An Offer We Can’t Refuse: The Federal Reserve Chairman Reminds Treasury Who’s Boss!

 

Here is a Fairy Tale about the Economic State of America followed by the moral of the story. 

In these times of cooperation and mutual love and respect, dare I say unbridled affection, the Department of the Treasury and the Global Banking Cartel that owns our country: (known as the “Federal Reserve Board”) the line blurring what belongs to the controlling super banks (the Fed) and the US taxpayer has blurred so as to be indistinguishable?  It’s as if the superrich, who own the international banking system, and the US government who is blithely stimulating the economy with borrowed money, have joined forces to both bankrupt us and break our currency at the same time.  Heartwarming isn’t it? 

It’s as if the Fed and the US Treasury Department had fallen in love and were in the habit of tucking each other into bed at night with a lingering kiss and a sigh of contentment, glorious unity and harmony between our guardian of tax dollars and the controllers of our currency and the outright lords of international finance.  It’s a love story for the ages: Helicopter Ben Bernanke is our Daddy and Timmy Geithner is our devoted but ditsy Mommy (who sometimes forgets to pay his taxes) but who’s love for Daddy Ben gives us a warm feeling of contentment and security.

But then a snake entered the unholy paradise of the money kingdom and Mommy Geitherner and Daddy Ben began to look at each other strangely each night before falling gently into untroubled sleep and dreams of avarice.

“Ben” Mr. Giethner would say.  “I’m not just Mrs. Benjamin Bernankey but I have an important role in this marriage too.  I’m not just an object of money and signer of promissory notes but the guardian of our nation’s purity and strength.” 

Daddy Ben looked at the Missus with bemusement and affection smiling his enigmatic smile that once so beguiled the young Secretary of the Treasury.  “Don’t you worry your poor little head my dear because as always: Daddy Ben knows best!” Bernankey chuckled, not unlike a serial killer, “On the other hand perhaps we should clear up some of the expectations you need to conform to.  Not just you but Uncle Barak and all those silly people in congress.”  Bernanke chuckled again his eyes becoming cold and reptilian.

“Now Ben….” Giethner said with a small yet hysterical laugh

“Sign this one page division of duties that we may be ever united in our marriage of convenience and combat this financial crisis I caused”. Bernanke intoned in a meanasing whisper that was most unpleasant.

“What does it say” Geithener said nervously.

“You Question me!” Bernanke bellowed as all living parlor left his face.  “You dare question me?  It says you won’t question me ever again in any meaningful way and that I don’t answer to you and that while we’re married, as far as your concerned, I retain my bachelor status.  I decide what needs to be done and you do it.”  Bernanke eyes lit with an unearthly green light.  “It’s a match made in heaven, my dear.”

“Ben, you frighten me when you say things like; you retain your total independence while retaining absolute control over the money.  It makes me think you don’t love me anymore.” Githner looked as young and cute as he could when he said this but his paramour, Helicopter Ben Bernanke, continued to morph into an otherworldly monstrous apparition.  Geithner automatically reached for a pen and signed without reading the document; by now it was habit.

“Very good” the ghoulish Fed Chairman intoned as he handed Geithner a shiny gold credit card.  “Here, go play with this and buy yourself something pretty to stimulate the economy”, the Wiley Banker snickered in spite of himself.  “Spend on and don’t worry: be happy, my dear”.

“Oh good.  I so wanted to go shopping and give ACORN some billions today!”  Geithner uncharacteristically hesitated.  “Are you sure it’s ok for me to go shopping again?  I was thinking of building a space needle in downtown Truth or Consequences New Mexico….. But if we don’t have the money….”

Helicopter Ben roared with laughter once again morphing into the bald prince charming we’ve all come to love.  “Silly goose!” he snickered while tweaking Geithners nose.  “I decide when the spending is over!” 

They both laughed with relief and sheer joy that their spat was over.  And if Geithner wondered if Ben was good for the money; he didn’t show it.  And if Ben wondered if Geithner would ever grow a brain; he didn’t show it either.

Here are some possible morals for our story:  Never take financial advice from someone who thinks you can throw money out of a helicopter to stimulate the economy.

Or perhaps its that a central bank is more dangerous to our liberty than a standing army. 

Or perhaps its that we should always spend less than we make and force the government to do likewise.

Now consider this story below and ask yourself if the day is coming when the interests of the nefarious Federal Reserve and the crack addict spending of the US Treasury Department diverge regarding spending?  Does this portend the eventual pulling of the Rug out from under Geithner and Obama?  Time will tell. I got this Article from Bloomberg and here’s the URL for the whole article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abuPwlNJSeis&refer=home

 

Bernanke Seeks to Avert Pressures on Fed After Crisis (Update1)

 

 

By Craig Torres

on March 23, on a day dominated by release of the Obama administration’s plan to save the banking system and the fourth-best day in postwar Wall Street history, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve released a one-page joint statement on the division of economic responsibilities between the two agencies.

Amid the flurry of news, the statement passed with little public attention; neither the New York Times nor Wall Street Journal printed articles about it the next day. The release said that while the Fed collaborates with other agencies to preserve financial stability, it alone is in charge of keeping consumer prices stable, its independence “critical.”

The statement was the culmination of a behind-the-scenes, two-month long debate involving the Fed’s Open Market Committee, as well as the Treasury. The discussions were driven by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s concern that work with the Bush and Obama administrations on repairing banks and markets not lead to attempts at political pressure later that would delay the start of measures to combat inflation.

“This is all about independence,” said Laurence Meyer, vice chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in Washington and a former Fed governor. “Even though the Fed is cozying up to the Treasury, it is important to know that the Fed would maintain some stability over monetary policy.”

1951 Agreement

JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst and former Fed economist Michael Feroli called the statement “The 2009 Treasury-Fed Accord,” harkening back to a joint announcement by the agencies in March 1951 that freed the central bank from pegging government-bond rates.

Fueling the debate is the concern that policy makers will have a tough time if they try to end their emergency-lending programs as soon as next year while the unemployment rate, currently a quarter-century high 8.1 percent, remains at elevated levels.

The risk is that, on the one hand, lawmakers and even some administration officials might balk at what they would see as premature steps, and on the other hand that any hesitation on the Fed’s part could spark inflation.

“If we have a slow recovery, which seems likely, who is going to watch them raise interest rates as the Treasury sells this mountain of debt” stemming from fiscal deficits, Allan Meltzer, author of “A History of the Federal Reserve,” said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Politicians “are not going to let them do that, they are not going to want them to do that.”

Obama Fires General Motors Chief: It’s Looking Grim for Chevy and Chrysler

 

President Obama forced the resignation of GM CEO Rick Wagoner as a condition of continued government support for the ailing car maker.  The Obama administration has examined the plans to restore both GM and Chrysler to financial viability and found the plans wanting.  It ruled that Chrysler is not a viable standalone company right now and set an upper limit of an additional 6 billion in taxpayer dollars to hopefully merge with Fiat or the government will pull the plug.  The plan for GM is less clear but the administration today indicated that there’s basically a couple months left before the iconic car makers are forced into receivership.

There are a fair number of people, myself included, that feel that receivership should have been the disposition of the car company from the beginning; in which case no tax dollars would have been thrown down the black hole of perpetually unprofitable Detroit. It would seem that costly government intervention failed to save these two companies and the bailout may have vastly compounded the pain involved in having them fail.  We have bankruptcy courts for a reason: they can restructure the mess that unions, crazy pensions and benefits and archaic contractual entanglements have produced and give the companies a fighting chance once again.

The demise of GM and Chrysler underlines the continuing damage the economic conditions have produced and it underlines the continued weakness of the American Economy while highlighting the insanity of the American Governments increasingly leftist policies.  Once again we’re seeing a disaster in the American Manufacturing Sector because our Unions have simply made it unprofitable to produce, tax law has made manufacturing too expensive and environmental laws have made manufacturing to costly.  We need some kind of Manufacturing base in this nation but we must address the principle causes that have outsources our manufacturing sector to overseas locations. 

In order to have a sane economy and remain a superpower we must regain the policies that made America a good place to build a factory and manufacture goods.  It doesn’t matter if we’re talking cars or TV’s or computers; we need to have a sensible manufacturing base in this nation and we don’t.  Remember the old saying: What’s good for General Motors is good for America?  Well what’s good for General Motors is to get out of union contracts forcing them to pay lavish amounts to retiree’s for pensions and benefits and outrageously uncompetitive wages to current workers.  What’s good for General Motors is to get a big break on taxes allowing for more research and development and to relax some of the environmental red tape and duplication of efforts by having national standards instead of individual states doing it.

Like GM the United States has a bankrupt Social Security fund and a bankrupt Medicare.  We can’t afford all the crazy interventionist government that we have now and the whole government will go the way of California and Detroit unless we radically cut our spending.  Social Security and Medicare money are gone and we can’t continue the current system much longer without destroying the economy.  We need to renegotiate this social contract and secure the funds from politicians who want to loot the fund for some other project.  We can’t have growth and a robust economy without a low tax environment and we must have corporate tax relief sooner rather than later because when you penalize success and wealth you get a whole lot less of it.  How many times must it be proved?  Low taxes give you the economic engine you need to get out of the current mess and solve some of our long term policies.  If Obama is able to go back to confiscatory taxation the economy will be back in the 1970’s in a New York minute. 

Here are some clips from Fox News reporting on the GM and Chrysler stories and the corresponding URL’s so you can read the whole article:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/industrials/gm-ceo-wagoner-step-obama-unveil-auto-plan/#

Monday, March 30, 2009

GM CEO Wagoner Out; U.S. Sets New Rules for GM, Chrysler

It was a tough day for the auto industry, as General Motors’s (GM: 2.72, -0.9, -24.86%) CEO was forced to step down, while the Obama Administration set strict new deadlines by which GM and Chrysler had to take steps toward financial viability and declared that Chrysler was not viable as a standalone company.

GM (GM: 2.72, -0.9, -24.86%) CEO Rick Wagoner is stepping down immediately, the government said on Monday, and is being succeeded by the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Fritz Henderson. Kent Kresa, a GM board member since 2003, will serve as interim chairman.

GM declined to comment on the executive moves.

A White House official told FOX Business that Wagoner was asked by the Administration to step down as a precondition for the company to continue to get help with its restructuring.

News of Wagoner’s departure came as the Obama Administration was preparing to brief some people on Capitol Hill about its plans for the auto industry on Sunday evening, in advance of a formal announcement expected at 11 a.m. Eastern time on Monday.

The government said that neither GM’s nor Chrysler’s plan, both of which were submitted in February, would result in a viable company. The Obama Administration is giving GM 60 days to work with bondholders and other parties such as the UAW and dealers, and stands behind GM’s restructuring effort

Chrysler is being given 30 days, during which time it must wrap up the partnership with Fiat it’s been discussing.

The Administration said it doesn’t think Chrysler is viable as a standalone company, adding that the government will consider investing up to an additional $6 billion to help its partnership with Fiat succeed, but that if an agreement isn’t reached, the government will invest no additional funds in Chrysler.

Here’s another story from Fox News:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/30/obama-auto/

Obama Denies Bailout Funds for U.S. Automakers, Sets Restructure Deadline

Neither GM nor Chrysler submitted acceptable plans to receive more U.S. government bailout money, the White House says, setting the stage for a crisis in Detroit.

FOXNews.com

Monday, March 30, 2009

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[2009-03-29]

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The White House says neither GM nor Chrysler submitted acceptable plans to receive more bailout money, setting the stage for a crisis in Detroit and putting in motion what could be the final two months of two American auto giants.

The Obama administration, however, has decided not to require the automakers to immediately repay government loan money they previously received, since that would force both companies into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

A senior administration official told FOX News, “calling in the loans would not be a productive exercise for the American taxpayer since the companies don’t have the money [to repay the loans] and it would simply put the companies into uncontrolled Chapter 11.” 

A Fresh Season of Hate: Once Again the Jewish Scapegoat Is Castigated in Europe

 

As economic conditions decline the hunt is on for a scapegoat.  This last week we’ve seen lots of death threats against AIG employees, in Briton a bankers house was targeted and suffered damage, and in the upcoming week: we’re likely to see property destruction, and perhaps violence, at the G20 meeting in London.  As the people who are behind the failures (Politicians) encourage everyone to find a scapegoat; it’s a sad sight to see Europe dusting off a traditional whipping boy and once again fomenting hate against the Jewish People.  The mob mentality runs amok once again and the stereotypical Jew bashing, that was just barely latent in Europe, gains strength once again as anger is misdirected from the political elites to a traditional victim class. How many times must the world witness this spectacle and why would any Jew with the means to escape Europe not immigrate to Israel or America?

 

The following story ran on CBN this week and is indicative of the rising antipathy toward the Jews and the increasing isolation of Israel as we progress in what many believe are the end times.

                                                                                                                                                                    

Anti-Semitism on the Rise in Europe

By Dale Hurd

CBN News Sr. Reporter

March 23, 2009

CBNNews.com – If you don’t think anti-Semitism is rising in Europe, look at the political cartoons.

A Greek cartoon suggests Israelis kill Christians on Easter. An Italian cartoon shows the baby Jesus worried that the Israelis are going to kill him again.

And then there are the cartoons that compare the Jews to the Nazis. It reminds Jews of another period: the 1930s, the time before the Holocaust.

History Repeating?

In Europe today, most Jews are at least anxious. Some are scared, and many have already left for Israel or the United States. Because even though many European governments have condemned the new rise in anti-Semitism, there is a clear perception among many Jews that Europe’s terrible history is somehow coming back to life.

“Jewish communities around the world are under more pressure now than at any time since 1945,” says Robert Wistrich of Hebrew University in Israel. Wistrich is the son of Polish Jews who fled the Holocaust. “Here we are 60 years after that and what lessons have been learned? Not enough.”

A survey last year by the Anti-Defamation League of five European countries found that half of those questioned believe Jews are more loyal to Israel than the countries in which they live. That was what the Nazis believed.

And almost half of Europeans surveyed also said Jews “probably” have too much control of international finance. That was another Nazi view.

Almost half also believe that Jews control U.S. Middle East policy. The Nazis would have agreed.

The editor of Der Sturmer, Julius Streicher wrote in 1944: “The Jews have made America what it is today: a nation…forced into helping the Jews achieve world domination!”

Manfred Gerstenfeld, a leading Holocaust expert, says the constant demonization of Israel by the European media and the European left has helped create what he calls a “new anti-Semitism” against the “collective Jew”; that is, Israel and Zionism.

“All studies show that Anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism almost entirely overlap,” he said. “Now, of course, it is very bad to say you are against the Jews after the Holocaust, so you have a found an escape clause to be against the Jews without saying you are against the Jews. And you say I am against Israel, applying standards to Israel that you do not apply to any other nation.”

University of Michigan Professor Andrei Markovits, author of Uncouth Nation adds: “Criticizing Israel, Israeli policy, certainly is not Anti-Semitic. Criticizing Israel the State is not Anti-Semitic. But when you bring in old anti-Semitic tropes to criticize Israel or to depict Israel as the murderer of God, as the blood libel, showing them as Nazis; that is anti-Semitic.”

And Markovits, a self-described progressive or leftist, says hatred of Israel is now a core principle for many on the Left. At anti-Israel protests, you’ll see radical Muslims and Leftists both expressing, not only anti-Israel messages, but anti-Semitic messages, too.

This political cartoon from the London Independent newspaper, showing what Jews claimed was an imitation of the ancient blood libel, won best political cartoon award in Britain. The same cartoon later showed up in a rally by radical Muslims in the Middle East.

“The terrorists have allies in European society,” Gerstenfeld said. “In the media. In the NGO’s, on academia, among leftwing politicians.”

The leftist mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said he’s against anti-Semitism. But he has also said that anyone who goes to kill Israeli soldiers is not a terrorist. And a onetime member of the British parliament, Jenny Tonge, said if she were a Palestinian, she would consider being a suicide bomber.

Distorted Media Coverage

Throughout Europe, distorted and one-sided news coverage has created an Israel that is aggressive and evil.

“It’s a demonization based on a radical detextualization, de-legitimization that’s been going on,” Melanie Phillips, a British conservative, says. “And if you’re the averagely ignorant Brit, watching your TV, listening to your radio, you believe it. That’s your world view.”

In France, a court is deciding whether a government TV channel, France2, showed faked footage of the supposed death of a Palestinian boy, Mohammed al-Durah, during the second intifada in 2000, to make it look like he was killed by Israeli solders. When the judge ordered France2 to turn over all of its footage of the incident, it also showed the boy moving his arms and peering through his fingers after he was supposed to be dead.

But Muslim rage at the original France2 news story led to countless reprisals against Jews around the world. It was even mentioned by terrorists as a reason for the beheading Daniel Pearl.

Scott Jacobs at DemocracyBroadcastingNews.com says the France2 story “globally defames the Jewish nation, Israel, with a fabricated icon of hypocritical brutality and immorality; and criminalizes Jews and their State to justify pariah-punishment.”

The EU says Muslims are responsible for half of all attacks on Jews in Europe. In France, Muslims outnumber Jews 10 to 1. Nidra Poller, an American writer and commentator in Paris, says the government and media are afraid of the Muslims.

“The French are using the Muslims, allowing the Muslims, to express this vicious and violent, murderous Jews hatred, and they get a free ride on their old fashioned anti-Semitism,” Poller said. “The whole Lebanon war was shown from the Hezbollah point of view. Israel was the villain. And Hezbollah were the innocents who were suffering. So all the Muslims in France got another dose of Jew hatred.”

And when Israel invaded Lebanon in 2006, anti-Semitic violence in Europe surged.

Surpising, But Not Unique

Anti-Semitism is by no means just a European phenomenon. But it is in Europe, the place of the Holocaust, where the return of anti-semitism is so surprising.

As a boy in the Netherlands, Manfred Gerstenfeld hid from the Nazis in an upstairs apartment. He may have never believed it could happen again. But he now believes Europe is re-living the 1930s.

“A senior Dutch politician told me a few months ago, ‘Look, the Jews have to understand that in the Netherlands, they have no future,’ he said.

In large part because Israel lost the media war in Europe long ago, and the Jews are still paying for it.

A Biblical National Security Update: March of 2009 is not Looking Very Peaceful or Stable

 

 

It’s a dangerous world these days and nothing underlines that more than the recent headline. 

·        Consider the fact that North Korea has a long range missile on the launching pad and has promised to resume their nuclear activities if anyone interferes with their upcoming launch.

·        Iran continues on its merry way to regional war by continuing to develop its nuclear program which seems to have prompted the Israeli People to elect a much more right wing government who is certain to attack Iran this year.  The Bible suggests that Iran will one day join a coalition of nations led by Russia against Israel touching off the war of Armageddon.  (Were it not for Russian assistance the Iranians would not be anywhere close to where they currently are on the development of nuclear weapons.)

·        Russia has increased its funding for the military even as its economy goes down the drain with plummeting oil prices.  They claim it’s a response to NATO expansionism and the deployment of an anti missile shield to Europe. The Bible calls Russia Gog and says that will lead a coalition against Israel in the last days touching off the war of Armageddon.

·        China has recently hassled our warships in the sea of Japan and the Pentagon has released a report chronicling their MASSIVE MILLITARY BUILDUP and openly questioned their intentions. This report enraged the Chinese whose military might seems designed to challenge the United States for world dominance.  The bible indicates that a third of mankind will be wiped out by the “kings of the east” and most scholars agree that china would definitely be included in that description.

·        Russia has announced that they will form a division of their military whose mission will be to guard the oil recourses they’ve recently claimed in the arctic. 

·        Obama has announced cuts in military spending with the intention of adding substantially to those cuts with “reforms” that would save even more money.  The United States is not mentioned by name in the Bible and leadership of the western world is held by Europe not the USA.

·        There is growing civil unrest around the globe due to the world economic crisis.  Even nations like Great Briton are courting insolvency underlined by their recent bond offering that failed and with the 30% drop in the British Pound.

·        President Obama has expressed willingness to trade away missile defense for Russian influence with Iran in an attempt to halt their progress toward a viable nuclear weapon.  It’s largely regarded as too little too late.

·        Security for the G20 summit is at issue as the people of Europe have not been shy about expressing their displeasure at the state of the world’s finances.  Violence is expected at the G20 summit in London nest week and there’s a high possibility of a Terrorist Event as well.  The British are one level below “Imminent attack Expected”

·        The Situation in the Nuclear Armed Islamic State of Pakistan continues to degenerate as the weak government fights for survival and as the extremist elements become more powerful.  Nuclear Armed India watches nervously as the government of their traditional foe spirals more out of control; the Mumbai Massacres still fresh in their minds.

·        The Mexican Border is increasingly violent and the CIA thinks Mexico may collapse entirely creating a major problem on our southern border.  Mexico may well become a failed state with untold consequences to the USA

 

The Battle of Briton: Prime Minister Brown is the Feckless Neville Chamberlain of Finance

The British are going!  The British are going!  The British are going down the drain in an ominous preview of what American can expect if we don’t demand sanity from the crazed socialist heard of democrats who’re now running the show in Washington.  As bad as conditions may be in America; the British have seen their currency depreciate by about 30%, their recent attempt to borrow more money fail on the world markets, and their PM lambasted in the European Parliament with such stunning clarity and incisiveness that it takes your breath away.

Briton is in danger of bankruptcy and still its Prime Minister prattles on about giant stimulus plans based on borrowed money and calls on his citizens to follow the government off the cliff and spend like there’s no tomorrow.  In Britons case there may well be no tomorrow. Briton faces insolvency and the government of Mr. Brown faces extinction, and the G20 summit in London next week faces the prospect of violent demonstrations.  There is a stark prospect of years being required to clean up the mess if not a generation or three and the root of the problem remains quite simple.

Big, Socialist, Welfare Based, Leftist government: simply does not work.  You can’t spend your way out of a depression with borrowed money and when you lose your currency you’re in a multigenerational world of hurt. Your Government is not your mommy, your daddy, or your Uncle Sam: and you have to pay your bills.  Either you rule the Government or it will rule you: and a very bad job they’ll make of your life too, if you let them.

Prime Minister Brown runs around pitching the greatest stimulus package the world has ever seen with all the heartfelt emotion of a drug addict raving about the ultimate “fix”.  As Neville Chamberlain waved his piece of paper declaring it to be “peace in our time” so Brown cuts an equally pathetic figure insisting that more borrowed money will ward off an economic calamity that can’t be avoided. The British need to bite the bullet because the calamity is going to be pain that they’ve not known since the darkest days of World War II and they need a financial Winston Churchill that can restore sanity, morality and honor to the UK.

The British are not alone in this predicament as the Americans are in exactly the same straits and when America falls, like the Soviet Union before it; there’s going to be a very large vacuum on the world stage and anything can happen at a time like that.

Here’s some of what’s being written about Briton this week from Bloomberg:

March 25 (Bloomberg) — The U.K. failed to find enough buyers for 1.75 billion pounds ($2.55 billion) of bonds for the first time in almost seven years as debt investors repudiated Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s plan to stem the worst economic crisis in three decades.

Brown’s government aims to sell a record 146.4 billion pounds of debt this fiscal year and as much as 147.9 billion pounds in 2010 as he tries to pull Europe’s second-largest economy out of its worst recession since 1980. The prime minister’s plan drew criticism yesterday when Bank of England Governor Mervyn King told lawmakers in Parliament in London the government should be “cautious” about spending and deficits.

“This is a warning signal investors are sending to the government,” said Neil Mackinnon, chief economist at hedge fund ECU Group Plc in London, who helps manage about $1 billion in assets and is a former U.K. Treasury official. “Investors are giving the thumbs down to the gilt market.”

“This sinks Brown below the waterline,” said Bill Jones, professor of politics at Liverpool Hope University. Brown’s “whole strategy is based on borrowing and now he can’t get anyone to buy his gilts. This means the prospect of going cap in hand to the IMF hovers increasingly into view.”

The auction failure comes as the Bank of England uses newly printed money to purchase government and corporate debt in an attempt to drive down borrowing costs. The Treasury gave the central bank authority March 5 to purchase as much as 150 billion pounds of securities.

“It doesn’t help to have your central bank say it’s buying government debt and then when you’re selling it you can’t find enough buyers,” Kit Juckes, head of fixed-income research at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London, said in an interview today on Bloomberg Radio. “It doesn’t impress.”

Here are some interesting bits from the Daily Mail:

Gordon Brown today tried to play down a rift between the Government and the Bank of England over the possibility of another spending spree in next month’s Budget.

The Prime Minister, during a visit to New York, insisted Mervyn King was behind his measures to prop up the ailing economy.

Mr King stunned Downing Street yesterday by warning against a giveaway Budget in April because public finances are already hugely overstretched.

The extraordinary warning not to blow billions on a second ‘fiscal stimulus’ came perilously close to breaching the convention that the head of the Bank does not question Government policy.

Mr King’s intervention was especially embarrassing for the Prime Minister because it came as he was using a speech to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg to call for ‘the biggest fiscal stimulus the world has ever seen’.

The International Monetary Fund forecasts that the UK will rack up the biggest deficit of any leading nation next year, while the pound has tumbled by nearly 30 per cent amid fears that the Treasury cannot afford its massive borrowings to cover bank bailouts and collapsing tax revenues.

The “Big Dog” Lose in Afghanistan: Testing War Fighting Robots for our Brave New World

 

The Army has developed a “Big Dog” that is in fact a robot kind of packhorse that can navigate the treacherous terrain in Afghanistan and that looks like something out of a bad science fiction movie. (It may also come to resemble something out of the Book of Revelations)   The think looks like a giant bug or a headless giant spider but it can run 4 miles per hour, clime a 35 degree slope, lie down, get up when kicked and use its “senses” to survey the area for threats.  The military is deploying these…”devices”…. To Afghanistan right now in addition to pilotless helicopters that can haul about 6,000 pounds and is called the K-Max. This Helicopter is controlled by some soldier with a video game like console that can fly the chopper with its payload via a camera and deliver its payload to troops with a new design that the loss of a real pilot makes possible. One can only imagine what the future of war fighting, and even police work; holds for us when these computer operated mechanical contraptions can fight our wars, fly the planes and even replace the beat cop. The military has sophisticated spying devices that are made to look like a fly on the wall but that are sophisticated eavesdropping devises that have been deployed in the Middle East to get a jump on our enemies.  Cyber insects that are meant to mimic insects but that report to the Pentagon and soon, no doubt, to the Kremlin or Beijing also.

War and Security issues are rapidly changing into a technological race where the latest and greatest computer chips animate remote sensing devices, air craft, and reconnaissance and even at some point cyber soldiers.  We’re getting to a very impersonal point in our approach to killing the enemy when we can unleash war fought by soulless mechanical ghouls who advance our foreign policy objectives without a GI bill or the kind of reflection needed before we commit the lives of our young people to war. Devices always follow orders and he who controls such devices can spare his own population entirely while relying on cyber devices to do the killing and controlling.  What happens to man when war really does become a video game and the smell of blood halfway around the world can’t be seen, touched or smelled?  Technology such as this is will always be sold to the public as “saving lives” such as who do you want to fight the next war: these “smart” robots or your sons and daughters?  Are we really saving lives?  Or are we just making the selective killing of our opponents so much more economical, selective, and hassle free?

I can’t help but wonder what an Afghan Taliban Terrorist is going to think the first time he gets stalked by a Giant American Cyber Spider before an invisible orbiting drone kills him just as he sees this robot thing ambulate the rough terrain like a mountain goat.  Are we really coming to the day when a computer chip does the killing on the battlefield?  As bad as war is there’s something absolutely hideous about this branch of technology that eclipses even nuclear weapons as a sin.  Nuclear devices are “indiscriminate” and will kill everything in its range while these new robotic warriors will have a cyber “intentionality” and efficiency that would have made Hitler green with envy. Devices such as these are dangerous not just because they’ve been programmed to kill but for their ability to control a population.  What good is a suicide bomber going to do by blowing up him and a robot that may have been manufactured by Ford or Chevy?

You really should look at the link below and take a look at the story and the pictures:  IT’S AMAZING.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509684,00.html

Robots Take Center Stage in U.S. War in Afghanistan

Monday , March 23, 2009

By Matt Sanchez

 

The U.S. military is calling out the “BigDogs” in addition to its big guns as it deploys more troops to fight terrorists in Afghanistan.

The BigDogs — four-legged robots that can navigate the country’s treacherous terrain — and pilotless helicopters than can transport tons of supplies to very remote bases are just two of the new weapons being tested in Afghanistan.

The war zone is increasingly becoming a development laboratory for machines that don’t eat, sleep, polish their boots or suffer casualties. But can they succeed where man struggles?

It takes a moment for the senses even to comprehend BigDog, a four-legged robot that vaguely resembles a headless pack animal.

The machine’s creator, Boston Dynamics, has a motto — “dedicated to the way things move” — and that’s precisely what is both jarring and fascinating about its invention. Using a gasoline engine that emits an eerie lawnmower buzz, BigDog has animal-inspired articulated legs that absorb shock and recycle kinetic energy from one step to the next.

Its robot brain, a sophisticated computer, controls locomotion sensors that adapt rapidly to the environment. The entire control system regulates, steers and navigates ground contact. A laser gyroscope keeps BigDog on his metal paws — even when the robot slips, stumbles or is kicked over.

Boston Dynamics says BigDog can run as fast as 4 miles per hour, walk slowly, lie down and climb slopes up to 35 degrees. BigDog’s heightened sense can also survey the surrounding terrain and become alert to potential danger.

All told, the BigDog bears an uncanny resemblance to a living organic animal and not what it really is: A metal exo-skeleton moved by a hydraulic actuation system designed to carry over 300 pounds of equipment over ice, sand and rocky mountainsides.

So much for the ground war. With IED attacks in Afghanistan increasing on land, air transportation has become a major focus for the military.

Routine helicopter flights operating 24 hours a day, year round, are crucial for the American mission. The Marine Corps has recently called for unmanned cargo flights to carry essentials to isolated areas that can be reached only by air.

Enter the K-MAX, a remote-controlled helicopter designed to transport heavy loads — even in Afghanistan’s high altitudes.

The K-MAX’s unique rotor design — two intermeshed rotors turning in opposite directions and slightly angled to prevent the blades from colliding — give this unmanned aircraft a distinct advantage.

“All the energy goes into the lift and eliminates the need for the tail rotor,” said Frans Jurgens, spokesman for Lockheed Martin Corporation, which manufactures the K-MAX.

The design enables the relatively small chopper to tow up to 6,000 pounds. “The K-MAX is basically an aerial truck,” Jurgens said.

A ground controller “pilots” the unmanned aircraft using a “digital tablet” — a portable device the size of a clipboard attached to a backpack. The controller has visual contact with the aircraft during takeoff and can see where the K-MAX is going through a camera attached to the unmanned helicopter.

Unlike other unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the K-MAX currently requires some visual contact — ground controllers to launch and retrieve the aircraft.

During a flight, K-MAX’s “autonomous flight brain” calculates the best route to its destination and can automatically re-route itself should an area be designated a “no-fly” zone.

After launch, control transfers to a second ground controller waiting at the point of capture. Once the K-MAX has been sighted, the destination controller discharges the cargo by remote command.

But some in the military remain skeptical that a robot and a distant operator can replace a skilled pilot.

“When you’re dealing with a small area and a very small margin of error, mountains, temperatures, and other factors like heavy unpredictable winds, it’s hard to believe unmanned flights could account for all the variables,” Chief Warrant Officer Timothy Smail, a pilot from Eagle Lift, the 7th battallion 101st Aviation Regiment, told FOXNews.com in a phone interview from Afghanistan.

“Everything those troops have we’re responsible for bringing,” Smail said. “Not saying it can’t be done, I would just be skeptical.”

After two tours in Iraq, Smail is serving a second tour in Afghanistan, which he says is the “most difficult place to pilot in the world.”

But, Jurgens is not concerned.

“The K-MAX will fly repetitive flights that can be predictably programmed,” he said. “Given the fact that traveling by ground convoy is not the preferred transportation, unmanned cargo flights can save pilots from routine unnecessary exposure.”

KMAX has never been deployed to a war zone, but the unmanned aircraft has been a robotic workhorse in the logging industry, where it transfers heavy loads at high altitudes. It has also been used to transport water to fight forest fires.

They’ll never fully replace actual people, but robots and unmanned vehicles will spare soldiers from routine tasks and enable them to focus their experience and skills on missions that require the human touch.

 

The Dollar is Running Out of Time: China’s “Bernanke” Calls for Dumping the Dollar & New Reserve Currency

 

 

I think the Federal Reserve’s decision to buy a Trillion of American Treasury Bonds, in a naked attempt to monetize or “print the money” has pretty much pushed the rest of the world over the top.  Now the Chinese equivalent of our Federal Reserve Chairman, Zhou Xiaochuan , has called for the formation of a new global reserve currency.  This means dumping the US Dollar for a goofy IMF scheme that’s risky at best: and at worst is yet another world economic meltdown in disguise.  (In addition to being a solid step toward World Government)

China holds a huge amount of our dollars and is concerned that our willingness to print a trillion dollars, at the drop of a hat, will mean that all those dollars are, and will continue to be, dropping in value at a precipitous rate.  I wish I could say that China is wrong but I’m afraid the fault lies with the American Politicians and of course the nefarious Federal Reserve System who always follows its own twisted motives behind a cloak of secrecy. 

Our Political system appears to be broken and the nation seems leaderless as the feckless Barak Obama says one thing and does another. The Congress is out of control,  spending  like theirs no tomorrow, and it seems determined to replace Capitalism with Socialism and the Constitution with Mob Rule. At this critical time in our history we’re now finding that our own corrupt politicians have become the most powerful special interest group in the nation and their interests and those of the American People are diametrically opposed.  We don’t want more bail outs bigger government and more spending but that just doesn’t matter to our paternalist politicians who seem to think that what’s ours is theirs!

What we need is the disempowering of our own political class and a massive cut in government spending, size, and scope at the federal and state levels and often at the city level as well.  We need for the democrats: who today have become outright socialists, if not communists, to stop the spending and the remaking of American into yet another failed socialist state.

The very soul of our nation is at stake as the Chinese Equivalent of Ben Bernanke, the head of the Chinese Central Bank, calls for a new world reserve currency and the ouster of the US Dollar.  Below is a story from the Financial Times concerning our death warrant as a nation. Dollar dumping now will destroy our currency.  A depression is bad enough but to add the stress of a currency collapse can add untold horrors to our children’s future.  This is probably our last wakeup call and if we miss this big reality check from China we’re well and truly up a nasty smelly creek without a paddle. 

Here’s the URL for the Financial Times Story: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7851925a-17a2-11de-8c9d-0000779fd2ac.html

 

China calls for new reserve currency

By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing

Published: March 23 2009 12:16 | Last updated: March 24 2009 00:06

China’s central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund.

In an essay posted on the People’s Bank of China’s website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank’s governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency “that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies”.

Analysts said the proposal was an indication of Beijing’s fears that actions being taken to save the domestic US economy would have a negative impact on China.

“This is a clear sign that China, as the largest holder of US dollar financial assets, is concerned about the potential inflationary risk of the US Federal Reserve printing money,” said Qu Hongbin, chief China economist for HSBC.

Although Mr Zhou did not mention the US dollar, the essay gave a pointed critique of the current dollar-dominated monetary system.

“The outbreak of the [current] crisis and its spillover to the entire world reflected the inherent vulnerabilities and systemic risks in the existing international monetary system,” Mr Zhou wrote.

China has little choice but to hold the bulk of its $2,000bn of foreign exchange reserves in US dollars, and this is unlikely to change in the near future.

To replace the current system, Mr Zhou suggested expanding the role of special drawing rights, which were introduced by the IMF in 1969 to support the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate regime but became less relevant once that collapsed in the 1970s.

Today, the value of SDRs is based on a basket of four currencies – the US dollar, yen, euro and sterling – and they are used largely as a unit of account by the IMF and some other international organisations.

China’s proposal would expand the basket of currencies forming the basis of SDR valuation to all major economies and set up a settlement system between SDRs and other currencies so they could be used in international trade and financial transactions.

Countries would entrust a portion of their SDR reserves to the IMF to manage collectively on their behalf and SDRs would gradually replace existing reserve currencies.

Mr Zhou said the proposal would require “extraordinary political vision and courage” and acknowledged a debt to John Maynard Keynes, who made a similar suggestion in the 1940s.

 

The Dollar Drops, Oil Spikes: And the Federal Reserve Marches US off a Cliff

 

 

 

The insanity of the Federal Reserve manufacturing another Trillion Dollars in advance of the Treasury offering 2 Trillion of American Debt as Treasury Bonds.  Given the deteriorating economies on earth it begs the question as to just who they think is going to buy all this debt when virtually every nation on earth is issuing bonds to “stimulate” the economy. The announcement of the Federal Reserve’s action caused the Dollar to drop sharply and commodities like oil to increase about 7%.

It’s going to be an interesting week as Wall Street contemplates the magnitude of the Federal Reserve’s Actions and reacts accordingly.  There’s no explaining the stupidity of the Fed Actions and I think it’s a legitimate question to ask Bernanke:  Just whose side are you on, Ben?” Consider this article from the Associated Press and take a good look this week at gold prices and oil prices and the like because as this sinks in the prices are heading north.  This may be the leading edge of an inflationary tsunami that will engulf America and usher in the worst economic conditions within living memory.

 

Oil prices reach new high for 2009 as dollar falls

Oil hits high for 2009 as Fed actions send dollar plunging; OPEC cuts take hold

 

NEW YORK (AP) — A weakened dollar and evidence that OPEC has significantly slowed production sent oil prices soaring to new highs for the year Thursday.

“I think we’ll see higher oil prices for a while,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. “There’s an expectation that the market has bottomed out.”

Benchmark crude for April delivery surged $3.47, or 7 percent, to settle at $51.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices hit $52.25 earlier in the day, a price last seen on Dec. 1.

Crude prices have increased 11.6 percent since OPEC ministers met in Vienna on Sunday. The group said it would not cut production again immediately, but there is growing consensus that the millions of barrels taken off the market already each day are starting to balance a supply and demand picture that has been skewed for months.

With the April contract set to expire Friday, most of the trading had shifted to the contract for May delivery, where prices jumped $3.14 to settle at $52.04 a barrel.

Gas prices increased 1.3 cents a gallon overnight to a new national average of $1.933 per gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Pump prices are 2.7 cents a gallon cheaper than a month ago and $1.346 a gallon cheaper than last year.

Analysts rushed to buy crude after the Federal Reserve announced late Wednesday it would buy long-term government bonds, a measure that’s expected to jolt the economy with lower rates on mortgages and other consumer debt.

The Fed also said a $1 trillion program to jump-start consumer and small business lending could be expanded to include other financial assets.

The announcements sent the dollar into a tailspin. The U.S. dollar dropped against other major currencies almost immediately, at one point falling to levels not seen since January. The dollar has fallen about 5 percent against the euro over the past couple days.

Because oil is bought and sold in dollars, a weak U.S. currency makes crude cheaper globally.

“The government is basically printing money to buy back all this paper, and it devalues the dollar,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading Corp.

Flynn said the rise in oil shouldn’t be taken as a sign that the economy in on the mend. The Fed is using all of its powers to prop up American businesses, “and this is one of their last shots,” Flynn said. “If this doesn’t work, they’re out of bullets.”

A government report that said jobless claims set a new record for the eighth straight week. The Labor Department said continuing claims for unemployment insurance jumped 185,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.47 million, another record-high and more than the roughly 5.33 million that economists expected.

Initial claims dropped to a seasonally adjusted 646,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 658,000, however. That was better than analysts’ expectations.

Job cuts are part of the reason for a severe drop-off in miles driven by Americans, a growing number whom no longer commute to work.

The Federal Highway Administration said Thursday that motorists logged seven billion fewer miles in January, 3.1 percent less than the same period in 2008.

The dour economic news did little to dissuade investors as prices topped $50.47 a barrel, the previous high for 2009.

Part of the reason is that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries appears to be pushing through the production cuts it promised to make last year, according to tanker tracker Oil Movements. Member states agreed last year to squeeze global oil supplies, trimming 4.2 million barrels per day.

Crude exports from OPEC countries have been shrinking during the past few months. They’re expected to drop 770,000 barrels a day in the four weeks leading to April 4, according to an Oil Movements report.

While the recession kept oil near five-year lows, tighter supplies in the spring and summer should buoy crude prices in the next three months, the report said.

Cameron Hanover analyst Peter Beutel said a new high at closing Thursday, along with OPEC production cuts, the federal stimulus package and other bullish factors “are working together to be more important at this moment than the recession and its impact on demand.”

“It means things are better than they’ve been in a while,” Beutel said.

Also surging were natural gas prices after a government report showed that U.S. stockpiles fell slightly more than expected last week.

The Energy Information Administration report said inventories held in underground storage in the lower 48 states fell by 30 billion cubic feet to about 1.65 trillion cubic feet for the week ended March 13.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline for April delivery jumped 7.16 cents to settle at $1.4373 a gallon, while heating oil rose 9.2 cents to settle at $1.36 a gallon. Natural gas for April delivery jumped 49 cents to settle at $4.174 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent prices rose $3.01 to settle at $50.67 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Associated Press writers Ernest Scheyder in New York, George Jahn in Vienna, Austria and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.

 

The Fragile Rule of Law: Situational Ethics and Ideology are creating a Dangerous Disregard of Law

 

 

Recently we’ve seen the congress look the other way and appoint Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary and let him supervise the IRS when we know he can’t figure out or wont figure out how to pay his taxes. 

Recently we’ve seen the congress go on a spending spree that is nothing short of generational theft. 

Recently we’ve seen Regular Army troops deployed on the American Homeland in direct contravention of the Constitution and Posse Comitatus. 

Recently we’ve seen congress attempt to pass a law of confiscation, (A Bill of Attainder) aimed at the employees of AIG who received a bonus in direct contravention of the Constitution. 

Recently we’ve seen the congress relinquish control of vast sums of Tax payer Dollars to the Treasury Secretary, Paulson, and let him spend the money as he wills, with no oversight, based on a plan Paulson changed without consulting congress. 

Recently we’ve seen the Federal Government Nationalize some Banks with our tax dollars.

Recently we’ve seen the Federal Government buy the biggest Insurance Company in the world with our tax dollars.

Recently we’ve seen the Federal Government give vast sums of Taxpayer Dollars to failing car companies who’ve been, and continue to be, strangled by Union Contracts they can’t afford.

Recently we’ve seen tax dollars being handed out to ACORN who is being investigated in many states for trying to steal elections for the democrats. 

Recently it’s been reported that ACORN is going to be “helping” to take the census on which congressional districts are drawn.

Recently we’ve learned that Congressman Barney Frank had a homosexual “relationship of long standing” with an employee of Fannie Mae who Frank always zealously supported as Chairman of the Banking Committee.

Recently we’ve learned which politicians received tidy sums of AIG campaign contributions and we’ve found Senator Chris Dodd leading the pack at about a quarter million.  Schumer, Frank, Obama….. Lots of familiar names, all belonging to the party where paying taxes is apparently—- optional.

Recently we’ve seen Chairman Charles Wrangle, of the House Ways and Means Committee, saying he can’t comprehend the tax laws he writes he’s very sorry about not paying his taxes. 

Recently we’ve seen a host of powerful democrats who didn’t pay their taxes apologize and not have to pay penalties and interest that you and I would certainly have had to pay.

Recently we’ve seen the President subvert the role of Congress in selecting a cabinet by appointing “Czars” who will run his policy but don’t have to be confirmed!

Recently we’ve seen a President in an act of craven manipulation so unconscionable that there are no words for it us a world financial disaster to destroy our nation and in its place build a socialist utopia in his own contemptible image.

Now we see the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, undermining American Immigration Law despite a near meltdown on the Mexican border!  Consider the story below and ask yourselves what protection you have in society if the powerful can disregard our laws whenever they choose while you would be destroyed by violations of the law.  Think about it.

Consider this story from Fox News written by William Lajeunesse on Nancy Pelosi and Illegal Immigrants and realize that “Obama Style “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” is Coming Soon. (Right after the Democrats Socialize Medicine) :

  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/18/pelosi-tells-illegal-immigrants-work-site-raids-american/ [2009-03-11]

pelosi flexes her muscles draws gop ire, pelosi, gop, pelosi flexes her muscles draws gop ire on capitol hill, survey obama failing on economy

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EXCLUSIVE: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently told a group of both legal and illegal immigrants and their families that enforcement of existing immigration laws, as currently practiced, is “un-American.”

The speaker, condemning raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, referred to the immigrants she was addressing as “very, very patriotic.”

“Who in this country would not want to change a policy of kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families?” Pelosi told a mostly Hispanic gathering at St. Anthony’s Church in San Francisco

“It must be stopped….What value system is that? I think it’s un-American. I think it’s un-American.”

Pelosi said she was invited to the church by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., as part of his 17-city, cross-country tour called United Families, which he says is intended to put a human face on the immigration debate.

“We think that families are the cornerstone of our society and our nation, and an immigration system should preserve those families, not destroy them,” Gutierrez told FOX News Capitol Hill Producer Chad Pergram on Tuesday.

The congressman is collecting petitions that ask President Obama to “stop the immigration raids and deportations that are tearing our marriages, families and children apart.” He is expected to present those petitions when Hispanic members of Congress meet with the President Wednesday.

Click here for more video from FOX News.

On Saturday night, Pelosi joined Gutierrez before a cheering crowd at St. Anthony’s chanting, “Si se puede,” or “Yes we can.”

Referring to work site enforcement actions by ICE agents, Pelosi said, “We have to have a change in policy and practice and again … I can’t say enough, the raids must end. The raids must end.

“You are special people. You’re here on a Saturday night to take responsibility for our country’s future. That makes you very, very patriotic.”

“I was embarrassed by what she said,” said Rick Oltman, with Californians for Population Stabilization, an anti-illegal immigrant group. “Exhorting illegal aliens for taking responsibility for our country’s future…. In fact, sitting there in the audience…. I really resented that comment.”

“I think it was pandering to the crowd but also insulting to American citizens who consider themselves to be patriotic, who obey the rule of law,” said Oltman, who shot a video of the rally.

For more on this story, watch Special Report With Bret Baier at 6 p.m. EDT on FOX News Channel.

Economic Unrest in France: Economic Distress Driving Massive Protests

 

Far be it for me to observe that the French are always protesting something; but when French unemployment reaches two million souls the protests take on an ever growing intensity. The Unions are blaming French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his policies for the outrageous unemployment figures and the protests are occurring across the length and breadth of France. As usual the Unions have a list of demands that reflect little in the way of global economic reality and much in the way of a failed reliance on the omnipotence of the state.  A recent poll showed that three out of four French citizens support the strikers as Unemployment heads toward double digests. 

Europe has seen far more civil unrest because of economic conditions than the United States has to this point.  If Mr. Obama doesn’t fix the credit issues and get the banks functioning normally it won’t be long before we catch up to our European friends, as deteriorating conditions in the US Jobs market drives Americans to the streets as well.  You can see the beginnings of it in the growing American “Tea Party’s” and in the popularity of men like Glen Beck. The underlying assumption in France seems to be that the Government can fix this thing which I find to be a problematic assessment at best.  You can make an excellent argument that the United States , and the corruption of our professional politicians, created this mess and it’s become abundantly clear they have no idea how to stop it.  They borrow more; they print more; they castigate corporate executives who they should be thanking while they pretend it was Wall Street rather than Congress that failed us. 

I doubt that European Politicians are of substantially superior moral fiber than our own crop of miscreants who now inhabit Capitol Hill: but with the heat that Europe is getting from its people one wonders how long they’ll be able to hold out against protectionist measures.  Europe is annoyed, to put it mildly, and they want the government to wave a magic wand at the global financial crisis and make it go away. Protests and civil unrest is rising and people are taking to the streets.  As the crisis continues the risk of violence and property destruction increases as well.  This sort of thing has a habit of advancing opportunistic leaders who would never have been listened too in “normal” times but who now have a shot at the brass ring.

Here’s a report from the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7951949.stm

 

New nationwide strike hits France

Hundreds of thousands of French workers have begun protests across the country during a nationwide strike.

Schools are closed and public transport is being disrupted, with demonstrations organised in about 200 towns.

Unions are opposing President Nicolas Sarkozy’s economic policies. Unemployment has reached two million and is expected to rise further.

Organisers predict the protest will be bigger than one in January, when more than a million people took part.

Union members marched towards Nation in Paris behind a banner that read: “United against the crisis, defend employment, spending power and public services.”

Police said there were about 85,000 people at the rally, according to the AFP news agency.

“They have a profound sense of social injustice, and that, I think, is something that neither the government nor the employers have understood,” said Jean-Claude Mailly, head of the large Force Ouvriere union.

Marches are also being held in Marseille, Lyon, Grenoble and many other towns and cities.

It is the second time in two months that major demonstrations have been held, following a similar display in January.

Beleaguered industries

The strikes began on Wednesday evening with staff on transport networks.

FRENCH UNIONS vs GOVERNMENT Union demands

  Increase minimum wage

  Reverse 50% cap on income tax

  Suspend public sector job cuts

  Measures to protect employment Government stimulus plan

  11bn euros to help businesses improve cashflows

  11bn euros of direct state investment

  4bn euros of investment by state-owned firms in modernisation

  2.65bn euros of tax breaks, and increases in family welfare and short-term unemployment benefits

The national rail operator, SNCF, cancelled 40% of high-speed trains and half of regional services.

A third of flights out of Paris’s Orly airport have been cancelled, while a tenth of France’s electricity output has been shut down with workers on strike.

However, buses and the Metro rail system in Paris were running normally, thanks to a new law enforcing a minimum transport service during strikes,.

But with many schools and public buildings shut for the day, the number of workers travelling into the capital was reduced.

Private-sector firms were also expecting a depleted workforce, with staff from the beleaguered car industry, oil and retail sectors taking part in the strike.

Rising unemployment

The unions say the 26bn euro ($35bn; £24.5bn) stimulus package for France’s struggling economy, unveiled by President Nicolas Sarkozy in December, does not go far enough.

A further 2.4bn euros ($3.2bn; £2.3bn) of measures, including tax breaks and social benefits, presented by President Sarkozy after January’s strike has failed to placate them.

They want him to increase the minimum wage and scrap his plans to cut public-sector jobs.

Recent polls show three-quarters of French people support the strikers.

Many commuters on Thursday said they backed the action, but hoped it would be short-lived.

“Fundamentally I agree, but too much is too much,” one was quoted as saying. “There are strikes in the transport sector too often and we have to put up with them.”

President Sarkozy said on Wednesday that he “understands the concerns of the French people” but has ruled out plans for further measures.

Unemployment is likely to shoot up to 10% in the next 12 months with a further 350,000 lay-offs expected by the end of this year.

Many people are angry that big companies like the oil giant Total is making staff redundant while simultaneously announcing record profits, the BBC’s Emma Jane Kirby in Paris says.

 

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