Britain has been involved in more wars in the last 15 years than at any time in its ancient history.
And file sharing wars over freedom and the internet and intellectual property have been raging for almost as long.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The Real Deal - British Wars
http://www.presstv.com/Program/191794.html
Britain has been involved in more wars in the last 15 years than at any time in its ancient history.
And file sharing wars over freedom and the internet and intellectual property have been raging for almost as long.
Britain has been involved in more wars in the last 15 years than at any time in its ancient history.
And file sharing wars over freedom and the internet and intellectual property have been raging for almost as long.
Double Standards - Financiers, bankers controlling the world food supply
After an exclusive interview with Hilary Clinton, two serious interviews were made which were about news media in the UK and food industry, famine and barren lands in the Third World countries.
The first clarifies that Murdoch is powerful enough to fish himself out of the mess and the second digs out secrets of the international corporations in plundering the wealth of the poor countries.
The first clarifies that Murdoch is powerful enough to fish himself out of the mess and the second digs out secrets of the international corporations in plundering the wealth of the poor countries.
The World has Lost its Marbles
Peter Souleles B. Com. LLB.
29 July 2011
29 July 2011
Before all that happened my collection came to exceed 8,000 marbles of all shapes and sizes. Steelies and cat's eyes, glass ones, steel ones and others made from agate. Okay I admit it. It wasn't a passion..... it was an obsession. So much so that in 1968 when I boarded a plane for a trip to Europe with my parents, I somehow managed to conceal under the coat on my arm, a bag with over 300 marbles. There were no body scanners and the like back then.
Things were going fine until the middle of the night when I decided to open up my marble bag and take out some to look at. Both parents were asleep as was my younger brother. If he had been awake, he would have blurted out, "DAD, LOOK WHAT PETER'S GOT" and all hell would break loose.
And then the fatal moment. The plane suddenly dipped and in my panic the bag slipped from my lap onto the floor. It all happened quite quickly but I remember an air hostess suddenly swooping down on my bag and picking it up before too many marbles had spilled. My father had awakened by then and witnessed the air hostess admonishing me and telling me that I would get the bag back when we landed. The look my father gave me was enough to make me look for a parachute under the seat despite always being an acrophobic. Luckily we were on opposite ends of the middle row of seats and the "fasten seat belts" sign was on.
These are all fond memories now, but back then I was terrified.
But what about my first sin?
Well it happened one day whilst playing a game of marbles with a boy from another class. It was a bad day and I just kept losing. It got so bad that I even borrowed some marbles from the same boy. At some point I had lost every single marble on me and was asked by my fellow player to go and get my other marbles so as to pay him off.
Not to cause a scene I told him to go and get the marbles I owed him from my bag because I was supposedly dying to go to the toilet. He asked me which bag was mine. I pointed out a brown Samsonite bag in a long line of bags and ran off whilst calling out to him, ''I trust you.''
Well here is my confession. It wasn't my bag but the bag of a friend who I knew had marbles. Need I say more?
I now fast forward to the decade leading up to 2011. It is clear that the world has lost its marbles. Some have gone down some very deep holes in the pursuit of some really hare brained schemes and wars. Some have gone into some even deeper pockets, whilst others are still missing with nobody knowing where they are.
Marbles have been lent and borrowed, sold and bought and we are now at the point that the total number of marbles on paper exceeds the total number of real marbles in existence. In other words the world has lost track of its marbles and in the process made it very difficult for the game of marbles to be played as it was intended to be played. It is clear that just about all the marbles of the world are going to end up in just a few hands and the game will then be well and truly over.
It is time to admit that we have all lost some marbles or that we must give some marbles up for the sake of the game and its players. It is time to stop playing the game as if losing or cheating didn't matter or as if there would always be someone else's bag from which marbles could be taken.
Whilst there is still time we need to revive the game before it turns into a damaging schoolyard brawl where shirts are torn, eyes blackened and friendships destroyed.
It is time to write off the marbles that are owed by those who do not even have any marbles to play with. If they have no marbles, then the marbles they owe will never be paid back because they cannot re-enter the game.
Once upon a time I had 8,000 marbles and in today's financial world there are many who are similarly well positioned. I had far too many marbles, more than I needed and far more than I could do anything with other than gloat in the school's playground.
Today, various commentators decry the fact that some 50% of the working population pays no tax. I beg to differ. When 9.2% (officially) and 18% according to the U6 measurement of the population is unemployed, the tax on this group is 100%. I repeat it is 100% because in pursuit of an extra 10% or 20% or 30% profit, the multinationals shifted jobs overseas and deprived these people of 100% of their income whilst still expecting them to be their consumers either on credit, unemployment benefits or food stamps.
Wealth and income inequalities are central to a thriving system. Without the incentive of reward, motivation would suffer and progress would wither. It is clear however, that the present level of inequality has brought us to a disequilibrium that threatens to totally destroy the functionality of the system.
In Ancient Greek mythology Prometheus was punished by the God's for giving man the gift of fire, by chaining him to a rock and where each day an eagle would come and eat his liver. That is correct even the Gods had created Gulags and Guantanamo Bays. At the end of the day, the gods of Olympus never got their fire back and over time they lost their hold over humans as well.
In the 21st Century it is time for the God's of Wall Street to bestow a portion of their fiery capital upon their unemployed and bankrupt serfs in the sure knowledge that both sides will prosper more so than by continuing on the present treadmill that will lead to a broken society both in terms of wealth as well as spirit. The pledges of Warren Buffett and others to give away substantial portions of their wealth, need to be fast forwarded before we go into an irreversible downward death spiral.
This is the challenge that America faces. If America does not rise to the challenge then no other nation will and the solution will be, (as the inimitable Marc Faber says), "WAR".
So what will it be America? A real game of marbles or a schoolyard brawl? Real leadership requires example and not battlefield victories. China will not be an issue. With a 5000 year record of accumulated wisdom and history it will prefer co-operation rather than conflagration.
America, the world is watching and waiting but not forever.
Peter Souleles
Sydney Australia
Monday, August 1, 2011
'By every metric' gold is cheap - Jim Rickards
Geopolitical analyst James G. Rickards disparages U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for creating a false panic about the U.S. debt ceiling and says U.S. government policy now is to weaken the dollar to boost exports. Rickards adds that "by every metric" gold is cheap, not in a bubble but rather underowned. Audio of the full interview has been posted at King World News here
A Nervous New World
By Ted Butler:For more than 25 years, I have closely studied the silver market from a supply/demand and market structure perspective. For almost 15 years before that, I traded silver, along with other commodities, as a commodity and stock broker. In all those 40 years, I have tried to avoid analyzing silver in the context of it being an asset of last resort in a world financial crisis. Not because silver is not an asset of last resort but because that attribute has always been widely accepted and written about. I have always strived to uncover new and unique aspects to silver; there was no real value added in me writing about what was already known.
Today, however, I would like to share some thoughts that have come to concern me recently about general world financial conditions and silver. Before I do that I wish to assure you that I still hold an optimistic outlook that many of today's financial problems in the US and the world will be resolved in a fairly reasonable manner. But I don't think resolution will come easily or without some type of a real scare. Nor do I think a worst case outcome is impossible. Importantly, I don't want to paint a picture that silver should be held only because the world is headed to hell in a hand basket. Based upon all the facts, silver should do fine almost no matter what world financial circumstances are eventually witnessed.
One of the things that concerns me the most is the proliferation of debt in almost all quarters, particularly on a government level. Any time the quantity of anything is greatly increased, value is decreased. That collective world debt has grown disproportionately to the world's ability to service that debt is a serious problem. Sluggish economic growth in the western world makes the choices for reducing debt burdens more difficult. Even with shared sacrifice, the reliance on debt will not go away quickly or easily. Because almost all government debt is basically a paper obligation (backed by creditworthiness, as opposed to a lien on specific property), all paper obligations may become suspect in a financial crisis. Assets completely disconnected from the ability of a creditor to meet obligations generally become more valuable in such crises. Hard assets, like silver, become more in demand if paper assets are shunned. In a moment, I'll try to explain why silver may be the best hard asset refuge in a crisis.
The proliferation of world debt has also resulted in an enormous explosion in derivatives products, such as credit default swaps, that has created the potential for exacerbating any financial crisis. It was just such derivatives products, especially those issued by AIG, which brought the world to its financial knees in 2008. Back then, silver sharply declined in price, due to an increasingly obvious (in retrospect) manipulation by large New York banks that were heavily short silver. It will be hard for that manipulation to occur again. Any new financial crisis is likely to be met with soaring silver prices.
My other chief concern is that the animosity between the two political parties in the US has grown to alarming levels never witnessed in my lifetime. I have always monitored the political mood of the country, although I try to be politically neutral. What I see today is most alarming. In almost every instance, there seems to be automatic disagreement and disengagement on every issue along party lines. Considering the economic circumstances in which we find ourselves, such political head banging can hardly be considered constructive. Combined with the levels of debt and related derivatives concoctions and the weak economy and high levels of unemployment, this political backbiting raises the odds of a miscalculation and financial accident.
My sense is that the European debt crisis and the clash over the US debt ceiling and deficit have had the unintended consequence of instilling doubt in the minds of many where that doubt never existed. Confidence is a tricky thing; hard to earn, easy to lose. Perhaps people should have been more concerned about debt and financial matters earlier, but more are currently as a result of recent headlines. This undermines the confidence needed to continue to buy and hold paper debt obligations. Maybe this confidence is not lost overnight, but it does erode gradually and enhances the chance a panic will come at some point. In a genuine financial panic, it is hard for me to conceive how people won't flock to hard assets, particularly precious metals.
I understand that I have just outlined the most popular argument for owning gold and silver, namely as an insurance policy against inflation and financial calamity. This is the argument I have tried to avoid for decades, not because it had no merit, but because it was widely advanced. I had always considered the insurance argument as a bonus and not the central reason for owning silver. I still feel that way, but recent events have made me more sensitive to outside financial factors. It seems to me that as more people are exposed to daily reports of world debt struggles and political infighting in the US, more will become convinced of the wisdom of diversifying away from paper obligations and towards assets not depending on the promise of others. Certainly, price increases in precious metals will only solidify that process.
Gold and silver are, of course, assets that are no one else's liability. As such, they are the perfect antidote to a world increasingly worried about everyone else's liabilities. The great thing about precious metals is that they are so different from conventional paper financial assets as to be completely distinct and unique in substance. Years ago, I remember writing that silver was in a different realm than other financial assets. Most financial advisors suggest diversification as a method of increasing the safety of a portfolio; to spread out holdings among different stocks and bonds and other securities. But what could be more of a diversification than including assets of a completely different realm, namely, hard metal among paper financial assets? Ask any gold or silver investor what fears flash before their eyes when financial crises threaten. I assure you the last thing they are worried about is the hard metal they own. That peace of mind alone would merit inclusion of metal in an all-paper portfolio.
To my mind, the inclusion of metal in an all-paper portfolio in today's world is a no-brainer. After all, gold and silver have outperformed just about every other paper investment over the past five or ten years. The harder choice is which one should be emphasized - gold or silver? The difficulty in deciding diminishes as the level of objective investigation increases. The more time one spends in studying the merits of gold or silver makes the choice for silver much easier. Let me highlight a few.
There is less silver bullion inventory in the world than there is gold bullion inventory; around one billion ounces of silver versus three billion ounces of gold. Common sense would suggest that an item more rare than another similar item would reflect that relative rarity in price. While silver has vastly outperformed gold over any reasonable time period over the past ten years, the rarity of silver is vastly underappreciated. I would guess that maybe one out of every million of the world's inhabitants knows of this fact. Even among those exposed to the rarity of silver compared to gold, few accept it. Inevitably, as more come to learn and appreciate this startling fact, more will choose to invest in silver.
While much more silver is mined and produced each year than gold, when one considers the fact that silver is an important industrial commodity compared to gold, a different picture emerges. After subtracting the industrial and other fabrication usage of silver and gold, the amount of each "left over" and available for investment the attraction of silver becomes clear. Who cares if more silver is produced if most of it is spoken for by industrial and other fabrication consumption. Very few people consider silver in this perspective. As time progresses, more will.
The most important factor to consider in deciding between silver and gold is the price of each. Because gold is so much more expensive than silver, the dollar valuations of each are distorted. At current prices and the amount of gold and silver bullion inventories in the world, there is more than 120 times more gold in the world than silver in dollar terms. What this means, among other things, is that it takes a lot more money to move the gold market than it does to move the price of silver. That's probably the biggest reason for why silver has been outperforming gold. There is nothing on the horizon to suggest that will change anytime soon.
As more people are subjected to the daily reports of a financial world in distress and of political animosity, their thoughts will naturally gravitate to assets with no liability to that stress and animosity. As more people come to learn of the rarity and value of silver compared to gold, their choice will be to buy and hold silver. The trick, as always, is to beat the crowd.
Ted Butler
July 21, 2011
It's a Deal: Obama, Congress Will Avert Default
Ending a perilous stalemate, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders announced agreement Sunday night on an emergency deal to avoid to avert the nation's first-ever financial default.
Niall Ferguson - On the US debt
Niall Ferguson has some novel solutions for two of America's biggest problems, the failure of public education and record breaking federal debt. His solutions include a scene straight out of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!"
America Inc. Offshored to India
One country's loss is another country's gain. In the US there is a huge debt crisis that has left many homeless and jobless, but for India it's a different story. In certain parts of India there are American companies everywhere you look. Priya Sridhar explains why that is.
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