Every day there are a few articles across all the papers about what's happening in the EU and every day brings a contradiction on policy.
Yesterday it was reported that Germany had bowed to France's demand that there be no treaty changes to allow for the eurozone bail-outs and new economic "governance" but today's articles report Sarkozy has said that treaty changes will be necessary after all and that progress towards economic government of all the 27 eurostates should be strengthened.
Ms. Merkel agreed that Europe needs more integrated "economic government"—a French phrase that Germany has long resisted—while Mr. Sarkozy accepted that such coordination should take place mainly at the level of the 27-country European Union, and not, as France has insisted up to now, among the smaller circle of 16 countries that share the euro.
In the meantime, Spain admitted that the European financial crisis is taking a toll on the country's banks, with foreign banks refusing to lend to some. Spanish Treasury Secretary Carlos Ocana admitted officially for the first time that some Spanish banks faced a liquidity freeze in the interbank market and said the government was working to restore confidence.
There's more trouble ahead for Greece as another ratings agency, Moody's, followed S&P's lead last month and downgraded their sovereign debt to junk level. No wonder the EU is talking about creating their own credit ratings agency!
Almost three-quarters of investors recently polled by Bloomberg News said they believed Greece would default on its debt payments. Greece's budget cuts and ailing economy are unlikely to generate enough wealth to meet interest payments, investors say. The Greek prime minister George Papandreou also faces internal turmoil, as civil servants and public sector benefit holders radically oppose the fiscal tightening.
Since he hasn't had his name in the papers for, ooh, at least 24hrs, Barroso has grabbed some more headlines by saying that some countries in Europe could be headed for "military coups" . Who better to rescue them from themselves than the incredibly open and democratic EU? At least any popular uprisings will give EuroGendFor a chance to test its strengths.
Mr Barroso’s warning lays bare the concern at the highest level in Brussels that the economic crisis could lead to the collapse of not only the beleaguered euro, but the EU itself, along with a string of fragile democracies.
And this farcical Franco-German political, economic and military construct is what Cameron & Co want to ally us with.
This is definitely what I don't need to read at the moment. It's from an article by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the Telegraph discussing the state of the eurozone's finances and the possibility of capital and exchange controls in Europe.
"... such options were studied earlier this decade, just in case. This document is sitting in a drawer at the Directorate of Economic and Monetary Affairs in Brussels.
"It was written by a small cellule of EU officials in 2003 or 2004 (If I remember correctly) under prodding from Paris. It explores the legal basis for measures to stabilise the euro and EMU.
"After combing through the EU treaties and court judgments, it concluded that Brussels may impose “quantitative restrictions” on capital inflows.
"Free movement of capital in the EU is not an “absolute freedom” and could be limited in an emergency.
“Should extremely disturbing capital movements endanger the operation of economic and monetary union, Article 59 EC (Maastricht) provides for the possibility to adopt restrictive measures for a period not exceeding six months,” it says.
"It would be renewable every six months. Any decision would be taken by EU finance ministers under qualified majority voting, so no country could veto it.
"The document was shown to me by one of the authors at the time. Part of it was later included in a published report, but nobody noticed — except Bernard Connolly, former currency chief at the Commission and later global strategist at Banque AIG. He always suspected that the EU experiment would end in capital controls.
"So has the bond crash in southern Europe reached the point where it is “extremely disturbing” and “endangers” monetary union?"
Here's a link to a video about the IMF and capital controls (No, I haven't watched it yet but someone might have a spare fifty minutes!)
There are also recent articles on capital and exchange controls here and here.
All the front pages of the papers this morning are examining Brown's unintended revelation that if anyone's bigoted, it's him. Mandelson, Harman, Johnson and other Labour spinners have been out in force making excuses for his comments in a damage-limitation exercise which is going nowhere. I've only one more thing to add: people are quoting other 'off-mic' moments such as John Major's "eurosceptic bastards" or Bush's "yo Blair". The fact is that none of the instances cited can be compared to Brown's - of all those mentioned he is the only one who insults an ordinary, decent voter and reveals his contempt for the British public.
Tonight is the third and last of the Leaders' Debates and will concentrate on the economy - supposedly Brown's strength where his intelligence and fiscal competence will shine. I doubt it. In the last forty-eight hours Greece has been downgraded to junk status, Portugal to A- and Spain to AA. Investors are now fleeing Italy so can Ireland be far behind? Britain can't be shielded from events in the eurozone and I'm only surprised that carpet-baggers have held off from attacking Sterling for so long. British banks have £25bn exposure to Greece and Portugal but £75bn to Spain so while Germany drags its heels and its MPs whine that Greece should be kicked out of the eurozone, nothing is actually being done and the problem spreads.
President of the European Council, van Rompuy, had this to say about the crisis: “The sun is rising sleeping yet in Europe still the same sun.”
So we can all rest easy in our beds and not worry that the EU has also demanded we raise our contribution to their budget by another £450m. In perverse double-speak EU Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski said:
the huge spending increase is needed to allow Brussels to help aid the economic recovery.
The social and financial consequences of international socialism and wealth redestribution has never been so exposed for what it is: as an unworkable and wicked ideology.
"Somebody shake me, wake me, when it's over. Somebody tell me that I'm dreaming and wake me when it's over..."
Another day, another dollar pocketed in the global elite's snooker table of life. Gordon Brown (*sigh*) has shown he's not one to keep his flaky ideas to himself; here's the latest: an international satellite monitoring system. As the article suggests, there are a few countries who might be instinctively opposed to this, not least China.
He's already pledged £800m, that we don't have, to his proposed £10bn fund to alleviate the burden on 3rd world countries between 2010-2012: "Together the collective power of the Commonwealth must be brought together to tackle a new historic injustice, that of climate change.”
Why can't he just stfu and hie himself off to a nunnery where he can pray for world harmony all day long - he'll love the ankle-skimming garb and face-framing snoods. That would be a better way for him to live up to his father's principles of wealth redistribution and it would be cheaper for us as well. (Dubai, courtesy of RSB, here we come!)
As an aside to all this largesse, I read on another blog (sorry, I didn't bookmark it) that he's also given £275m in aid to another country in the past couple of days whilst Cockermouth with the worst flooding for years has been given only £1m. I don't suppose Brown understands the old saying: Charity begins at home. Look at that phrase, it isn't a selfish ideology, what it means is that you have to be strong yourself in order to help others. If you're fubar'd yourself you're not in a position to help anyone. UK plc is fubar'd.
A superfluous illustration: Imagine a truck carrying adults and children breaks down whilst crossing a desert. There's no communication, no one will look for them, supplies are limited and they have no choice but to set out walking. It's a long, hard slog. Who should have first call on the food & water? Adults or children? My answer is at the end of the post.
Brown, Blair, the Fabians, Common Purpose & their adherents are 'the greatest historic injustice' this country has ever faced. I've often called them muppets for their ill-thought out plans and half-baked ideas but really, there's only one muppet here, and that's me. Something more than blogging must be done and the way things are developing, some thing more than voting will be needed.
* The adults - they'll have the strength to continue walking and will carry the children to safety. The other way round and they'll all die.
2ozs of Olde English Humbugs to my favourite Grumpy Old Twat for the graphic.
The US Government does not own and it does not control the US Fed. Yet the Fed controls the monetary policy of the biggest economy on the planet and has a direct line to the US Treasury Department. The Fed board’s influence extends to and beyond the US Government and as such the Fed has a very big say in the economic health of the Western World. It is in fact the single most powerful organisation influencing world markets. But where are the checks and balances? There are none.
Ron Paul, everybody’s favourite Republican (outside of the US) introduced House Resolution Bill 1207 The Federal Reserve Transparancy Act to the US House of Representatives in February this year urging the Federal Government to bring the Fed under real scrutiny starting with a full public audit of the bank, to be completed before the end of 2010. This is earth shattering stuff, seeing as nobody is even sure who owns the Fed.
Here is the speech Ron Paul gave when he introduced the bill.
Madame Speaker,
I rise to introduce the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. Throughout its nearly 100-year history, the Federal Reserve has presided over the near-complete destruction of the United States dollar. Since 1913 the dollar has lost over 95% of its purchasing power, aided and abetted by the Federal Reserve’s loose monetary policy. How long will we as a Congress stand idly by while hard-working Americans see their savings eaten away by inflation? Only big-spending politicians and politically favored bankers benefit from inflation.
Serious discussion of proposals to oversee the Federal Reserve is long overdue. I have been a longtime proponent of more effective oversight and auditing of the Fed, but I was far from the first Congressman to advocate these types of proposals. Esteemed former members of the Banking Committee such as Chairmen Wright Patman and Henry B. Gonzales were outspoken critics of the Fed and its lack of transparency.
Since its inception, the Federal Reserve has always operated in the shadows, without sufficient scrutiny or oversight of its operations. While the conventional excuse is that this is intended to reduce the Fed’s susceptibility to political pressures, the reality is that the Fed acts as a foil for the government. Whenever you question the Fed about the strength of the dollar, they will refer you to the Treasury, and vice versa. The Federal Reserve has, on the one hand, many of the privileges of government agencies, while retaining benefits of private organizations, such as being insulated from Freedom of Information Act requests.
The Federal Reserve can enter into agreements with foreign central banks and foreign governments, and the GAO is prohibited from auditing or even seeing these agreements. Why should a government-established agency, whose police force has federal law enforcement powers, and whose notes have legal tender status in this country, be allowed to enter into agreements with foreign powers and foreign banking institutions with no oversight? Particularly when hundreds of billions of dollars of currency swaps have been announced and implemented, the Fed’s negotiations with the European Central Bank, the Bank of International Settlements, and other institutions should face increased scrutiny, most especially because of their significant effect on foreign policy. If the State Department were able to do this, it would be characterized as a rogue agency and brought to heel, and if a private individual did this he might face prosecution under the Logan Act, yet the Fed avoids both fates.
More importantly, the Fed’s funding facilities and its agreements with the Treasury should be reviewed. The Treasury’s supplementary financing accounts that fund Fed facilities allow the Treasury to funnel money to Wall Street without GAO or Congressional oversight. Additional funding facilities, such as the Primary Dealer Credit Facility and the Term Securities Lending Facility, allow the Fed to keep financial asset prices artificially inflated and subsidize poorly performing financial firms.
The Federal Reserve Transparency Act would eliminate restrictions on GAO audits of the Federal Reserve and open Fed operations to enhanced scrutiny. We hear officials constantly lauding the benefits of transparency and especially bemoaning the opacity of the Fed, its monetary policy, and its funding facilities. By opening all Fed operations to a GAO audit and calling for such an audit to be completed by the end of 2010, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act would achieve much-needed transparency of the Federal Reserve. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
The Bill is gaining momentum and people in the US are taking notice and an interest and there are some public campaigns aimed at applying pressure on US Congressmen and Senators to back this Bill.
It is important because the US Fed makes decisions that affect us all, it is directing traffic and nobody is really sure how strong or weak it really is. If Ron Pauls bid succeeds, other central banks would come under pressure to also come under open scrutiny.
So, if you are a reader from the US, please lend your support to 1207 and urge your representatives to do the same. If you are in the UK please sign THIS PETITION on the 10 Downing Street website urging our Prime Minister to publically lend his support to the existing calls for the US Fed to be audited. Please advertise the link on your blogs and social networks and let’s see if we can help Ron Paul and the US Congress open the books on the Fed. Maybe then we can really get a handle on the Global Economic downturn.
This video is of Ron Paul explaining why this is an important bill. He explains it much better than I can.
The European Union has long been angling for control of banking and financial centres and it's no secret that it would rather see Frankfurt or Paris more pivotal than London. (Check out previous posts tagged 'Frankfurt').
Draft legislation published today gives more details of a 'banking super watchdog'. If agreed, it will be implemented next year. There is talk of a 'local watchdog' and 'local supervisor' so, for Britain, I assume that would mean our Bank of England.
The draft laws, which is the result of an agreement thrashed out by EU leaders earlier this year, also threaten to erode the authority of Britain, which is fighting to keep control over the centrepiece of its economy, the City of London.
The new European watchdog is given the power to order national supervisors to take specific action, in the draft. It leaves it up to the European Commission or EU executive to decide when they should be allowed overrule the local watchdog.
The draft law also allows the banking super-watchdog to intervene with individual banks if, for example, the local supervisor does nothing, EU officials wrote in the document.
As I've said before, the current trend towards devolution and localism is all very well but fits in too well with the EU's own blueprint for a new supranational state. Once this legislation goes through, as it will, expect it to be closely followed by the Euro (with designs decided at 'local' level, of course). Like it or not, we're in it up to our necks.
What is the price of Experience ?
Do men buy it for a song ?
Or wisdom for the price of a dance in the street ?
No, it is bought with the price of all Man hath, his house, his wife, his children.
Wm. Blake Cross-posted
So the unemployment figures did not quite make the 2.5 million figure just yet. Still a catastrophic 220K rise
Predictions from the business sectors say top out at 3.5 million. Not good reading.
Must have been a sigh of relief from No10 now Mandy is back as the mighty 2.5 million was not breeched.
But just look at the figures you dont see and then make your own mind up.
The number of people working in the public sector actually went UP - there were 6.02 million in March, compared to 5.87 million in December. So private sector employment suffered even more than the headline figures suggest.
Also - the number of UK born people in employment fell, year on year, more than the headline - down 625,000 compared to 573,000.
But the rise in youth unemployment appears to have slowed - the number of 18-24 year olds out of work up just 46,000 in the three months to the end of June, to 722,000.
Everyone knows that the bankers in the City of London are not half as bright as they think they are, but even they should sense danger over plans to hand control of our financial services sector over to the EU; There has only been muted protests, I wonder why this can be?
Sure, much of the city now looks to UK PLC for their pay cheques and gold plated bonus payments, but is that really it... is there no one at any of the banks that is prepared to speak out against the moves? As much as the FSA is a complete shambles, opposition cannot be that strong to it that the EU looks the preferred method, can it?
I distrust the EU greatly and I do not see that there have been tangible from anything that they have taken control of so I do not see the benefit. By handing control over regulation will be moulded to suit the French and German models which despite my sparse economic qualifications still seem incompatible with how things work now in London.
But that is not the point, this is…
Did you vote to instruct our Government of the United Kingdom to hand over controls from within our democratic reach over to the policy shop in Brussels?
No, neither did I.
So why the hell do we let Gordon Brown get away with crap like this?
Labour is morally bankrupt, that much we already know, but with the real prospect of financial bankruptcy because of the massive shortfalls in the public purse, why are these controls being handed away over the Treasury’s biggest source of income? It can only be because decisions are now being made so far away from you and me, the ordinary person and voter that our concerns are no longer even in a token sense allowed to matter.
Political evolution is failing us. More and more I sense the need for revolution to restore power into the hands of the people.
With Parliament in recess until October and MPs working unstintingly for the benefit of their constituents in the meantime, it should be fairly quiet and is usually known as the Silly Season as the msm scratch around for something to fill their pages.
However, life under Labour continues to roll downhill under the momentum of twelve years of socially-engineered policies and inadequate economic oversight.
The Treasury has published statistics which give the lie to Brown's spending figures. Despite the denials, spin and gloss he spouts every time he opens his mouth, the hard facts have finally proved him a liar at the despatch box and vindicated Cameron's questioning at PMQs.
This is just the beginning as Gordon goes through the looking glass and juggles figures like the White Queen on a chessboard. Perhaps we could make a few pounds by selling off some surveillance cameras to the highest bidder - buyer dismantles & collects. Cross-posted from my 'inch'
