Author Archives: Lila

Propaganda Nation: Revival Time Is Here Again

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Revival time is here again.

I can smell it. The nation’s preachers are out in full force. First, there was President Obama telling us we needed to have a great race healing. Now, Attorney-General Eric Holder comes out to tell us we’re still segregated. We work together, but then we live and play by ourselves in segregated groups. We’re all cowards when it comes to race, says Holder.

Holder might have had a point and so might Obama had they spoken at any other time…and in any other way. But frankly the only segregation that really matters now is the segregation of the political class and its clients from the rest of us. It doesn’t matter which neighborhood you live in, black, white, brown or parti-colored – they all spell b-r-o-k-e the same way.

Barack Obama is a likeable guy. Not for one minute do I believe that he’s doing anything but the best he can. He’s sincere.

That may just be the trouble. It seems to be the delusion of societies to think they lack precisely what they have too much of. C. S. Lewis said as much. Cultures awash with hedonism believe themselves puritanically repressed; societies long lost to any orthodoxy fear religious dogma; and now with race at the center of talk shows and college seminars, of gym etiquette and prison protocol, we’re told that more race-talk is what we need.

Is it?

Do we really need to spend more time spewing what we think of each other like inbred cousins on a Jerry Springer show? Jerry used to be my vacuum time, so I actually know how those things ended – in a scrum of tattoos and ripped shirts, fake hair and flying cusses.

If that’s togetherness, a bit of segregation might be more civil.

And a bit of proportion might be more sensible.

We can call it segregation today, but I wonder what people segregated a century ago would think about that. Students clustered in groups of their own choosing are not terrified men and women fleeing dogs and police batons.

Actually, you don’t need to go back a century. You can find the same thing today in prisons, at non-violent demonstrations, wherever people are rounded up and snatched out of their houses. The victims are black, brown and white. And they’re not where they are because we don’t talk enough about race in this country. They’re there because we don’t talk enough about the state.

That’s from my latest piece at Lew Rockwell.

Climate Czars’ Ultimatum: Clean Energy Or World War

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“Jose Endundo, environment minister of Congo, said he recently visited huge Lake Victoria in nearby Uganda, at 80,000 square kilometers (31,000 square miles) a vital source for the Nile River, and learned the lake level had dropped 3 meters (10 feet) in the past six years — a loss blamed in part on warmer temperatures and diminishing rains.

In the face of such threats, “the rich countries have to give us a helping hand,” the African minister said.

But it was Stern, former chief World Bank economist, who on Saturday laid out a case to his stranded companions in sobering PowerPoint detail.

If the world’s nations act responsibly, Stern said, they will achieve “zero-carbon” electricity production and zero-carbon road transport by 2050 — by replacing coal power plants with wind, solar or other energy sources that emit no carbon dioxide, and fossil fuel-burning vehicles with cars running on electric or other “clean” energy.

Then warming could be contained to a 2-degree-Celsius (3.4-degree-Fahrenheit) rise this century, he said.

But if negotiators falter, if emissions reductions are not made soon and deep, the severe climate shifts and sea-level rises projected by scientists would be “disastrous.”

It would “transform where people can live,” Stern said. “People would move on a massive scale. Hundreds of millions, probably billions of people would have to move if you talk about 4-, 5-, 6-degree increases” — 7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. And that would mean extended global conflict, “because there’s no way the world can handle that kind of population move in the time period in which it would take place.”

Melting ice, rising seas, dwindling lakes and war — the stranded ministers had a lot to consider. But many worried, too, that the current global economic crisis will keep governments from transforming carbon-dependent economies just now. For them, Stern offered a vision of working today on energy-efficient economies that would be more “sustainable” in the future.

“The unemployed builders of Europe should be insulating all the houses of Europe,” he said.”

 Charles Hanley for AP.

Bernie’s Web: Madoff Bought No Securities

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 Latest reports indicate that no stocks were actually  purchased for customers:

“We have no evidence to indicate securities were purchased for customer accounts,” said Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff’s assets.

At a meeting for investors, Picard detailed the history of the case and how claims will be processed. He said his office has received 2,350 claims so far and they expect the number of claims to double.”

Each of these claimants can now be covered for losses up to $500,000. For 5000 (conservative estimate) claims, that means there could be as much as  $2.5 billion in pay-outs.

Propaganda Nation: Media Hints at Bank Nationalization

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A fine observation on how to predict the future:

“We play close attention to air time given to so-called “Experts” and the way the media spins the information. If you know that our mainstream media is simply a licensed PR firm for the US government, you can get vital information which you can use in trading. Always ask yourself – What opinion are they trying to insert? What are they selling? What’s the underlying agenda?

The government uses the media to float policy before the public so it can digest it. By the time the government takes the action, most people not only anticipate it but are even asking for it.

In the past two weeks there have been countless debates, op-ed’s, and even opinion polls regarding bank nationalization. The popular opinion among the establishments “Experts” is that nationalizing the banks may be the only way. Even Alan Greenspan, a LIBERTARIAN, recently said that it would be a good idea.  It’s coming folks! It’s what the establishment wants. (Sidenote: They may not actually use the word nationalization, even if thats exactly what they do)

Below is the long term view of BAC and C. These stocks have made multi decade lows. Other stock charts which looked similar to these were Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman, Bear Stearns….”

Thanks to Charting Stocks.

Recall that Nouriel Rubini (whom I consider the “designated doom and gloomer” – has come out suggesting a failure of a government (sovereign bank) in the offing and that recently Goldman Sachs called gold $1000 (and it’s come to pass in the last 24 hours)….we can be doubly certain of a big bank failure to come.

Currency Wars: Dollar Versus Franc

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“For several months there has been a tendency by Jim Sinclair and others to dismiss the US dollar rally as technical short covering. Now there is a tendency to dismiss the fall of the Swiss franc as dirty tricks among large hedge funds.  These are interpretations that trivialize the reality that is unfolding.  What we are witnessing is financial warfare, and the USA Empire has several distinct advantages over every other player:  1) The US dollar is the world reserve currency  2) US debts are denominated in US dollars  3) The US Fed and US Treasury act as one and are part of the USA Empire  5) The US Empire has a lot of experience manipulating markets and the SEC, SPIC, rating agencies and NYMEX/COMEX are members  6) Don’t forget about the US military.

Back to the war:

Over the last several years Switzerland has sold half of its gold reserves.  Ask yourself why in the world they would do that.  Swiss bank privilege and privacy that have existed for hundreds of years are being dismantled before our eyes.  The Swiss franc could have served as a refuge from the US dollar (or an alternative to gold).  Now that possibility is being thrown into doubt.  The USA Empire could have dismantled Switzerland any time over the last 30 years.  This is happening now because 1) the USA Empire can not allow any viable alternatives to the US dollar (or gold) at this time, 2) because the chaos all around us is providing cover.  Likewise, the European monetary union is being destroyed.  I discussed the dynamics of this in a recent article [Bressler].

Jim Willie notes that Putin struts into Davos and the Chinese delegation follows suit.  He notes that Russia and China enter into bilateral trade agreements that bypass New York, same with Russia and Europe, and we are told that a new monetary system is coming to fruition [Willie].  I submit that this is wishful thinking by those who have their own agenda.

Clearly the USA Empire does not want there to be any viable fiat currency alternative to the US dollar (or gold).  There will be no escape, save one, and that will be gold.

Just look at the gold holdings for various central banks [Russell].  What this tells me is that the US dollar will benefit more than any other currency if gold explodes.  My contention is that the USA Empire will take away the German gold if they can, and the rest of the Swiss gold a well.  Read this article for more details: [Bressler].

The only way out of the unfolding mess is to devalue the dollar against gold, probably by a factor of 10 or more, and then breathe confidence back into the system by linking the dollar to gold.  I don’t believe that an alliance of other countries can pull this off with the USA Empire fighting to dominate the next world order.”

 Vincent Bressler

Financial Follies: The New KKK

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“Calling the $12 trillion giveaway to bankers a “subprime crisis” makes it appear that bleeding-heart liberals got Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into trouble by insisting that these public-private institutions make irresponsible loans to the poor. The party line is, “Blame the victim.” But we know this is false. The bulk of bad loans are concentrated in the largest banks. It was Countrywide and other banksters that led the irresponsible lending and brought heavy-handed pressure on Fannie Mae. Most of the nation’s smaller, local banks didn’t make such reckless loans. The big mortgage shops didn’t care about loan quality, because they were run by salesmen. The Treasury is paying off the gamblers and billionaires by supporting the value of bank loans, investments and derivative gambles, leaving the Treasury in debt….”

Michael Hudson on the new KKK – Korporatist-Krisismongering-Kleptocrats

Gold: Who’s Got It; Who Hasn’t

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The US has 8,135 tonnes….64.4% of reserves

Germany — 3,412… …64.4% of reserves
IMF — 3,217… … …(1)
France — 2,508… … …58.7%
Italy — 2,451… … …61.9%
Switzerland — 1,040… …23.8%
Japan — 765.2… …1.9% …(a potential gold-buyer)
China — 600.0… …0.9% …(should be a big buyer)
Russia — 495. 9… …2.2% …(is a buyer)
Taiwan — 422.2… …3.6% …(should be a buyer)
India — 357.7… …3.0% …(should be a buyer)
UK — 310.3… … …14.5% …(sold most of its gold at the low price)
Saudi Arabia — 143.0… …11.4% (should buy gold)
South Africa — 124.4… …9.0%
Australia — 79.8… … …6.3%

From Richard Russell, The Dow Theory Letters.

So there you have it. Among countries, Italy, France, Germany, and the US have the most gold. Switzerland has a third of what they have.

The UK, South Africa, Australia, and Saudi Arabia are next with about  1/5th – 1/10th as much.

Russia and Japan have only a small percent in gold.

China and India have even less.

What do  most Asians have?

Debt (treasuries and dollars) from the US.

Neo-colonialism anyone?

Rule of the Kleptocrats: Senior US Officials Involved In Iraqi Looting

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“In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125bn (£88bn) in a US -directed effort to reconstruct Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The exact sum missing may never be clear, but a report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) suggests it may exceed $50bn, making it an even bigger theft than Bernard Madoff’s notorious Ponzi scheme.

“I believe the real looting of Iraq after the invasion was by US officials and contractors, and not by people from the slums of Baghdad,” said one US businessman active in Iraq since 2003.

In one case, auditors working for SIGIR discovered that $57.8m was sent in “pallet upon pallet of hundred-dollar bills” to the US comptroller for south-central Iraq, Robert J Stein Jr, who had himself photographed standing with the mound of money. He is among the few US officials who were in Iraq to be convicted of fraud and money-laundering.

Despite the vast sums expended on rebuilding by the US since 2003, there have been no cranes visible on the Baghdad skyline except those at work building a new US embassy and others rusting beside a half-built giant mosque that Saddam was constructing when he was overthrown. One of the few visible signs of government work on Baghdad’s infrastructure is a tireless attention to planting palm trees and flowers in the centre strip between main roads. Those are then dug up and replanted a few months later.

Iraqi leaders are convinced that the theft or waste of huge sums of US and Iraqi government money could have happened only if senior US officials were themselves involved in the corruption. In 2004-05, the entire Iraq military procurement budget of $1.3bn was siphoned off from the Iraqi Defence Ministry in return for 28-year-old Soviet helicopters too obsolete to fly and armoured cars easily penetrated by rifle bullets. Iraqi officials were blamed for the theft, but US military officials were largely in control of the Defence Ministry at the time and must have been either highly negligent or participants in the fraud….”

Patrick Cockburn in The Independent.

Comment:

Maybe now some liberal interventionists will wake up and smell the Ponzi….

Time Magazine Hits The Kleptocrats….And Misses

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If you ever wanted to see propaganda in action, check Time magazine’s list of the 25 people responsible for the financial collapse upon us:

“Twenty Five People To Blame For the Financial Crisis.”

Comment:

Where to begin?

For starters: I’m not a fan of “Top 40s” listings except for the Top Forties, i.e., for popular trends, celeb fashion faux, Red Book girlie advice and such like. At ostensibly news-heavy publications (then again, perhaps that’s rather an ambitious term for a coffee-table glossy like Time) you’d  expect at least a pretense at deep thinking. Apparently not….

Second:  Why 25? There’s so much blame to go around that you either make a list of hundreds (how about the Misfortune Five Hundred?)  or whittle it down to the Big Ten…

Third:  We expected Bob Rubin to be given a free pass, since the media has always had a peculiar love affair with this slippery guy, and we expected the knee-jerk over-emphasis on Republicans, but George Bush is more responsible than Alan Greenspan (Fed Chairman under Clinton and Bush) ??

Whatever you think about Bush, there’s one thing quite clear – the man was not an intellectual powerhouse…nor was he a  shrewd tactician.

Do you really think he was anything more than a mouthpiece…..and probably a fairly sincere mouthpiece…when it came to economic and financial issues?

Now, before I venture any further analysis, I want some honest reader response here. Since I am being brave and taking the personal and financial hits that go with public bloggery, you dear readers, must do your part as good citizens and raise your hands (and voices) in public. Tell me what you think this list means and how and why it was cooked up.

And here I give you an original rajivanation:

Not with silence and stealth are republics defended –  but so they are lost