BRICS vs OECD or Corporations vs The People?

Photo: BRICS leaders gather at the “2013 BRICS Summit” in Durban South Africa

“The BRICS just became impossible to ignore. At the close of the Fifth annual BRICS Summit in Durban, South Africa last week, there was little question that this group of five fast-growing economies was underwriting an overhaul of the global economic and political order.” – The BRICS Post

This following Post is In Reply to:

BRICS Summit draws clear red lines on Syria & Iran

http://thebricspost.com/brics-summit-draws-clear-red-lines-on-syria-iran/

"BRICS Summit draws clear red lines..." was a very interesting post but it leaves out some extremely important details to the reader such as what this New World Banking Order is and what it really means. What are they really talking about?

In my opinion, what I see emerging with the BRICS is a duplicate Rothschild banking system with the exact same economic model that is based on exponential growth…and while we the people are realing from this growth model at home, the leading Western nations are plugging the worlds largest economy (China) into the energy they need to continue the destruction of the Western economies. Two clear examples of this are in Iraq and most recently, Canada’s Tar Sands…in fact the approved sale of NEXEN came from Washington and London before it could pass in the Canadian Parliament…not that Canada had any say anyways.

 

Photo: Canadian PM Stephen Harper Toasting FIPPA Deal with China’s Premier Wen Jiabao

Video: China Oil Firm Cuts Deal in Iraq

However the Harper government then went out of its way to give China free access without prosecution for damages they may inflict on our country with FIPPA. Then Harper removed the protection on 99.999% of all the lakes and rivers with Bill C-45 so that corporations like the ones from China could do what they want, anyway they want, without fear of prosecution…and to keep the crimes and pollution from being exposed they muzzled the scientists and declared environmental activists terrorists…(See links Below)

BRICS stand on Syria:

As for Syria…talk is cheap. Russia is under the Israeli influence, and Israel desires the destruction of Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine…and what has Russia done to protect them? Absolutely nothing. Syria has been economically destroyed already. All I see is inaction and empty words on the part of Russia and China on Syria as was the case in Libya. Who stopped the western OECD nations from destroying Libya, or the wests friends in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Jordan from destroying Syria? No one! What I see, is an emerging New World Order via a single currency that will enslave the entire world to the banks and their system of exponential growth.

Video: The Truth About Libya

The status quo, of the OECD & BRICS economic model does not work in the favour of the people. It works in the favour of the wealthy few that control the currency…nothing will change with the BRICS system but I can see that the BRICS will grow simply because no one likes the war like behavior of the Western Nations, and as a result of a crashing OECD economic system, every bankrupt nation will turn to the BRICS and be assimilated into the New World Order emerging from the BRICS new deal.

The BRICS economic model is exactly the same as the OECD model, the only difference is the name of the business plan…the real reason the west is going down is because the banks want control of every country under their single global currency and to do this they must destroy the one that is currently in place…this has been their goal all along.

If we are to see a change in this world of ours we must change our priorities and not allow a corporate model to run the planet. The corporate structure is one of total dictatorship as everyone must see by now as multi national mega conglomerates gobble up everything in sight. Their influence on the Media and government are clearly obvious especially when they become too big to fail, have legislation passed in their favour, or are supported without investigation by the mainstream media. These multi conglomerates are driven by their largest shareholders with a growth model that is exponential and ruthless.

When you have the same share holders controlling the operations of multiple industries with decision making that is best described as, cold, unempathic, and without common sense or moral regard for society, then you have an Armageddon monster out of control and in process of destroying the planet.

 

Photo: Standard Oil Cartoon

Lead by Example:

The only solution that the people have if they want to survive is to stop this “thing” by ending the economic model that feeds it before it completely destroys the planet and everything on it.

I try not to be driven by greed and instead am driven by my empathy for all life and for the future generations that will inherit the earth after I’m gone. What will we leave the future generations? In reality, our needs are meagre compared to what now exists as an economic model…where will we be in 100 years if this economic model is allowed to continue?

Video Source: The Elders Speak (Part 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9piIziXU9RE

I Don’t want to leave future generations with this economic monster in place so that it can destroy the planet and all life on it. Let’s be the change together and end this madness. The transition will begin when the OECD economies fall. The transition will be in your hands, either we begin the change by removing the private banks, corporate influence, and its political structure, or we succumb to our greed and wipe out the planet…it’s up to all of us, think very hard on this and discuss it with your neighbours, friends, and family…but do it soon because time has run out.

Stewart Brennan

World United News

This Opinion post is In Reply to:

BRICS Summit draws clear red lines on Syria & Iran
http://thebricspost.com/brics-summit-draws-clear-red-lines-on-syria-iran/

Information Links:

China Oil Firm cuts Deal in Iraq

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4gskxEbPYw
Activists Labelled “Terrorists” by Canadian Government
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg124WQthPM
Harper Government Muzzles Scientists
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZmo-sU0bIw
Canadian Scientists “Muzzeling” Probed by Information Commissioner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuLUrQpixY4
Canada Under Siege – (Part 1) – The Tar Sands, Free Trade, & The Government
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpfOsf1f26I
Canada Under Siege – (Part 2) – The Economy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2K3x-Ci8O8
The Truth About Libya – The Road to Endless War – (Part 2) - Libya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCgcbB29bmw
The Global Economy – The Truth and a Warning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHTpRDM96YQ

 

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Canada Under Siege – Part 2 - The Economy

 

Source: World United News - YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2K3x-Ci8O8

Watching the World descend into economic tyranny due to the IMF and Private for Profit only Banks, really angers the hell out of me, but being Canadian, it especially angers me for what is going on here in Canada…because our government is a party to the theft taking place right here…and that is regardless of what brand of politic sits in governance of our nation.

I was brought up believing that the Banking system in Canada was sound and far superior than the rest of the World simply because we had our own National Bank to issue our own money...and from 1935 to 1974 that was certainly true. But it has not been true since.

Born in Montreal Quebec, Canada in 1960, I’ve seen a lot of things happen to this great country of ours over the years, but I was extremely puzzled why, despite the abundance of our natural resources and government imposed high taxation that we had no money to function or healthy economy. One day I decided to find out why.

What I discovered was that there was a massive theft taking place right under our noses by the IMF and all the other private banks that secretly had embedded themselves into the fabric of our Canadian economy & community…What makes the massive banking crimes so maddening is that I also discovered that all the past and present, Federal & Provincial governments in Canada have had full knowledge of the theft and have been a party to it.

This theft has been going on since 1974 through Federal Conservative, & Liberal governments, and through the Provincial governments of the Conservative, Liberal, NDP, and Parti Quebecois parties. They ALL knew what was going on, and by their knowledge of these banking crimes, they have all committed treason against the people of  this nation for doing nothing about it. Maybe the Chamber of Commerce has something to do with it…since all political parties feast there.

By giving the power to create money to the IMF & its ring of Private Banks, and also by giving our natural resources to foreign business cartels, The Federal & Provincial governments have sold out the Canadian people!…est les Quebec libre aussi. We’re not so libre as we might like so we are all in this mess together.

The debt we owe today, with the National and Provincial debt combined, comes to around 1 Trillion dollars. The interest payment on 1 Trillion dollars if it was at 4% is 40 billion dollars. That works out to about 110 million dollars every day just to pay the interest on a loan that should never have been made in the first place!

The Bank of Canada:

The Bank of Canada was created in 1935 to restart the Canadian economy and regain the peoples trust through a Canadian centralized banking system. The issuance of our own currency, by our own National Bank came without interest or compound interest added, thus allowing Canada to prosper and not go into debt despite the huge work projects and social programs that were created to elevate society back from the trash heap.

Huge government programs were created to put people back to work and thus created some of the most important National Corporations between those thriving years of 1935 to 1974. These corporations were owned by Canadians under a banking system that used an interest free currency…everything belonged to us during that time, including the right to make our own budget.

Large-scale social programs such as Medicare, and social benefits for families…old age pensions all emerged out of this economic model…and it was a model that worked for everyone while it was in place.

The Personal Income Tax collected from individuals became the government’s biggest source of income to keep our own sovereign system in place. In essence, We worked and invested in our country at the same time. The nation prospered and provided us with a higher standard of living while not going into to debt.

All was well and fine until 1974 when the Government of Canada gave the IMF and private banks the power to create the Canadian dollar and to charge us compound interest on loaning us our own money. The result of this giveaway is that we no longer have control of our currency or our governing budget. It belongs to private banks and their centralized private I.M.F.

Since 1974, Federal and Provincial government budgets are borrowed from Private Banks with Compound interest attached. That means we lose large amounts of our wealth and hard earned money to pay back the compound interest that came with the loans…and since the money has to come from somewhere, Canadians became tax targets while at the same time we lose our social programs by government spending cuts directed and ordered by the IMF through banking blackmail. The international economic system is completely rigged…in other words, if you don’t do what the IMF tells you, your bond rating will be lowered and the interest on the loans will be increased…

Compound interest, by practice, steals all the money slated to maintain our infrastructure and social programs…as the interest on the loan builds, the debt increases, which then gives the governments the ok to increase our taxes, or borrow more money from the private banks. The whole charade sends the economy into perpetual inflation mode. This cycle has drastically lowered our standard of living since 1974 and All past & present governments are responsible and should be questioned on their knowledge of the theft taking place, or their incompetence of what was taking place….a thorough PUBLIC investigation into this is required at the very LEAST!

Shortly after the IMF took control of our monetary system, our National Corporations such as the Canadian National Railway, Air Canada, and Petro Canada, were sold by the Canadian government at the behest of those that control and loan us our money. Have a look into the Chamber of Commerce…there you’ll see where government business decisions come from. The Chamber of Commerce is a Private Club made up of Banks and Big Business Owners. Needless to say, National Corporations were sold to international private interests, And now they want to sell off programs by privatizing things like health care.

It is very important to note, that what disappeared with National Corporations such as Petro Canada, was the control of our natural resources and the profits they would have brought directly into the country’s coffers if we were not enslaved to the IMF and their scheme of compound debt. Instead, all profits from our natural resources go into the private pockets of the Corporate Share Holders while the rest of us pay increased taxes and allow them to steal it.

Corruption:

International Corporations pay rental fees to the Provincial & Federal Governments on the Canadian land they are raping…of course anyone in government that is pushing for corporate interests is on a committee that receives special compensation. To me this is nothing short of bribery…this type of behavior is shady, dishonest, and amounts to high treason against the people of Canada and should be publicly investigated with prison sentences for those found guilty. In light of these accusations I am making here, I find that the government is nothing more than a crime syndicate for big business, and it is time for these criminals to GO!

Now that the pillars of economic stability have been removed, Canadians find themselves at the mercy of the International banks that are TELLING us what to keep, what to sell and where to cut the budget. Our government not only sold us out, they refuse to change the economic climate for the betterment of its people…that means they do not work for the people of Canada but the private owners of the International Banks!

The next Canadian Federal election is in 2015 so we have time to organize the people of this country to take back our nation. To know which politician to vote for, make sure they are decidedly for removing the Private banks from issuing our money and to nationalize ALL our resources. It’s time to take our country back and this is the way to do it.

LINKS:

Canada Under Siege – Part 1 – The Tar Sands, Free Trade & Govt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpfOsf1f26I

Crime of the Canadian Banking System

http://www.snowshoefilms.com/
Oh Canada, Our Bought & Sold Out Land
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbACCGf6q-c
Oh Canada Movie ORDER DVD
http://www.ohcanadamovie.com/
Press for Truth
http://www.pressfortruth.ca/
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce
http://www.chamber.ca/
Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Quebec – (The Quebec Chamber of Commerce)
http://www.ccquebec.ca/
Bank of Canada – Official Website
http://www.bankofcanada.ca/
The Bank of Canada Act
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/B-2/
Banknotes of the Canadian Dollar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Canadian_dollar
Canadian Banknote Company  - Owned by American Mega Corp. RR Donnelley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Bank_Note_Company
BA International prints Canadian Dollars and is German Owned
Bloomberg - Company Overview of BA International Inc. – German Owned
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=11792219
Canadian Crown Corporation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Crown_Corporation
Canadian National Railway – Privatized in 1995
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_National_Railways
Air Canada – Privatized in 1988
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Canada
CBC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Broadcasting_Corporation
VIA Rail
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Rail
Petro Canada – Privatized in 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petro_canada

 

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Eurozone finance ministers approve bailout deal for Cyprus

 

French minister of Economy, Finances and Foreign Trade Pierre Moscovici (R) and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde (L) chat next to EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn (C) prior to an extraordinary Eurozone meeting on March 24, 2013 at the EU Headquarters in Brussels (AFP Photo / John Thys)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/cyprus-eu-imf-bailout-764/

The Eurogroup has approved a deal on a 10 billion-euro bailout for Cyprus, struck early Monday in Brussels. Cyprus avoids exiting the eurozone, but will have its second largest bank closed with heavy losses expected for big depositors.

“The size of financial assistance will amount to 10 billion euro,” Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem has announced at a press conference in Brussels after the eurozone finance ministers swiftly endorsed the plan.

“With this agreement we’ve put an end to the uncertainty that has affected Cyprus and the euro area over the last few days,”he added.

The new deal agreed between Cyprus and the Troika of international lenders - the EU, the ECB and the IMF - will set up a "good bank" and a "bad bank" and will mean that the country’s second largest bank Laiki will effectively be shut down.

Deposits below 100,000 euros will be shifted from Laiki to the Bank of Cyprus to create a “good bank.” Deposits larger than 100,000 euros will be frozen and used to resolve debts. It remains unclear how large the write-down on those funds will be.

The decision comes hours before the Monday deadline set by the European Central Bank, following heated talks between President Nicos Anastasiades and the Troika.

Earlier on Sunday the central bank in Cyprus has imposed an ATM withdrawal limit of 100 euros per day for the island's two biggest banks, in order to prevent a run on lenders.

Warren Pollock - market analyst and financial adviser says the financial turmoil in Cyprus is part of a broader crisis.

“In reality this is a global problem which has not been addressed since 2007-2008 and previous to that with the issuance of huge amounts of debt and leverage into the system both in Europe and in the United States,” he told RT.


“And when that debt goes bad, the only recourse which exists is to tap remaining collateral in the system which is the savings.”


Pollock believes that sooner or later this “sort of stealing” of savings may result in popular unrest. “We can definitely see smaller countries being the test to see whether savings could be stolen on a wider scale.”

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Cyprus imposes ATM withdrawal limit of €100 per day for island's two largest banks

 

People queue to withdraw their savings at a Cypus Popular Bank (Laiki Bank) ATM in Athens on March 22, 2013. (AFP Photo)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/business/cyprus-bailout-withdrawal-banks-756/

The central bank in Cyprus has imposed an ATM withdrawal limit of 100 euros per day for the island's two biggest banks, in order to prevent a run on lenders.

A spokesman for the country's second largest lender, Cyprus Popular Bank, told Reuters that the new measure began at 1pm local time (11am GMT) and would remain in place until the bank reopens, or until confirmation of continued emergency funding from the European Central Bank. Cyprus Popular Bank had previously limited withdrawals to 260 euros per day.

A government official said the restriction also applied to the Bank of Cyprus.

It was initially reported that the measure was implemented on all banks in Cyprus, although it has now been confirmed that only the island's two biggest banks have been affected.

The news comes after Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades took part in last-minute crisis talks with international lenders on Sunday, in an attempt to save the country from financial meltdown. The negotiations in Nicosia to seal a bailout from the EU and International Monetary Fund failed to reach a solution.

Anastasiades then headed to Brussels to hold talks with EU, European Central Bank and IMF leaders ahead of a crunch meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

Government spokesman Christos Stylianides said in a statement on Sunday that Anastasiades and his team have a "very difficult task to accomplish to save the Cypriot economy and avert a disorderly default if there is no final agreement on a loan accord."

The news comes just one day after Cyprus and the Troika agreed to a 20 per cent tax on deposits over 100,000 euros at the Bank of Cyprus and 4 per cent on deposits held at other banks.

"Unfortunately, the events of recent days have led to a situation where there are no longer any optimal solutions available. Today, there are only hard choices left," European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said in a Saturday statement.

Cyprus is scrambling to come up with €5.8 billion by Monday, or face being kicked out of the Eurozone. The cash is a prerequisite for a further €10 billion in bailout funds.

Lawmakers' rejection of a previous proposal to tax all bank deposits prompted the European Central Bank to threaten to cut off emergency funding to Cypriot banks unless a deal was reached by March 25. Banks have been shut all week, and are due to reopen on March 26.

On Saturday, at least 1,000 bank workers in Cyprus hit the streets of the country’s capital of Nicosia. The demonstrators marched against the latest bailout measures taken by the country’s central bank.

Protesters carried banners that read, “Hands off provident funds” and “No to the bankruptcy of Cyprus.”

Turkey sends ‘stern warning’ to Cyprus over gas reserves

Meanwhile, Turkey has warned Greek Cyprus against using hydrocarbon reserves off the island to overcome its debt crisis without the consent of Turkish Cypriots. Ankara says such a move could result in an end to efforts to reunite Cyprus’ Turkish and Greek zones.

Turkey has contacted the US and plans to take the issue to the European Union, Today’s Zaman reported.

Ankara “had to issue a stern warning” regarding attempts to offer natural resources in exchange for foreign loans, a Turkish official said on Sunday.

Turkey has repeatedly warned the Greek Cypriot government against unilateral moves to extract natural gas and oil reserves off Cyprus, saying that Turkish Cypriots also have a say on the reserves.

The dispute recently escalated when reports surfaced that hydrocarbon exploration rights were part of Russia-Greek Cyprus talks last week over a possible deal which includes Russian financial help. However, the talks did not produce an agreement.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev expressed doubt on the inclusion of hydrocarbon reserves as a loan deal, saying there are concerns surrounding commercial viability and questions stemming from Turkish objections.

 

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Cypriot parliament votes against deposit levy

Cypriot woman shouts slogans as she holds a placard during a protest against an EU bailout deal outside the parliament in Nicosia (AFP Photo / Patrick Baz)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/business/cyprus-against-deposit-levy-501/

The Cypriot parliament has voted against a revised bank deposit levy. The tax was meant to shave 9.9% off any deposits over €100,000 and has since caused uproar in the country.

Thirty six deputies voted against the proposal to tax bank deposits in the 56-member chamber, while 19 abstained. One deputy was not present for the vote.

"The bill has been rejected," said house speaker Yiannakis Omirou, as thousands of protesters outside the parliament building in Nicosia erupted in cheers.

According to the proposal, a 6.75% rate was to be set for amounts between €20,000 and €100,000. Deposits of up to €20,000 euros were to remain untouched.

Passage of the bill was considered a prerequisite for a €10 billion European Union bailout for the Mediterranean island. EU finance ministers have warned that Cyprus' two biggest banks could go bust if a bailout deal in some form is not forthcoming. The government and opposition parties have scheduled emergency talks on the bailout for Wednesday.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has threatened to end emergency lending assistance for Cypriot banks if a bailout deal was not ensured. However, following the vote, the ECB said it would continue to provide liquidity to Cyprus as needed “within the existing rules,” Bloomberg reports.

Cyprus has discussed the tax with its European creditors. Ministers from the 17 eurozone countries urged protection for savers with €100,000 or less and for them to be spared from the levy, after the prospect brought panic to the markets and had Cyprus dealing with the prospect of Russia withdrawing its rescue loan.

The Cypriot government’s original proposal was to tax all depositors, setting the rate of 6.75% on all deposits under€100,000 and maintaining a 9.9% tax on all deposits above that level.

In the meantime all Cypriot banks have frozen the accounts liable for the tax and stopped all transactions, including electronic and closed for a long weekend until Thursday to prevent panic.

Cyprus needed to raise €5.8 billion euros for its bailout program and was hoping to get the money in the planned bank deposits levy.

Despite the precarious position Cyprus has found itself in, a default might be preferable than a bailout under the present conditions, United Kingdom Independence Party MEP Nigel Farage told RT.

“The EU has been unhappy about so-called tax havens for a very long time. Ironically, whilst continuing to turn a blind-eye to many activities that go on in Luxemburg. I mean Cyprus finds itself right now in a very difficult, desperate position. But I would say that it is better to officially go bankrupt, to default on international bond obligations. And to do that best to keep a banking industry and to keep some confidence in that country,”he said

 

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Ron Paul: America has already gone over the fiscal cliff

 

Former Republican presidential candidate, Representative Ron Paul (T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images/AFP)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/usa/news/paul-fiscal-cliff-obama-364/

US President Barack Obama demanded from Congress immediate action to prevent America from falling of a so-called fiscal cliff, but Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) says it might be too late to keep the country afloat.

Speaking with Bloomberg Television on Thursday, the lawmaker who ran against Pres. Obama during the last two elections said he expects that America’s financial woes are beyond repair.

“We’re so far gone,” said the congressman, who will retire from the Hill this year after serving 12 terms in the House. “We’re over the cliff. We cannot get enough people in Congress in the next 5 to 10 years who will do the wise things. We have to prepare for having already fallen off the fiscal cliff.”

On the campaign trail leading up to the Nov. 6, 2012 election, Rep. Paul proposed an array of ideas he said would save the country from economic disaster, including returning to a gold standard and abolishing the Federal Reserve, America’s central bank. On his part, Pres. Obama vowed to keep the company in tact if elected to a second term, and Friday told reporters at the White House that he expects Congress to come to his side and do what’s right to prevent what Rep. Paul says is inevitable now.

“I’ve invited leaders from both parties to the White House next so we can start to build consensus around the challenges that we can only solve together,” said the president in reference to worries over America’s fiscal standing next year. “At a time when our economy is still recovering from the great recession, our top priority has to be jobs and growth.”

“We can’t just cut out way to prosperity,” said Obama. “If we’re serious about reducing the deficit, we have to combine spending cuts with revenue. That means asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes.”

“I’m not wedded to every detail of my plan,” he said. “I’m open to compromise; I’m open to new ideas.”

According to Rep. Paul, that’s just more pandering from the president.

“They’re just looking for the truth,” said the congressman. “They say, ‘Well, all we need is a little compromise.’ Well nobody expects that because they do not admit the truth, and the truth is that we are broke.”

“How do you compromise? The only way you can compromise is if you agree on what to cut.”

From the White House on Friday, the president said, “The American people voted for action, not politics as usual,” and insisted that “What the American people are looking for is cooperation,”consensus and common sense from the government. “Most of all they want action,” he added, insisting, “I intend on delivering for them during my second term.”

Rep. Paul tells Bloomberg it’s a “bad sign” that the public, not the president, is on the receiving end of however the White House tries to fix the country’s financial woes. “People do not want anything cut,” he said. “They want all the bailouts to come. They want the Fed to keep printing money. They do not believe we have gone off the cliff or are close to going off the cliff.”

 

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US austerity? US 'fiscal cliff' would trigger cuts of up to 5.1% GDP

 

US debt clock (Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/business/news/usa-debt-ceiling-opinion-798/

As US public debt is about to rise over the limit of $16.39 trillion, analysts warn of the drastic damage it could create. Should the debt limit remain unchanged, the US economy will have to suffer austerity measures worth around $804.5 billion.

The debt held by the public skyrocketed to about 102% of the US GDP in 3Q 2012. The ratio was higher only once in the US economic history – in 1945 when it reached 113% of GDP.Meanwhile, a new so-called “debt ceiling”, that was last raised by Congress in January 2012 to $16.394trln, seems to be not high enough, as the figures show that the room for further borrowing is becoming increasingly narrower.

Earlier this week the US Treasury said the country was set to hit the debt limit by the end of the year. Meanwhile the Treasury has continued to unveil borrowing plans that include massive bond issues, which will inevitably drive the US economy deeper into debt.

If the US Congress does not raise the debt ceiling in the next few months, it would result in an “onset of austerity measures worth 5.1% of American GDP,” or $804.5bn, Margaret Bogenrief from ACM Partners told Business RT.

“The world currently sits on the precipice of a debt cliff – the rate of debt growth for the United States is, economically, unsustainable and must be curbed within the next 5 years,” added Bogenrief. A combination of increased taxes and limited spending would pave the way out of the debt hole for the US, the ACM Partners expert added.

While the need to curb the extravagance of the US – a nation of debt lovers – is clear, a collision of the economic and political reasoning is now one of the main stumbling blocks, according to Bogenrief. Economically, continued growth of US debt will keep on weighing down and destabilizing the American economy. But politically, lower Government spending and higher taxes would not be popular among US citizens.

Also, there’s “a collision between what Americans say they want versus what they prefer in reality – it’s easy to say we need to cut spending and raise taxes – as long as we cut spending allocated to other people while raising other people’s taxes,” Bogenrief concluded.

While allowing a broader opportunity for increased consumption, excessive borrowing can pose a real economic threat long term, Max Wolff, a NYC-based economist, added to Business RT.

“Consistent US debt growth is a short term boom to the US and global economies. It allows greater growth and demand now in exchange for increased financial fragility and lowered growth and demand in the future. This is the essenece of debt. Debt moves purchasing power through time. It is sustainable when it pays for greater growth in incomes in the future. If this fails, it is very dangerous,” the economist explained.

“Some amount of borrowing is necessary for any industrialized economy. For the past four years, however, the United States has averaged $1trln +in annual deficits – the growth in debt is unprecedented in American history, unsustainable, and has no easy answer in sight,” Bogenrief concluded.

 

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Greek police, firefighters, coast guards, medics protest against cuts

 

Greek police officers, firefighters, and coast guards protest outside parliament during an anti-austerity demonstration in central Athens on November 1, 2012.

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/01/269989/1000s-of-greeks-hold-demo-against-cuts/

Thousands of Greek police officers, coast guards, firefighters, and medical professionals have held demonstrations to protest against the government’s austerity measures.

The protesters took to the streets in the capital Athens on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Thousands of police officers and coast guards from various Greek regions marched to parliament to protest against salary cuts expected to be included in a new austerity bill.

Next week, Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras is likely to send the parliament a bill of labor reforms, which includes the officers' salary cuts.

In protest to the cuts, the police officers and the coast guards also handed out bowls of bean soup to the needy.

"[We say] 'No' to modern slavery. Our rage is overflowing. They lied to us again; those pre-election promises became dust after the elections, and will lead us to new medieval times," said Dimitris Sarantakis, the president of the Panhellenic Coast Guard Officers' Federation.

"Even if these measures pass the way they have arranged them, we will overturn them because we have not only reached our limits, we have now surpassed our limits," said Dimitris Vogiatzis, the president of the Police Officers' Federation.

A large number of Greek firefighters chanting anti-austerity slogans also marched on the parliament.

Earlier in the day, public hospital staff including doctors, nurses and ambulance drivers, walked off the job and staged a demonstration outside Greek Health Ministry headquarters. They said austerity cuts have weakened citizens' health and made their jobs more difficult.

They carried banners reading, "Austerity measures are bad for your health" and "Free public health care for all".

Greece has been at the epicenter of the eurozone debt crisis and is experiencing its fifth year of recession, while harsh austerity measures have left about half a million people without jobs.

One in every five Greek workers is currently unemployed, banks are in a shaky position, and pensions and salaries have been slashed by up to 40 percent.

Greek youths have also been badly affected, and more than half of them are unemployed.

The long-drawn-out eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and reached Italy, Spain, and France in 2011, is viewed as a threat not only to Europe but also to many of the world’s other developed economies.

Also on Thursday, a Greek court ruled that some of the spending cuts needed to secure more bailout funds for the near-bankrupt country are unconstitutional.

The Court of Auditors, which examines Greek laws before they are presented to parliament, said planned austerity measures such as raising the age of retirement to 67 and reducing pensions by 5 to 10 percent, could be against the constitution.

The court said the pension cuts for a fifth time since May 2010 violated many constitutional provisions, including the principles of individual dignity and equality before the law.

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French banks get blow from S&P, as Eurozone crisis weighs

 

(AFP Photo /Philippe Huguen)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/business/news/s-and-p-france-banks-downgrade-293/

S&P downgraded three French banks, including the 3rd biggest lender in the world BNP Paribas, saying the outlook for another 10 lenders was negative. The agency said European turmoil was increasingly pressing, with economic data backing the gloom.

Banque Solfea and Cofidis were the other 2 French lenders that came into the S&P firing line. The agency cut the outlook on another 10 banks including such market giants as Societe Generale, and Credit Agricole to negative from stable.

In its decision, S&P lowered its long-term rating on BNP Paribas to “A+” from “AA-", while cuttingsmaller players Banque Solfea to “A-” from “A” and Cofidis to “BBB+” from “A-". The forecast on both short – and long – term ratings was negative.

“…the constraints of a relatively high public debt burden, reduced external competitiveness and persistent high unemployment are being aggravated in our view by the ongoing eurozone crisis, a more protracted recession across Europe, and lower domestic growth prospects”, S&P said in its press-release.

“We consider that this economic environment, including the persistence of low interest rates, will put pressure on domestic revenue growth for French banks in 2013-2014,” the agency added.

The recent economic data has indeed been saying that the second largest European economy is coming closer to a recession, agrees Anna Bodrova of Investcafe. “While it [France] remains one of the strongest European economies, the country is clearly suffering financial difficulties,”the analyst added.

Earlier this week the central Bank of France said the $2.56trln economy was set to contract 0.1% in 3Q, which will mark the first quarter of contraction since the start of 2009.

Another economic benchmark released this week was a preliminary Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) that is used as an indicator of business activity. Despite a slight improvement in October to 44.8 from a September reading of 43.2, the figure showed the French economy remained under pressure.

Any figures below 50 signal contraction.

“The latest Flash PMI data for France indicate a lack of any significant improvement from the severe weakness seen in September. With GDP looking likely to have contracted in Q3, the latest poor figures suggest that the downward momentum has been carried over into Q4 and the economy could well end the year in recession. A further weakening of business sentiment in the service sector to its lowest since the start of 2009 underlines the pervasive gloom among businesses at present as uncertainty drags on and investment decisions are delayed accordingly,” Jack Kennedy, Senior Economist at Markit and author of the Flash France PMI, commented in the report.

The country’s Government also cut its official forecast for the next year, with France’s President Francois Hollande saying the economy was expected to grow just a notch above zero – about 0.8% – which compares to a 1.2% expansion forecast before.

 

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EU IMF give Greece until October 18 to implement reforms

 

President of the Eurogroup Council Jean-Claude Juncker (L) speaks with IMF cheif Christine Lagarde before a Eurogroup Council meeting in Luxembourg on October 8, 2012

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/09/265651/greece-gets-deadline-for-reforms/

Greece's international creditors have given Athens until October 18, the start of next week's two-day European Union summit, to deliver on scores of broken promises in order to qualify for its next rescue loan payment.

"We stressed that before the next disbursement Greece clearly and credibly should demonstrate its commitment to fully implement the program -- and 89 prior actions from March should be implemented by the 18th of October at the latest," Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said on Monday at the close of talks with eurozone finance ministers in Luxemburg, AFP reported.

Debt-stricken Greece has depended on bailouts from fellow countries in the 17-nation single currency bloc and the International Monetary Fund since May 2010. To get the loans, it implemented a series of deep income cuts and tax hikes, while increasing retirement ages and facilitating private sector layoffs.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde, who also attended the eurozone finance ministers meeting, said, "On Greece more work needs to be done… Acting means acting, not just speaking."

On Friday, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said that his country could not take more bitter medicine and if the next disbursement of 31.5 billion euros from a 130-billion second package of loans for the country did not arrive soon, the government will run out of cash next month.

The warning by Greece's bailout creditors came a day before German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Greece to hold talks with Prime Minister Samaras and President Carolos Papoulias.

Merkel is likely to face angry protests in a country where many blame Germany for the Greek government's draconian austerity measures.

Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias appealed to protesters on Monday to "protect the peace, and above all our country's prospects and our international image."

Some 7,000 police officers will be deployed across Athens on Tuesday to maintain security during Merkel’s stay.

Greece has been at the epicenter of the eurozone debt crisis and is experiencing its fifth year of recession, while harsh austerity measures have left about half a million people without jobs.

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What is behind the global stock market rally?

 

By: Andre Damon

Source: Global Research

http://www.globalresearch.ca/what-is-behind-the-global-stock-market-rally/

Despite a string of disastrous economic figures, stock markets throughout the world are surging.

In the past year, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average and the British FTSE 250 have each risen by 20 percent, while the German DAX has shot up by 39 percent. The NASDAQ, consisting mainly of US-based technology companies, has already eclipsed its previous record, set in November 2007, while the Dow is within 600 points of its previous high.

The continued rise on stock exchanges comes as manufacturing activity in Europe, China and the United States slumps to its lowest level in three years. The European economy as a whole is contracting. In the latest raft of dire economic data, released Thursday, US durable goods orders recorded their sharpest fall since 2009. US economic growth for the second quarter was revised downward from an already anemic 1.7 percent to 1.3 percent.

How is one to explain the meteoric rise in stock values even as the global economy is sliding into a deeper slump?

The boom in stock prices is an expression of a global redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top. The social conditions of the working class have been driven relentlessly downwards, while trillions of dollars have been turned over to the banks, mainly for the purpose of financial speculation.

This process is particularly evident in the United States, the center of world capitalism and the center of the global economic crisis.

The three major stock indexes have nearly doubled in value since 2009, and the fortunes of the super-rich have risen accordingly. The richest 400 billionaires in the US had a net worth of $1.27 trillion in 2009. This already obscene figure shot up to $1.7 trillion in this year’s list, an increase of 33 percent in just three years.

CEO pay has followed a similar course. The average CEO of one of the 350 largest US companies took home $12.14 million in 2011, up from $12.04 million in 2010 and $10.36 million in 2009, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

But for the working population, the situation is exactly the opposite. Between 2009 and 2011, the most recent year for which figures are available, the number of people in poverty in the United States grew by 2.6 million, to 49 million. Mass unemployment has been utilized as a lever to impose wage cuts in every sector of the economy.

Since the official end of the recession, in June of 2009, the average duration of unemployment has nearly doubled from 23 weeks to 38 weeks. The percentage of the working-age population that is employed has fallen, as anemic job growth barely keeps pace with the increase in the population and hundreds of thousands of laid-off people give up looking for work.

For those workers who still have a job, real hourly wages have fallen by about 1.0 percent. The earnings of a typical household fell by 1.7 percent in 2010 alone.

The increase in the rate of exploitation of workers has translated into huge cost savings for corporations and record profits in every year since 2009, further swelling the incomes of the super-rich.

In addition to the direct impoverishment of the work force, stock markets have been buoyed by the influx of cash from the world’s central banks.

Within the last month, the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan have all taken new measures to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the financial markets. The US Fed took the most dramatic step of the three, initiating an open-ended program to buy $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities every month, taking these toxic assets off of the banks’ balance sheets.

The ostensible purpose of these moves is to lower interest rates, revive the housing market, and increase the amount of money available for corporations to expand and hire new workers. But instead of productively investing the money, the corporations and banks are either hoarding it or pouring it into the stock market and other forms of speculation.

The total amount of cash held by major US corporations stood at $1.7 trillion in the second quarter of this year. Apple, the technology giant, is a case in point. It held $98 billion in the first quarter of this year, $110 billion in the second, and $117 billion in the third. Meanwhile, its market valuation keeps expanding and there is already talk that the company, which is currently valued at over $600 billion, will become the world’s first $1 trillion corporation.

The enormous sums of money being pumped into the financial system are inflating asset values and bankrolling record payouts for executives, whose compensation is often tied to share prices.

The inflation of asset values cannot continue indefinitely amid the deepening economic slump. The growth of share values and other financial assets, based mainly on a near-zero interest-rate policy and virtually free money from the central banks, is inflating a new and even more gigantic speculative bubble than the one that burst in September of 2008.

The upsurge in stock values does not reflect a healthy economy, but one that is deeply diseased, in which the intractable contradictions of the capitalist system are exacerbated by a ruthless and avaricious financial aristocracy that dictates policy in the United States and internationally.

The US ruling class, first under Bush and then under Obama, responded to the crash of 2008, which was the inevitable outcome of the financialization of American capitalism, by handing over trillions of dollars in public funds to the banks. The aim was to reflate the values of financial assets in order to maintain and increase the wealth of the financial aristocracy.

World governments have followed suit, with each bailout of the banks accompanied by an ever more ferocious attack on workers. Everything must be cut: wages, pensions, health care, education—everything, that is, but the wealth of those responsible for the crisis.

The financial vultures who control the main investment houses send stock markets soaring with each new assault on jobs and social programs—as they did Friday after the Spanish government, presiding over a country in deep recession, unveiled a draft budget that slashes spending by $51 billion next year.

The key to the “success” of finance capital to this point has been its ability to isolate and quash outbreaks of working class resistance, relying on the services of the trade union apparatuses and their allies among the various pseudo-left organizations (the New Anti-capitalist Party in France, the Socialist Workers Party in the UK, the Left Party in Germany, SYRIZA in Greece, the International Socialist Organization in the US).

However, the actions of the central banks and governments have resolved nothing. The euphoria on the stock exchanges rests on rotten foundations. The rising markets are one expression of an unprecedented intensification of social tensions that are already beginning to erupt in the form of explosive class struggles on a world scale. A new, revolutionary leadership must be built in every country to unite these struggles and arm them with a socialist and internationalist program.

 

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As Popular Opposition Grows Austerity Budgets imposed across Europe

By: Alex Lantier

Source: Global Research

http://www.globalresearch.ca/as-popular-opposition-ggrows-austerity-budgets-imposed-across-europe/

The French, Spanish and Greek governments all announced multibillion-euro austerity plans yesterday in the face of massive popular opposition.

The French budget presented by the Socialist Party (PS) government of President François Hollande is the harshest since the austerity budgets of the early 1980s under PS President François Mitterrand. It calls for €30 billion (US$38.6 billion) in deficit cuts, including €20 billion in tax increases and €10 billion in spending cuts.

The Spanish budget calls for €13.4 billion in spending cuts in the fourth major package of austerity measures passed this year following the election of the conservative Popular Party (PP) last November. The ministries whose budgets will be most severely cut include Agriculture, Industry and Education.

Greece’s coalition government—which includes the right-wing New Democracy (ND), the social democratic PASOK, and the Democratic Left (DIMAR)—announced that it will unveil a plan Monday for €11.5 billion in spending cuts. Plans for these cuts were first announced in July, but the government initially failed to reach an agreement on how to distribute them.

In each country, the new austerity measures are being pushed through in defiance of public opinion. On Wednesday, millions of workers throughout Greece walked off the job and hundreds of thousands protested in a one-day national strike. On Tuesday, tens of thousands of protesters opposed to the cuts marched to the parliament in Madrid and were brutally attacked by riot police.

In France, Hollande’s popularity ratings have fallen to 43 percent as job losses and austerity measures antagonize voters who elected him in May.

These events demonstrate the impossibility of fighting social austerity in Europe by supporting the bourgeois “left” parties, the European Union (EU), or European capitalism. In a matter of months, the promises made by the official parties have proven worthless.

Hollande cynically promised that “austerity is not an unavoidable destiny.” The Greek coalition government received the tacit support of the bourgeois “left” SYRIZA party, which ran against it ostensibly on an anti-austerity platform, but then pledged to be a “responsible” opposition that would not call strikes and would continue to support the European Union.

As for the PP—elected on the basis of mass hostility to the austerity policies of the previous social democratic Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) government—its pretense that it would not pursue Greek-style austerity in exchange for an EU bailout of its banks is fast evaporating.

The PP’s cuts to pensions and social spending and its attacks on labor rights are the most severe since the collapse of the fascist Franco dictatorship. Reductions in national state spending of €16.5 billion, €27 billion and €65 billion passed in January, April and July—combined with deep cuts in regional government spending—are sinking Spain’s economy.

One quarter of Spanish workers and 52.9 percent of Spanish youth are unemployed, and despite pledges for bank bailouts the economy is contracting. The International Monetary Fund anticipates a 1.2 percent contraction of Spain’s economy, though the government’s cuts are based on apparently overoptimistic projections of a 0.5 percent contraction.

Spain now pays more to service its debt than it spends on unemployment benefits or the budgets of its national ministries. Since the global economic crisis began in 2008, its public debt has more than doubled, jumping from 35.5 percent to 75.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and the interest rate it pays on its debt has surged as a result of speculation against Spanish bonds by the banks and finance houses.

Spain’s banks are poised to request another €60 billion bailout as the Spanish real estate collapse continues to undermine their balance sheets.

The effect of such policies is most clearly seen in Greece, whose economy is now projected to plunge by 7 percent this year, instead of the previously projected 4.7 percent. Since the Greek debt crisis began in 2009, its economy has contracted by roughly one quarter.

Der Spiegel reported that, due to this continuing collapse, EU authorities expect Greece’s budget shortfall to reach €20 billion. They will then demand more cuts in Greece beyond the €11.5 billion Athens is currently proposing. As laid out in July, these include €5 billion in cuts to the Labor Ministry budget (mainly to pensions) and attacks on Greece’s devastated public hospitals.

These massive cuts—the corresponding amounts would be $802 billion in the United States, £82 billion in Britain and €136 billion in Germany—will ravage a society in which those workers who have managed to keep their jobs have already seen wage cuts of 30-50 percent.

The negotiation of the cuts will place take amid deepening conflict within Greece’s political elite. There is speculation that DIMAR might collapse, as at least three of its 17 parliamentarians have declared they plan to vote against the cuts.

Greece’s Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE) recently released a list of thirty politicians, including former ministers and top parliamentarians of ND, PASOK and SYRIZA, who are suspected of tax evasion or other forms of fraud.

France’s austerity package cuts €10 billion from the national budget of €376 billion by imposing a wage and hiring freeze on public sector workers, imposing a 5 percent across-the-board cut in the ministries’ projected budgets, and cutting €2.7 billion in health care spending. The Defense, Finance and Ecology ministries are reportedly particularly hard hit, with losses respectively of 7,234, 2,353 and 1,276 jobs.

As for the €20 billion in tax increases, half are to be achieved by closing certain corporate loopholes, and half by increasing taxes on individual households.

The PS government and the media have trumpeted the fact that roughly half of the individual tax increases will be borne by “affluent” households. This is an attempt to obscure the anti-working class character of the Socialist Party’s policies. The tax rate for the top income tax bracket is to be raised to 45 percent, and yearly wage income over €1 million is to be taxed at 75 percent.

To seriously examine these measures, one must briefly enter the realm of French tax policy—which means confronting what Karl Marx, in The Class Struggle in France, called the “sheer swindling” that characterizes France’s financial affairs.

In 2010, the top 1 and 10 percent of the French population took in €181 billion and €515 billion, respectively. Nonetheless, the increase in the top tax bracket and the tax on wage income over €1 million combined will raise only €530 million nationwide. The total of €6 billion raised by increasing taxes on the affluent, including by closing some corporate loopholes, does not amount to a substantial portion of their income.

In part, this is because of a complex system of tax exemptions that Hollande’s measures do not seriously touch. These exemptions allowed billionaire Liliane Bettencourt to pay a 9 percent effective tax rate in 2010 on the hundreds of millions of euros she earned on her $24 billion fortune.

In part, also, it is because most income in the ruling class is interest income on capital holdings, not wages—which means that Hollande’s “75 percent tax” does not seriously impact most members of the financial aristocracy.

Nonetheless, the austerity budget was denounced by sections of the press, with Figaro Magazine titling its lead article “Enough is Enough.”

Sections of the bourgeoisie supporting the PS are arguing that the current austerity budget is only a down payment on deeper attacks on the working class being prepared by the PS government. These include proposals for labor market “reforms” to facilitate hiring, firing and forcing workers into short-time work, as well as for €30-50 billion in cuts to corporate funding of social security.

An editorial in Le Monde stressed the need for a “true ‘competitiveness shock’ in our country.” It stated: “The 2013 budget does not really contribute to it. Promised cuts in the labor market and the financing of social spending will be decisive in this regard. Today’s budget shock will only be meaningful if it is rapidly complemented by a powerful competitiveness shock to give France the electroshock therapy it needs.”

 

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'Democracy kidnapped!' Spanish protesters surround Congress in Madrid



Source Video: Russia Today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OXXe9B9THo

Spain's "indignant" protesters take part in a demonstration to decry an economic crisis they say has "kidnapped" democracy, on September 25, 2012 in Madrid. (AFP Photo / Dominique Faget)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/spain-protests-parliament-crisis-942/

Thousands of activists have begun to congregate in Madrid’s Plaza de Neptune, 100 meters from the Congress building, to protest Spanish austerity measures. The demonstrators pledged to march around the building, and called for new elections.

Watch the protests LIVE

Demonstrators waved banners with the slogan ‘No’ written on them, in reference to the austerity policies of the Spanish government, but so far the protest has been peaceful.

Protesters said that today is a key day to level criticism against politicians and the Spanish government. The city stationed armored police vehicles bumper-to-bumper around the parliament building, and announced that around 1,300 police would be deployed to counter the protesters.

The organizers of the protest dubbed their movement ‘Surround Congress,’ and expressed hopes that thousands would turn out. The protestors called themselves ‘indignants’ and claimed that their democracy had been ‘kidnapped,’ calling for new elections and rallies against the austerity measures enacted by Mariano Rajoy’s government.

Some 200 demonstrators gathered near the city’s main railway station chanting “Rescue democracy,” and “This is not a crisis, it’s a swindle.”

Carmen Rivero – a 40-year old photographer who travelled overnight by bus from the southern city of Granada – said, “We think this is an illegal government. We want the parliament to be dissolved, a referendum and a constituent assembly so that the people can have a say in everything.”

Another 100 protesters were scattered across the city’s main square, the Plaza de Espana.

“This is not a real democracy. This is a democracy kidnapped by the parties in collaboration with the economic powers and the people have no say in it,” said Romula Barnares, a 40-year-old artist wearing sunglasses with a dollar sign on one lens and a euro sign on another.

But Miguel-anxo Murado, a journalist and writer, told RT that he thought their demands are too vague and that they would not be successful, “it seems that they are back with the same very vague and ambitious platform and in-fact they have been over shadowed by a different constitutional challenge, which is for the independence movement in Catalonia, which is more likely to change the constitution, although in a different way, so I’m afraid they will probably not have a huge success today.”

Spain is in the middle of its second recession in two years, and faces a 25 percent unemployment rate.

Madrid introduced the controversial austerity measures in a gesture meant to show that it intends to fix its debt and budgetary shortfalls. The European Central Bank granted Spain a 100 billion euro rescue loan for its banks, but the country has not decided whether to seek another bailout.

Europe’s financial leaders are pleading for Spain to reduce volatility in its markets by deciding whether or not to request the second loan.

During a September 15 protest, waves of some 50,000 anti-austerity demonstrators converged in downtown Madrid, blowing whistles and hoisting banners that read, “They are destroying the country, we must stop them.” Representatives from over 230 civic and professional organizations also turned out amid cries of “lies,” and “enough.”

 

People gather at the Plaza Espana square before taking part in a demonstration organized by "indignant" protesters to decry an economic crisis they say has "kidnapped" democracy, on September 25, 2012 in Madrid. (AFP Photo / Dominique Faget

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