interest payments within affordable limits. In the short term it reduces Europe’s economic growth though the long-term benefits are a solid Europe which could grow stronger as other economies get into periodic recessions.
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Post by jakaswanga on May 5, 2012 9:28:57 GMT 3
Europe has chosen for less expenditure keeping the interest payments within affordable limits. In the short term it reduces Europe’s economic growth though the long-term benefits are a solid Europe which could grow stronger as other economies get into periodic recessions. Merlin, this 'europe has chosen' is a point in serious dispute, as the citizens and voters become restless. Greek fascists are riding the polls, the dutch right wing have put the campaign slogan as anti-brussels. And there is the elegant french candidate with his quip --the political economy of asphixiation! He could win tomorrow. See below.
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Post by jakaswanga on May 5, 2012 9:47:09 GMT 3
Europe is a continent of great myths, so the story of the Minotaurus, half-man half-bull, and the shame of the island of Kupros. There in the dungeon under the extravagant Royal Palace the beast lived --a dungeon of mazed-tunnels from where we get the word labyrinth! and there every seventh day a fair damsel had to be led to a sad fate, to as sacrifice, ritually meet her death by intertaining the member of the erotically insatiable monster which, after the ravishing, would tear her to pieces by its great horns. Until Jason came! And Medea fell. That is the legend. There is of course always another version to all great stories. Now, europe has been under the diktat of a monster called Merkozy, to whom all the states of the eurozone do must ritually procastinate. Both male and female in nature, this beast has exacted tribute with impunity from the lesser minions running even lesser dominions like Greece and Italy; has ritually sacrificed their budgetary autonomy at the altar of Financial Markets, and too, dismembered their democratically elected governments. The sights of Papandreau and Berlusconi being summoned to Brussels only to be thrown into the dungeon of oblivion, has heightened an already uneasy feeling amongst citizens of the empire. The so called 'anti europe parties', read anti Merkozy coalitions, are rising in the polls. KILL THE BEAST THEY CHANT, like scared children marooned in the jungle, working up their nerves to survive the night, in a story told by the great Fielding in Lord of the Flies. But sunday 6-May something could happen. Falaswa Ollande could be elected president of France, and he could very well be the Jason looking for an Ariadne to help him navigate the labyrinthine Brussels, hack off the -Korzy end of the beast, maim the monster thereby, challenge the god called the Financial Markets, and wrench the european citizenry from her cannibalistic grip, and be the hero of europe, perhaps. FANASWA OLLANDE? NB: Luambo Makiadi alias Franco, guitar sorcerer from the Congo, wrote a song FANASWA. Asked what that was, he explained that was how his mother pronounced Francois. And Ollande because that is the phono I hear from Africans. We remove H from names. Otel instead of Hotel. Ottentot instead of Hottentot! Ollande instead of Hollande. Hollande talked of the economics of strangulation. He will avoid the german diktat and practice stimulation. [Will he really? ] All this dipping of the dry socialist bread in red wine was forced by an even more leftist candidate who, with his anti-bank tirades and a series of populist agenda points, threatened to upset the Socialist Party. Sarkozy too has been forced to sound more rabid, for instance against immigrants, to cover his right flank which was under attack by the Le Pen-led racist wing of french nationalism. But this has made him loose the support of the centrist Francois Bayrou. And with that possibly the election tomorrow. tight french presidential race
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Post by jakaswanga on May 6, 2012 21:54:30 GMT 3
DIRECT FROM THE WIRE! FRANCOIS HOLLANDE HAS BEEN CONGRATULATED BY NICOLAS SARKOZY! ¨the counting of votes is not yet complete! AFTER 17 YEARS, SINCE THE END OF FRANCOIS MITTERAND´S TERM, A SOCIALIST PRESIDENT WILL ENTER THE ELYSEE! www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17975660¨no need for a new thread on this one I think! since it is part of the ongoing story on this thread.
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Post by mwalimumkuu on May 6, 2012 23:26:57 GMT 3
DIRECT FROM THE WIRE! FRANCOIS HOLLANDE HAS BEEN CONGRATULATED BY NICOLAS SARKOZY! ¨the counting of votes is not yet complete! AFTER 17 YEARS, SINCE THE END OF FRANCOIS MITTERAND´S TERM, A SOCIALIST PRESIDENT WILL ENTER THE ELYSEE! www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17975660¨no need for a new thread on this one I think! since it is part of the ongoing story on this thread. Yeap, there had been indications earlier on today that he was going to win, but everyone was mute about it.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2012 5:24:50 GMT 3
By Nikolas Kosmatopoulos
If elections could change things, they'd be illegal
New York, NY - Were one to write a pre-election analysis in the glorious days of Greece's ancien regime, one would most probably have to present and analyse the political positions of the main competing parties. Yet, this is one of the most outdated things one might want to do if one intends to say anything useful about Greece today. In fact, no-one expects to learn anything new from the traditionally televised debates among politicians (no doubt that this disillusionment should be regarded as one positive outcome of the "crisis"). Alas, there are still many hopes regarding the outcome of the elections.
The old anarchist slogan that inspired this article's title has gained urgent actuality in Greece. Spray-painted with black and red letters on random walls throughout the urban landscape, its bold message stands in alarming contrast to the empty utterances by the talking heads now standing for election.
For a long time, the most insightful and inspiring quotes about the political situation in Greece have totally eclipsed the manifestos of technocrats and the reports of journalists. Hope and insights, endurance and critique, are more likely to be expressed through red and black graffiti than in the speeches made by experts.
The "Greek crisis" has had at least two side effects so far: it demonstrated that official politics has no vision whatsoever, and that mainstream journalism has no shame.
Counting the Cost: Who are the winners and losers in Greece?
It is doubtful whether there has been another moment in the country's tumultuous post-WWII history in which the carefully manufactured (and brutally defended) consensus - which apologists of capitalism euphemistically call democracy - has suffered so much a loss of face at the hands of internal and external ruling elites.
In an ironic twist of history, "democracy" collapses day after day in its cradle, only to reveal itself as a bloodthirsty cacophony of exploitation, suppression and inhumanity.
This is what democracy looks like in the place of its birth today: Criminal neo-Nazi groups launch murderous pogroms against immigrants - driven away from their homes from imperialist wars in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa - thereby sharpening their fighting skills on the bodies upon the most vulnerable, and effectively preparing themselves for the upcoming assault on the homegrown resistance movement.
Crypto-racist and violence-prone armed gangs - aka dias and delta motorcycled police teams - roam the streets of major cities, beating up journalists and harassing and arresting those who appear "suspicious" or "rebellious".
Guilty politicians from both major parties (the conservative/neoliberal New Democracy and the social-democratic/neoliberal PASOK) hide from an enraged people behind the walls of guarded palaces, evoking doomsday scenarios in case the citizenry dare not vote them back into office.
Unelected bankers and EU-technocrats effectively run the show, deciding for the generations to come to sell out the country's most vital assets, and to sink the population into unprecedented levels of poverty and misery.
Unsavoury journalists hide behind ludicrous televised lies and unqualified threats, lamenting as psychiatric cases those schoolteachers who, imitating Mohamed Bouazizi, were willing to risk their lives in political protest.
Amid this atmosphere of omnipresent physical and structural violence, fear and hopelessness, inflicted by the elites and their proxies, the old anarchist slogan not only represents the most accurate description of the situation in the place formerly known as the Greek republic, but also the only way forward: the struggle against austerity and hypocrisy should be fought not only on election day, but on every day.
Weimar reloaded: The 'two extremes' scare
And, indeed, many people do exactly that: organising themselves on a daily basis to fighting against racism and austerity. The "crisis" has revealed a creative potential among a large part of the population in Greece. There is no doubt that Greece is today at the forefront of global resistance against capitalism. Creativity and steadfastness of the resistance movement inspire people's fights across the continent. But it also scares the elites - worldwide.
"The elite's strategy ... after the failure of racist arguments on culture and corruption, a new shibboleth has appeared - the society's wretched and defenceless: immigrants, prostitutes and the poor."
The politics in Greece has superseded both the boundaries of the country as well as the temporality of our time. In today's Greece, one can see the future of tomorrow's Europe. The arguments about lazy Greeks and corrupt state employees have already begun to look anachronistic vis-a-vis the spreading of the crisis into hitherto model cases such as Portugal, Italy, Spain and France.
Now, those who really seek to see the entire picture know well that the problem lies with capitalism and not with the nation's culture.
In the face of this development, the elite's strategy to maintain the consensus has been re-adjusted. After the failure of racist arguments over culture and corruption, a new shibboleth has appeared - the society's wretched and defenseless: immigrants, prostitutes and the poor. The strategy is well conceived. At first, the "other" is defined as a controversy and a threat, and then those who take radical positions around it are branded as collateral threats. Both those willing to defend the "other" as well as those seeking to exterminate it, are labelled "extremists".
"Socialist" ministers of the coalition government label refugees and prostitutes as "hygienic ticking bombs", freely borrowing from racist Western pseudo-scientific discourses about non-Western threats. Then, after having produced a machinery of propaganda against the immigrants throughout the past years, they are shocked to see the far-right gain influence in the election polls. Perfect bigots as they are, though, they warn about the rise of both "extremes".
However, the rise of the far-right in the polls plays in the hands of the ruling political elites, who can now point at them with the finger and shout: "Beware of the extremes." Yet it is a false alarm. A criminal gang that can run for election only due to constant police protection does not constitute a real threat to the system. The far-right in Greece is mainly used as a scare against the radical left and the prospects of a popular rebellion. The war of the elites is not against fascism - or racism, for that matter. After all, the latter has been their bread and butter since the beginnings of the 1990s.
The existential threat to their regime comes principally from the prospect of a popular uprising, which if the left was really up to the task would have been long underway.
The urban myth has it that a slogan by the Spanish protesters in Puerta del Sol fuelled the spark for the Greek Tahrir - the Syntagma square - in spring 2011: ¡Callate o despertaras a Grecia! ["Be silent or you will wake up Greece"].
The slogan was said to have awakened the pride of Greeks in protesting and in civil disobedience. Whether the slogan truly existed or not is rather trivial. What is true and important, however, is that the Spanish protests caused a domino effect in Greece, just like the Tunisian protests did in Egypt.
However, similar forms of protest (strikes, marches, public assemblies, occupied public spaces) have not - yet - re-appeared in the same magnitude this spring. Excessive state repression, widespread insecurity about the future and a vague hope of change through the upcoming elections seem to have taken the air from the sails of popular forms of resistance.
Yet, if the Greeks woke up last spring, it is the official left in the country that is still sleeping.
No-one seems to believe more in the prospect of change through elections than the two major parties of the anti-capitalist left today: the Communist party (KKE) and Syriza, a leftist alliance of radical parties and previous Euro-Communists.
While most of the protesting people in the country have long lost faith to the system of rule, euphemistically called "democracy", both parties reiterate their faith in the ballot box at every given opportunity.
While hundreds of thousands surround the parliament to protest what they see as a constitutional coup d'etat by the ruling elite, both parties keep their MPs inside, effectively contributing to the redressing of a regime of open violence as "political dialogue".
While workers and pensioners throughout the country are deprived of basic means for survival, both parties ask them to be patient and make sure they do not die until May 6.
While fascist groups chase defenceless immigrants in open daylight, both parties mobilise their supporters mostly - if not solely - towards their respective election campaigns.
For both parties, the elections have acquired an almost millenarian outlook, something like a second coming: what if election polls show the neo-Nazi party of Greece (Golden Dawn) as high as five or six per cent? The left is busy celebrating its double-digit score in the same polls.
Once again, one feels the need to reiterate: if elections could change things, they would have been made illegal. In fact, this might well happen in one way or another: members of the political elite have shamelessly suggested the indefinite postponement of elections, while European officials have clearly indicated that unless voters choose one of the two major parties, the country would be plunged into chaos, prompting the leader of Syriza to file a complaint with the European Commission over foreign interference in the country's internal affairs.
In the face of all this, it appears essential to ask whether:
Instead of drafting an electoral program, it would be more useful to craft everyday programs of population mobilisation against elite-driven violence and misery Instead of debating with those who massacre "democracy" in the parliament, it would be more effective to join the ranks of those who surround the building Instead of waiting for the election results to empower the party, it would be more crucial to strengthen local committees of immigrants and Greeks together in the fight against extreme right-wing groups Instead of cultivating illusions about change through elections, it would be more sincere to move quickly towards a post-representational system of Direct Democracy.
Nikolas Kosmatopoulos is a PhD candidate in anthropology at the University of Zurich. He has conducted fieldwork on peace expertise in Lebanon and Geneva and is now visiting scholar at Columbia University and at CUNY. www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/05/20125493228914268.html
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Post by merlin on May 7, 2012 11:36:21 GMT 3
By Nikolas Kosmatopoulos
If elections could change things, they'd be illegal
The old anarchist slogan that inspired this article's title has gained urgent actuality in Greece. Spray-painted with black and red letters on random walls throughout the urban landscape, its bold message stands in alarming contrast to the empty utterances by the talking heads now standing for election.
For a long time, the most insightful and inspiring quotes about the political situation in Greece have totally eclipsed the manifestos of technocrats and the reports of journalists. Hope and insights, endurance and critique, are more likely to be expressed through red and black graffiti than in the speeches made by experts.
The "Greek crisis" has had at least two side effects so far: it demonstrated that official politics has no vision whatsoever, and that mainstream journalism has no shame.
www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/05/20125493228914268.html This article is a torrent of abuse on capitalism. However capitalism is part of our society which we create ourselves. Capitalism has positive and negative aspects and could be compared with nuclear energy. It can give society the energy needed to progress though when it gets out of hand it can lead to a meltdown destroying our society. So capitalism should be a controlled process to reach maximum benefit. The principal of capitalism is to accumulate capital by doing nothing. You lend money to contributors of society (entrepreneurs and hard working people) and request interest on the money you lend them. It is in principal a parasite process. In this way you accumulate more and more money which you can lend out again till you have accumulated all the money (capital) of the society. Everyone else of the society is now indebted and contributes all their effort and energy to pay interest. This is the meltdown. The way to avoid a meltdown is to set a plafond for borrowing to make sure that we are able to pay the requested interest without strangling our contribution to society. We do this for our personal borrowing and the government set regulations for the banking sector and its own borrowing process. Greece was not careful enough in their personal and government borrowing and regulations and drifted towards a meltdown. They borrowed and consumed instead of investing borrowed money in money generating projects. This is at no fault of capitalism though own neglecting to control it. Capitalism cannot be blamed as we know how it works and how powerful it can be. Greece is now entangled by capitalists and the only way forward is to payback their debts and brings it back to manageable level. The other way is meltdown and a revolution refusing to pay the interest and debt. There is something to learn for Kenya.
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Post by jakaswanga on May 7, 2012 22:47:43 GMT 3
It was like the world upside down [Owino Misiani of Shirati Jazz in an album called Piny Ose Mer) for the right of center to right wing press. The election results in Greece and France. The french and greeks undermine the european stability! Markets plung as Socialists and lunatics win in Greece and France! ENDE DA EURO?
On the other hand, centrist and leftist papers showcased wild and screaming, tearful french people filling the squares of their cities, chanting Viva Francois! Viv' la Republique! Huraa Parti Socialiste!
It is a tale of two europes! the europe of the financial markets which abhor the peoples choices, and the europe of the citizens wary of the austerity regimes designed to fatten the bankers!
But it is when Hollande meets Merkel and a working relationship is struck or not, that the viability of the stability pact will become evident. Merkel is an iron lady, in finance. What is Hollande made of? we will see!
As for the greeks, Adieu! that is the joke!
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2012 23:22:03 GMT 3
By Nikolas Kosmatopoulos
If elections could change things, they'd be illegal
The old anarchist slogan that inspired this article's title has gained urgent actuality in Greece. Spray-painted with black and red letters on random walls throughout the urban landscape, its bold message stands in alarming contrast to the empty utterances by the talking heads now standing for election.
For a long time, the most insightful and inspiring quotes about the political situation in Greece have totally eclipsed the manifestos of technocrats and the reports of journalists. Hope and insights, endurance and critique, are more likely to be expressed through red and black graffiti than in the speeches made by experts.
The "Greek crisis" has had at least two side effects so far: it demonstrated that official politics has no vision whatsoever, and that mainstream journalism has no shame.
www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/05/20125493228914268.html This article is a torrent of abuse on capitalism. However capitalism is part of our society which we create ourselves. Capitalism has positive and negative aspects and could be compared with nuclear energy. It can give society the energy needed to progress though when it gets out of hand it can lead to a meltdown destroying our society. So capitalism should be a controlled process to reach maximum benefit. The principal of capitalism is to accumulate capital by doing nothing. You lend money to contributors of society (entrepreneurs and hard working people) and request interest on the money you lend them. It is in principal a parasite process. In this way you accumulate more and more money which you can lend out again till you have accumulated all the money (capital) of the society. Everyone else of the society is now indebted and contributes all their effort and energy to pay interest. This is the meltdown. The way to avoid a meltdown is to set a plafond for borrowing to make sure that we are able to pay the requested interest without strangling our contribution to society. We do this for our personal borrowing and the government set regulations for the banking sector and its own borrowing process. Greece was not careful enough in their personal and government borrowing and regulations and drifted towards a meltdown. They borrowed and consumed instead of investing borrowed money in money generating projects. This is at no fault of capitalism though own neglecting to control it. Capitalism cannot be blamed as we know how it works and how powerful it can be. Greece is now entangled by capitalists and the only way forward is to payback their debts and brings it back to manageable level. The other way is meltdown and a revolution refusing to pay the interest and debt. There is something to learn for Kenya. merlinThat "humane capitalism" of which you are a proponent hasn't worked in Greece and isn't working here in Canada. And as for lessons to learn for Kenya, we must learn but never forgetting how European countries have milked and continue to milk Africa of resources. Americans for instance didn't get rich being nice. A little genocide against the First Nations people and a little slavery here and there. I'd be rich too if I could get people to work for me for free for 400yrs. So please. Mercy! take a listen: www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2187557932
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Post by merlin on May 8, 2012 0:00:13 GMT 3
This article is a torrent of abuse on capitalism. However capitalism is part of our society which we create ourselves. Capitalism has positive and negative aspects and could be compared with nuclear energy. It can give society the energy needed to progress though when it gets out of hand it can lead to a meltdown destroying our society. So capitalism should be a controlled process to reach maximum benefit. The principal of capitalism is to accumulate capital by doing nothing. You lend money to contributors of society (entrepreneurs and hard working people) and request interest on the money you lend them. It is in principal a parasite process. In this way you accumulate more and more money which you can lend out again till you have accumulated all the money (capital) of the society. Everyone else of the society is now indebted and contributes all their effort and energy to pay interest. This is the meltdown. The way to avoid a meltdown is to set a plafond for borrowing to make sure that we are able to pay the requested interest without strangling our contribution to society. We do this for our personal borrowing and the government set regulations for the banking sector and its own borrowing process. Greece was not careful enough in their personal and government borrowing and regulations and drifted towards a meltdown. They borrowed and consumed instead of investing borrowed money in money generating projects. This is at no fault of capitalism though own neglecting to control it. Capitalism cannot be blamed as we know how it works and how powerful it can be. Greece is now entangled by capitalists and the only way forward is to payback their debts and brings it back to manageable level. The other way is meltdown and a revolution refusing to pay the interest and debt. There is something to learn for Kenya. merlinThat "humane capitalism" of which you are a proponent hasn't worked in Greece and isn't working here in Canada. And as for lessons to learn for Kenya, we must learn but never forgetting how European countries have milked and continue to milk Africa of resources. Americans for instance didn't get rich being nice. A little genocide against the First Nations people and a little slavery here and there. I'd be rich too if I could get people to work for me for free for 400yrs. So please. Mercy! take a listen: www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2187557932 Kathure Kebaara,You are ever so right. Look for someone to blame so you can relax and wait for miracles. Just keep borrowing. God will love you.
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