Sunday, April 27, 2008

THE FAKE ECONOMY EconomistsView: "For the world as a whole (or at least the more than 90 percent of global GDP represented by our dataset), the current period can be seen as a typical lull that follows large global financial crises. Aside from the current lull, one element that jumps out from the figure is the long periods where a high percentage of all countries are in a state of default or restructuring. Indeed, there are five pronounced peaks or default cycles in the figure. The first is during the Napoleonic War while the most recent cycle encompasses the emerging market debt crises of the 1980s and 1990s. Another regularity found in the literature on modern financial crises is that countries experiencing large capital inflows are at high risk of having a debt crisis. Default is likely to be accompanied by a currency crash and a spurt of inflation. Also consonant with the modern theory of crises is the striking correlation between freer capital mobility and the incidence of banking crises. This brings us to our central theme - the 'this time is different' syndrome. There is a view today that both countries and creditors have learned from their mistakes. Such celebration may be premature. Capital flow/default cycles have been around since at least 1800. Technology has changed, the height of humans has changed, and fashions have changed. Yet the ability of governments and investors to delude themselves, giving rise to periodic bouts of euphoria that usually end in tears, seems to have remained a constant." What is actually happening is, in my view, a structural crisis. Capitalism has to return to its previous methods of exploitation to keep going. The rich are getting richer. And those at the bottom are experiencing increasingly hard times, with cuts in essential services, like health care, welfare, public transport, etc. A recent proposal by the Dutch postal services (formerly state owned) was to reduce the wages of their postmen by 25%. Outrageous! The rich are doing fine and are creating a crisis that affects the people and the system as a whole. What we have is a bunch of neocons who have no responsibility towards the people or nation whatsoever, and continue to destroy the system from within, grabbing whatever they can for their sole benefit. As in politics, the basic method is to lie and cheat. CommonDreams: "Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis. The study - carried out over the past three years at the University of Kansas in the US grain belt - has found that GM soya produces about 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent, contradicting assertions by advocates of the technology that it increases yields. Professor Barney Gordon, of the university's department of agronomy, said he started the research - reported in the journal Better Crops - because many farmers who had changed over to the GM crop had 'noticed that yields are not as high as expected even under optimal conditions'. He added: 'People were asking the question 'how come I don't get as high a yield as I used to?' Last week the biggest study of its kind ever conducted - the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development - concluded that GM was not the answer to world hunger." If we allow this monopoly to take over our crops production, the prospect of a world-wide famine is not far away. But don't worry, the monopolists will still earn their billions while millions of people will be dying. Actually the purpose of the neocons is not to provide food and eradicate hunger, but to gather capital in the hands of the evil few. That is the essential flaw of our present world, it's no longer about people but about money. And trouble is expected. So what is the reaction of our lawmakers? Statewatch: "Proposal to create EU-wide 'troublemakers' database - to 'prevent individuals or groups who are considered to pose a potential threat to the maintenance of public law and order and/or security from travelling to the location of the event' - and to put in place: 'The necessary arrangements for a quick and efficient implementation of the potential expulsion measures' - EU Security Handbook: 'The scope of the manual is now such that it applies to the security (both from a public order point of view as well as counter-terrorism) of all major international events, be it political, sporting, social, cultural or other.'" It is all about the protection of the exploiting neocons. In a way, present politics and economy are a kind of scientology, a system based on lies and cheats to benefit the rich. It is not a Church, but it only calls itself a Church for tax reasons. VillageVoice: "'There seems to be a level of hypnosis or brainwashing or whatever you want to call it, and this training is a way of getting people hypnotized. And there's a lot of patter that you're constantly hearing that helps you get in that state,' he (television actor Jason Beghe) says." Read more. There is no freedom in our economy. A free market does not exist. The large companies are fixing prices and the governments won't do much about that. Bloomberg: "Tesco Plc, Imperial Tobacco Group Plc and eleven other companies were accused of fixing cigarette prices between 2000 and 2003 by the U.K.'s antitrust regulator, opening the first formal probe of tobacco sales." FPD: "A German member of the European Parliament (MEP) has called on the European Commission (EC) to investigate claims that glass bottle makers have been fixing prices." IHT: "Deutsche Telekom AG lost a European court appeal Thursday against a fine EU regulators imposed in 2003 for price fixing that damaged Internet and phone rivals over five years." If by anyone, price fixing should be done by government giving due consideration to the interests of the people and the industry. But again we see that neocons are taking over the essential tasks of government. That is why they don't want government interference, that is why they want to destroy the power of national governments. 11:38:55 AM

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