February 26, 2008
Elaine Meinel Supkis
Time to attack the Queen of England again. I can't help it. The European news is filled with more stories about the royal tax havens. The Liechtenstein business is now pulling in banks in Switzerland. The gnomes are gmad. Heh. A think tank wants to see if the G7 can control the flow of money across borders. This would anger the gnomes gno end, eh? Even more amusing, a British writer calls for these gnome ghomes to be invaded! I am very happy to see someone else call these places pirate coves, etc. I have been suggesting naval attacks for some time already! But a curious thing here: the British writer, Mr. Butler, cannot attack the Mistress upstairs! He cannot say, 'These pirate coves swear fealty to the Queen of England who owns them.' This would get him arrested for sedition. But since my family voted to execute Kings of England or revolted against Kings of England, I say, 'Off with Her Majesty's head!' And She can't do a thing about this. Heh, again.
We must curb international flows of capital
By Dani Rodrik and Arvind SubramanianFirst large downhill flows of capital – from rich countries to poor countries – led to the Latin American debt crisis of the early 1980s. In the 1990s similar flows begat the Asian financial crisis.
Since 2002 the flows have been uphill, from emerging markets and oil-exporting countries to the developed world, especially the US. But the outcome has not been very different. So, it does not seem to matter how capital flows. That it flows in sufficiently large quantities across borders – the celebrated phenomenon of financial globalisation – seems to spell trouble.
Causes and consequences vary, depending on which way capital flows. Developing country borrowing was associated with unsustainable fiscal policies (Latin America) and inappropriate exchange rate policies (Asia). But the financial sector was not blameless: for every overborrower there was an overlender.
The pathologies were different when the US went on a borrowing binge. Large current account surpluses and the associated savings glut in the rest of the world fed a global liquidity boom, which stoked asset prices. Even though the roots of the subprime crisis lie in domestic finance, international capital flows magnified its scale.
Why, pray tell, has money been flowing 'uphill'? And why is Japan being left off the list of countries that are 'rich'? This sort of simplistic writing and thinking is common in the mainstream. I can only guess why. Perhaps it is because the people paying writers to write stupid things make money this way? There has to be some financial benefits for stupid thinking and stupid writing. Indeed, it is painfully obvious that a refusal to see into the future or to understand events and cause and effect is very much part of 'making money.' I keep harping on how magical money is. Gold isn't money. Wheat isn't money. Coins are not money. Money is all about numbers. And since ancient times, numbers have been recognized as being part of the divine Celestial system. If we look at myths from the beginning of the city/state religions such as Ur or Pharaonic Egypt, they use lots of numbers and the concept of magic numbers takes hold. This was due to standardizing the calendar and figuring out the movement of stars. This is because these religions tracked the stars and were also tithing the harvests, holding the surplus and dispensing the surplus as well as lending, using this surplus as a bank. Tracking and controlling this surplus, tracking and controlling trade with other religious/government centers was the job of a host of religious clerks who invented writing as well as numbers.
One might say, 'In Gods We Trust...but put it in writing!' This article in the Financial Times claims that it does NOT MATTER how capital flows! This blatant lie irritates the hell out of me. It matters a tremendous amount not only how much is flowing but where it flows. A slight change in the world flow of finances can cause tremendous effects. Whole nations can suddenly go down in flames! Others can suddenly find themselves swamped. Currency values fluctuate wildly. This causes chaos in markets. This leads to panics, bubbles and bankruptcies. This can trigger massive wars! I can't imagine anything more dire! We all have watched with bated breath as the G7 attack Iran over and over again, trying to strangle Iran Kitty who meows back and scratches us on the nose by raising world oil prices. We can see how the threat to use first, yen, then euros and now rubles to sell oil on their new bourse has caused major panic in the G7 nations. This changes the flow of money! And this causes tremendous effects.
Russia has just changed the world flow of money too. Demanding Europe pay them in rubles just like Iran. When Iran demanded Japan pay in yen back in July last summer, the effects were instantaneous. The Japanese lost control of the yen and couldn't depreciate it without being suddenly hammered in the Iranian oil markets! Along with China changing their formidable FOREX mix, this caused the yen to rise from 125 to the dollar to nearly 100 to the dollar to the great distress of the Japanese. The flow of money around the planet went through several major changes between February, 2007 and August, 2007. This triggered a nearly total banking collapse in many of the G7 nations that were busy attacking China over currency values all spring and summer.
Note also, just as I talked about in yesterday's story examining two Congressional Reports, the belief that there was a savings glut and the US was a baby in a high chair who had to eat this glut, so it is echoed here. Gads, nothing irritates me more than that stupid story cooked up by economists to explain reckless US spending. Proof that I am right, do note how the US is trying to 'restart' the economy with MORE reckless spending we can ill-afford!
Financial Times:
But how is such a levelling-off of flows to be achieved? In the current context, the source of liquidity is large current account surpluses in the oil-exporting countries and east Asia, especially China. Reducing these should be a high policy priority for the international community. Two concrete actions – one for each source of liquidity – suggest themselves.First, some variant of petrol tax in the main oil-importing countries (including the US, China and India) is essential to cut demand and reduce oil prices and hence the current account surpluses of oil exporters.
Yes, the US government should tax gasoline much higher. The US overspending on imported energy is a huge part of our trade deficit with the world. But we are babies. We want our SUV lifestyle and will kill endless Iraqis for this. Even as that war is costing us dear and driving us into debt and forcing us to go to China, hat in hand, to beg for money, we do this. This is our choice. We will do this until China slams down the bank door on our fingers. And we won't take our fingers out, we will try to rob the bank. So this isn't a matter of money helplessly flowing. It is money flowing where people are wanting more loans. China has become our bank. As they told me in 1984, 'We be bank!' So it is. This isn't accidental. They figured out how to do this and did it.
Financial Times:
It is time for a new model of financial globalisation, one that recognises that more is not necessarily better. As long as the world economy remains politically divided among different sovereign and regulatory authorities, global finance is condemned to suffer deformations far worse than those of domestic finance. Depending on context, the appropriate role of policy will be as often to stem the tide of capital flows as to encourage them. Policymakers who view their challenges exclusively from the latter perspective will get it badly wrong.
As nearly always, these economic professors writing this article---it took more than one!---want a New World Order. Ein Mark, Ein Führer, Ein Reich! Sieg Heil! If only we had one currency, one leader and one empire, why all our imperial bankrupt deals will turn to gold instantly! Wave some more wands, guys, and we will have a global ruler. China is the present bank so I would assume it will be 'One Yuan, One Hu and One Big Mess.' I don't think we won't love this but we are babies so I suppose we can wail and shake our little plastic rattle made in China.
Swiss bank dragged into German tax probe
German prosecutors are investigating whether Swiss bank Vontobel may have helped German residents to set up secret accounts via an office in Liechtenstein, bringing a second bank into the focus of a scandal involving alleged tax evasion.The FT has learned that prosecutors have information linking a small number of German residents with accounts at Vontobel and are now trying to establish whether the accounts were used for tax evasion purposes. They are also trying to establish whether this was bank policy or the work of individual employees, possibly to aid tax evasion.
The gnomes in Basel are bitter. The Liechensteiner mess has leaked into their own vaults. I suppose squads of assassins will be skiing off in search of Mr. Keiber. The Swiss sharp shooters won't Miss. Ah, I think I already wore everyone's patience thin with the gjokes at the top of this story. Suffice to say, this isn't over until the Fat Lady is arrested. And if there is a lady who should be arrested, She is in Buckingham Palace, England. Die Köningin von England. Elizabeth II.
By William Butler, Professor of European Political Economy, London School of Economics and Political Science; former chief economist of the EBRD, former external member of the MPC; adviser to international organisations, governments, central banks and private financial institutions. Tax havens are to those engaged in tax evasion what fences are to thieves. Tax evasion is a crime. It’s not harmless cleverness and fun; it’s theft from the community you live in. Those who engage in it, and those who facilitate it, are criminals. It is time that the more determined, if not yet sufficiently aggressive, attitude and actions of the civilised world towards money laundering is extended to tax evasion through off-shore tax havens and the corrupt states/entities that live off this trade.The list of countries that make a living out of tax evasion and related activities (essentially the same countries that consciously created, and in some cases continue to offer, facilities, laws, regulations and institutions to facilitate money laundering) is long. The OECD lists 35 microstates with the tax haven designation, but this excludes larger countries with strong bank secrecy laws whom the shoe fits just as well (e.g. Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg).
Many are located right in Europe. The include micro-states/entities like Monaco, Liechtenstein, Andorra (the only three tagged as “uncooperative” tax havens by the OECD), Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. Any country with an unhealthy respect for bank secrecy is part of the tax evasion/money laundry fraternity. Among the EU members, Luxembourg and Austria are prominent examples. Cyprus has long been a surprisingly copious source of funds invested in the former Soviet Union. Outside the EU but in the heart of Europe, Switzerland has long profited from the facilitation of foreign tax evasion and money laundering
HAHAHA! About time! As I point out again and again, currency values, the flow of investment money, the granting or removal of loans, all things to do with money flows can and almost always leads to wars, invasions, revolutions and coups! And if a hostile power sucks like a vacuum, all tax resources from a government, this is war! War, I say! And more wars. If tiny principalities under the rule of crazed royals insist on destroying the financial bases of all democracies, they must retaliate! And what are navies and air forces for, anyway? Why do we have submarines and Marines? Hell! We have them to enforce our laws. And if outlaw pirate coves run by royals are ruining our nations then we must attack.
Note in this article, how the good professor halts right at the gates of Buckingham Palace.
The good Butler:
The exact modalities may differ from case to case. Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man should simply be absorbed lock, stock and barrel into the UK, with English laws, rules and regulations applying across the board. The special status of these strange entities is not cute; it’s an enabler and facilitator of unethical and illegal behaviour.
And who, exactly, is responsible for this 'special status' and why can't Butler utter Her damn name? Lawyers in England accused me of sedition in the past. And I laughed at them for they would have to make me go to England where I could rehash the last 500 years of jurisprudence and the American Revolution, and perhaps, the Magna Carta which my ancestors wrote or rather, dictated to the scribes! Power grows out of the sword, indeed! And if the Queen wants to hide from her subjects the fact that She and her buddies are draining the Treasury and destroying both America and England, to the barricades! HAHAHA. Right! They did it in Moscow! They did it in Berlin! They did it in England long ago. The failure of a full revolution back in the 1600s is why I am here and not on some English estate, abusing the peasants.
The Queen has a special relationship with the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not part of the United Kingdom, but are dependent territories of the English Crown.Both have their own forms of self-administration, although the United Kingdom government is responsible for certain areas of policy.
The Queen has a special relationship with both Crown dependencies, and is known there by unique titles.
She is very much the Queen of these pirate coves Butler wants to surround and force into compliance. Of course, being the spawn of lords who fought the Crown periodically, I say, invade! But we can cut to the chase by storming Her palaces. She can live like me. I clean my own floors. I have no Butlers to serve me. I chop my firewood, I saddle my own horse, supervise my own sheep myself, with the dogs, of course. I grow my own veggies. I can survey the world from my mountainside and enjoy thoughts of former rule but in general, I can only boss around the chickens and the other animals boss me around. And this is wonderful. She can survive like this if she is dumped outdoors. Her son, Charles, should have no problem. They aren't helpless babies, after all. Why the rump empire of England wants to keep this very expensive family camping out on what should be public property baffles me. They are NOT nice people at all, not nice at all. Quite the contrary. Look at their bloody history! OUCH. They are no better than I and I don't destroy my children's marriages. Time to cut off this hangover from the Dark Ages.
Back to the Queen and her pirate coves:
The Isle of Man lies in the Irish Sea, roughly the same distance from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.It has the oldest representative government in the Commonwealth. The legislative system was introduced around 800 AD when the Isle was part of the Norwegian kingdom of the Hebrides.
The original government, the Tynwald, consisted of the King, two advisers, the chief officials and council, and the Keys, which was a representative group 'of the worthiest men in the Island'.
In 1266 the island was ceded to Scotland, and England later acquired it by treaty under Edward I. The lordship of Man was handed over to English lords in return for regular payments to successive monarchs.From 1405 to 1765 the island was ruled by the Earls of Derby, and later the Dukes of Atholl, as Lords of Man.
The use of the island as a secure base for smugglers became such a problem that, in 1765, the British government gave the island its own legislature but required all customs and taxes to be paid into the British exchequer. The lordship reverted to the Crown, and George III became Lord of Man.
The Crown's personal representative today is the Lieutenant Governor, who is appointed by The Queen and who has delegated power to grant Royal Assent to legislation dealing with domestic matters.
WE HAVE PRECEDENT! When the islands run by the royals are overrun with pirates, Parliament has the right to take it over! And guess when that happened? When the German Hanovers took over the throne, the Parliament took these islands off the hands of the royals. But the Kings of England wanted them back and stupidly, they got it. The mad king got it for his own use and he and his heirs are responsible for it. Note that the guy running this pirate cove is APPOINTED BY THE QUEEN! HAHAHA. So She is responsible! I say, make her pay all the lost taxes her representative has stolen.
Situated 10 to 30 miles off the north-west coast of France, the Channel Islands are not part of the United Kingdom.They are dependent territories of the English Crown, as successor to the Dukes of Normandy.
The Channel Islands were part of the Duchy of Normandy when Duke William, following his conquest of England in 1066, became William I.
In 1106, William's youngest son Henry I seized the Duchy of Normandy from his brother Robert; since that time, the English Sovereign has always held the title Duke of Normandy.
By 1205, England had lost most of its French lands, including Normandy. However, the Channel Islands, part of the lost Duchy, remained a self-governing possession of the English Crown.
While the islands today retain autonomy in government, they owe allegiance to The Queen in her role as Duke of Normandy.
And so we can see, Butler should have explained what 'allegiance' is and how this works within kingdoms and these pirate coves are part of the Queen of England's KINGDOM. Ergo: She must be stopped. Of course, She will excuse all this and claim her hands are tied. Well, this is silly. If She isn't responsible for anything, why have this old hag hanging out in the first place? The Brits may love her but she costs them a fortune. And She performs no useful function except to be Disney Land. Why not use a wax statue of her instead? It will save money. And since She and her little islands are bankrupting England, at least she could be shipped to Jersey or the Channel Islands to live. Let them kow tow to the old creature. Have fun!
After all, the royal running Liechtenstein isn't living in the Habsburg palaces in Vienna anymore.
From UK government constitution:4. Crown representation in the Crown Dependencies
The Queen is the Head of State of each Island and the Lieutenant Governor on each
Island is Her Majesty’s personal representative. The Crown is ultimately responsible
for the good government of each Island and exercises its responsibilities for the
Islands through the Privy Council. The Crown also makes appointments to the
judiciary in each Island.Government officials must never state or imply that the Islands are part of the United
Kingdom, or Great Britain, or England, or act on that assumption.
Note how severe this is! England has spent an absolute fortune trying to conquer first, Wales, then Scotland and still clings to a good part of Ireland! The royals sent one army after another, one navy after another, all in order to steal Ireland from the Irish people. They let millions of Irish die of starvation in 1848 during the Potato Famine. They forced millions of Irish out into America and elsewhere. They were tremendously cruel and passed terrible laws dispossessing the Irish of their lands and goods! This has gone on for CENTURIES and even today, England still refuses to reunite Ireland under Irish democratic rules! Look at the Troubles of this last 50 years!
Good grief. And they have to handle these pirate coves with kid gloves? Arrest the Queen! Throw her out. I will even teach her how to cook, sew and be polite to the delivery boys.
all indicators are that food is going to be the big news in 2008. stacks, bonds and gold will become secondary. the big boyz already got theirs. even if deflation takes 90% away from them they will still be millionaires.
as to hoarding, perhaps it is market rigging forcing prices up, perhaps it is over population, perhaps it is peak oil. i bet it's all three. just watch out. food prices are going to cause civil unrest and martial law in the usa. expect rolling power outages "for no reason" just like in florida.
read it and weep.
'Panic' wheat buying across the US
By Arlan Suderman, Farm Progress grain markets analyst
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
In the wheat price surge on Monday this week, the leading wheat contract in Minneapolis, US, rose by more than the entire worth of the contract just months ago.
Prices rallied by $5.75 a bushel, or by nearly 30pc, at one point from Friday’s close.
Eight months ago on June 19, the lead Minneapolis wheat contract settled at over $US5.00 a bushel.
Panic over commodity shortages continues to emerge as the dominant factor in the global markets, with both end user and speculative buyers of corn, soybean, cotton, rice and a host of other commodities taking note of what’s happening in the wheat pit.
While US has made improvements to increase crop production efficiency in recent years, the world hasn’t really put sufficient investment into production agriculture for several decades.
The net result has been declining stocks at the same time that expanding global wealth has demanded more raw commodities.
The net result on Monday was new all-time record high prices for corn, soybeans and wheat on the same day.
Sentiment in the marketplace is changing from, 'buying just-in-time' to one of, 'buy what you need at any price' and then to 'buy even more to restock the shelves'.
In other words, there’s evidence to suggest that we’re beginning to enter the hoarding phase of the inflationary cycle.
Along that line, commodity traders are attempting to hoard land on which to produce their respective commodities by bidding up prices in an acres war.
The market should remain in this phase until supply reaches surplus levels and everything collapses, similar to what was seen in the late-90s.
However, there’s little evidence at this point that the market will begin that collapse anytime soon, especially with the US growing season still weeks away and weather being as large as it’s ever been this year.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t risks and that there won’t be large price swings similar to what have been seen in the wheat pits over the past six months.
But it does mean that end users and speculators alike, remain anxious to buy those price breaks when they occur.
Corn was largely a follower on Monday, reacting to sharply higher wheat and soybean prices.
Demand remains good, but most of the focus was with the above two commodities that are facing immediate supply shortfalls.
The real strength in corn is in the fear that other crops will rob too many acres from the feed grain, rendering it short in supply in the next marketing year that begins September 1.
Solid demand for soyoil and soybeans, especially from China, continues to fuel buying interest in the oilseed complex.
China is said to be buying both to fight food inflation and to build inventories ahead of this year’s Olympics.
Supply fears created by adverse weather in China’s rapeseed belt earlier this month, simply reinforced the sentiment.
The outright panic seen in the wheat pits today sent additional tremors through the oilseed market, where traders couldn’t help wonder if a similar scenario could be in its future.
The panic buying came on the day that Minneapolis lifted all daily limits on the March contract, hoping to ensure that the contract would enter into its delivery period in an orderly fashion on Friday.
Nobody wanted to be a seller in this environment, causing the lead contract to quickly surge above $23/bus.
The Minneapolis March contract eventually reached $25 per bushel, before correcting lower to $24 at the close, up $4.75 on the day.
The deferred Minneapolis contracts locked the expanded 90c daily trading limit higher for much of the day.
Limits on those contracts will expand to $1.35 tomorrow, beginning with electronic trade this evening (US central time).
Chicago and Kansas City contracts locked the 60c daily trading limit higher today, with those limits expected to increase to 90c.
(See separate Chicago report)
SOURCE: Farm Progress, US, a Fairfax Media publication
Posted by: mad mike | February 26, 2008 at 04:18 PM
Learn how to read before publishing your next blog
Posted by: John | February 26, 2008 at 05:47 PM
John, mysterious stuff is funny, hahaha. But still thick as soup that has been boiled too long.
Posted by: Elaine Meinel Supkis | February 26, 2008 at 07:58 PM
Since I do not believe that any bunch of people has a right to a percentage of the results of my efforts, and since I do not believe that democracy is a benevolent form of organized force; I have no problem with the existence of secret bank accounts. If the political state were not so greedy and so self-righteous in its armoured greed, those banks would not be necessary. We blame the rich because the politicians benefit the rich. Then when the politicians go all socialist redistribution on the rich we get 50 years of communist decay and we wonder why there is no entrepreurship, no wealth generation, no personal initiative. Why in this world would anyone go to the trouble to set up three separate accounts through two different fake chairities into a bank in a postage stamp nation if one were not faced with basic exporpriation of one's earnings, of ones hours of labour, of ones life or at least the receipts from that life? When the nation one lives in decides to steal all it can in the name of social justice; it is neither social nor just; it is just a parasite with guns run amok. So I will have to disagree about the usefulness of private banks and bank secrecy. It is not the government's business in the first place, second place or anyplace.
Which is not to say I disagree about the Queen. There really are not enough lampposts with yardarms anymore; really a shame that most cities did away with them.
Posted by: CK | February 26, 2008 at 09:44 PM
I'm OK with lynching royalty and other elites, with the understanding their cadavers will be donated to the Univ of Havana Medical School.
However, having enjoyed the islands off the coast of BC, I must protest your lumping of all islands as pirate coves. Some are just nice places with no banking infrastructure, not even an ATM.
Posted by: Allen/Vancouver | February 27, 2008 at 12:21 AM
Her Son, is going to be the Sovereign, The King, Yes the soon coming Global King.
Posted by: Richard | February 27, 2008 at 02:18 AM
For CK.
Do you think that the immense global traffic in drugs would be possible if it wasn't for the banking secrecy laws of tax havens?
Posted by: Bokonon | February 27, 2008 at 07:11 AM
Short Answer: Yes.
Longer answer: The global traffic in drugs is supported by and profitable to governments. The 3% of so of global drugs that is taken and burned by various governmental agencies is the equivalent of security theatre. 97% gets through.
Try a little thought experiment. Start with the premise that those things we call "dangerous drugs," were suddenly not just legal but legal in the same sense that wheat or oats or coffee is legal. What do you think a pack of weed would cost at the corner 7-11? Or a bottle of Laudanum over the counter at the pharmacy? Would nose candy be as sweet if it were just another agrictultural commodity valued at $5 a pound? The banks don't create the trade, humans like the stuff and enjoy the effects; always have always will. Governments make things illegal for the express purpose of mandating high profits to the selct few. The Columbian drug lords moved their money the old fashioned way, through Citi and BofA and Merrill Lynch. Through front companies and on CIA leased planes. The mafia uses italian banks and papal connections. The hawala system is used by others in the trade. You could read up on Air America ( the vietnam era airline not the bush era faux liberal radion station ), BCCI, Riggs Bank, etc. etc.
If it is more useful to run the profits through Citi or Bank of Columbia than through Lichtenstein then that is what will be done, if the profitability turns from Bank of Columbia to some post offic box on Guernsey then that is the route the money will take as it moves from buyer to provider.
Bank secrecy protects you from having your money expropriated by government goons empowered with guns, handcuffs and prisons.
Bank secrecy does not empower humans with the desire to smoke some hemp, chew some leaf, drink some concoction, snort some nose candy. Our brains do that all on their own. Our brains make cannaboloid and opiod analogues and have receptors for those analogues; probably genetic since humans have been around those opiods and cannaboloids for a long time. I imagine somewhere back in pre-history a lightning strike lit a field of cannabis growing wild somewhere in the garden of eden and the folks downwind of the fire had a right jolly time of it. And have been having a right jolly time ever since. ( I am not certain who the first toad licker might have been but that was one brave aborigine ).
Posted by: CK | February 27, 2008 at 08:54 AM
Correct, CK.
Britain's empire really took off when they decided to be drug runners. Like perfume, spices and gold, drugs are easy to carry, don't need much to make a profit and the more it is like PIRACY, the better. Illegal drugs are the best. They are, beyond doubt, THE most profitable trade on earth. Bar none.
This is also why the CIA, Mossad and all the other spook organizations do this. Note how the US invades lands and then drug running takes off?
Posted by: Elaine Meinel Supkis | February 27, 2008 at 01:13 PM
Sorry the UK does not have a constitution. The nearest thing we have is the Human rights act. Which both Government and the opposition want to abolish.
About the only right English people have is to walk quietly down a road without causing a blockage or commission.
Yes I see what you mean about Drugs and the US (and the UK) administration, it is like they are protecting their own private monopoly.
Posted by: Suusi M-B | February 27, 2008 at 02:20 PM
And you are always on camera in England these days. Talk about a snoopy government!
Posted by: Elaine Meinel Supkis | February 27, 2008 at 08:19 PM