"Commercial success and democratic election are the only sources of legitimate authority in a society that no longer relies on spiritual leadership nor respects hereditary titles. An organisation exempt from either of these disciplines represents an unaccountable concentration of power. As we have today at Citigroup, Barclays and Deutsche Bank. ...
“Too big to fail” – whether the claimant is a bank or an auto company – is not a status we can live with. It is both better politics and better economics to deal with the problem by facilitating failure than by subsidising it.
""French and German consumers are keeping up their spending, in the face of the most severe recession to hit the continent in 50 years, data showed yesterday.
France reported that consumer spending on manufactured goods rose a more-than-expected 0.7 per cent in April, compared with March. Germany's GfK research organisation said its "consumer climate" indicator was expected to hold steady in June for a fourth consecutive month.
Although the GfK indicator is at a low level, the latest evidence suggested that the sharp contraction in European industrial production has yet to feed through into the broader economy.
The 16-country eurozone - of which Germany and France are the largest members - shrank faster than the US in the first quarter , with exporters faring particularly badly. But its consumers have been helped by government measures allowing companies to hoard rather than shed labour and encouraging consumers to spend, particularly on cars.
""Dr. Ravi Batra, a professor of economics at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, is the author of five international best sellers. He was the chairperson of his department from 1977 to 1980. In October 1978, because of dozens of publications in top journals such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Econometrica, Journal of Economic Theory, Review of Economic Studies, among others, Batra was ranked third in a group of “superstar economists,” selected from all the American and Canadian universities by an article in the learned journal, Economic Enquiry. In 1990, the Italian prime minister awarded him a Medal of the Italian Senate for writing a book that correctly predicted the downfall of Soviet communism, fifteen years before it happened. "
"More than 90 percent of economists predict the recession will end this year, although the recovery is likely to be bumpy. ". Thom and Dr. Batra are skeptical. They are the same economists who got it wrong before. Everything moves in cycles. If you run a mile, you run out of gas, take a breather, start again. The shorter cycle is a 7 month cycle, the downturn started in September 2008 and lasted until March 2009, currently a pause of about 5 months, to say the end of July, then another huge negative area. Obstacles, the rise in price of oil, speculation by those who received money from us like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley. Financial Times article about Germany and France. If productivity rises faster than wages, they used debt, now there is no credit, so no recovery. He forecasts after July a much faster negative rate. It is time to bail out of stocks, go into some commodities, for example gold, and oil may have a short run.
Ellen Brown's article about Weimar hyper inflation being due not to currency but to short selling. "Speculative bets against the dollar have risen to their highest level since the onset of the financial crisis." Will the lack of reintroduction of regulation lead to hyperinflation? No. If the dollar falls a lot we do not buy from rest of world. It will fall by the end of July. IRS revenue down. We will own 70% of GM. Value added tax, would it enable us to tax goods made abroad?
Calls. There is more gold than silver in world, but most gold is not in circulation? Gold will hold value for a year or two. Devaluing of dollar. He doesn't think it will fall that much. The reason for deflation was because we produced things in the depression? The Chinese want to buy a massive amount of soy beans. We're in debt. So could we get hyperinflation? The rest of the world would be in deflation. When the dollar falls, oil rises, so some inflation, maybe 10% p.a., not insignificant, it would wreck the economy.
Reintroduction of tariffs. He suggests dual exchange rates in his book. Tariffs would work, but get he blame for what will happen anyway. Do other policies first, we can't stop the depression. Devalue for exports only? The dollar would be less valuable for them buying our goods, more expensive for us buying theirs. Discounts for exports so trade deficit goes down. He with the most gold rules. Speculation. What will happen to gold if the US goes back on the gold standard? It would be impossible now, not enough gold. Buy gold.
Agriculture money is tied up in the fall when they harvest, they use a lot of credit, which is short, does this reduce what is available for other sectors? Farmers not suffering. There is no shortage of funds, just credit worthy borrowers, and farmers are not in that situation. The housing crisis. One big thing to tell congressman? Initial claims for unemployment up, jobs not being created, oil going up. The stock market is hype. An astrologer agreed with him.
"Faced with a ballooning deficit and a clear signal that voters won't pay more to fix it, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released a budget plan Tuesday that would eliminate welfare, drop 1 million poor children from health insurance, cut off new grants for college students and shut down 80 percent of state parks. In a state that long has prided itself on its social safety net, it could well go down in history as the most drastic reduction in social programs ever. And billions in further cuts will be unveiled later this week. The governor's proposal to whack an additional $5.5 billion from state programs stunned even longtime Capitol-watchers with its blunt force. Ending cash assistance for 1.3 million impoverished state residents, for example, would make California the only state with no welfare program. "Every single first-world nation has a safety net program for children," said Will Lightbourne, Santa Clara County's social services director. "This would return us to the era of Dickens — you'd have to go back to the 19th century to find a comparable proposal." "
"California, it has long been claimed, is where the future happens first. But is that still true? If it is, God help America. ...
To be blunt: recent events suggest that the Republican Party has been driven mad by lack of power. The few remaining moderates have been defeated, have fled, or are being driven out. What’s left is a party whose national committee has just passed a resolution solemnly declaring that Democrats are “dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals,” and released a video comparing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to Pussy Galore.
And that party still has 40 senators.
""David Haag and Cheryl Robb were troubled by the sound of moans coming from the Willamette River early Saturday. The couple took their boat out to investigate -- and pulled two children from the water. "
