global financial crash yay!

[baboon2004]

this was in spain though, right? or did it happen in italy too?

there was a very good film that came out on the thirty-year anniversary

sorry yeah, forgot to say that! 23-F, yep. Will have to watch the docu, thanks for the heads up. The government also sent tanks into Valencia at one point in the recent past, didn't they...

 

[faustus]

sorry yeah, forgot to say that! 23-F, yep. Will have to watch the docu, thanks for the heads up. The government also sent tanks into Valencia at one point in the recent past, didn't they...

not exactly - that was during the same coup-attempt, it was the army (or one particular general) who sent the tanks in under the pretext of a 'state of emergency', hoping the coup would succeed.

i do recommend the film - it's not a documentary, although it does have lots of good archive footage. i saw it in a cinema here in barcelona and it was one of my best experiences in a cinema: people shouting abuse at the screen, cheering or jumping to their feet at certain points (especially at the clip of eta assassinating luis carrero blanco).

 

[baboon2004]

Cool, will def try to stream it.

One thing I cant' get my head around - a comment I read that the north of Spain is far more to the right than the south, in terms of electoral results (haven't checked this out, just going on what I read). In one sense this seems counterintuitive, as Catalunya and the Basque country are both in the north...but makes sense in that Andalucia etc forms the poorest part of the country. I therefore wouldn't have thought that one would be able to make such a bald assertion about a north-south divide (unlike perhaps in italy?).

 

[faustus]

One thing I cant' get my head around - a comment I read that the north of Spain is far more to the right than the south, in terms of electoral results (haven't checked this out, just going on what I read). In one sense this seems counterintuitive, as Catalunya and the Basque country are both in the north...but makes sense in that Andalucia etc forms the poorest part of the country.

yeah, you've got it - in a word, money. Catalunya and Basque are the two richest parts of Spain.

(ok, to complicate it slightly, certainly in these places no-one would ever vote for the Partido Popular, which is still very strongly tied to Franco's regime, even 30+ years on. at least in Catalunya they all vote for their own, home-grown right-wing parties. In Barcelona no.)

 

[luka]

i like internet comments like this.

infohiway 1 hour ago
We, the PIIGS and other nations - through a series of ploys and blunders, have come to the point where the so-called 'national debts' simply cannot be paid off. EVER. This is nothing particularly new. History has many examples of slavery in many forms.

So we have:
Budget crisis debates, wails of austerity, panicy decisions made to avoid penalties like lowering 'credit ratings', then paying HIGHER or even compounded interest, or 'declared' to be 'in default' then forced to sell-off priceless assets or face the hideous horror of horrors - the shame and iniquity of bankruptcy. That same system is also morally bankrupt as shown by 'armored' Police calling themselves Peacekeepers whilst gassing and beating non-violent 'protesters' - safe in the knowledge their system will protect them and not 'the people'.
Even 'Undie and Shoe Bombers' plus food and virus scares - every dirty trick-in-the-book to steer you away from the truth about it all. Even 'professional' 'debunkers' plus those in denial usually with vested interests in the 'status quo'.

Or, say, crushing harmless Iraq and killing over one million innocent Iraqi citizens (Saddam's slaves BTW) over a Bush personal vendetta and a spat with Israel - to impose democracy? HA! And only a trillion+ dollars added to the bill. Nation.-building? Regicide? No problem. UN Charter? Civil and Human Rights? Ha ha ha.

It's all Grand(standing) Theatre - of course - and it's all BS, bluster and bluff.
No? Well the words 'debt that cannot be paid off' above says it all. BS.

Yes, bankrupted by:
senseless undeclared endless 'wars', unbridled government growth plus bail-outs and 'stimulus' paid out to the very corporate crooks that instigated this mess -
serve to confirm it.

Not just any old bankruptcy mind you. Deliberately BANKRUPTED using so-called democracy.

You were born into it the minute you took your first breath to be:
footprinted,
'live birth certified' and 'resistered' as (little more than game bagged in-the-wild) to become 'surety' for ... municipal bonds AKA the National Debt.
Cargo given to government based on YOUR future (hypothicated and averaged) taxes.

All neatly done without your consent; while binding you, as 'chattle(d) property' of-the-(es)state, to commercial (made-up Crown Copyright-ed B.A.R.) 'law'. A great big 'free range' plantation. Imagine that. Why do the police release illegal aliens in violation of vehicle 'laws' and other minor 'citable' 'offences' that Americans can't get away with?
Illegal aliens are not 'signed up' to the system thus technically not liable under it and a legal paperwork nightmare (thus strictly reserved for serious felony cases).
They walk and you pay.

In that this was all done to you without your consent means it was and remains fraud, and as such you do not 'owe' any debt(s) based on fraud. If anything, THEY OWE BACK to you everything you have paid in - plus interest.

Hence 'Debt Repudiation', previously known as Jubilee (in scripture(s) and to other 'ancients') is the way out of their trap that is in essence, now, eternal 'debt slavery'.

If 'they' can "write-off" 50% of the Greek's (mostly interest AND also un-repayable) debt - We-the-People (without which there is nothing) can write-it-ALL-off and reset the lot to implement OUR system for us. Think 1776.
Check out: 'National Dividend' and 'Social Credit' for equitable alternative ways to re-implement OUR MONEY for us.

Peaceful:
petitioning, protesting, boycotting, general strikes and occupying (formerly sit-ins etc.) - and even rioting - have their places.

But mass refusal to be treated like 'furniture' to be: bought, sold, used, abused, stripped and thrown away (or burnt) is the way forth.

The obnoxious system, as is - is bankrupt throughout and it must go. Argentina's politicians, in better times, locked their peso to the U$ dollar. Then the U$ turned on the printing presses, devaluing the dollar and flooded Argentina with paper - merrily buying up Her businesses and prime assets with paper-backed-up by? More paper. Argentina, suddenly in new debt, tried 'restructuring and austerity over and over, then 'defaulted' and dumped a series of corrupted presidents, then finally - though 'an outcast' is now self-sufficient. Iceland flat-out told the banksters to pxss-off. Greece is about to sacrifice Her gorgeous islands and antiquities to the banksters to save two other frauds called the E.U. and the €URO.

The bottom line?
To accept debt slavery forever in a terminally doomed system
or
start over.

 

[Sectionfive]

'Ten years of austerity' for Britain says independent think-tank.


But how independent?

 

[luka]

se this global economic meltdown right what it is right, its simple. its a premeditated and entirely covert elaborately orchestrated attempt to lower your standard of living. and not just your, your childrens and your childrens children and their children after that. 'youve had it good for a long time' theyll say 'better than anyone has ever had it before, unheard of material prosperity, security from war, disease, famine and rapine greater than any enjoyed by previous generations, donatives, handouts and subsidies provided with th utmost liberality' this is what they'll tell you, 'sadly, reality has kicked in. the laws of malthus and hobbes have come back to haunt us. those days have gone. remember them fondly. if we want to compete with china we will have to work like the chinese, and receive wages in line with theirs. the pie is the same size but it is being divided between so many more people. our slice will be commensurately smaller. we will have to get used to this'
that's what they say, and that time is closer than you think you mark my words. course, they'll be alright, course they hav to be paid a wage which is in line with their highly specialised skill-set, its the only way a company can hope to retain the very top talent and remain viable in today's competitive business environment. law of the market innit. oh yes, they'll be alright, and for unwashed masses, one toilet break per day you mark my words, and even that will be timed. public denunciations if you exceed your allotted time.

 

[IdleRich]

Frank Miller on OWS - kinda

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/the_dick_knight_a_comic_response_to_frank_millers_ows_tirade

 

[faustus]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...congress-gave-banks-13-billion-in-income.html

The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined $1.2 trillion on Dec. 5, 2008, their single neediest day. Bankers didn’t mention that they took tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans at the same time they were assuring investors their firms were healthy. And no one calculated until now that banks reaped an estimated $13 billion of income by taking advantage of the Fed’s below-market rates, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its January issue.

Lawmakers knew none of this.

They had no clue that one bank, New York-based Morgan Stanley (MS), took $107 billion in Fed loans in September 2008, enough to pay off one-tenth of the country’s delinquent mortgages. The firm’s peak borrowing occurred the same day Congress rejected the proposed TARP bill, triggering the biggest point drop ever in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (INDU) The bill later passed, and Morgan Stanley got $10 billion of TARP funds, though Paulson said only “healthy institutions” were eligible.

Why hasn't this been on the front pages?

 

[lanugo]

The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis

The Global Financial Crisis has raised many ethical
issues concerning who pays for the damage inflicted
and who is responsible for causing the crisis. Commentators
on business ethics have noted that corporate
financial scandals have assumed epidemic
proportions and that once great companies of
longstanding history and with previously unblemished
and even dignified reputations have been
brought down by the misdeeds of a few of their
leaders. These commentators raise the fascinating
question of how these resourceful and historic
organizations end up with impostors as leaders in the
first place (Singh, 2008). One writer on leadership
even goes as far as to say that modern society is
suffering from a epidemic of poor leadership in both
the private and the public sectors of the economy
(Allio, 2007).

The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global
Financial Crisis is that changes in the way people are
employed have facilitated the rise of Corporate
Psychopaths to senior positions and their personal
greed in those positions has created the crisis. Prior
to the last third of the twentieth century large corporations
were relatively stable, slow to change and
the idea of a job for life was evident, with employees
gradually rising through the corporate ranks until a
position was reached beyond which they were not
qualified by education, intellect or ability to go.
In such a stable, slowly changing environment
employees would get to know each other very well
and Corporate Psychopaths would be noticeable and
identifiable as undesirable managers because of their
selfish egotistical personalities and other ethical
defects.

 

[Sectionfive]

The Omens are not looking good

 

[IdleRich]

Well that's in Shoreditch/Dalston, probably a new trend.

Prior to the last third of the twentieth century large corporations
were relatively stable, slow to change and
the idea of a job for life was evident, with employees
gradually rising through the corporate ranks until a
position was reached beyond which they were not
qualified by education, intellect or ability to go.

Parkinson's Law says that people were promoted to one position above their competency - people do a job well and get promoted until they get to a job they can't do well and there they remain. Not sure if it's true but it seems plausible.

 

[viktorvaughn]

The Omens are not looking good

hackney community college, the first pic with the fox in the shop surrounded by all these hypercoloured products is brilliant

 

[Sectionfive]

 

[Sectionfive]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,druck-799237,00.html

 

[lanugo]

This is a fascinating video chat between trend researcher Gerald Celente and financial no-nonsense pundit Max Kaiser on the MF Global bancruptcy that resulted in the disappearance of 1,2 Bio $ of assets in customer accounts, one of which is owned by Celente. Themes they touch upon are the regulatory loopholes for fraudulent financial activity existing in the laws of the City of London district that have allowed this and other scams (Madoff, Lehman) to happen, the incestuous relations in personnel between big finance and supposed government agencies and regulatory bodies, and the possible geopolitical ramifications of the impending collapse of the global financial system. Disquieting, to say the least.

 

[Sectionfive]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/11-ends-11-charts-11-disturbing-11-year-trends

 

[Sectionfive]

dear oh dear

 

[baboon2004]

Any more thoughts about Greece? I read a bit of the background to the crisis yesterday athttp://newleftreview.org/?page=article&view=2924 and there's one thing I dont' understand - how was the Papademos takeover able to get rid of the top brass of the military:

"... sudden removal of the entire military high command, who had made no secret of their opposition to severe cuts in the army’s budget."

Why didn't they refuse to go?

 

[luka]

wondering if you are seeing traditional tory fears about the eu (signing away our sovereignity etc) in a different light in view of what has happened in greece?