Brown the Economic Genius.
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A little while ago I put up a little poster made (I believe) by the blogger Guido Fawkes, which drew numerous comparisons between Brown and Mugabe, and now it seems another comparison can be drawn. Mugabe has now released the $Z10 billion dollar note which is apparently worth about £13. Well, it’s worth £13 right now but it seems likely the Pound will be rushing to catch up. Labour’s tinkering with the economy and pursuing this excellent idea of spending more money to get out of debt has only served load us with some extra tens of billions to pay off. National debt currently stands at 160% of GNP. They’ve failed, and now going the predictable route of bankrupt countries, are preparing to print more money. Last night, on Have I Got News for You, they showed a film clip of a government spokesweasel talking while smoke rose behind her. The initial joke was 'Liar liar pants on fire' but Ian Hislop surmised that was the smoke from pensioners burning pounds to keep warm. Look forward to the time you’ll be using your carrier bags to carry money on the way into the supermarket.
please see the movie "The Take" about the bankrupt Argentina, how they got there, and how some people are nixing bosses and just going for broke.
ReplyDelete"Someone hit me in the head please because I messed up about the gold issue. Everyone wants to buy gold! “I buy gold. Pay cash” signs are everywhere, even on TV! I can’t believe I’m that silly! I just didn’t relate it to what I read here because they deal with junk gold, like jewelry, either stolen or sold because they needed the money, not the gold coins that you guys talk about. No one pays for the true value of the stuff, so big WARNING! Sign on people that are buying gold coins. Since it is impossible to determine the true mineral percentage of gold, small shops and dealers will pay for it as regular jewelry gold. What I would do if I were you: Besides gold coins, buy a lot of small gold rings and other jewelry. They should be less expensive than gold coins, and if the SHTF bad, you’ll not be loosing money, selling premium quality gold coins for the price of junk gold. If I could travel back in time, I’d buy a small bag worth of gold rings. Small time thieves will snatch gold chains right out of your neck and sell them at these small dealers found everywhere. This is VERY common at train stations, subways and other crowded areas.
So, my advice, if you are preparing for a small economical crisis, gold coins make sense. You will keep the value of the stuff and be able to sell it for its actual cost to gold dealers or maybe other survivalists that know the true value of the item. In my case, gold coins would have been an excellent investment, saving me from loosing money when the local economy crashed. Even though things are bad, I can go to a bank down town and get paid for what a gold coin is truly worth, same goes for pure silver. But where I live, in my local are small time dealers will only pay you the value of junk gold, no matter what kind of gold you have. So, I’d have to say that if TSHTF bad, gold jewelry is a better trade item than gold coins. Forgive me for not talking about this before, but I didn’t realize this until today, when I visited my local market warehouse and saw a “Buy Gold” sign. "
http://billstclair.com/clairewolfe.com/wolfesblog/arg.html
very interesting, usa:
ReplyDeletehttp://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/12/15/daily34.html
Wednesday, December 17, 2008, 11:36am
Ariz. police say they are prepared as War College warns military must
prep for unrest; IMF warns of economic riots
A new report by the U.S. Army War College talks about the possibility
of Pentagon resources and troops being used should the economic crisis
lead to civil unrest, such as protests against businesses and
government or runs on beleaguered banks.
"Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the
defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend
basic domestic order and human security," said the War College report.
The study says economic collapse, terrorism and loss of legal order
are among possible domestic shocks that might require military action
within the U.S.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn
warned Wednesday of economy-related riots and unrest in various global
markets if the financial crisis is not addressed and lower-income
households are hurt by credit constraints and rising unemployment.
U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif.,
both said U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson brought up a
worst-case scenario as he pushed for the Wall Street bailout in
September. Paulson, former Goldman Sachs CEO, said that might even
require a declaration of martial law, the two noted.
State and local police in Arizona say they have broad plans to deal
with social unrest, including trouble resulting from economic
distress. The security and police agencies declined to give specifics,
but said they would employ existing and generalized emergency
responses to civil unrest that arises for any reason.
"The Phoenix Police Department is not expecting any civil unrest at
this time, but we always train to prepare for any civil unrest issue.
We have a Tactical Response Unit that trains continually and has
deployed on many occasions for any potential civil unrest issue," said
Phoenix Police spokesman Andy Hill.
"We have well established plans in place for such civil unrest," said
Scottsdale Police spokesman Mark Clark.
Clark, Hill and other local police officials said the region did
plenty of planning and emergency management training for the Super
Bowl in February in Glendale.
"We're prepared," said Maricopa County Sheriff Deputy Chief Dave
Trombi citing his office's past dealings with immigration marches and
major events.
Super Bowl security efforts included personnel and resources from the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. military's Northern
Command, which coordinated with Arizona officials. The Northern
Command was created after 9/11 to have troops and Defense Department
resources ready to respond to security problems, terrorism and natural
disasters.
Northern Command spokesman Michael Kucharek and Arizona Army National
Guard Major. Paul Aguirre said they are not aware of any new planning
for domestic situations related to the economy.
Nick Dranias, director of constitutional government at the libertarian
Goldwater Institute, said a declaration of marital law would be an
extraordinary event and give military control over civilian
authorities and institutions. Dranias said the Posse Comitatus Act
restricts the U.S. military's role in domestic law enforcement. But he
points to a 1994 U.S. Defense Department Directive (DODD 3025) he says
allows military commanders to take emergency actions in domestic
situations to save lives, prevent suffering or mitigate great property
damage.
Dranias said such an emergency declaration could worsen the economic
situation and doubts extreme measures will been taken. "I don't think
it's likely. But it's not impossible," he said.
The economy is in recession. Consumer spending is down, foreclosures
are up and a host of businesses are laying off workers and struggling
with tight credit and the troubled housing and financial markets. The
U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and U.S. Treasury Department have pumped
more than $8.5 trillion into the economy via equity purchases of bank
stocks, liquidity infusions, Wall Street and bank bailouts and
taxpayer rebates. U.S. automakers are seeking more than $14 billion in
federal loans with fears they could fall into bankruptcy without a
bailout. The U.S. housing and subprime lending-induced recession also
has hit economies in Europe, Japan and China.
Gov. Janet Napolitano's office declined comment on emergency planning
and possible civil unrest. Napolitano is president-elect Barack
Obama's pick for secretary of Homeland Security, an agency that
oversees airport security, disaster response, border security, customs
and anti-terrorism efforts.
As governor, Napolitano sent National Guard troops to Palo Verde
Nuclear Generating Station in 2003 in response to terrorism threats.
Glendale Police spokesman Jim Toomey said the West Valley suburb
developed new emergency plans with the approach of Y2K computer
changeovers leading up to the year 2000 and police have updated those
plans several times including after 9/11. Toomey said strategies to
deal with public unrest usually involve deploying personnel and
equipment to deal with specific incidents while still providing usual
services.
"Look forward to the time you’ll be using your carrier bags to carry money on the way into the supermarket."
ReplyDeleteBy "carrier bags", I do hope you are referring to environmentally friendly hemp or jute items, not those works of the devil, soon-to-be-outlawed plastic bags.
On a completely different note, I'm fascinated by the nonsense words (or "Gabble" it could be said) that Blogger generates when we enter comments. The one I'm looking at now is "vorpscap". A weapon? A faster-than-light drive technology?
...or a way to fool botscripts, alex.
ReplyDeletei understood the public debt stood at almost parity with GNP now, whilst personal debt stood just above - @ £1.3 Trillion (includes mortgages). either way we're rapidly heading to a point where we are as screwed as the US....
There are already problems getting hold of physical gold at the moment. Physical gold is trading at higher value than gold futures.
ReplyDeleteI bought a billion Zimbabwe dollars a year ago to put on the wall. At this rate I'll be able to cash them in and buy a nice pad in London.
I'm not all that knowledgeable about international finance but my understanding is that much of US debt has been financed by China, where most people save rather than get into debt. Could it be a similar story here in the UK?
ReplyDeleteGood ol' Noddy Holder asked the question on HIGNFY, "who do we get this money from and who do we owe it too?" Then Ian Hislop replied, "it doesn't exist!" and Noddy answered, "so what's the problem?"
ReplyDeleteTherefore, in a nut-shell, the entire financial crisis is solved by the soon-to-be Lord Noddy of Wolverhampton (ex-Glam Rock singer).