Just outlaw profit !!!!

Its been a while since my last post.

The world economy has again lost a couple of cylinders and is spluttering along on moonshine and vapour.

Look at the problem that caused the current global financial meltdown.

Just one thing caused all the problems.

"The insatiable desire for profit caused by human greed"

So.............

Just OUTLAW PROFIT. Strict audits for every company whether it be a one man sole trader or a huge multinational.

* Salary is a cost of doing business.
* Employee benefits are a cost of doing business.
* New plant and hardware is a cost of doing business.
* R&D is an investment or re-investment.

All allowable, all good for the nation and the world.

Profit for the sake of it !
Socially unacceptable. Should be outlawed Now! Anyone seen making a profit should be outcast like a child molester or rapist.

Don't put up with this oppression any longer. One pct of the world owns 70% of the wealth. There is something SERIOUSLY wrong with this picture.

Forward with "Steady State Capitalism"

Sport should come with a health warning!

Looking at the problems the world faces, I feel the human race needs to evolve from
its jungle and caveman origins and shed itself of its primitive "fight or fight"
primitive consciousness. To truly overcome the problems facing society we need to have a will to change and evolve.

Many will argue that to keep up our exploring and inquisitive nature we need this
animal inside us. I disagree completely.

Sport is used by governments to ensure the populace is obedient and controllable,
that winning is good and winners are to be idolized, you cant have winners without loosers. Therefore, the general populace is all pumped full of testosterone ready to go out and murder the opposition but understanding that he or she will statistically never reach greatness and will have to submit to someone whether it be a government, a boss, or other oppressing entity.

Western governments allow the gross amount of money to be spent on sport. Imagine
the huge cost of cleaning up the planet from pollution and excess. Economics 101 always ignores the polluting capitalist or at best mentions it in a single line or paragraph. We are now at a crossroad where the cumulative effect of "ignoring" pollution is going to cost trillions of dollars. Where can we get this kind of money from? Well, how about taxing the sports world.

There is evidence (you just have to look around you), but also scientific evidence that too much exercise (like going to the gym every day for a workout), can actually impair short and medium term memory. It also gets to a stage where the individual is addicted like a junkie to his sports, while the testosterone gnaws away at his brain cells making it more and more difficult to think for himself, and therefore more open to accepting someone else's ideas and reality, rather than thinking things through himself.

Sport is just as addictive as cigarettes and alcohol, so why is there no health warning on sports broadcasts and at sports stadiums?

Western governments are just as oppressive as the regimes they condemn. Although strangely enough the people in the so called oppressive regimes are more vocal in understanding their oppression and demonstrating about it as much as they can.
Think Tiananmen square and Iran.

Lets think! Don't sport.

Enslaved by technology

Last week KDDI under its AU brand launched a new smartphone aimed at companies to keep an eye on their employees. It seems the built in Accelerometer has been thoroughly tested in various situations and sends feedback to the company. Apparently the device can inform the employer if the employee is stacking boxes, walking, running, or sleeping. What an encroachment on personal privacy and liberty!
The mark 2 model due to be released next year has a bluetooth collar with a built in tazer so that employees can be punished on the spot. 1984 was never so bad.

Financial modelling. Random and Chaos Theory

The latest and greatest financial modeling techniques for options involve something the financial engineers call SABR modeling.

It involves force fitting the known or guessed market prices back into a volatility curve or "smile"

It is based on stochastics which actually means Random.
from the Greek "στόχος" for "aim" or "guess")

So our financial engineers are "guessing" ?

Leeches of society.

I put it to you.

Who is the biggest leech on society.

(1) The manual worker on the dole, has given up looking for work and lives of state handouts plus whatever little part time work he can get on the side.
Cost to society = part of the taxation payments we make.
Individual creates no real value, does not destroy the value others make.

(2) The capitalist who has so much money all he does is invests(leeches) via investment programs, whether it be stocks, or other vehicles.
Cost to society = Billions in share dividends and interest and billions in "stolen value creation"
Creates no value in society, also destoys and absorbs value that others create.

Who is the crook here?

Imagine

Once upon a time....back in the late mid to late 60's there seemed to be an air of hope. There was a cultural revolution brewing. A change of conciousnes especially amoung the young people of the world. The Vietnam war was seen as a mistake. (Not
unlike Iraq in recent years)

The so called "hippie generation" thought they could change the world on a
ticket of love and peace. There was nothing wrong with this idea. If it had
succeeded 35 year on we would be enjoying a peaceful world of great
abundance. The reasons it did not happen were twofold.

(1) It failed to reach critical mass of the world at large. The internet was
not around at that time and global telecommunications were expensive. The
vehicle it tried to use was music, art and literature. With the internet
today the chances are it would succeed.

(2) Old money. The previous generation of "successful capitalists" i.e.
money hoarders were the parents of the generation who wanted change. They
saw that if the world embraced a ticket of love and peace their wealth
(perceived advantage) would be instantly worthless.

Captialists cannot believe in sharing since the whole premise of capitalism
as the world knows it is to strip wealth from others to hoard and accumulate
for ones own ends. Often confused with "The American Dream" To be free, to
have a nice home in a safe neighbourhood, a good education is seem
synonymous to being a successful capitalist. This is just the illusion of
the capitalist. Communism was seen as no better and still is not a viable
alternative. The worlds religions are often viewed as a vehicle to
manipulate the masses by a few of their leaders.

An omnipotent angry God will punish you for ever if you do not believe and
follow these rules.

No - The world needs a new system. Fair and open enough to be accepted,
tollerated by all of the world's citizens. New age thought is growing in the
world which is what remains of the failed hippie revolution. However, New
age thinking is gathering momentum with much dissatisfaction of the current
systems of world order which simply give power to the few over the many at
the expense of the many.

John Lennon wrote the song "Imagine" which summed up his generation. His
generation, my generation are now the old money. it is not too late to make
our generation count . Things we used to believe in are now more important
in the world than ever.

We need to change to survive as a race. "Imagine" what the world could be
like. We have the power to change it. We have the medium to change it in the
internet. Lets simply say "Change"

Rule by fear.

As usual the old money is trying to look after itself.

Was there a conspiracy in the Sept 11th debacle. I am sure there was. Sometime in the future I am sure that it will be clear that the US government and their controllers were to blame at least in part.

* The old money fears a backlash in the coming age.
* Americans are generally dissatisfied with their governments and distrust polytricians.
* When Americans have an external country or force to hate, they all rally round and forget about their internal problems.

America is on the verge of splitting into two races. Haves and have nots. A modern day slavery and this time it will not be based on racial domination but on wealth.
However since the wealthy know they only have paper money they fear a massive rebellion/revolution.

(Old money controls America, it is above the government, above the constitution and thinks that it is above God)

Therefore, old money instructs the government to make loopholes in the constitution my causing a situation where a state of emergency can be called. Whereby ordinary citizens who may just be in the wrong place at the wrong time can be swept of the street and just disappear. Tortured or killed. Rule by fear! It is ironic, that America is now becoming the despot regime that for the most part of the 20th Century it lambasted as being undemocratic.

We can only hope that there are enough intelligent, self thinking officers in the US military to take over and crush the old money, because nothing less will cause a 21st century holocaust.

The onslaught to come

As firms make staff redundant (because they were badly managed in the good times). We must realize that instead of keeping a cash balance on hand the managers were on a bonus feeding fury. Draining, raping, pillaging their company, but like all of these people none of them know how to "run" a company. Companies are not above the law, indeed in some cases corporate law is more severe than the regular law-of-the-land.

Back to the theme, as the number of people working declines, the amount of available free spending money declines. Other companies have to lay off staff or close down. Lets take an example. The hair salon/barber. Every shopping area, mall or public place where people pass through (like a railway or subway station), has a variety of barbers and hair salons. In their peak JPY5,000 or USD50.00 would be the norm. They would all be busy all of the time. AS the amount of money being spent decreases stylists are let go, prices come down to 1/5 of the price and salons close. Many people now prefer to wash their hair at home making a 3 monthly visit instead of a monthly visit. It is not a necessity, but a luxury good.

The salons that remain open have fewer customers less frequently and therefore prices must go up for them to stay in business. For the same reason that Microsoft sells its windows product at about USD150 (because it can sell many), a propriety database or accounting system can cost tens of thousands because the developers can only sell it to one or a few customers.

Hence we have initially "inflation" leading to "stagflation" because more people loose their jobs and more businesses close, leaving the few in business looking at raising prices to stay afloat.

What the governments and central banks need to do is "Just print money". So what if we cause hyper inflation and have to revalue the currency every week. Let the citizens print it out on their home PC !!! The only people it would affect is the money hoarding capitalists who have previously "stolen" their wealth from the economy. By stolen, I mean they have not provided goods or services equal to the money they took out of the system. Hence they are net value destroyers whereby the average Joe is a net value creator.

The social system is on the verge of collapse. The world population is more than 5 billion. Ivory towers with walls patrolled by security guards will not be enough to resist the onslaught against capitalism in all of its forms. Capitalism = waste!

Time for a new currency

The Chinese and others are calling for a new currency.
Yes! Great! but you cannot allow an exchange rate between the old dead USD,EURO,Sterling currencies. I'll gotten gains from economic terrorism cannot be allowed in any new currency. Therefore normal people who create wealth should be allowed a 1:1 exchange rate indefinitely, Those who have vast fortunes of ill gotten gains would have exchange rates 100,000:1.

Not many people are alive that remember the collapse of the Reichsmark. It suffered the same fate as its predecessor the Papiermark. Hyper inflation caused by incompetant management and greed caused the currencies to become valueless.
It cost trillions to buy a loaf of bread. That is exactly what the capitalists have done to the old currencies. When a currency is so scarce that common people cannot use it it becomes worthless. Wealth hoarding by people who usurp the people who create value caused this and have caused the same situation again. The next holocaust will not be against the Jews it will be against the poorer swathe of people on this planet. The next prejudice will be the haves hating the have-nots somehow treating them as a lower race to be despised. However, when that happens that will be their own undoing. Without the common man creating wealth, fixing machines, building things the value destroyers will be destroying themselves because they have no real skills.

Lets create a global currency, without central banks, print it on your printer and use it. "I promise to work to create enough value for the bearer to the sum of...."
Once it reaches critical mass it will crush the old currencies and become a new benchmark. Its just a belief system. Look at gold. Its just a piece of metal. People believe its worth extra value because it is scarce and a "safe haven"
Once people believe in a new currency it will be accepted everywhere.

You can't be both.

It has been a while since my last post but the markets and polytrick-ians are still showing their ignorance.

If you are a true capitalist and you believe that the markets will rebound you will be spending big now on plant and machinery and infrastructure renewal now. Because now everyone is scrambling for business and good deals on Capital Expenditure, labour and goods can be had. It will be cheaper to build a factory or a bridge now than later. That means that you can take a bigger advantage (profit) when the market bounces back again. However, the capitalists and polytrick-ians obviously do not believe their own propaganda.

They fear inflation and try and hammer it out like Reagan and Thatcher tried to do.
Batten down the hatches! Downsize! Make vast swathes of their staff redundant!
Remember from earlier posts, inflation is GDP growth which is profit. It is the same force at work, not a different one. The economies are trying desperately to inflate and the polytrick-ians and central bankers are trying their best to hold it down which in effect is only a temporary measure because it is going to explode.

A little off base here, but I want to try and explain that the market dynamics in an inflationary economy are not the same (indeed opposite) to those dynamics in a deflationary economy. I will use the analogy of the first supersonic test flights.
In the early days we did not have jet engines powerful enough to send planes at supersonic speed horizontally, so they climbed to great heights and use gravity to assist the acceleration to the sound barrier. However there were some fatal crashes. By radio the test pilots reported that they couldn't pull out of the dive and indeed it seemed that their attempts to pull out were putting them into an even steeper dive. Lives were lost. Planes crashed.

Nowadays physicists specializing in the aerodynamics field understand airflow at supersonic speeds and indeed the control surfaces on an aircraft have reverse effects. Pulling up on the joystick was in fact helping those planes go into a steeper dive. Yet all the test pilots had to do was push the stick down.

I think it is a similar with deflationary economies. The market dynamics are different. Rather than do the keynesian things that are mis-taught in our universities and colleges, we should be doing the opposite.

Every company head, every polytrickian they are all trying to do the obvious. Micro management with a bucket trying to bale out the Titanic. Its corner shop mentality. Apples were in demand last week, lets get lots of apples. SO they buy lots of apples only to find that the next week is warmer and people prefer citrus fruits for refreshment and are buying oranges and tangerines instead. The apples go mouldy, the store keeper looses money, in a desperate attempt to stay afloat he fires half his staff so he can only open until 6.00pm instead of 10.00pm.

Going back to the first point of this post, since the capitalists are not taking advantage of spending at truly low levels, they cannot believe in capitalism. Instead they are the corner shop trader. Not businessmen but people who are in business by chance. Have climbed up the company ladder by stabbing everyone in the back and schoolboy bully tactics.

Therefore capitalism not only doesn't work, it doesn't exist either. Its a ponzy scheme and as such they should all go on trial.

The trouble with taxes

I read today that the UK is set to raise the VAT rate back to 17.5 pct. This is guaranteed to put the UK back into the 2nd cycle of a double dip recession. You only have to look back at the collapse or the Japanese bubble in 1990. As soon as there were signs of economic activity after the big sell of the Japanese government raised consumption tax from 3pct to 5 pct. The result 20 years of stagnation and zero growth.


The UK is effectively copying Japan's mistake. Why? I know that polytricians are hindered by the "Next Election" but its less than 20 years ago. Less than a generation. Surely someone in the UK government must realize this.

There is also underlying strong inflation. Good! Every economy needs a cycle of inflation every so often. Don't try and cripple it like Reagan and Thatcher did. Inflation was not the bogeyman then, They were!!!

The trouble with tax is it is a compound instrument.

Lets assume 1Kg of raw meterials.
* Raw material producer provides the materials. His cost is GBP100, for profits he adds 33pct. The cost is now GBP133. He has to add VAT at 17.5pct (GBP 23.28) making the sell on price GBP 156.28

* The Factory or fabricator buys the raw materials for GBP 156.28. He makes a widget with the raw materials, adds his profit of 33pct to cover salaries, labour and packaging. The price is now GBP 207.85. He has to add VAT at 17.5% (GBP 36.37), so now the sell on price is GBP 244.22.

* The wholesaler/retailer purchases the widgets for GBP 244.22 and he adds his profit 33pct to cover storage, staff, heating and lighting costs and now the price is GBP 324.81. He adds 17.5%VAT (GBP 56.84) and the price now to the user or purchaser is GBP 381.65

The revenue has received GBP 116.49 the overall cost is nearly four times the raw materials. When you consider that the average working person probably pays 30pct income tax, the end consumer has to earn GBP 496.15 before tax to buy one widget.

It is clear that our not only is our taxation system wasteful and extravagant, but our system of making and producing and selling goods is also wasteful. We need to integrate and streamline. One company has to collect raw materials, fabricate, deliver, sell for one profit margin. This company has to be run efficiently and fairly.

What is the difference?

What is the type of human being you hate most, who you would never want to meet or move in next door to you?

* A terrorist?
* A rapist?
* A child molester?
* A murderer?
A person of a different race?
A person with a different spiritual or religious belief?

The first 4 groups which I listed with an asterisk all have the same profiles. They use manipulation of others for either their sexual or Utopian beliefs. Destroying the lives of many (slowly or quickly) for their own cause.

How different then is the capitalist (Crapitalist from now on since everything a capitalist touches turns to crap. Like a negative modern day Medusa)

Terrorists, rapists, child molesters, people in fanatical groups are all listed and recorded in databases and monitored by the police and other government agencies. I strongly recommend that we do the same with the crapitalists who are proven to have destroyed the lives or livelihoods of others for the sake of their own greed. treat the crapitalist like a child molester. Don't hail him as a hero of industry blame him as a leach on the but of society.

Old Housing, Old Ideas, Vested Interests = High Price.

I was thinking this weekend about the system that Japan had until the mid 90's. The average employee or "salaryman" would work for the same company for pretty much all his working life. The company if big enough would provide subsidized apartment style accommodation, which while cramped would be adequate for a small young family of 4.

Japan has changed and the "Lifetime Employment" norm has changed. However there were some good things about this system because although it allowed the company to keep salaries down and keep more wealth to reinvest back into the company and products, the Japanese banking system and Pension systems set up to supply the company provided a good payoff at retirement. It usually provided the employee with enough of a cash bonus at retirement to buy a piece of land and build at least a modest home within commuting distance to a large city such as Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo etc.

Japan was not and is not aloof from corruption itself, but still the system kind of worked in its day. I am about to suggest something similar that would work in England. English housing is a mish mash of old bricks and mortar semi-detached houses built in the 1940's and 1950's. They were planned as temporary housing, but these ill equipped houses make up a big chunk of the UK housing market. Originally sole for around 5,000 pounds they now command 100 times that amount. The alternative is modern timber framed houses on an estate purposefully built buy a large building conglomerate. The modern estates will cosmetically have several house designs to make them appear unique, but inside they are tiny box rooms not useful by today's living standards.

The third alternative is a self build where the individual has to seek land for purchase, apply for planning permission (from the local council), upon acceptance of his building plans he has to employ a builder or builders to complete the work.
Eventually, he may end up with his dream house on a piece of land that is too small for the house and a 5 mile drive from the nearest railway station where the main line to London does not run on time and has frequent cancellations.

One of the reasons is that when a site (for example and old factory that has been relocated), comes up for redevelopment, the council does not look at individuals who want to purchase small plots from the large area, the councils will set up a bidding system with national sized building firms. These firms have the financial clout to pay backhanders, bribes or other incentives to secure the lot for their own purposes. This must be outlawed.

Basically, the government should set up a scheme to encourage people to work. An agency which is a subsidiary of the Central Bank (Bank of England), and the National Land Registry would have total and absolute control. Long term employees would have a 20 or 30 year plan to fund their own house. (Private purchase would not be outlawed, but the same agency would control all land title matters and purchases. In the first ten years of service his employer (via the agency) would provide the employee with a savings scheme to buy a piece of land). In his second 10 years or more his savings would be attributed to building costs. If the employee has enough good work experience and enough credit he can buy the land before 10 years is up. Changing company will not be a problem like the old pension plans of yesteryear, since the agency will be a semi government agency, contributions will be portable. The agency would collect contributions from the employee and the employer. The Employee could elect to have any bonus included as well.

The "semi-detached" problem would have to be dismantled. U.K. zoning and planning restrictions haven't been changed for years and years. In the old days having everything all the same and all in a line was thought to be good. These days people want to be individual and as much as possible custom build their house. There are others who think that post war semi detached houses are the greatest thing since sliced bread and would refuse to change for anything.

The agency would be responsible for finding out which current semi-detached owners would be willing to tear their half down with their neighbor and divide the plot for an individual detached house. Zoning laws would change in these areas to allow a 2 or 3 story design with or without basement.

Local builders in association with local architects would design portfolios of suitable, customizable houses. Large builders could offer an all-in-one service including fixtures and fittings where the builder would act as project manager for the buyer.

Those living in semi detached homes and did not want to change would be offered relocation with financial assistance to do a house swap into a street where the majority of semi-detached owners prefer not to change.

Some will argue that the saving scheme may not keep up with inflation. In response I say that if we fix capitalism with national schemes that cut out the "Greedy Crapitalist", the price will more or less be the same this year, next year and in 10 years time.

It would revitalize the nation and provide competition and value for money in the sleepy monopolistic housing market that exists today.

The U.K. also needs to draft a constitution to protect peoples rights and a tier 2 constitution like protected law base. This second tier law base would protect laws that have proved to be excellent or successful from being changed by alternating governments. The qualifications to get into the protected laws would be strict, changing them would be difficult, but they would be reviewed annually. However the public would have the vote to change by electronic terminals for these laws, not the polytricians with vested interests that inhabit and inhibit parliament.

Because of the old money lobby groups.

Once again, the question of why America does not mine or exploit its own natural resources instead prefers to be not self sufficient in energy is making headlines. Why is this?

Because families (Old American Money with vested interests), such as the "Bush" family do not want to mine their reserves. It is not theirs to decide however. (Read my previous article on public goods).

Oil and mineral wealthy families do not want to mine under their land. They want to people to keep buying from overseas sources and they want political instability in these areas to keep prices high.

That means the value of their "unexploited" holdings also goes up. They are quite happy to have their untapped assets increase in value since they can borrow against it and buy land, property, oil commodities to create more asset bubbles so they can make profits when they sell and keep repeating the process.

These type of people create NO VALUE! They are value destroyers and leaches.
That is why the US will not use its own resources. It has nothing to do with keeping the countryside pretty (Take a look at Michigan and New Jersey), its all about keeping the old money families happy.

Send the capitalists to the moon (The back side) and let them continue their destructive ways there.

Will the last vulture on Earth please activate the "Nova Bomb"

For the first post of 2010, I want to go back to the problems of patents and copyrights.

Although copyrights have their roots in publishing in England in 1662, It was mostly in the latter part of the 20th century that we saw these laws being abused by capitalists.

We now fund a whole industry of lawyers, leeches and venture capitalists who all want their piece of the action. They are all "Value Destroyers" and create no value. I suggest that first of all governments should fund inventors, start-ups and research and not allow it into the hands of the vulture capitalists. The vulture capitalists want total control of the finished product for many decades, plus a piece of the action in the company, plus the product due to the high cost of licensing may never be used in combination with other products.

If the government starts to fund research, inventions and start-ups, the results can be listed and labeled as public goods. free to be used and modified by everyone and covered in law by something similar to GNU General Public License.

More people could use combination of products to produce new ideas and products and accelerate research. The current "Pay the Vulture" system limits the full development of any invention beyond what it was invented for because the licensing costs are too high.

Imagine you have a brilliant idea for making a wonderful new product, however to make the product you need to incorporate 3 other products that are protected by patents and copyrights. This wonderful new product may never be developed and marketed because the licensing costs are too high, and the owners of the core products may not want to license them due to vested interests.

Take General Motors for example. It is quite well known that GM in the 1970's and 1980's went around buying up every patented and copyrighted idea for the electric car. Had they perused the ideas we could be driving around in 2nd or 3rd generation electric cars by now. However, old money, old wealthy American family money, large shareholders of GM stock made it clear that it was in their interests not to develop the electric car. A lot of this old American money was heavily invested in oil, and they were oil barons themselves.

I firmly believe that if a person owns land or a ranch that sits above mineral wealth whether it be oil, gold, uranium or whatever. These goods should be classed as public goods. Enabling the government to force and seize and develop these assets after fairly compensating the landowner for the inconvenience, plus a reasonable premium to move house, home and expenses etc. The land owner should also be given the option to stay there so long as he does not impede the development.

The old money and "Vulture Capitalists" must learn that you cant own genes. You cant own oil reserves. You cant own gold mines. These are all public goods. They were created by exploding stars and billions of years of history. They were not created by an Ivy League wide boy on Wall Street.

The "Vulture Capitalist" will squeek " Without our investments, no one will ever start a company or invent anything". Well excuse me. I beg to differ. Before the modern crazed system of over-protection. People still invented and discovered things that changed our world. The telephone, Steam and internal combustion engines, Radio, Television. We didn't have greedy "Vulture Capitalist firms in that era, but we still had inventors that invented computers, modern medicine. We can live without the vultures, it is just we have forgotten how to. People still wrote great music before the invention of the gramophone and therefore the Tin-Pan-Alley vultures.

If every discovery and invention was in the public domain, for public use and the public good imagine how quickly society would advance and what a better place for mankind this planet could be. We could easily fix our planet's environmental problems, find cures for currently incurable diseases with cheap and easy to produce medicines. Make energy self sufficient homes, Have our farms produce an excess of food cheaply and efficiently with machines creating the wealth without the "vulture Capitalist" tax.

Our governments will never make a profit. Neither should they. The government is also a public asset and it should be used by all for the public good. We should ensure that governments invest in everyone's future, not just those with money.

In the future we will need philosophers, artists, musicians, inventors, engineers, scientists, medical specialists and many more. People will be able to work shorter hours for the same if not steadily improving standard of living and more of us will leave the poverty zone for good.

However we must grasp this idea and make it happen. If a government doesn't want to work for the people, then let them resign. Politicians are "public servants" i.e people that work for the people, the mass populous, everyone.

The human race is truly on a precipice. We can either reach out to the stars and become a peaceful, advanced race having mastered Artificial Intelligence, fixed all the problems on our planet and travel to the stars. Or we can allow the laws of the jungle to rule and let dog eat dog, and I guarantee there will be only one man left standing at the top of a mountain of paper money. A worthless struggle to accumulate a worthless paper mountain.

Will the last vulture on Earth please activate the "Nova Bomb"

UK citizens expected to pay through the nose again.

As a PC user (Windoze and 'Nix), I was recently confronted by my son that he needs a Mac next year because of some proprietary (read monopolistic), software called Logic Studio which only runs on the Mac platform. He is a music student at University. So, as my son goes to University in U.K and I live in Japan we do a price comparison.
Macbook Pro 15-inch:
2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB Memory


UK, Apple Store: GBP: 1299.00
Japan, Apple Store: JPY: 168,000 = GBP: 1158.00
Japan, Discount Store JPY: 138,000 = GBP: 952.00
US, Apple Store US$: 1699 = GBP: 1,042.00

We can see quite clearly that the UK customer must once again "PAY THROUGH THE NOSE". A discount of 26.72 pct can be achieved if we buy it for him in Japan. This represents a bigger discount than the student discount and the Apple staff discount added together. (Staff discount 15% plus %10 educational discount = 25%)
Not even sure if the Apple store would allow the addition of discounts anyway.
Any Apple staff reading this, please confirm...

The excuse from the manufacturers you will often hear is "It costs more to do business in the UK". Now while there might be some truth in that statement, it is not the whole story. Most of it is companies taking advantage of "What the market will bear". Especially a company like Apple that have created and are still allowed to operate a monopoly. Micro$oft get hammered all the time for anti-competitive trading practices,(and so they should). Why then should Apple get away with it? Just because its cute and cuddly? (By the way Apple also make the Logic Studio Software and that costs another 400 pounds. The price at the US Apple store is US$500 which at today's exchange rate is 313 pounds). Hardware or software, the UK customer is being ripped off again.

Digging deeper into this, why is everything more expensive in the UK?
Because the U.K. is now grossly uncompetitive and wasteful and produces nothing of value. Maggie Thatcher sold all our industry for a pound. So all we have left now is a nation of middle-men all trying to take their 30pct. She may have broken the unions strangelhold for those few years she was in power, but for sure she has ruined the industrial landscape of the UK for years to come in the process.
(Silly , stupid, retarded old bat).

The U.K. needs massive funding to re-create its lost industry, never mind the banks, they will be able to live off the coat tails of a new efficient industrial sector. Fund industrial rebirth not banker bonuses!

So, the answer is, yes we will be buying the Macbook Pro in Japan. The question remains is this: Does Apple "pay backhanders" to schools, colleges and universities to use their systems exclusively? Does anyone have the answer? Oi Jobzie , whats up?

Good! Let them quit!

The board of directors at Royal Bank of Scotland are trying to hold the government and the country to ransom. If they cannot be allowed to pay their excessive bonuses (to themselves as well of course), They threaten to resign.

Great! Let them resign, without severance, ban them from any official job for 10 years, whether it private sector or public sector. Who needs these leeches anyway.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8392791.stm

Capitalism is the ultimate ponzi pyramid scheme.

Robbing the poor to pay the rich.
Capitalism doesn't work and will never work fairly.

The enemy is not a primitive Muslim from a backward culture with some TNT strapped to his waist. He is not there for fun, he is there because of the sensational desire for profit in the western world that has raped, pillaged and plundered his world for centuries.

The enemy is within. The old money that controls America and the Western world is the enemy.

When will they ever learn?

Derivatives!!!

Think logically about this...

You have a product that is leveraged.
You pay less for it than its theoretical face value.
You do not have to account for it on your balance sheet for its full risk.
Once purchased you can control your VAR (Value at risk) x the leverage factor.

and.... The PHD scientists wrongly placed in finance still believe and try and convince us that the real VAR is less than the full value of the underlying product.
Why do people not try and think for themselves , rather than believe other people's implanted reality??????????

Let me make this really simple. Not even derivatives. This is a logical statement against the legality of short selling.

You own nothing (apart from a stack of cash sitting in the corner)
You want to bet against something, but you own nothing except the pile of ill gotten gains in the corner. Cash not earned by value creation, rather by value destruction. But, you are greedy and you want more.....

OK, so for a risk value (not the whole value of the asset) You short sell it.

It means that you borrow an asset, stocks, commodities etc for a period of time from the owner (or more likely his agent) and promise to pay the asset back at some date in the future with some kind of financial reward (interest).

The capitalist because he is leveraged pays a very small percentage of the full risk as down payment for the loan of the asset. (i.e. he pays down one percent as downpayment and "owns" the state of California)

The capitalist sells the asset (like George Soros against Sterling), if the capitalist can build enough momentum, he will start a trend which will make his "bet" a fait accompli.

The original investor who owns the stocks or asset might be a long term investor who bought the stock as a long term investment for his retirement. He leaves the certificates at his stockbroker firm for safekeeping and they decide to offer the stocks to the short sellers.

So the investment profile of the original investor has been changed from the careful to the wild and rampant money greedy capitalist.

Should short selling be allowed? NO!!!
If you want to sell something, fucking buy it and put your money where your fucking mouth is.

The capitalists rely on the ignorance of the general public and the financial industry in general to ply their black magic. Do me a favour! Kill a capitalist today!

Wake up - think for yourself!
Wake up - think for yourself!
Wake up - think for yourself!
Wake up - think for yourself!
Wake up - think for yourself!
Wake up - think for yourself!
Wake up - think for yourself!
Wake up - think for yourself!
Wake up - think for yourself!

Michael Moore should run for President.

Although very tongue in cheek, and of course Michael Moore is a capitalist too, he is the only person in the U.S.A. who has the guts to stand up and tell the world what is happening.

http://www.capitalismalovestory.com/

Bubble, bubble bubble.

You've gotta be smokin' some real whacky backy in the UK.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/6591368/UK-house-prices-peak-for-affordability-now-over.html

How on earth can that pile of semi-detached or terraced shit built in the 1950s and should have been pulled down in the 1960s be called housing by today's standards?
It was built as temporary housing after the 2nd world war. It is another example of "no renewal" in the UK. Primitive grey little country.

England has put up with crap housing for ages. It is so difficult to buy land since all the local government representatives have vested interests with the mass builders. So planning permission becomes and issue. Also you have to make your house "compatible" with every other house in the street. No attics, basements etc. Rules that are made to keep the average guy from self building and forced to buy a mass builder POS.

English people WAKE UP !!!!!!!!

Idiots warning!

"Don't waste your time arguing with an idiot. They will just drag you down to their level and beat you with years of experience."

One liner.

Ain't no such thing as politics.
Its all Poly-Tricks!

Poly as in many
Tricks as in trickery(deceit)

Even the major banks are preparing for disaster.

SocGen the major French bank came out with this.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/6599281/Societe-Generale-tells-clients-how-to-prepare-for-global-collapse.html

Meaning the banks themselves do not believe in a recovery.

Patents and Copyrights

These days we have allowed the rules for patents and copyrights to run riot and out of control.

Imagine firms being allowed to patent the human genome. The human genome is a "Public Good" It rather like allowing an airline to patent the sky it flies in. Or another example would be a hair dye company patenting the colour black and making people born with black hair pay them rent.

The capitalist will tell you that a company has to be "rewarded" for its investment in new products and science. Well, to an extent yes. Not 50 years!!! Perhaps 5-10 years and then automatically it has to go into the public domain.

While copyrights can protect artists such as musicians and writers the actual artists themselves get a very small piece of the pie from sales and its the big fat corporate cats sitting in their ivory towers that rake in all the cash.

If in the future we can redirect the excess value away from personal and corporate pockets and instead reinvest in our people and our planet we will all enjoy a better standard of living. Therefore our mindset will change from being self centrered to being open hearted and wanting to share the things we discover and create with the world. At this point the human race will accelerate its growth , maturity and intelligence.

Motto of this article is that capitalist greed is holding back the whole human race.

Automatic generation of Value.

Compared with say 100 years ago we have systems, machines and electronics in place to automatically create value. The creation of value is the only justification to create wealth. Apart from the initial outlay to install these systems and for the maintenance and renewal costs they create free values, i.e. free money.

In the Utopian world these systems would allow the human race to eradicate hunger and poverty in developing nations and reduce the number of hours the working populace needs to work for the same quality of life.

However in the Distopian capitalist society, they do not want people to have more time. Time to think. Time to perhaps rebel. The capitalists want everyone to work as long and as hard as possible for the lowest salary the market will bare, so that the capitalist can cream off more of the residue to hoard for his or herself.

Typical example is using robot farming machines and GPS a farmer with a large area can now run all the sowing, plowing, fertilizing and reaping automatically.
reducing costs overall. Therefore, the number of hours farm hands need to work ought to be decreased, however the farmer landowner doesn't want to take the initial hit for the investment of hardware , he would rather usurp the human machine slaves.

This is a micro example, but there are no disincentives to force him to invest in the future. On a macro scale if a government year after year fails to re-invest in infrastructure and nickles and dimes on the existing crippled infrastructure the county is set for a great fall from first world status straight to third or forth world status. Case in mind is the U.K. which is still trying to use what is essentially a Victorian Infrastructure.

Eventually, left to their own devices capitalists will devour themselves and leave one person with all the wealth and resources in the world. By that time, everyone else will be dead and that person will be heir to an annihilated society.

Lets stop the rot before we all become extinct!

Public Goods.

Keynesian economics talks a lot about "public goods" and how one person consuming a public good should not prevent another person from consuming that good.

I maintain that all profits should be declared public goods since in most cases apart from a one man company, other people were employed in value creation of the product that is sold. People from raw material extraction to fabrication to sales. Many people were involved in the production of the goods, so any profits must logically be a public good. Therefore profits should be put back into the country by infrastructure improvements, like health care, education, hospitals, communications etc.
With more renewal projects the jobless level falls and there is more money in circulation that is not going into the pockets for the greedy capitalists. Spending money or adding money to a system has a multiplying effect according to Keynes. Therefore the benefits are amplified. However if it stays in the pockets of the greedy then the rest of society receive no benefit from the profit and no benefit from the amplification factor either.

Motto... Outlaw greed!

The Tories are merely puppets to big business

Next year there will be a general election in U.K.
Neither the current Labour government nor the Tories are fit to lead. Unfortunately the smaller parties aren't either. Just look at this example of slavish devotion to "big money"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/has-cameron-done-a-deal-with-murdoch-1819010.html

There needs to be new life in parliament and British politics. Where is Guy Fawkes when you need him?

Anti-Christ?

Goldman Sachs head saying he is doing God's work?
Who does he work for then the Anti-Christ?
Note the ear to ear smile I spoke of in an earlier post.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6907681.ece

Jewish tripe.

Today there is a report about infighting in the Jewish community over a Jewish school.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/world/europe/08britain.html
This is just spin!

Reading between the lines I see that this is a very "desirable" school where all students have a distinct "advantage" above other schools in the area or in Britain.
What this really means is that the family concerned are bitter that their child was refused entry and are using the "Jewish" card to scream discrimination. Poor hard done by Jews. The family are obviously rich since they are paying expensive (probably Jewish) lawyers to take the school to court. Why not spend that money on a private education for your child (As I have had to do). Why should you get something for nothing (Free education for your child) and I have to pay for mine.

While not prejudice against any race or person or belief, I do believe that Jewish people on the whole have a good if not better life with more money than most. I just wish that they would stop playing this "Holocaust trump card" or variants thereof to keep the world on their side. Jews are no better or no worse than any other race on the earth. Every race , colour and creed have good people and bad people lets get that clear.

The world is ripe for a revolution.

In the mid 20th century the youth of the world of whom I was part had a dream. End war. End corruption. Live in peace with our neigbours for the advancement of mankind. For the most part it was peaceful. Sit-ins and so on. The so called hippy or flower power generation. Why did it fail?

(1) Global communications were not as open as they are today with the internet and national propaganda and reporting controls were able to divert a lot of the news.
(2) The old money got in the way. The parents of the new generation basically told the kids to get back to school and stop fooling about.

Today, I think it would be successful. Nowadays with the internet people are able to topple governments more easily, the power is there. People just need to re-kindle that dream for something better.

Car scrapping discounts who wins?

Since the UK no longer has a domestically owned mass production car maker surely the benefits from the car scrapping scheme are going into the pockets of foreign owners. Don't give me crap about British sourced parts going into those cars either since it will be the bare minimum to get away with it by law.

British men. Put the sports papers down and start to think about what your government is doing!!!

Capitalism Doesn't Work! 89% Agree !!!

New report from BBC shows support for capitalism even lower than that for Gordon Brown.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8347409.stm

Where does all the money go?

In our boom and bust economic cycles, where does all the money go. Economists and financiers will tell you it doesn't go anywhere since it was all "paper profits" anyway. However, imagine if you have a crystal ball that will give you the timing of the boom and bust highs and lows. That would be as good as winning the lottery.

Well, the old money, the big money knows the game and profits from these cycles. That is how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. One way to tell that a boom bubble is about to bust is watch for a rapid acceleration in house prices. The reason I say that is because this is the key to the last stage. When the capitalist buisinessmen cannot wring out enough "gap" between costs and sales they go into the markets and create what stock markets call a "pump and dump scheme". Initially the investors will start to slowly buy property in key areas (Property because 1. Its the single most expensive item most people purchase in a lifetime and 2. It is very illiquid which means its hard to offload a house quickly)

When the investors have managed to build up the momentum to be self sustaining the average Joe Public rushes to get on the bandwagon and extends himself as much as possible in case he misses the chance. Often as in the recent crisis the investors and old money find ways to lend money to people at a ration to earnings that would never be allowed in a sane market. This gives a second pump to already overheating prices. The investors buy a few more properties and wait. Then as if by a magic invisible concensus (conspiracy? you bet it is!), the property owners hit the bids in the market quietly and stealthily. For a while economists snf the media may ponder and talk about whether the current frenzy is about to end or whether it is just taking a breather for the next acceleration. The wise old money knows it is already over because they were the creators of it. Their portfolios already unloaded they bank the cash and sit on their profits which can be very large indeed.

The moral of this is, if its pumping - dump it. If its dumping, wait and buy it.

The importance of microloans

There is a relatively recent phenomena of micro loans in the developing world. Mainly involving a lender which could be smaller regional banks or even a pawnshop and a borrower. It means that people who have no access to regular banking systems have access to loans. it could be for a village to irrigate their crops, it could be for small business start-ups and basically helps poorer communities stand on their own two feet. These microloans are often the only way that people can get themselves out of the poverty trap.

However, no matter how good the intentions of the lenders these loans are often covered by draconian rules and regulations. As mentioned earlier in this blog any investment's VAR is actually the full investment value. Of course we do not want to encourage defaulting, but we must always assume that there will be a percentage of businesses or ideas that fail. Often the lender will charge interest weekly or even daily making the APR very expensive indeed.

* My suggestion is firstly to create a website where potential boprrowers and lenders of microloans can discuss the project and the interest rate and terms and conditions.
* Have a simple no-nonsense plain language contract.
* Have these loans covered by a loan guarantee system (Yes, I know its against my usual opinions).

It is absolutely vital that these borrowers are treated fairly so some kind of structured mechanisms need to be put into place.

Covert Techniques

Have you often wondered why so many people seem to be taking courses on self building or personal coaches or trainers?

Well, I think it is an internal craving to get to the top, to be the winner, not to let anyone get the better of you. Again a testosterone driven primitive man instinct. I repeat again the world doesn't need winners, we all need to be winners.

There are a growing number of people running companies and corporations. However, they are not businessmen, they are people in business. They know how to rape, pillage and plunder the business, but they do not know how to RUN a business. These people are usually micro-managers who employ their underlings to spy on each other so that the boss always knows what people are thinking or doing.

These people use a number of covert techniques including black-ops hypnosis and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). It is not so easy to spot but this is a typical scenario.
The boss will come over to you and tell you something good about you to make your mood upbeat and good, he will usually touch you on the shoulder perhaps the right shoulder, then he will tell you something bad about you, or humiliates you and touches the opposite shoulder. The next few times you meet he will do the same with different scenarios. After a few times he will be able to control your mood by merely touching you on the shoulder.

This coupled with black-ops induction , handshakes, hypnosis and instant trance can have you under his control without even knowing it. You will think he is such a nice person !!!
The only way to null their power is to expose them for what they are. People manipulators. Discover the techniques he is using by making a conscious effort to THINK! and then spread the word. Once the majority know the tricks his power will be gone. There are too many people manipulators in this world usurping others. It just takes a little thought and observation to nullify the effects. People however find it hard to think for themselves and prefer to take the easier path of allowing others to shape their life. Don't be manipulated!!!

Corporate terrorism.

Today an anti-trust case was brought against Intel.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/04/AR2009110402015.html?hpid=topnews

The punishment simple.
Forced nationalization. The whole board of Intel is fired and charged under the financial terrorism act and punishments dished out in line with my previous posting. Posted here again for convenience.

1. The person is made instantly bankrupt and all his or her global assets are seized forever.

2. That person is banned for life from holding a public office or a directorship in a company

3. That person is never to be allowed credit in the future including credit cards.

4. At least a 10 year prison term with no special low security privileges.
5. No appeals.

Bigger than the GDP of the whole planet!

Quoting an article from "Moneyweek" dated Sep 05, 2007
http://www.moneyweek.com/investments/stock-markets/derivatives-the-mother-of-all-bubbles.aspx

It states concerning the value of derivatives holdings and I quote directly "The latest estimates judge it to be worth some $236 trillion – or about eight times the GDP of the entire planet. In other words, it is a bubble larger than the world itself"


Are we mad? What is wrong with this picture?. That was 2 years ago. look what happened since and what is still happening. We all follower the derivatives pied piper over the edge.

More on the markets.

OK take a deep breath before you answer this.

What gives us (western financial companies, banks and governments), the right to access prices today for delivery in the future?

I am talking about futures, forward rate agreements, outright forwards and options.
Why does anyone need to fix prices in the future? If Keynesian theory (already corrupt, but upheld by the current bunch of ignoramuses running governments and central banks) is correct then prices will find their own level where the buyer and the seller find mutual and equal benefit in the price of the commodity.

To try and fix an asset or liability obligation at some date in the future is bound to encourage speculation, which it has. Do we really want our banks and capital markets to just be a casino for those with the biggest stakes? Already now embedded in our markets since the late 1980's it would be hard to outlaw these products. However, since the financial "Big Bang" any Tom, Dick or Harry who wants to make a "thargload" just has to invent a new financial derivative and sell the idea to an institution and hey presto loads of upfront cash with VAR in the future!

Another ridiculous assumption is that historic prices predict future prices. Again invent your own analytical marker and the "market cult" will test it, absorb it, dream about it and worship it! The latest "in thing" is the SABR volatility model that tries to tell us that the current price of a commodity carries all the information about the past prices and all the future prices. I guess a suitable name for this theory would be quantum derivatives. hahahahahaha!  Are our financiers really such a gullible lot? Perhaps we need to ask the witchdoctor!

What shall we do with the money drunk capitalist? Early in the morning!

The U.S. and to a lesser extent British and European governments are still encouraging 3rd world nations to "borrow" from them for desperately important infrastructure, health, education or welfare projects.

Considering the way western companies use labour in these poorer nations we should be giving them free aid for these projects forever. Instead we either invade their country looking for WMDs or invade them to topple some tinpot little dicatator. We wreck their country. Cause death, disease and famine. Then we offer to rebuild their country from scratch. Of course its our western companies that will get the contract and a few numbers will change in western bank accounts. Yes, there will be some rebuilding, and you can be sure that the corruption in the western companies and governments will syphon of a huge portion for their own pockets. Leaving the 3rd world nation in debt for 50 years and indentured to the lender forever.

No wonder the promise of religious salvation is so easy to sell in these countries for the religious leaders. I just wish that we could gather up all the old money capitalists, politicians and lawyers and send them to the moon in exile. Perhaps that would be too good for them?

Avoid!

Do you know anyone who's smile seems to go from ear to ear?
Fear them! This type of person is laughing because they are about to screw you.

Dear Mr. Mori Trust

I work in a building owned by Mori Trust. There are some 37 floors and the elevators are divided in groups of 4 to serve differnt floor groups. However, I susspect that Mori Trust turn off elevators to save costs at the expense of the tenant's employees.

I am a smoker.
Typically in a regular day I go up and down 10 times.
Each journey I have to wait a minimum of 30 seconds for an elevator.(Often much longer)
That's at least 10 minutes a day.
21 day business month that is 210 minutes a month
Allowing for an 11 month year to take into account public holidays and vacation thats a staggering 2310 minutes a year or 38 1/2 hours.
I have worked in this building for 7 years.
Therefore I have spent 269 1/2 hours waiting for Mori Trust elevators since I have been here. Or if you prefer 11 1/4 days of my life sacrificed to Mori Trust to satisfy their insatiable desire for cost savings at the personal expense of people using the building.
Is this really serving your tenants?

Review what we teach at Universities.

We need to review what we teach at universities, most especially in economics and political science. We are still teaching students about the Reagan/Thatcher era as if it is a role model to follow.

Thatcher for example had one goal in mind. Crush the unions!  "If you cant make products at a competitive price we will close you down and sell you for a pound"
What the silly old bat (who now also has Alzheimers, what does that tell you about this era?) didn't realize was that without any domestic manufacturing and industry the value of sterling goes down and therefore the cost of imports from overseas goes up. Therefore if the cost of goods of domestic UK produced goods is more than overseas prices but not by a ridiculous amount, it is good to keep UK industries running. It prevents jobs from going overseas. Citizens in UK have always paid through the nose for everything. The governments have never allowed low interest rates for fear of the average man in the street going on a spending spree on credit.

Typical example, a car that would cost US$25,000 will cost GBP25,000 in England or possibly more. When the true exchange rate adjusted price including shipping and duties would be less.

Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !
Silly old bat !

Big Government. Its the end. Trim the fat.

The age of big government is over! Bureaucratic, wasteful, expensive.
Why do we need 645 MP's? Less than 100 will do the job. In this day of internet age we can allow the country to vote every day on open issues. That way the government is truly representing the people. The government web page will have a list of issues that are open to voting every day and the eligible voters will have a secure ID to prove their identity. The number of people serving ministers will also be slimmed down saving costs. Government can be thin, lean and mean and still get the job done. Instead of a parliament filled with ministers we would have an expanded cabinet of say up to 50 ministers, and a further 50 ministers who would be responsible in ratifying decisions made by the populace and the cabinet like a mini house of lords.

Politicians would be elected still by constituencies but more emphasis would be on efficiency and a small central government for national issues. Local government would also be shaken up and made to do more with less.

I am hoping for additional input and ideas on this matter also.

The credit crisis (Financial products that should never have been invented)

In the past 10 years or longer we have seen growth in a special type of derivative that strips the credit rating of one asset so that it can be attached to another.

For many many years credit rating agencies such as Standard and Poors and Moodies have done a good job of fairly assessing banks and companies, their business plans and strategies and their debt burden. Culminating in a rating from AAA the best possible to non rateable junk bond status. As the result the cost of borrowing for the companies is cheapest for a triple A rated company and most expensive for a low on non rated company. Basic banking 101.

With a credit derivative product it is possible in theory to take a junk bond, mix it with some medium quality bonds and put a triple A label on it. Effectively circumventing the credit rating agencies. Selling mutton as lamb. Although just tongue in cheek scenarios the following explains the reason for their creation and the stupidity of the product.

1. A bunch of old money guys are holding some bonds they bought at the recommendation of their broker or investment bank. The company suffers a downgrade due to bad management or missed contracts or any number of business reasons. Therefore the assets the old money guys had purchased is no longer worth anywhere near what they paid for it and will never yield the amount that they expected to receive. Therefore these old money guys (From very famous and powerful families), go back to their investment bank and tell them to fix the problem and get their money back. The investment bank calls on its financial engineering team to skew the payoff from the bonds. So.. The investment bank buys back the bonds at face value, puts a few other high quality bonds in a so called basket. Estimates the payoff, sets a new coupon rate and either gives its own credit rating or issues credit default swaps based on a 3rd party to improve the default characteristics of the basket.
Then the investment bank lets call them Weidman, issues this new basket of bonds and attaches their own credit rating lets say single A to the issue. That way they can sell junk to the market at the price of gold because it has this "Credit derivative" attached. The financial engineers however miscalculated the VAR or value at risk of these products thinking that diluting the risk in this way for a fixed fee would be fine.
No, just step outside the box and think about it. A piece of shit is still a piece of shit even with a new coat of paint. The device seemed to become so popular that everyone wanted in on the game to improve the notional value of their holdings.

2. In layman terms.
Joe owns a one pump garage on a dusty lonely stretch of route 66. He has worked there and lived there alone since his mother and father passed away. He gets a few customers a week, just enough to keep his head above water and not much else.
Then one day the suits from Weidman pull up in their limo at Joe's garage. They fill their tank and start up a conversation with him. They ask Joe how long he has been there. What a fine and prosperous garage he owns. This country needs more businessmen like you Joe. They ask Joe how long it has been since he has taken a holiday. Joe says he has not had the chance as there is no one to run the business.
So they ask him if he has a destination in mind, somewhere he would really like to visit. Yes, he answers my daddy always used to say Vegas was like paradise on earth So i think I would like to go there.

The suits convince Joe that his garage is worth at least 1 mio dollars and that they can borrow $2mio against it and future profits and sell bonds protected by a credit default swap by a big company and everything would be fine. Joe would be able to take a holiday and maybe even make some improvements to the business. Of course the cost of this financial engineering would be $1mio which Joe would have to pay Weidburg from the $2mio he is going to borrow. After agreeing, the suits get back in their car and tell Joe they will be back in a month. Sure enough they come back with a contract and documents that are an inch thick. Joe signs in all the places they circle. They guys from Weidman get back in the car and tell joe the issue should be made in a few weeks time and he should have his $1mio net in about 6 weeks. Sure enough, 6 weeks later Joe gets a cheque from Weidman for $1mio. Joe packs his bag gets in his truck and sets off for Vegas.

When he gets there he finds a hotel checks into a nice room and goes downstairs to buy some chips with his Weidman draft. Joe didn't know much about casinos but he had seen them on TV. So he took his $1mio worth of chips and put it all on black on the roulette table. Well of course it came up red. Joe looses everything including his garage and truck, the bonds (not just Joe's part but another 1,000 people like him) default. The buyers of the repackaged bonds try to cash in on the default with the credit derivative event attached to the basket. However, the amount of default swap payout is not enough to cover the loss of the investment, just the difference in bond value between one credit level and another (typically a downgrade by one step).
So Joe looses everything. New investors loose almost everything. Weidman get rich.
Weidman salesmen get multi-million dollar bonuses and go on to prove to the world that black is red and whats more red is more valuable than black.

Backing England, sell the Pound.

One of the first things I would do in government is to create a new currency. There would be no exchange rate between pounds sterling for example and the new currency.

Indeed it would be illegal and outlawed with severe penalties if any money changers started up. The average persons savings would be exchanged through the central bank at parity. Anyone with other assets will have their taxes checked and if they have already paid tax on the amount then they also would be allowed exchange at parity via the central banks.

However, those with cash or other assets that have been gotten without creating value will have penalty exchange rates which in extreme cases could be 100 - 1. Therefore the country will have reclaimed much of the stolen gains for the benefit of all its citizens.

Now I know this is not a perfect idea yet, but the destruction of the old currency is quite necessary I feel. I would like to invite anyone to comment an make additional ideas and modifications that could make this a workable vehicle for change.

Complaints about Japan

The country I have lived in for some 23 odd years is not without its own niggles and problems.

Tokyo's overcrowded subway system runs on time and is safe, cheap and convenient. The Japanese race have a perceived politeness around the world and it is true, but a certain amount of it is automatic. Some people are "mewaku kakeru hito" in other words people who cause problems for others.

However, those riders on Tokyo subway cars have a very annoying habit of staying in the seat until the train is in the station where they want to get off and has fully stopped. Then they get up and go towards the door. Passengers waiting on the platform are already rushing into the car and this causes a "cluster fuck" of people pushing and shoving to get on or off the train.

I just wish they could be polite enough to get up from their seat and wait by the doors 20 seconds before the train enters the station. It seems a simple concept. I cannot understand why the Japanese just don't get it.

Investment. Good or bad?

No matter which way you look at money and interest rates, any investor who lends money to a company or firm is looking for a free ride. Because he or she has excess money, too much money the investor is expecting to get more free money without working, without creating any value. In effect investors are "Value Destroyers" rather than "Value Creators" (Most people who work can be called "Value Creators").

Indeed in the UK and other countries in the western world the media and popular press are often heard to condemn the social welfare system for paying people who do not want to work. Well, yes the system needs to be modified to encourage people to study or retrain. That is agreed. However, what is the difference between the investor and the "dole" recipient? Nothing, they both get paid without working !

Although a complete review and rebuild of the banking system is required, while there is investment and money without pay, the investor must be prepared to loose all of the invested money in event of a default and not try and modify his potential loss with derivative products. The real risk is the full value of the investment, any derivative sold by a financial engineer or banker that costs less than the investment to protect is a confidence trick and merely passing on the risk to another or other parties at parity with the original investment or even leveraged so that there is more risk than in the original investment.

Looking at the collapse of US mortgage quasi government agencies FannieMae and FreddyMac. The US government should have had the conviction to do the following.
1. Let them fail and close
2. Anyone with a mortgage or a guarantee from those agencies have their complete loan forgiven by the US government with rules.

The rules would be something like this
* The owner may not sell the house in the open market for 20 years.
* If the owner wants or needs to sell before they must have a valuation by an arbitration team who will set the sale price at a fair price compared with the value of the house to sell, value of the house to buy (if there is one) and the amount of the loan forgiven.This would have been a cheaper option than putting trillions of dollars into institutions that needed and still need to fail.

Again... An investor who wants to earn something for nothing without working to build value, must risk the full value of the investment or the investment only works for the benefit of the investor, not the borrower.

There are some rich people in the world who earn yes "Earn" high salaries sometimes because they are adjusted for short careers. I am thinking movie and television stars and personalities and sports athletes, lawyers and professionals. However they all work and they all create "value". No objections.

Society needs to recognize the difference. Most people create wealth "Value Creators". A few are "Value Destroyers" who just cream off free value from the "Value Creators".

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does globalization go?

The funny thing about globalization is the capitalists say they want it and need it
(When actually the capitalists will expire if and when true globalization is in place)
The anti globalization groups who fight against it, should actually be fighting for it.

My viewpoint. The capitalist needs poor countries to source goods and labour so that his finished products can sell at considerably higher prices than the raw materials and cost of manufacturing.

Under true globalization we have a central world government that controls the big problems such as carbon emissions, global warming and management and planning of the worlds resources for 50 years in the future.(50 year plans) One currency with freedom of movement for all citizens means the cost of raw materials and labour will neutralize globally providing new opportunities for those who embrace it. The old world capitalists will crumble with no 3rd world to rape or pillage.

Things about Ole Blitey that require change (2)

If my Nu-K party (See below) were ever elected, this is one of the things I would change.

One of the biggest hurdles to renewal in UK is the preference to nickle and dime just another few years from a crumbling Victorian infrastructure. Part of this mindset is the "National Heritage" Protected buildings argument. In my view, just because a building is old, does not mean it should be a protected asset. If there is some external architectural significance, then by all means keep the facade and rebuild the interior to modern standards (Yes that does include air-conditioning that works).

On a return trip to London a few years ago I drove by taxi through the busy Old Street roundabout. I was amazed that this congested junction was being made worse by adding traffic islands in the middle of the road to restrict traffic to single file !!!

To try to demonstrate how ludicrous this is imagine a medical scenario. If a patient has chronic heart blockage, the doctors will provide him a stent to open up the artery. They don't give him sausage , egg and chips with black pudding and fired bread and tell him to come back in a months time.

The country I live in Japan has been in recession for the past 25 years, however they still renew in all their infrastructure every single year. The result is that Japan is ready to compete in the 21st century, with any other 21str century economy including China. Unfortunately, old democracies will be headings straight for the 4th world nation status. Since UK hasn't centrally planned and renewed anything since the days of Queen Victoria, and the USA hasn't done anything since the 1950s - 1960s. Reinvestment in infrastructure and the nation as a whole for the benefit of all citizens is key. Raping and pillaging old infrastructure in search of quenching the insatiable desire for profit must be condemned and if necessary outlawed.