Economic pressures

[Danny B]

Greece tells the IMF to shove it.

The Germans loaned tons of money to the Greeks even though Greece has spent 50% of it's modern history in default. Nobody forced the Germans to loan to Greece. Only an idiot or a corrupt banker loans money to a deadbeat. The plan was for Greece to go broke and sell off it's lucrative industries ( and beaches) for pennies. The Banks took the risk. The banks should just lose their investment. The IMF specializes in raping various countries in default.

The IMF acts as the enforcer for the private banks. The new leader of Greece said that he won't even talk to the IMF.
"Greece's new left-wing finance minister says his government will not negotiate over the Greek bailout conditions with the "troika" team from the EU and IMF. "
The Germans;
In Berlin, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the Greeks should abide by their commitments, adding: "There's no arguing with us about this and, what's more, we are difficult to blackmail."
Greece doesn't need to blackmail anybody,,, they can just tell them to shove it.
BBC News - Greece's Varoufakis: 'No debt talks with EU-IMF troika'

"As to Brussels, the European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said that “there’s no question of writing down Greek debt”. The stand-off will escalate, and escalate further. Neither side will blink, which means that a Grexit and default is now almost inevitable. "
The game is up. It?s time for Greece to leave the eurozone and move on - Telegraph

"But the myths that underpin what is barely veiled collective punishment would be destroyed. As a Bloomberg editorial put it: “Every irresponsible borrower is enabled by an irresponsible lender.” Germany ploughed money into countries such as Greece and Spain – that’s the “magic” of deregulated markets – and in doing so “lent more than they could afford”. German banks and their political champions should have known this would end in disaster."
We must stop Angela Merkel’s bullying – or let the forces of austerity win | Owen Jones | Comment is free | The Guardian

It really doesn't matter what the troika comes up with. The money is flowing out of Greece and they can't stop that.
Greece's Predicament in One Scary Chart - Bloomberg View
Now, Russia is talking about supporting Greece. Greece has both oil and gold. Also, Greece is blocking further sanctions on Russia from Brussels. Angela is foaming at the mouth.

Federalism is just NOT a good idea;
"Another continent-wide war may not be in the offing, but Europe does face the potential for regime collapse: that is, the end of the Eurozone and the unraveling of regional integration. Its possible dystopian future can be glimpsed in what has happened in its eastern borderlands. There, federal structures binding together culturally diverse people have had a lousy track record over the last quarter-century. After all, the Soviet Union imploded in 1991; Czechoslovakia divorced in 1993; and Yugoslavia was torn asunder in a series of wars later in the 1990s.

If its economic, political and social structures succumb to fractiousness, the European Union could well follow the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia into the waste bin of failed federalisms. Europe as a continent will remain, its nation-states will continue to enjoy varying degrees of prosperity, but Europe as an idea will be over."
The European Union May Be on the Verge of Collapse - Russia Insider

Update; "The Greeks are not even trying to reassure the markets," seeming to have entirely forgotten (and who can blame him in this new normal the world has been force-fed for 6 years) that political leaders are elected for the good of the people (by the people) not for the markets."
",,,the most uncomfortable moment ever caught on tape - the moment when Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem (he of the "template" foot in mouth disease) stood up at the end of the EU-Greece press conference, awkwardly shook hands with Greece's new finance minister, and whispered..."you have just killed the Troika," to which Varoufakis responded... "wow!"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...-killed-troika

[Danny B]

The Great Quickening

Socrates is the name of the completely awesome program run by Martin Armstrong. Socrates proclaimed in 1985, that the world would see a collapse of sovereign bonds in 2015.75. I fail to see how a country can have a collapse of it's bond market and still have a functioning fiat currency.
Jim Willie has pointed out something that we are all aware of if we look. Events are speeding up. The crises come faster and faster,,, closer and closer together.
"The forecast about fast acceleration of events into the January month has occurred on schedule. Normally a very big event occurs every several weeks, or every few months. In just the last three weeks ten have taken place of significance. The pace has quickened in an alarming fashion. The Great Quickening has commenced."

"Events are flowing extremely rapidly, even at a dizzying pace. It is not remotely possibly to anticipate the next critical event, but one can surely expect something every two to three days recently, something of urgent important with extreme consequence."
The USDollar will not survive the year. It might not vanish this year, but will surely show its eventual destination in the dustbin of history.

You can bet that banks and GOV will NOT institute the changes that were / are necessary to preserve the productive economy. These changes will come from commercial powers.
"The USFed with its corrosive QE has hastened the major nations of the world to rush toward implementation of the Gold Standard. They must install it from the trade ramps, not the financial ramps. They are in race with time, since their economies are faltering."

Mahatma Gandhi was a sage. He has a famous quote best presented in summary form. "Seven Deadly Sins: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Science without humanity, Knowledge without character, Politics without principle, Commerce without morality, Worship without sacrifice." Without any hesitation, equivocation, or doubt, all these important sins are growing trends and priorities in modern United States."
Acceleration of Events with Rising Chaos

[Danny B]

Canada

Everybody knows the story of how America got a central bank in 1913. Canada had a similar story where everything was working well and everybody prospered. Then, GOV started selling interest-burdened bonds instead of continuing to print money as needed. This set off the accumulation of a giant mountain of debt. 2 people recently sued the GOV demanding that Canadian GOV return to it's original mandate of interest-free money creation. The court upheld their lawsuit and GOV lost. GOV may / must appeal to the supreme court to block the lower court decision.
It seems suspicious or desperate that the lower court didn't block the decision out of hand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40Jz0LPQAQY

[Danny B]

exiting bankers

There is some good news; Banker deaths.
"There has been increased chatter amongst theorists since the beginning of 2013 as the number of suicides and suspicious deaths jumped – no pun intended – from 36 to double that figure in the last month. Like lemmings running over a cliff it is impossible to keep an accurate count because the trickle of deaths over the last few years has become a tsunami this year. A typical example is Citigroup managing director Shawn Miller,42, who was found dead with his throat slit in his bathtub."
Speculation rife over financial industry's rising death rate
There isn't a lot of sympathy for them;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yge311sFhC8

I guess that I should mention, the dead bankers were probably scheduled to testify and it would have been very embarrassing for the higher-ups.

[Danny B]

Odious debt

"Under the law in many countries, individuals do not have to repay if others fraudulently borrow in their name, and corporations are not liable for contracts that their chief executive officers or other agents enter into without the authority to bind the corporations. The legal doctrine of odious debt makes an analogous argument that sovereign debt incurred without the consent of the people and not benefiting the people is odious and should not be transferable to a successor government, especially if creditors are aware of these facts in advance. "

We all know that Goldman Sachs got as many people as possible in charge of various States to run up the debt as much as possible. The plan was to bankrupt the country and steal as much tangible stuff as possible to pay off the debt. Greece was in the process of selling off their 2 most valuable ports.

"When discussing Greece’s whopping $310 billion debt, the country's new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras likes to recall a time when Europe's great debt offender was not Greece, but Germany, today's paragon of fiscal responsibility. The leader of the radical-left Syriza party refers in particular to an international conference held in London in 1953, during which West Germany secured a write-off of more than 50% of debt"
Business' '-' 'The' 'debt' 'write-off' 'behind' 'Germany'''s' ''&#39 ;'economic' 'miracle'''' '-' 'France' '24

This concept has been used quite a few times;
http://www.jubileeusa.org/fileadmin/...ousilldebt.pdf

America was a big fan of debt cancellation at times; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y71We0_S-d0

Every time that Greece was unable to pay a loan, it was given a new loan with an even higher interest burden. Currently, only about 10% of the money due is for principle. The rest is accumulated interest.
"`Germany is activating "Plan B", telling banks and insurance companies to prepare for 50pc haircuts on Greek debt"
ML-Implode News - Germany and Greece flirt with mutual assured destruction
That haircut looks like it will be all the way down to the jugular.

[Ruphus]

Just read in the newspaper that there is 'new evidence' Saudis Arabia is tied to 9/11. How convenient.

[Danny B]

saudi hijackers

Ruphus, all the highjackers were Saudi,,, didn't you know?
The Wahhabis in Saudi hate the Sunnis in Iran more than they hate the Israelis. They danced with the devil and sided with israel.
"‘Saudi princes planned to down Air Force One with missile’: 9/11 terrorist gives damning testimony" So says Al CIA duh. Dance with the devil and you can expect to get blackmailed.
The crash of fracking has already burned a $ 400 billion hole in American finances;
Cheap Oil Burns $390 Billion Hole in Investors' Pockets - Bloomberg Business
Blame the Saudis. If Al CIA duh has turned on Saudi, that is a very big rift. Saudi is getting real cozy with China,,, that certainly deserves retaliation.
The CIA has long had their sights set on saudi;
WW3 - CIA Plants Seeds To Invade Saudi Arabia | War and Conflict
Dance with the devil.

[Danny B]

stocks,, again

Looks like the stock market is getting ready for "reversion to the mean"
The Great PE Multiple Expansion Of 2011-2014: Why The Market Must Eventually Crater | David Stockman's Contra Corner
The Health Of This Market Is Fading Fast | Zero Hedge
Sell your stocks and buy some popcorn and beer.

[Danny B]

The prisoner's dilemma and consumption

I have consistently claimed that there is no cure for efficiency. Also, there is NO substitute for consumption. All the productivity in the world just stacks up in warehouses without consumption. Robots don't buy cars or consumer goods. As robots replace workers, productivity goes up but, consumption power goes down. Japan has a demographic crash. Here is a graph of Japanese population vs CPI http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J8Tw6NXu-1...er%2B2014A.png
As your population goes down, consumption goes down. Printing money to change this is futile.

China has a one-child policy and their demographics are slipping.
"There will undoubtedly be a long series of cuts before China sweats out its hangover from a $26 trillion credit boom. Debt has risen from 100% to 250% of GDP in eight years. By comparison, Japan’s credit growth in the cycle preceding its Lost Decade was 50% of GDP. "

"David Woo, from Bank of America, says Beijing may be forced to join the currency wars to defend itself, even though this variant of the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” leaves everybody worse off."
That's it, right there. A currency war brings on the "prisoner's dilemma".

"A yuan devaluation would dump this on everybody else. Such a shock would be extremely hard to combat. Interest rates are already zero across the developed world. Five-year bond yields are negative in six European countries. The 10-year Bund has dropped to 0.31. These are no longer just 14th century lows. They are unprecedented."
"China faces a Morton’s Fork. Li Keqiang has been trying for two years to tame the state’s industrial behemoths, and trying to wean the economy off credit. Yet virtuous intent has run into cold reality. It cannot be done. China passed the point of no return five years ago."

What this all means is that China will eventually have crashing deflation. This will move into other economies and bring them down.
Debt In The Time Of Wall Street - The Automatic Earth

Automation reduced the number of jobs available. Investment flowed to the low wage job markets. As jobs flowed out of a country, it devalued it's currency to retain jobs. This set off a currency war. The main weapon of war is the printing press. The currency devaluation brought jobs but, resulted in lower effective wages. The capital inflows resulted in more productivity but LESS consumptive power. The resultant credit bubble can only be sustained by profits from consumption,,, that is now shrinking.
The currency wars diminish consumption as they drive the world towards a LOW global-mean-wage. The prisoner's dilemma ensures that this continues because consumption is tied to employment.
From one point of view, socialism is the answer but, socialism drives out investment. Employment is on it's way out. How do we keep consumption going?

[Danny B]

Henry George and land value tax

Current economics is focused on capital. There are other possibilities.
Henry George came up with an idea of how to alleviate lack of consumption and several other ills. A tax on the unimproved value of land would be used to generate revenues for GOV. I have a few links that are well worth reading.
Land value tax - the best of all possible taxes - MoneyWeek
It takes a bit of reading but, his ideas result in much better general prosperity.
A Primer on Henry George's "Single Tax" | Dollars & Sense
His ideas have been put into practice and they work very well.
Henry George's Remedy: Examples

They were especially successful in Denmark;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5_I6noG0ps
Notes; In 1879 Henry George published Progress and Poverty. The book was an international sensation, at the time outsold only by the Bible. It remains economics’ No. 1 best seller.
The book, you see, explained poverty. It answered why progress does not and cannot eradicate poverty. Disconcertingly for many, it also provided the solution – the Single Tax on land value aka Land Value Taxation (LVT).

“The “single tax” is so simple, so fundamental, and so easy to carry into effect that I have no doubt that it will be about the last land reform the world will ever get. People in this world are not often logical.” – Clarence Darrow

George, as Mason Gaffney writes
“had a way of taking two problems and composing them into one solution. He took two polar philosophies, collectivism and individualism, and synthesized a plan to combine the better features, and discard the worse features, of each.”

“Thus, George would cut the Gordian knot of modern dilemma-bound economics by raising demand, raising supply, raising incentives, improving equity, freeing up the market, supporting government, fostering capital formation, and paying public debts, all in one simple stroke. It’s quite a stroke, enough to leave one breathless.“

“George’s proposal lets us lower taxes on labour without raising taxes on capital. Indeed, it lets us lower taxes on both labour and capital at once, and without lowering public revenues.“
There is a difference between LVT and property tax – LVT explicitly exempts buildings.
“What has destroyed every previous civilization has been the tendency to the unequal distribution of wealth and power. This same tendency, operating with increasing force, is observable in our civilization to-day, showing itself in every progressive community, and with greater intensity the more progressive the community. Wages and interest tend constantly to fall, rent to rise, the rich to become very much richer, the poor to become more helpless and hopeless, and the middle class to be swept away.

I have traced this tendency to its cause. I have shown by what simple means this cause may be removed. I now wish to point out how, if this is not done, progress must turn to decadence, and modern civilization decline to barbarism, as have all previous civilizations.”
LVT would be an annual charge on the unimproved value of the land you own. Those without income could defer payment.
LVT is meant to replace income tax, sales tax, all other taxes in fact.
If you don’t own land – you don’t pay tax.

The threat from the ideas of Henry George was so great that the PTB and economists went to great lengths to eradicate his ideas from texts, literature and history.
The Corruption of Economics (excerpt)

One of the great necessities and prerequisites for our enslavement is a tax on labor. For most of man's history, a tax on his labor was considered forbidden.
George's ideas are very dangerous to those who would keep the balance in their favor.
It MUST be remembered that socialism is a road to ruin.
It MUST be remembered that LVT is far different from socialism.

[Danny B]

hot times in Greece

Greece is doing their best to alleviate boredom in the financial sector.
They have 40 point plan that is a WHOPPER;
Syriza's 40 point plan for Greece
The Eurogroup has a counter offer; "Eurogroup Gives Greece 10 Day Ultimatum: Apply For Bailout Or Grexit"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...-day-ultimatum
Only 8% of the Greek debt is for principle. The rest is piled-on interest. The Greeks are much poorer under the eurozone and they ALL know it. The troika wants to break their resistance. I suspect that they will only stiffen it. I suspect that Syriza will let it all crash down.

[Ruphus]

Surely the Saudis have been stock piling US treasury notes for decades and can pump oil for free for some time and live off the notes. Ruining the other oil producers in the process and the US dollar.

What do you think is the play with the US and the Saudis?

Someone posted that Germany is in talks with Putin to give him Ukraine if he doesn't help Greece and other countries that may follow. Do you think that is possible?

[Danny B]

Uniting the world against the Neo-cons one war at a time.

The Saudis were recycling their profits into U.S. treasuries but, that is winding down hundreds of $ billions at a time.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...inally-noticed
The oil industry had contributed about $600 billion a year to the money markets. This has gone into reverse and there is now a net drain. The House of Saud has a LOT of expenses with 2500? princes and the need to support all those who are not part of the royal family. The Saudis have a lot of U.S. treasuries but, that doesn't mean that America will let them cash them in.
Japan had about $ 850 billion in U.S. debt instruments. Evidently, we won't let them cash out. Jim Willie claims that Wall St. raided the $ 2.3 trillion Postal Pension savings in Japan also.
The Saudis are trying to avoid getting attacked by the CIA and / or U.S. military.
There are some good links at the bottom of this page; First half of 2015 – Oil, the Middle East, Charlie Hebdo… Last resilience tests of the Western “model”: commit suicide or adapt | GEAB

Ruphus; "Someone posted that Germany is in talks with Putin to give him Ukraine if he doesn't help Greece and other countries that may follow. Do you think that is possible? "
Putin is not stupid. The West will do anything to pry loose Syria so that it can run gas pipes through and block Russian gas.
Some of the Russian billionaires have repatriated their money to Russia because they see that this as the last stand to block the insane neo-cons. The rest of the world is acutely aware of the D.C. plan to rule the world no matter how much destruction it entails. This is an economic fight to the death for world domination.
D.C. demonizes countries like Iran that hasn't started a war with anyone for 200 years. What do the Anglo-Saxons have for a record?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0fmRw_VSvA
The R.O.W is VERY clear that they must choose between endless war for America and profit for warmongers OR, a fair chance for peace by looking Eastward.
Putin has time on his side. Greece will blow the ECB all to hell.
Greece Exposes The Global Economy's Achilles Heel | Peak Prosperity
You have to remember that Ukraine is TOTALLY bankrupt. The EU is going to have to underwrite them for years to come. Add that on top of underwriting Greece. The troika has NO time left. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...eeks-cash-left
"Greek finance minister: The euro will collapse if Greece exits"

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/greek...#ixzz3RBzozjSo
Would you want to play a game of "chicken" with this guy?
http://data1.ibtimes.co.in/en/full/5...varoufakis.jpg

Putin doesn't need to do anything but wait. That dirty little communist, Merkel hasn't got any bullets in her gun. China with $ 4 trillion of reserves is backing Russia. America with $ 18 trillion in debt is backing Ukraine.

[Ruphus]

This is really fascinating stuff, again thank you for your time on it. In the US we don't get these teachings so no one pays attention to it at. You might get a blurp on TV about a war here or a crisis there, but one doesn't connect it to life here, until you really start following how world economics works and why conflicts are happening. Why is Greece so important? We hear about "propaganda" in communist countries but it makes me wonder why I have to search random back pages of the internet to find this stuff and read comments from smart people like yourself. Why isn't this reported on the news? I'm really seeing why! Not much can really be done it seems. At least having some knowledge of whats going on makes it interesting to watch it fall apart.

[Danny B]

Bump in the road

Fall apart,,, You've got to be kidding. I think you mean BLOW APART
Harvey Organ: $4 T in Greek Derivatives to Detonate in 10 Days- ENTIRE FINANCIAL WORLD WILL FALL LIKE DOMINOES!
Harvey Organ: $4 T in Greek Derivatives to Detonate in 10 Days- ENTIRE FINANCIAL WORLD WILL FALL LIKE DOMINOES! | SilverDoctors.com
This calls for another beer,
Don't get me wrong. This whole scenario is just one part of a bigger population reduction program. A billion people are going to die in the next 6 years. I'm not trying to make light of their suffering and deaths.
I / We can't stop the momentum. I’m only trying to pass on info to make it easier for people to make their OWN decision.

Since our money is based on confidence, NOT wealth, the PTB try to maintain confidence. Unemployment is reported at 5.6 %. If you look at the SAME page, U6 unemployment is reported at 11%. Actual unemployment is 23%.
A typical investor is always trying to roll his money over and get richer. A prudent investor sets some of it aside. That is where gold comes in.

International trade is breaking down. The IMF convinced many countries to grow crops for export rather than domestic consumption. Now, they can't feed their own in the event of a collapse in international trade. It doesn't help that their soil is soaked with Roundup. What happens to agriculture when roundup-ready seeds are no longer available? America has 20,000 square miles of land soaked with roundup. They are trying to get approval for agent orange because roundup is failing.

When Greece defaulted a few years ago, the Swaps and Derivatives Association was convinced to declare that a 50% haircut was NOT a default. Everybody INSISTED that this was a one-time event. There is supposed to be about a quadrillion dollars in total of derivatives.
Armstrong said that the major riots will start in October. That is too late to start planting in the northern hemisphere.

There is some good news. Because of the internet, policy makers can get a very good idea of where we are going without having their info filtered by feces-for-brains bankers. The bankers / warmongers were hoping that the World would sleep-walk into WW III. It doesn't look like this is going to happen. EVERYBODY is aware of what the neo-cons are trying to accomplish by lighting up the Ukraine. I suspect that the internet makes a false-flag event to start war very unlikely. Cross your fingers.

Edit; I have to add the latest from Paul Craig Roberts.
" This is not just an issue of Greece falling out of the euro. It’s not just an issue of that $300 billion that Greece owes the rest of these European banks. This is an issue of who wins the first real battle for economic hegemony in the world. Greece is that that battleground right now.

In a way the outcome in Greece is far more important than what happened in Crimea. It’s far more important that almost anything we’ve seen up to this point. " 7 Terrifying Warnings That The Greek Disaster Is Now Set To Catapult The World Into A Global Meltdown | King World News