politicalscallywags.com

The contentious issue of the debt ceiling is much more than the cynical, non-sensical characterization by President OBama as political brinksmanship. It is the anti-slavery vote of the 21st Century - Americans should not be excessively taxed, nor have all facets of their lives controlled from a central government which sees its decisions on social engineering, multi-culturism and political correctness as infallible. Individual states have been delegated to nothing more than local offices for managing the affairs of "master" Washington. Isn't it amazing that if Washington can not pay its bills (because it can't borrow 40% of it's needed cash flow) states will shut down their operations. California has set up a $6Billion line of credit to continue it's operations! Not only is every citizen reduced to slaving for Washington, we slave for it's minion states. If we are not slaves surely we a serfs - free but dependent and controlled by the state. The debt ceiling vote sets up the basis of a new Magna Carta freeing the citizens of the country and the individual states from King Washington and it's congressional princes. The debt ceiling must be held hostage to meaningful deficit and debt reductions - known and measurable. The 2012 U.S. expenditures will be $3.5Trillion. A 5% reduction over 10 years equals $1.75 Trillion. Why is that so distasteful to OBama? Why does he demand new taxes or reductions in mortgage exemptions and other beneficial exemptions which benefit the citizens if this country? Notice how in a recent televised speech, he "jokingly" says his goals are not socialist in nature. However you characterize his theology, it is one of taxing $Trillions from the working classes, the earners of America, the private businesses of America and distributing $Billions to the "needy" while siphoning the remaining monies to legions of unionized government workers who rate the highest salaries that he castigated in private enterprise. King John only had the Sheriff on Knottingham. OBama has the IRS, the Fed, Treasury, Homeland Security, 50 states tax collectors tithing to Washington to get a partial return for their favorite wastes of money. The loss of monies in local and state economies is evidenced by the economic doldrums, recession and developing depression. Let's put Washington a Pay Go basis (6 month debt increase) for Washington to prove the spending reductions of a minimum of 5% in "real dollars". If the Fed would stop depreciating the dollar maybe it would be worth enough to buy something of real value. The fact is the Fed cannot depreciate the dollar fast enough to cover the rising debt of the nation. God help us all - because Washington isn't,

Environmental activism seems to know no bounds. It seems the Bank of Greece has other priorities than to see how the Greek economy can avoid default on its obligations. It is begging for bailout loans (this is an insolvent country) from the EU and IMF - just about every economy in the world. Instead the Bank of Greece Governor George Provopoulos is displaying the same reckless decision making as to the cause of global warming that parallels the recklesss attitude of the worlds bankers and politicians texercised up to and during the financial crisis. These people are not focusd on their jobs or the people they should be serving, It seems each country has their Bernanke, Geithner and Barney Frank. 

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GREECE IS TEETERING ON DEFAULT - DRAGGING DOWN IRELAND, PORTUGAL, ITALY AND SPAIN AND THREATENING THE EUROPEAN UNION.

REUTERS 

By Jan Strupczewzki and Harry Papachristou

BRUSSELS/ATHENS | Mon May 30, 2011 1:15pm EDT

Greece took a 110 billion euro ($158 billion) rescue package from the EU and IMF last May but has since fallen short of its deficit-reduction goals, raising the risk of default on its 327 billion euro debt -- 150 percent of its economic output. (Owed to other EU banks - jonathan Dogood)

EU officials said a new 65 billion euro package could involve a mixture of collateralised loans from the EU and IMF, and additional revenue measures, with unprecedented intrusive external supervision of Greece's privatization programme. "It would require collateral for new loans and EU technical assistance -- EU involvement in the privatization process," one senior EU official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

We hope George Provopouos can return his focus on the economic survival of Greece, its people and Europe's stability and put off the supposed problems of 2050 until another day.

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Athens News  -  Bank of Greece Governor on Climate Change \Action - 

1 Jun 2011

story by Christos Zerefos

 

In spite of Greece's current economic difficulties, action on climate change will prove beneficial for its economy in the long-term, Bank of Greece governor George Provopoulos stressed on Wednesday. He was speaking at an event to present the central bank's report on "The environmental, economic and social repercussions of climate change on Greece" held at the Athens concert hall. 

 

"The adoption of policies to mitigate the repercussions of climate change on Greece and policies for adapting to these changes, while appearing to be obstructed by today's acute economic problem, can truly contribute to its solution," he stressed. 

 

According to the report prepared by a team set up by Provopoulos in 2009, a programme to drastically reduce greenhouse gases will greatly reduce the negative impact of climate change on the Greek economy by the end of the century. 

 

Specifically, he said a programme with an estimated cost of 113 billion euro up to 2050 and 142 billion euro up to 2100 would restrict the cost of climate change to 294 billion euro by the end of the century. If no action were taken, by contrast, the estimated cost of climate change would be 60 percent higher at nearly 701 billion euro. In addition, no action to reduce human-generated greenhouse gases would lead to a two percent reduction of GDP by 2050 and a six percent reduction of GDP by 2100. 

 

Provopoulos said the report presented on Wednesday was just the "first step" in an ongoing effort by the central bank that would be extended into more areas. 

 

Environment, Energy and Climate Change Minister Tina Birbili said the report would act as a reference point in European dialogue on climate change issues, noting that the discussion in Europe had never been linked with a transition to another model for growth based on a green economy. 

 

The minister stressed the usefulness of the report, both in terms of its road map for energy until 2050 and other targets. This envisaged that almost 100 percent of electricity production will be covered by renewable energy sources by 2050, whose total power output would be increased to 40 gigaWatts from 15 gigaWatts in 2020. 

 

It also called for a 60 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the century and use of energy conservation measures to keep energy consumption at current levels. 

 

Among others, it envisaged a switch to fixed-track means of transport for the bulk of transport needs and an energy-efficiency upgrade for buildings throughout the country. It also called for increased use of biomass and improvement of networks, energy storage facilities, dams and use electrically-powered cars. 

 

Presenting the report, the committee coordinator Christos Zerefos warned that the predicted repercussions on the national economy examined were "negative and in some cases, extremely negative". Among others, he indicated a forecast for an additional 20 days of drought in the eastern mainland and Crete and up to 40 additional days of drought in 2071-2100. 

 

This included an increase in the days with high fire risk by 40 days in 2071-2100 for eastern Greece, leading to severe repercussions for tourism due to changes in arrival dates. (ANA)

Housing is the key to the Financial Morass. If and when the housing foreclosures abate, if and when the prices of homes fall to a level that the remaining working families can afford the cost of purchase and ownership - then and only then will the economy begin to heal and expand. The following blog was published in the website Seeking Alpha which is a financial investment site with a great amount of information, facts and opinions. You be the judge of America's financial condition after reviewing the information presented therein - Jonathan Dogood.

30 Critical Housing Charts That Investors Must Consider - Michael David White - May 27, 2011*

Among a plethora of indicators provided here, we suggest you consider that: The current inventory of foreclosures is 800% greater than normal; bank sales of foreclosed homes have increased 900%; and sellers are now ten times more likely to take a loss.

Do we see an end near? Not when delinquent mortgages are a massive 14 times greater than average monthly sales. Such distress fits perfectly with our analysis of the long-series of Case Shiller. It predicts a fall of 17% from today to reach trend.

In short, our charts offer overwhelming evidence that prices will fall for as far as the eye can see. And not by a little. Check the data and comments below. Be forewarned. You may find logic in panic.

(*Note: we have presented 10 of the charts here - go to Seeking Alpha site for the full article.)

                   

                   

                    

                   

                   

                      

                   

                   

                    

                     

                      

                     

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Our politcal leaders to a man are either the most ill-informed, unknowledgeable, corrupted by a failed politcal system or they are so fearful of telling the public the truth about the severe economic consequences of the last 40 years of profligate spending. As a consequence of any of these suppositions, the future of the U.S.A. is bleak. We intend to present a series of articles and ecomonic facts which will inform each reader and necessarily be the cause of concern for the future in every (rational, responsible) reader's mind.

What is happening in Greece is the result of having a national debt that is 115% of annual GDP. Italy is at 118% of GDP.

U.S. national debt (Federal, State, County and local) is at 85%+ of annual GDP and will rise to 100% in the next 2 years unless severe cutbacks on all expenditures and the elimination of most corporate tax incentives. Addtioinally to staunch the outflow of U.S. dollars we need to institiute a program of U.S. oil and gas development endorsed as a national security priority. We can be energy independent in 8 years if Obama would address a joint session of congress and to paraphrase JFK with the manned mission to the moon tell the American people - "We will be energy independent before the end of the decade."



Americans have mortgages on their homes, cars and educations, We must deal from a disadvantaged position with banks regulated by our own government. Based on the actions of the last 2-1/2 years, the American people have not faired so well. Millions of homes are in some phase of foreclosure, tens of thousands of cars have been repossessed, and many thousands of college graduates are struggling under their college debt.

What is your prognosis of our future with over $2,405 Billions of U.S. debt (a mortgage on our children's and now grandchildren's futures) in the hands of China ($1.145Trillion), Oil Exporters (Arab States, Venezuela, etc - $225Billions), Russia ($128Billions and Japan (a country in deflation for 20 years - their national home values have gone down 70% - $907Billions)?

When the bill collector comes calling........

More to follow!

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Syntagma Protests Continue

                         

The "Indignant" netizens of Athens turned up outside Parliament to protest for a fourth consecutive day on Saturday, once again converging on Syntagma Square from all directions for the 6:00 p.m. kickoff. A mismatched crowd of all ages and from all walks of life, from school children to old-age pensioners, began to arrive on foot or on bicycles, anxious to once again demonstrate against the austerity measures announced by the government. 

The movement shows no signs of abating, with 13,000 turning up for Friday's protest in spite of heavy rain falling on Greece's capital, and similar protests taking place in other major Greek cities. Some have camped out in tents at the square and the internet invitation has been renewed for Sunday, when similar protests are planned in all European capitals. 

The protests were organised via Facebook, without the involvement of political parties or trade unions, and were inspired by Spain's 'Los Indignados' movement. (ANA)

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http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/9/42282

 

PROTESTS IN GREECE NO ONE REPORTS -SYNYAGMA

 

24 May 2011

 

 

The civil servants' union federation ADEDY on Tuesday announced a protest rally against the new measures announced by the government at Klathmonos Square in central Athens, at 11am on Saturday, June 4.

 

"The new tide of cuts, tax hikes, privatisations, dismissals and restriction of insurance rights reduces the living standards of all by 20 percent and leads the economy and the country into new dead ends," an announcement by ADEDY's executive committee said.

 

The union federation noted that public-sector staff face an "unbearable and desperate situation" with further wage cuts, reduction of their lump sum on retirement, an increase in their working week to 40 hours and imminent cuts in supplementary pensions, putting particular pressure on the thousands of households that depended on a public-sector wage or pensions and had one or more unemployed members.

 

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26 May 2011

Papakonstantinou on plans to exploit public real estate

Acropolis, Parthenon, Elgin Marbles anyone?

            

 

The process of listing and evaluating all the real estate property owned by the public sector is expected to start yielding results in June, Finance Minister Yiorgos Papakonstantinou said in Parliament on Thursday in response to questions. 

 

The minister said that proposals for exploiting this property will begin to unfold and be implemented taking into account the conditions prevailing in international markets at the time. 

 

He said the government had begun to compile a complete record and evaluation of every feature in its portfolio of exploitable real estate, with the assistance of financial and specialised advisors. 

 

The process for exploiting these would be further facilitated by present but also future legislation that the government intends to pass, such as creating a general secretariat for public property at the finance ministry, the introduction of the concept of 'surface' that legally differentiates between land and the overlying buildings and other measures. (ANA).

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24 May 2011

Fiscal delays draw EU warning

  by Dimitris Yannopoulos                         

 

A BARRAGE of criticism over Greek delays in promoting public sector cutbacks and privatisations overshadowed a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on May 17 in which Athens was hoping to clinch a eurozone pledge to ease the country’s debt burden.

 

But the 16 eurozone finance ministers appeared to disagree even on the merits of extending the debt repayment for Greek bonds, preferring instead to warn their Greek counterpart, Yiorgos Papakonstantinou, with a freeze on financial aid if he doesn’t fully comply with the harsh austerity terms of the 110bn euro EU-IMF rescue package and push harder for domestic consensus with opposition parties on the measures.

 

“Before Greece does its homework, no money can flow,” Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter told reporters after the stormy eurozone session.

 

“You can’t make promises and then not get privatisations on their way. Greece is still remaining in the state we had in the Seventies. It doesn’t work that way. If you’ve cheated your way into the euro, then you have to catch up on your homework now. That’s the homework necessary so that one can stay in a stable euro- zone,” Fekter warned.

 

Reprofiling*

Eurogroup President and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker mentioned for the first time the mild restructuring option of “reprofiling” for the whole of Greece’s 340bn euro debt as a means of ironing out the country’s debt servicing obligations over a longer repayment period, by inviting investors to agree on extending the maturities of the debt they hold.

 

“I have to repeat that a large restructuring is no option. Nobody was mentioning tonight the need of having a large restructuring,” Juncker told a Eurogroup press conference at the end of the meeting. “I wouldn’t exclude in a definite way a kind of reprofiling,” he added. “It’s not reprofiling or nothing, it’s measures and measures and measures and then maybe reprofiling.”

 

But even the mild idea of reprofiling was strongly opposed by Austria, Holland and France, who used it only as a bargaining chip to force Greece into stricter compliance with the EU-IMF bailout terms. The widening rift between eurozone moderates and hardliners was apparently due to fierce reactions to any measure of debt relief by the European Central Bank, which seeks to get back from Athens some 50bn euros it has spent since last May to purchase Greek bonds from EU banks.

 

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 * Look up Meredith Whitney's warning about default of state, county and local debt. This soulds a lot like what is going on in Greece. It's not default it is "reprofiling".

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Consensus push

 

To bypass domestic opposition to controversial privatisations, eurozone ministers urged Papakonstantinou to commission a private agency to oversee the sale of state assets.

 

 

Layoffs by state exam? 

UNDER mounting EU pressure for more drastic public sector cutbacks, the government hinted on May 16 that over 100,000 employees in state-run companies could be fired if they don’t meet strict criteria for their transfer to the civil service. 

 

Interior Minister Yiannis Ragousis suggested on May 16 that some 130,000 employees in public utilities (Deko), agencies and corporations would be selected for transfer to governmental departments of the state administration. He noted that the Supreme Council for Personnel Selection (Asep), which administers the civil service entrance exams, would evaluate the candidates for transfer. 

 

If, however, those selected for transfer were deemed by Asep as “unfit or unable to meet the criteria for filling specific public sector vacancies”, the candidates would be permanently laid off, Ragousis said.

 

To allay fears of public sector employees over mass layoffs, government spokesman Yiorgos Petalotis said that 53,000 civil servants in governmental departments and another 650,000 permanent employees in state organisations are excluded from any form of mandatory transfer supervised by Asep.

 

Regarding further cuts in civil servants’ salaries, Ragousis noted that “underpaid public employees’ salaries will be raised rather than reduced”. 

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It seems almost surreal that our media and politicians are continually raising the issues of human rights violations in China. Let’s see – worker exploitation – low wages, long hours and poor working conditions; environmental exploitation and forced population relocation to build cities, dams, power projects (including nuke plants) and highways; domination of Tibet and Mongolia; and price pegging the Yuan against the world currencies…..................................

Two dead in blasts near China government buildings
                        
CHINA POST  | Fri May 27, 2011                     BEIJING | Thu May 26, 2011 9:31am EDT

Friday, May 27, 2011 - The China Post - 3 blasts strike China government Buildings, 2 killed. The photo takend shows heavy smoke after an explosion occurred at the Linjiang District government office in Fuzhou City, east China;s Jiangxi province. Three (3) explosions including two (2) car blasts struck government buildings in eastern China's Jiangxi province, an official said, with state media reporting two people were killed and six others injured. (AFP)

BEIJING (Reuters) - Coordinated explosions at three sites near government buildings in eastern China killed two people Thursday and were set off by a man apparently angry about the illegal demolition of his home, state media reported.

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30 May 2011 Last updated at 07:34 ET

China's Inner Mongolia 'under heavy security'

Rights groups said 2,000 students protested in Xilinhot last week

Related Stories

                               

• Mongols stage rare China protest
• Discontent fuels Mongolia's far-right groups

Chinese authorities have tightened security across the province of Inner Mongolia after days of unrest, rights groups and residents say. Hundreds of riot police armed with batons have been posted at the main square in provincial capital Hohhot. The unrest erupted last week after two ethnic Mongolians were killed in separate incidents. The demonstrations are thought to be the region's largest in 20 years, involving hundreds of ethnic Mongolians. Ethnic Mongolians were infuriated by the death of a farmer on 10 May. He was trying to protect his land when he was run down and killed, apparently by an ethnically Han Chinese driver.

Five days later, another ethnic Mongolian was killed during a protest at a mine.

Analysts say the deaths have tapped into deeper concerns among ethnic Mongolians that their traditional nomadic way of life is being overridden by mining projects.

The government confirmed last week that two Han Chinese had been arrested for murder, but gave no further details of the cases.

On Friday, provincial Communist Party chief Hu Chunhua met students and teachers and promised that anyone found to have committed a crime would be brought to justice, according to the state-run Inner Mongolian Daily.

Less than 20% of Inner Mongolia's estimated 25 million residents are ethnic Mongolians. About 80% are Han Chinese.

Internet Access Disrupted

Access to the internet has been blocked in some areas, and universities and schools are under close watch.

The New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre said more demonstrations had been planned for Monday.

The centre described the situation in many parts of Inner Mongolia as martial law.

Residents of the city of Chifeng told the Associated Press that police were out in force, and the internet had been cut off.

"There's no point in going to the internet cafes since they have suspended business because the internet is down there too," said a waitress at a Chifeng restaurant.

A university worker in Hohhot told Reuters that three entrances to the institution had been sealed off by police.

The BBC's Michael Bristow in Beijing says references to the demonstrations are being wiped from the internet.

But he says the authorities are also trying to ease the anger of the ethnic Mongolians by sending senior Communist Party officials to the city of Xilinhot, where the trouble started.

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Wikipedia - The terms myopia and myopic (or the common terms short sightedness or short sighted) have also been used metaphorically to refer to cognitive thinking and decision making that is narrow sighted or lacking in concern for wider interests or longer-term consequences.

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That didn't take long! May 26, 2011

Dishonorable discharge. Walt Disney Co. said it will withdraw an application to trademark the term "SEAL Team 6," the name of the military unit that took out Osama bin Laden. Less than a week after the Navy SEAL team's successful mission, Disney moved to patent the name in the hopes of exploiting it for toys and entertainment, making the company the butt of jokes for its greed and annoying the Navy. After the Navy filed its own trademark claim, Disney bailed out. I just want to know why someone in media relations didn't say at the time that maybe, just maybe, this wasn't such a good idea. From the Wall Street Journal.

Company Town The business behind the shoW - L.A. Times

Disney has filed for trademark protection for the use of the name "Seal Team 6". We see the worst example of corporate exploitation of an honorable group of Americans who undertook a dangerous but necessary military action on order of their President. While Disney has the legal right to trademark an expression, images, designs, etc. but Is it in the "character" of Walt Disney? ◆