Bush Cuts Home Heating Help As Prices Rise

October 22, 2007

Elaine Meinel Supkis

Trichert, head of Bank of Europe, tells hell hounds and pirates as well as bankers, they can write their own rules. He hopes they let us see what they are doing, right! Due to high inflation, Japan's bosses are closing factories and laying off workers. Their fake depression will become more real, soon. Bush cuts heating assistance to the elderly and poor just as he also pretends inflation is only 2%. People will die this winter. And Rangel of NY wants to tax hell hounds and pirates. They are howling with fear!

From Bloomberg:

Stocks in Europe and Asia fell after the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers said the rising cost of credit, record oil prices and the U.S. housing slump will sap economic growth. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures sank.

BHP Billiton Ltd. retreated after copper prices slipped. Daimler AG, the world's largest truckmaker, and Royal Philips Electronics NV led a decline by companies most sensitive to shifts in the economy. Electrolux AB dropped after saying lower demand in the U.S. may hurt earnings. Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's biggest automaker, slumped to a 14-month low.

The lynchpin of world trade is the US: we are the terminus. All things flow here and we struggle to make the flow go outwards again but a good percentage stays here and what flows outward is economic power. Namely, we lose economic power daily as our imports overwhelm our exports. The only tool we have in our box of tricks is to have our home base economy collapse. Then we can't buy imports! What a nifty deal.

This is how the Great Depression worked. It wasn't tariffs and barriers but rather, everyone desperate to export, desperate to prevent imports. So they did this by depressing prices to undersell while at the same time, making their currencies so weak, no one could sell to them. The champions at this game have to be the Japanese: they don't even need to bother with trade barriers if they weaken the yen so badly, no one can sell in Japan, their prices will be too high. The recent G7 Dwarf Tossing Convention saw various dwarves trying to throw each other's currency around and finally, frustrated that the US Dwarf won, they banded together to attack the Chinese Dragon's currency, instead.

But this does them no good at all. They must make the US dollar bigger but the US is busy shrinking the dollar. From dwarf size to midget size. This is causing the European dwarves lots of trouble for they are now giant-sized. They hate this because it is killing their trade with the US. This stupid currency game will trigger a depression because everyone wants a weak currency so they can flood the US with labor-value-added goods. The US needs energy so we flood world markets with weak dollars which is why energy in particular has risen fast this last 5 years.

Energy costs have not risen in Europe but their industries can't exploit this in world trade since the strong euro makes it harder for them to export. Instead, they are becoming the ultimate destination of all imports which is why they are asking the US, in desperation, to make the dollar stronger.

From the Nikkei:

Govt Cuts View On Housing Construction; 1st Since April

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--The Japanese government downgraded its assessment of housing for the first time since April in its October report, stirring concerns weak domestic demand could weigh on the economy across the board.
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Asia Stocks Erase Last Of October Gains; Yen Rises

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Erasing what was left of October's gains for several of Asia's major indexes, investors moved out of stocks and into less risky assets Monday, amid renewed worries about the health of the U.S. economy.
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Nippon Paper To Shutter 3 Plants To Offset Surging Fuel Costs

TOKYO (Nikkei)--Nippon Paper Group Inc. (3893) will close three factories by next fall to revamp its production system in response to sharply rising fuel costs, company sources said Monday.
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Of all nations on earth, Japan's is the most tied to the US. The Japanese have many political problems in Asia directly tied to their WWII adventures. To this day, any apologies or payments for damage they caused are very grudging and very small. So they concentrated on selling to the US which is an easy target for them. Due to the Cold War, we view them as good allies and the bulwark of US power in Asia, not trade rivals.

But their economy is going down faster than the US economy because they are in a panic, they know what will happen next. The US stops buying expensive Japanese goods and will focus on buying cheaper Asian goods! They are out on the limb, in the upper end of export manufactured goods. When the US goes 'cheap', they will be cut out of our markets. Note how, after pretending there is not only on inflation in Japan, there is deflation, they must cut out jobs and reduce their business to cope with RISING costs! The need to keep their depression going to keep the yen weak and interest rates below 1% has them trapped now in a real depression that will now pull them down, badly. They should have done business like China and let inflation in back in 2003. But, gleeful at the trick of pretending to be poor, they didn't do this. The carry trade they created must go on and all of Japan's trade partners are now so dependent on this for funding themselves, they also must keep it going which means Japan has to create a depression in the teeth of terrible, rising inflation. This is causing great distress there. Much of which is hidden from view just like our own government hides our own inflation from view.

From Reuters:

U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Friday that current oil prices were "far too high" and the White House said this week the Bush administration was concerned about the impact high energy prices have on low-income families.

Still, the administration did not back away from its threat to veto legislation to boost funding for LIHEAP to levels it has called too high.

LIHEAP has an interim annual budget of $2.16 billion, but the White House wants to cut the program to $1.78 billion for the 2008 spending year that began on October 1.

The House of Representatives has passed legislation to boost the program to $2.66 billion, while a Senate committee has cleared a bill keeping LIHEAP at its current $2.16 billion budget.

Fox pointed out that if funding for the program had increased to keep up with inflation each year since it began in 1981, LIHEAP would have a $4.2 billion budget.

As I predicted, the government in the US plans to freeze or starve the lower working classes and retirees to death. Bush is concerned about inflation of energy? HAHA. Right. So he deals with this by cutting funds to the elderly on top of the false inflation readings allowing him and his gang to drop SS rate hikes! People will die because of this just like children will die due to lack of health care. Since the financiers and speculators don't care, Bush doesn't care. Cramer won't run about on TV screaming, 'There is BLOOD in the streets!' if the bleeding is from non-speculators.

There are many Americans who imagine a world that is cruel and heartless and mean is a great place to live. Few of such thinkers never worry about being one of the elderly being frozen to death because of investments going bad when a bubble pops and they are too old to regain their wealth by working. The Social Safety Net is boring and often, annoying but it is better than Risky's lovely dark pit in hell where you die. The main reason most sane, civilized countries devise safety nets is very simple: it brings in political power and makes the population peaceful. Otherwise, a huge military force has to be created that, like in say, Burma, has to constantly battle the populace. Look at Pakistan: no stop warfare in the streets. Look at Iraq: the peace there under Saddam was militarily imposed but it was not too difficult for him to rule due to the social safety net he created and which we tried to destroy with the embargo.

From the Inquirer:

THE central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), had about $14 billion of its offshore investments in the custody of American banking giants JP Morgan Chase and Citibank as of end-June, according to a recent report to the Monetary Board.

The BSP asset portfolio handled by the two banks had expanded by about 31 percent from a year earlier, the report said.
*snip*
The BSP said Friday that the reserves had reached $30.7 billion as of end-September, up $200 million from end-August, due to a resurgence of foreign portfolio investment inflows.

This little tidbit story illustrates how money that is no longer flowing into the US/UK banking systems is now flowing, via pirate coves, to other destinations. The flood of money flowing madly about the planet seeking some place where they can grow without building much actual infrastructure is incredible. The money making machine created by the FX markets has been astonishingly prolific like cockroaches breeding in the dark, warm kitchen at night. I have noted in the past how the production of new money has shot up and very little of this is direct foreign trade surpluses but rather, are speculators using differentials in valuations of the script used in this trade to run betting schemes. They borrow money and then use it to bet on the value of the money they borrowed. This mess is at the heart of the carry trade and Japan's need to have super-low interest rates for trade purposes.

From Market Watch:

Top European regulators urged big banks to take voluntary steps to fix weaknesses uncovered in the recent global financial market turmoil and warned any move for quick new laws might cause more harm than good.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said he wanted to give "the right of first refusal to the private sector" to work out appropriate principles for restoring confidence and liquidity in financial markets.

In a dinner speech at the Institute for International Finance, Trichet said that banks should consider "voluntary" disclosure of their holdings of complex securities. This would include disclosure of the holdings of the vehicles banks arranged to stay off their balance sheet.

Maybe the government should give us all the 'right of first refusal' when it comes to laws! I don't like a law, I get to refuse to obey it. Nay, it can't even become a law if I don't want it. Why bother with bribing politicians, that is so very expensive, when the head of the Imperial European banking system will automatically let me write the laws governing my activities? HAHAHA. Right!

This is so stupid, so fake, so obviously wrong any way we look at it. The entire mess unfolding is due to how these banks, investment houses and pirates operate off shore and off the books. And they are off shore and off the books because they are crooks! Duh! So of course, they want NO laws, NO regulations and NO taxes. And since they are creating a tsunami of money that has caused global inflation everywhere but in Fortress Japan, they are very much responsible for the present banking collapse and therefore, should all be arrested, not told to write the rules!

As for the 'voluntary' disclosures of their dirty doings: this is like asking Al Capone for his bank robbing schedule! Why on earth will these liars and con artists want to show their cards? Why would they go off shore and off the books in the first place if they weren't doing something murky, risky and stupid? How can they con people if they show us their con game?

Expecting them to uncover the mess they created and to give a true accounting, a fair value for all this is like expecting China to raise the value of the yuan because we demand it. The feeble demands of the European central bank is in stark contrast to the Bank of China which is united with its government in running things. The US system is even more wretched: we are beggars who beg everyone to please do this or that but we no longer control our fates on any level. All we can do is put on the brakes via interest rate hikes or cut rates and make bubbles. We can't finesse anything, anymore.

From Bloomberg:

House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel is preparing to unveil what he calls ``the mother'' of all tax proposals. When he does, he may set off the mother of all lobbying battles as Wall Street races to block higher taxes on hedge-fund managers, Blackstone Group LP and other buyout firms, and venture capitalists.

Rangel's proposals will be in two bills he plans to introduce this week: An $80 billion measure to temporarily protect 23 million U.S. households from the alternative minimum tax, and a broader, $1 trillion overhaul of the tax code that would eliminate the levy altogether. The tax, which was originally aimed at the wealthiest Americans, now affects more and more middle-income earners.

Like in the 1970's when inflation pushed people into higher and higher tax brackets while their life styles deteriorated, so it is here: there is a need for tax reforms but if it were set to the rate of inflation, we wouldn't need these 'tax cuts' in the first place. But then, the government must be honest about inflation and they lie about that nasty item. The Democrats will rake in huge bribes this election cycle as desperate dealers and wheelers pour money into DNC coffers. They would far rather corrupt the GOP but the GOP's alliance with the gullible people in the 'morals' movement has proven to be a total fraud and the GOP is now being eclipsed. And these same people bribing Democrats are very fearful of Ron Paul. They love fooling the Moral Majority but they can't fool him. So they want to bury him.

The Republican party, like the Democratic party, has lost its conservative bearings. This is why they have a multi-married cross dresser and a vapid, cheap TV star running for the highest office. The Democrats want to be populists but they hate their own population so they, like the GOP, waver between tossing out the entire concept fo democracy and just do as they please. And it pleases them to get lots and lots of money. To have easy times even as a storm of hard times approaches.

As we make heart-rending choices about killing people in the Middle East, as we make cruel choices about freezing or starving people to death, we have to remember, the costs of all this can rebound on ourselves. It is now exactly 88 years since the Great Depression began. 8, when turned on its side as ∞ becomes infinity. The #4 in China is a good number and when doubled, double good. This is also Oroboros, the snake with the tail in its mouth. And it is also the Möbius strip where one is stuck in a matrix, a configuration that, despite twists and turns, it also infinite even as it is very finite, sort of like our own time and space continuity.

The past is always there, we don't escape it. History is a matrix that is a mischievous Möbius strip. This is why, if we want to see the future, we must look at the past.

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Comments

[jill]

If Rangel stated he may be raising taxes on the middle class, he would receive several annoying phone calls. But when he hints that he may raise taxes on the rich, he knows he and his party will receive millions in political donations. This is how the game is played. A recent example of the game, is the recent announcement that a change in the 15 percent federal tax of hedge fund managers income was being formulated.. After several millions of dollars spent by lobbyists, the threat went away.
It is interesting that just the other day, Rangel stated that he was convinced by Hank Paulsen that a reduction in corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 25 percent should be considered.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

100% correct, Jill. They are shaking the money tree as I hinted.

[Callihan]

Agree 100% on this essay.

One must remember Aaron Burr and how he was seen by Washington and Hamilton. Do whatever it takes to get elected and stay elected, promise the fools anything, lies, propaganda, massive vote fraud, etc., and "that's democracy", as FDR put it. This sort of behavior was certain to destroy the Republic, at least in Hamilton's eyes, and history has shown Hamilton correct.

One recollects that Ron Paul is a man of the Old Right and a believer in Constitutional Government.

A government that is not allowed to buy votes!! A government that is not allowed to take payoffs from Wall Street in exchange for "protection"!! What an amazingly "horse and buggy" idea! (Roosevelt called the Constitution "that horse and buggy document.")

And, yeah, I meant Schumer amongst others.

[JSmith]

Don't worry about heating oil - Hugo will be there for ya!

"It is now exactly 88 years since the Great Depression began. 8, when turned on its side as ∞ becomes infinity. The #4 in China is a good number and when doubled, double good. This is also Oroboros, the snake with the tail in its mouth. And it is also the Möbius strip where one is stuck in a matrix, a configuration that, despite twists and turns, it also infinite even as it is very finite, sort of like our own time and space continuity."

Well. This article was going along OK until you hit the bong!

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

This is an auspicious year for China and they love magic numbers every bit as much as our magicians love magic debts.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

And Smith, you are a perfect mirror for the GOP's heartless attitude: let them eat oil.