Posts Tagged ‘money’

Given the fact that manufacturing jobs and industries account for only one fifth (1/5th) of economic output of countries in the OECD, it is important to realize potential impacts this shift from tangible output driven economies to a more service oriented one, and the pundits’ chants that it is an advantageous phenomenon. Some questions to consider are: is the contraction of manufacturing in developed economies a result of so called maturity in economies or is it that the forced of globalization, speerheaded by government trumping corporations in search of cheap labor?

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Working & Middle Classes to be extinct in 10 years

8th November 2004

News article filed by Lee Barnes, LLB (Hons)

Within ten years the entire unskilled working class workforce of Britain will be made redundant by cheap foreign labour and the middle class will be decimated as their jobs are off-shored. Digby Jones, the director-general of the CBI the body for big business in Britain, will tell the annual CBI conference in Birmingham: “There will not be any work in Britain for unskilled people . . . within one scholastic generation.” He will say the 3.5 million people who are functionally illiterate in the UK will find it impossible to get work within 10 years.
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In a survey of 150 British companies, which employ 750,000 people between them, 51 per cent said cheaper foreign labour costs meant they are considering moving their jobs abroad. So much for the patriotism of the British capitalist elite! From Doc Martens Boots to Dyson’s Vacuums- the entire British economy is being shipped abroad.

Entire middle class extinction

The CBI says the phenomenon of moving jobs abroad has become so easy and profitable for business that it has spread from the largely unskilled manufacturing sector in Britain through to financial services and IT. The entire middle class of Britain from office secretaries, architects, accountants, computer specialists to middle managers will become extinct within ten years.

Ian McCafferty, the CBI’s chief economist, says call centres – the most significant example of outsourcing – accounted for only 14 per cent of jobs moved abroad. “That is well behind other services.” India and China remain the most popular places for exporting jobs, with Eastern European countries becoming increasingly attractive. In other words all the jobs in Britain that can be done by sending data down the internet to India or China will be finished in Britain in less than a generation.
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Catalogue of betrayal

“I have formed the view that if ever there was a country made for globalisation, it is Britain. It is in our DNA,” Mr Jones will say in a trite mixed metaphor. Mr.Digby seems to think that making money for a tiny percentage of global capitalists, and not protecting the social interests of our own people, should be the primary goal of the British economy. What he is suggesting is that because the British state has under-invested in educating its own indigenous workforce for generations (which is why we have so many cheap foreign nurses in the country) that the destruction of British industry is something to be applauded.

He is the voice of the ‘Cheap Labour’ greed driven capitalists that first imported millions of cheap immigrant labour into Britain and he is member of the global capitalist elite which fund groups like Searchlight and Unite Against Fascism to lie to the British people to ensure the BNP does not come to power as a party of national liberation. They call the BNP ‘racists’ for standing up for the economic and social interests of the indigenous British people whilst at the same time selling out the immigrant workforce that they once imported into the country by exporting jobs back to their homelands! One thing is for sure the plans of the British capitalist elite should ensure that many of the immigrants that came to Britain in search of work will now be considering returning to their own countries as no work will be left for anyone in this country in the future.

Protectionism condemned

“Protectionist voices who think they can stop this – that’s cloud cuckoo land,” he will tell the conference, which will be attended by Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, and Peter Mandelson, the European Trade Commissioner – both willing participants in the prolonged ritual slaughter of the British workforce as a sacrifice to Mammon. They will both be clapping effeminately as the murder of the British working class is celebrated by the British ‘ globalist plutocratic elite ‘.

“Ensuring people have the skills remains our problem. You have nothing to fear if you skill yourself “- he intends to say. Well we say to the pompous Mr. Digby Jones that self advancement, of course, depends upon having a government that wants to educate its own workforce to a sufficient level of skill. The globalist agenda of the Labour government and the billions of pounds it is pouring into the War in Iraq means this investment in education will not, and cannot, occur.

At no time in history have the British people faced so many dangers at the same time. From the treason of its business leaders selling them out for Dollars, Rupees and Yen to the Global economy and our Labour government waging illegal wars for the American – Zionist elite of Bush and the Neo-Conservatives. Everywhere the age of degeneration and destruction manifests itself.
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Clear and simple choice

The British people have a clear and simple choice. You either become one of the globalised masses with your children sold as slaves to the ‘ Global Plutocratic Elite ‘ or you wake up and fight to take back your own country and your children’s future. Unless you wake up you will never be free again – simply remaining a commodity to be exploited. Unless you wake up your children will have no future – only an existence as perpetual wage slaves. You will have betrayed your ancestors with your silence and apathy.

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When the fall of this Globalist system occurs we will be prepared for the challenge. But we say this, right here and right now, that those that stand against us now will be judged by us when the time comes. Either stand with us or stand aside. The masses are too mired in their own greed and stupidity to care either way. This is a battle of wills between the forces of renaissance and renewal represented by the BNP and the forces of decay and entropy represented by the current Globalist political and economic elite. Our will is the noble determination of our ancestors that stood fast at Trafalgar , Waterloo, the Somme and through the Blitz – the will of our enemies is the lust of the parasite to drain the lifeblood of nations to enrich themselves.

They will fail – we will triumph.

In an addendum to previous posts regarding China switching currencies, it looks like it is going to happen sooner than later. Indeed, China has proposed using copper as their hard currency to dump from the dollar’s instability. Frightened by run away dollar debts, increasing trade deficits partially caused by Chinese devaluation and manipulation of its economy and currency, and the financial crisis occuring in the United States, is making the Chinese government think twice about accepting anymore dollars.

It looks terribly bad for the US dollar as the hegemon of the world financial system these days as five countries plan to ditch the dollar in favor of more stable choices. As we’ve all seen in the last few years, the US dollar has been more unstable than a Christian drunk on one too many alcoholic beverages. God commands Christians to avoid drunkenness (Ephesians 5:18). The Bible also condemns drunkenness and its effects (Proverbs 23:29-35).
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Christians are also commanded to not allow their bodies to be “mastered” by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12; 2 Peter 2:19). It is obvious the world has become addicted to cheap oil, and since we know the US dollar is traded in oil, such a relationship can not be sustained for such a long time with countries like Iraq, Iran, and China wanting to trade oil in other currencies from other superblocks like the Eurozone’s “Euro” currency released in 1999.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 2:41PM BST 16 Apr 2009

China’s State Reserves Bureau (SRB) has instead been buying copper and other industrial metals over recent months on a scale that appears to go beyond the usual rebuilding of stocks for commercial reasons.

Nobu Su, head of Taiwan’s TMT group, which ships commodities to China, said Beijing is trying to extricate itself from dollar dependency as fast as it can.

“China has woken up. The West is a black hole with all this money being printed. The Chinese are buying raw materials because it is a much better way to use their $1.9 trillion of reserves. They get ten times the impact, and can cover their infrastructure for 50 years.”

“The next industrial revolution is going to be led by hybrid cars, and that needs copper. You can see the subtle way that China is moving into 30 or 40 countries with resources,” he said.

The SRB has also been accumulating aluminium, zinc, nickel, and rarer metals such as titanium, indium (thin-film technology), rhodium (catalytic converters) and praseodymium (glass).

While it makes sense for China to take advantage of last year’s commodity crash to restock cheaply, there is clearly more behind the move. “They are definitely buying metals to diversify out of US Treasuries and dollar holdings,” said Jim Lennon, head of commodities at Macquarie Bank.
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John Reade, metals chief at UBS, said Beijing may have a made strategic decision to stockpile metal as an alternative to foreign bonds. “We’re very surprised by Chinese demand. They are buying much more copper than they will need this year. If this is strategic, there may be no effective limit on the purchases as China’s pockets are deep.”
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Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank governor, piqued the interest of metal buffs last month by calling for a world currency modelled on the “Bancor”, floated by John Maynard Keynes at Bretton Woods in 1944.

The Bancor was to be anchored on 30 commodities – a broader base than the Gold Standard, which had caused so much grief in the 1930s. Mr Zhou said such a currency would prevent the sort of “credit-based” excess that has brought the global finance to its knees.

If his thoughts reflect Communist Party thinking, it would explain the bizarre moves in commodity markets over recent weeks. Copper prices have surged 49pc this year to $4,925 a tonne despite estimates by the CRU copper group that world demand will fall 15pc to 20pc this year as construction wilts.

Analysts say “short covering” by funds betting on price falls has played a role. But the jump is largely due to Chinese imports, which reached a record 329,000 tonnes in February, and a further 375,000 tonnes in March. Chinese industrial demand cannot explain this. China has been badly hit by global recession. Its exports – almost half GDP – fell 17pc in March.
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While Beijing’s fiscal stimulus package and credit expansion has helped lift demand, China faces a property downturn of its own. One government adviser warned this week that house prices could fall 50pc.

One thing is clear: Beijing suspects that the US Federal Reserve is engineering a covert default on America’s debt by printing money. Premier Wen Jiabao issued a blunt warning last month that China was tiring of US bonds. “We have lent a huge amount of money to the US, so of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets,” he said.

This is slightly disingenuous. China has the world’s largest reserves – $1.95 trillion, mostly in dollars – because it has been holding down the yuan to boost exports. This mercantilist strategy has reached its limits.

The beauty of recycling China’s surplus into metals instead of US bonds is that it kills so many birds with one stone: it stops the yuan rising, without provoking complaints of currency manipulation by Washington; metals are easily stored in warehouses, unlike oil; the holdings are likely to rise in value over time since the earth’s crust is gradually depleting its accessible ores. Above all, such a policy safeguards China’s industrial revolution, while the West may one day face a supply crisis.

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Beijing may yet buy gold as well, although it has not done so yet. The gold share of reserves has fallen to 1pc, far below the historic norm in Asia. But if a metal-based currency ever emerges to end the reign of fiat paper, it is just as likely to be a “Copper Standard” as a “Gold Standard”.

Brought to you by EconoChristian.com with help from Telegraph.

It looks terribly bad for the US dollar as the hegemon of the world financial system these days as five countries plan to ditch the dollar in favor of more stable choices. As we’ve all seen in the last few years, the US dollar has been more unstable than a Christian drunk on one too many alcoholic beverages. God commands Christians to avoid drunkenness (Ephesians 5:18). The Bible also condemns drunkenness and its effects (Proverbs 23:29-35). Christians are also commanded to not allow their bodies to be “mastered” by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12; 2 Peter 2:19). It is obvious the world has become addicted to cheap oi, and since we know the US dollar is traded in oil, such a relationship can not be sustained for such a long time with countries like Iraq, Iran, and China wanting to trade oil in other currencies from other superblocks like the Eurozone’s “Euro” currency released in 1999.
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The numerous wars the US has racked up in the last decade have cost its debt burden tremendous amounts (not to mention the tremendous government expansion and subsequent cost of such). As we’ve seen, the price of oil has gone from a high of approximately $155 per barrel all the way back down to approximately $20 per barrel. We certainly do not live in stable times.

CHINA

What? A global “supercurrency” to supplant the dollar

The details: Last month, the governor of China’s central bank, Zhou Xiaochuan, sent shock waves through the political and financial worlds by suggesting the world’s largest foreign holder of U.S. dollars supported the creation of a new global reserve currency.

In an essay published in both Chinese and English, Zhou, without ever mentioning the greenback, articulated concerns about the “inherent vulnerabilities and systemic risks in the existing international monetary system.” The world needs a reserve currency “disconnected from individual nations and … able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies,” the essay went on to state.

Zhou recommended building on an existing asset and exchange system, a kind of synthetic currency that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) created in 1969. In the special drawing rights (SDR) program, the 185 IMF member states fund a pool of money that the IMF distributes in shares, or SDRs. This currency could be used for government finance, trade transactions, pricing commodities, and international accounting. G-20 leaders expanded the SDR pool by $250 billion at their recent meeting.

The suggestion comes as the Chinese government attempts to push the renminbi, whose principal unit is the yuan, as a reserve currency in Asia. In past months, China has completed currency swaps with Argentina, Belarus, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea, among others; these allow China’s trading partners to buy Chinese goods with the renminbi, rather than the dollar. Soon, some economists predict, the renminbi may become the de facto pan-Asian reserve currency and a much bigger global player.

RUSSIA

What? A global “supercurrency” similar to the Chinese proposal

The details: Speaking in Moscow last month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev put his support for supplanting the dollar in stark terms: “Many of our partners maintain the point of view that everything is fine in this area, that all that is needed is a slight strengthening of major worldwide currencies, including the dollar. We hold another point of view.” He strongly reiterated this idea at the G-20 conference.

Medvedev seconded China’s support for expanding the IMF’s special drawing rights program. He said the ruble, renminbi, and gold should join the dollar, euro, and pound — the primary reserve currencies for the past 50 years — in a multicurrency basket pricing the SDR.

The inclusion of gold bullion in the currency basket caused a press kerfuffle; numerous articles described Medvedev and Arkady Dvorkovich, the Russian government’s chief economic advisor, as supporting a gold standard. In fairness, John Maynard Keynes and Franklin D. Roosevelt themselves recommended basing global reserve values on the price of gold and other commodities.

VENEZUELA

What? The “sucre,” a South American bloc currency

The details: At a regional summit last November, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez called for the creation of an EU-type monetary zone and adoption of the “sucre,” a regional currency, to reduce dependence on the dollar. Chávez addressed leaders from the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) trade bloc, which includes Venezuela, along with Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
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The proposal came with a heaping dose of criticism for the United States and other G-20 countries, which Chávez accused of purposely suppressing developing economies. He also recommended that South American countries abandon the IMF, “an imperialist hand to dominate us.”
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“We’re not going to wait here with our arms crossed for the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund to come and solve the problems that this great threat [the United States] unleashed on the world,” he said. “The hegemony of the dollar must end,” he added.

ALBA members seem to be in favor, agreeing in principle to developing the sucre within two or three years.

IRAN

What? A common currency for Central Asia

The details: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested in March that the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) trade bloc — Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan — take up a common currency when it debuts its planned free trade zone in 2015. “The process of obtaining one single currency in the trade and exchanges among members, and in the next stages with other countries and neighbors, should be designed,” he said.

“After the collapse of the closed socialist economy, the capitalist economy is also on the verge of collapse,” Ahmadinejad said, railing against the hegemony of the dollar in foreign trade.
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Were the ECO bloc to take up a common currency, it would rival the euro in its scope; the countries together have about 420 million people. Representatives from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan seemed to support the general idea, and the topic will be taken up again at the ECO’s next convention, in 2010.

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KAZAKHSTAN

What? The “acmetal,” a global currency

The details: In March, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, speaking from the capital city of Astana, called for the creation of a world currency called the “acmetal,” a word coined from “acme” and “capital.”

“There is no other choice available to us, if we really intend to utilize effectively this unique opportunity of overcoming the shortcomings of the Old World and building up a New one,” the strongman opined in a pre-translated report. It went on to state, “It so happened that the whole of our world has somehow unexpectedly and imperceptibly got into the tunnel of global crisis from where nobody is able to see where is the ‘exit’.”

The Kazakh leader described how the G-8 or G-20 countries could band together to create a transitional currency, the “transital,” before full global adoption of the “acmetal.” He also described a putative new world order brought on by the currency scheme: “acmetalism.”
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Proposing new currencies is something of a hobby for Nazarbayev, who has advocated a Central Asian regional currency plan since 2003. He has called for the adoption of the “altyn” or “yevraz” in the Eurasian Economic Community (EEC), which includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. Moscow takes these suggestions as a slight, though. It has proposed that the EEC states band together and adopt the Russian ruble.

By Annie Lowrey
ForeignPolicy.com
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Source

If there was ever a maxim that lived throughout the ages of investing, sticking with “what everyone needs” certainly rings true today as it did 1000 years ago. That is, what “everyone needs” is basic necessities such as housing, food, clothing, healthcare products, and such items that people cannot live without for more than a few days. In economics we call this kind of item “demand inelastic,” which means that the demand for these kinds of items remains relatively the same as income decreases or increases compared to other items like cars, computers, and other luxury items like televisions and so on.

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The problem the US and Canada are facing is that a large portion of their manufacturing base has been off shored or sent to other countries in the past 20 to 30 years as so called trade agreements such as NAFTA, World Trade Organization, and other so called free trade instruments have been established which gave companies incentive to send middle class jobs to other countries which effectively stripped the parent coutnries of their bread and butter jobs, which eliminated or significantly reduced the spending power of the middle class.

Countries like Japan have, since the 70s to 1980s, pegged their currency to the dollar to take advantage of the manufacturing sector which gave incentive to US and Canadian producers to relocate to Japan or to allow more imports from Japan to be dumped into the US. Now we have a different problem: China, Mexico, Thailand, and Vietnam, but mainly China and its huge population base, extremely low standards, and manipulated currency.

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Since it is predicted that a large portion of the manfuacturing industry we have offshored in the past 20-30 years will return probable best way to attack this is to go back to Standard &Poor’s sector data for the time. However, it won’t be a very fine analysis as it would likely miss emerging industries. It is known that electronics were hot investments as the 1930s wore on– particularly radio, which was state-of-the-art at the time. Zenith Radio emerged as a leading producer: its stock languished until 1935 when it went from the range of 2-2 5/8 at the beginning of the year to 13 1/2 at the end of the year.

Many items, including stocks, reached a historic low in the early 30s.
Some never recovered, but others doubled from their low before the end of the thirties. Therefore we could be in a good buying position later this year, but it is assumed that large increases are unlikely from today’s position. Selling short would be smart before a crash later this year, but there is a fair chance weak prosparity will continue several more years, resulting in large losses for short sellers. So many things have changed since the 30s, and it is thought we won’t learn much, except that a disasterous crash is possible.

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Precious metals are where you can never go wrong since Canada has a large reserve of natural minerals, metals, elements such as uranium and paladium used in nuclear reactors and catalytic converts, respectively (not to mention other uses). Specifically, food and food production is pegged to become the next “big thing” in the United States as the world’s producer of food, or so the prediction goes.

In mainstream economics, the theory is that the primary sector is agriculture from where the development cycle begins for any country. After that comes the secondary sector (manufacturing) and then the tertiary one (services). USA is now sitting at the tertiary sector at the top of this value chain and China seems to be enjoying its manufacturing status. India just jumped from primary to tertiary because of its’ hopping on the information technology bandwagon.

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All one has to do is look at Canada and see fields of gold for there is tremendous potential in the prairies and the agricultural areas of the country including areas like Southwestern Ontario where there are areas full of tomatoe and other plant growing regions such as Leamington. In areas like this you will find millionaires already reaping the rewards of demand for quality produce that Canadian health standards enforce. It would be wise to agree with Mr. Roger’s views that farmers will become the next millionaires because as the previous paragraph explores, the economic theory is that the US and Canada are poised to shift back to an agricultural demand driven economy.

In addition to investing in commodities such as those found in the agricultural industry, the best additional bets would be to invest in essential metals like gold, silver, copper, and paladium because these metals will always be in need and will likely raise in price as the world consumes more of the latter two metals. Indeed, copper and paladium are increasingly being used in electronics and other modern applications.

Written by EconoChristian.com

Here is an interesting piece I ran across which I thought I’d share with you instead of proving my own analysis of the economic situation. Of course, I will add that this economic crisis has been in planning for decades especially since the US was brought off the gold standard and since the World Trade Organization and other unconstitutional “agreements” were signed both in the US and Canada.

What this article really doesn’t touch upon is how banks were pretty much forced to loan billions and billions of dollars to fund mortgages for minorities and other “marginalized” groups who couldn’t afford a home otherwise. Why couldn’t they afford a home like anybody else? Officials will tell you it’s because of their skin color or some other hogwash. Yes, there are discriminatory practices all over the world. If you are white trying to get a mortgage in South Korea, for instance, you will probably be turned down faster than a Korean with money because you are white. Yes, there is racism there much more than in the West.

“My own understanding, however, is that the cause can be traced to pressures of “political correctness” in America: Financial institutions, habitually reluctant to take the risks involved in lending to minorities – particular black and Hispanics – were charged with racial discrimination. They came under pressure to prove their enlightened credentials by lending to minorities on equal terms. Gradually succumbing to such pressure, they upgraded the creditworthiness of minorities, Soon hundreds of thousands of houses were being built as mortgage lenders became emboldened to lend 90 per cent or more of the purc hase price of houses sold to minorities, whose employment prospects were uncertain and whose incomes were relatively low.” E.J Mishan For The Straits Times – Tuesday 17 March, 2009.

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These people (the U.S. government) need to be stopped. Every time we get ourselves into an economic mess, there’s usually some milestone idiocy we can point back to as the government action that made the meltdown inevitable.

Take the current housing crisis that has now spread to the financial markets in general. The cause was too-easy credit that fueled a massive increase in housing prices as people bought houses they couldn’t afford with mortgages they weren’t able to pay off.

In 1999 there was roughly $5 trillion in total U.S. mortgage debt. That number ballooned to $12 trillion by 2007, and we know what happened from there (data is from the U.S. Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight). To put this into perspective, total U.S. GDP is about $11 trillion annually, and U.S. government debt is around $9 trillion. If the housing market really falls apart (meaning more than conservative estimates of a 20% drop), there’s no way the government can simply cover these losses.

Why did it happen? Let’s go back to 1999, when Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, was under pressure by the Clinton administration to find a way to get more loans to “borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans.” A pilot program was launched, which soon became general policy. Money flowed to people who couldn’t afford to pay it back.

These new policies came on top of previous changes in the 90’s that let consumers get zero-down payment loans.

In a 1999 article that now looks absolutely insane, the New York Times reported on the easing of credit terms. Fannie Mae Chairman Franklin Raines, who’s quoted in the article, was all sunshine and roses as he threw away the financial future of millions of Americans. But at least one person. Peter Wallison, had a good idea of how this would all play out:

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980’s.
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”From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,” said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ”If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.”

Too bad nobody listened to that guy. (TechCrunch, 2009).

What Jesus Said About the Crisis
What Jesus says about the Wall Street crisis:

Revelation 18 1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. 2 And he called out with a mighty voice, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.

3 For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.

4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;
5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

6 Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.

7 As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, I sit as a queen,
I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.8 For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine,
and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.

9 And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. 10 They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, Alas! Alas! You great city,you mighty city, Babylon!
For in a single hour your judgment has come.

11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, rankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls. 14 The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again!

15 The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,
16 Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen,
in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold,with jewels, and with pearls!
17 For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.

And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18 and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, What city was like the great city?

19 And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea
grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste.
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!

21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more; 22 and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, 23 and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth

It seems politicians are lying or being glib on their knowledge of economics: Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff told a gathering of southern Ontario business leaders on Tuesday (April 14, 2009) that taxes would have to be raised to combat a growing national debt, local media reported. According to The Record, he responded by saying that to rein in the country’s $480 billion debt, a tax hike might be necessary in the future (Windsor Star, 2009).

Canada Tax Facts:

Taxes already confiscate 45 per cent of Canadian income. The government never point out that average working people pay even more. Smokers and drinkers probably lose 75 per cent of their earnings to taxes. CTF, 2009

According to the OECD, total government revenues for 2004–federal, provincial, and municipal–will be 41.3% of GDP, down from a peak of 44.5% of GDP in 1997 and 1998. This means that Tax Freedom Day is May 30 (since 41.3% of 366 is 151 days into the year.)

What do Canadian Taxes Pay for?

There’s a summary of all government spending for 2003 on the Statistics Canada website, broken down into categories.

To try to make them more comprehensible, I’ve translated them into per-capita numbers, based on a population of 31,629,700 in 2003. A billion dollars is about $30 per capita.

Roughly speaking, out of $15,000 in total spending per capita, there’s $5000 for social services, $5000 for health and education, and $5000 for everything else, including $1500 for interest on the debt and $1200 for protection of persons and property (meaning military, police, legal system, firefighting). Here’s the detailed breakdown.

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Given all of this, if you want to create jobs in an economy, dumping huge amounts of tax-payer cash benefits no one because it is just shifting dollars from one area to another without creating wealth. The “trickle-down” idea only applies to real economics like manufacturing and building; something Canada has had little of these past 30 years, but the end does not justify the means. Remember, however, that manufacturing was still doing well in 2000 and 2001. Since 2003, however, the decline in Canadian manufacturing employment has been the second worst of our peers (the U.K. has experienced more job losses) (PE, 2009).

The myth that governments’ using taxpayer funds is one of the only ways to stimulate private economic growth is rubbish. It was the ineffective hand of government (in collaboration with mega-business) that started the mess with the credit, automobile, wars, and just about any other crisis you can think of. Indeed, when the Conservatives were elected, they promised to do business differently. No more cronyism, no more backroom deals with party hacks. They were going to clean up Ottawa.When the federal government was patting itself on the back last month on the anniversary of the passage of the Federal Accountability Act, it failed to mention that two key components – the appointments commission and the lobbying provisions – have not been implemented.

“The lack of a public appointments commission seriously undermines any credibility that Mr. Harper is serious about cleaning up how business is done in Ottawa,” said New Democrat MPP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) (TheStar.com, 2008).

However, critics say Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has appointed hundreds of people with Conservative ties – the kind of cronyism the Conservatives and their predecessors used to howl about.

Where does the money come from?

The government sees that for every dollar injected into the economy it must first be taxed or borrowed out of the economy. Thus, government spending only redistributes already-existing money which otherwise could have been created by a healthy manfacturing sector. Under President Obama’s “stimulus” plan, jobs will be created to weatherize buildings, construct schools and wind turbines, and repair roads and bridges. But outside the market process, there is no way to know whether those are better uses of scarce capital than whatever would have been produced had it been left in the private economy. Since government services are paid for through the compulsion of taxes, they have no market price. But without market prices, we have no way of knowing the importance that free people would place on those services versus other things they want (Creator’s Syndicate, 2009).

We need to invest in green industry, but the problem we face is unfair competition allowed under the auspices of the WTO; so the hope of making Windsor a green corridor is a pipe dream until countries like China and Korea open their markets. Only then can we have a real green revolution.

When are people going to do their homework and take a stand?

EconoChristian.com

By EconoChristian.com

Governments around the world seem to be increasing the grasp of their reach into the daily lives of individual citizens. Increasing amounts of taxes, regulations, and intervention in the daily transactions of business are just a few of the examples of the hand of government that are intruding upon individual liberties. As if national governments were not enough; the collective nations of the world decided to embark on the idea of forming an inter-national organization tasked with the responsibility of supposedly maintaining international order and being the moderator of participant national government’s bureaucratic wishes.

The end of World War 2 also supposedly marked the end of the atrocities committed which were often caused by negative nationalism; that is, the introverted, angst-ridden type of nationalism that supported dictators such as Mussolini who formed the basis for fascism. Out of the ashes came the United Nations with its task of rebuilding war-torn Europe. Historians would unlikely refute the fact that the world needed a stabilizing factor against the chaos at the time. However, historians rarely point-out that the main cause of the first and second World War were chiefly caused by international bankers who financed these blood conflicts with the help of individual countries’ ruling elite who included heads of business, and corrupted heads of public representation. Indeed, the United Nations — as an international governing body — has failed to live up to its promises.

Since the major world wars, the United Nations — through the collective agreement and accession of its members — embarked on a multitude of previously sovereign state-run enterprises including the enforcement of human rights, environmentalism, nation-building, and the upcoming-proposed global taxation.

Proponents of these endeavors claim that state sovereignty is unimportant and that the accession of previously state-run into a central governing body such as the UN serves a useful purpose. Critics of the UN see it as the beginnings of a new communist-era body; effectively stripping previously sovereign nations of their individual liberty, including all those who call themselves citizens in it, and increased corruption (as government tends to be notorious for). Indeed, evidence definitely points toward the latter with examples ranging from the the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol (which undermines state sovereingty); the failure of the Security Council to enforce UN resolutions; and the failure of the UN to stop the United States from unilaterally attacking Iraq in 2003.

Corruption is also a defining and defiling mechanism to which the United Nations operates its arms of bureaucratic-wielding power. Recent examples included the exposure of the Oil-For-Food scandal which involved the son of the then-Secretary General Kofi Annan. This scandal involved high-profile dignitaries, including Kofi Annan himself, receiving large bribes in exchange for their silence of indignities being committed in Iraq (among others).

The United Nations’ attempts at cessation of human rights and genocidal violations by member and non-member countries has also mired this supposed great organization in controversy during the last 50 years, with the Palestinian/Israeli conflict being the chief flashpoint of controversy. The organization was criticized for producing a disproportionate number of resolutions blaming Israel for its treatment of the Palestinian people. It has also equally been criticized for letting countries such as Cuba, Sudan, and China, for violating human rights.

In conclusion, it is easily seen that the vision of a successor to the early 20th century’s League of Nations (a similar endeavor to the UN) has been a failure by the elite of member nations to create an all-encompassing world-governing body. Not only has it been criticized for eroding state sovereignty as witnessed by the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, but also has been chastised for the failure of the enforcement of human rights, and lastly the failure of member nations to uphold anti-corruption policies within the organization.

Tue Apr 14 2009 08:44:54 ET

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”

Perry continued: “Millions of Texans are tired of Washington, DC trying to come down here to tell us how to run Texas.”

A number of recent federal proposals are not within the scope of the federal government’s constitutionally designated powers and impede the states’ right to govern themselves. HCR 50 affirms that Texas claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment over all powers not otherwise granted to the federal government.

It also designates that all compulsory federal legislation that requires states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties, or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited or repealed.

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Canadian Government Continuously Growing in Size

In the middle of a major world economic downturn with millions poised to lose their jobs and way of life, while government bureaucrats, politicians, staff and the like enjoy and maintain a high standard of living through bonus payments, larger than inflation annual salaries and allowances, etc. All this at the expense of the over burdened Canadian tax payer.

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Is this fair? Perhaps governments should “feel the pain” with the rest of the poplulation. Perhaps some “down-sizing” in government departments is appropriate.

With roughly 1 in 5 Canadians working for various levels of government, public service size should be seriously reduced in numbers. It is recommended that some new legislation should be passed in Parliament, Queen’s Park and City Halls that defines some “limits” as to the “size & numbers employed” at all levels of government (TVO.org, 2009).

Why are politicians, media and businesspeople hyping the credit and financial crisis as if it were something they didn’t see coming? It has been in the making for decades, made worse since Canada signed away its economic sovereignty to the unelected World Trade Organization and NAFTA. For these reasons, Canada should be holding its own “Boston Tea Party” that the citizens of the United States are currently planning on implementing to protest massive government intervention in every facet of their economy.

This pipe dream of stabilizing Canada’s economy is not solved by shipping our manufacturing base, already less than a quarter of our economic activity, to countries where they utilize slave labour and manipulate their currency. Taxation is not the solution when the money really comes from our childrens’ futures in the form of tremendous debt. Indeed, this has been the staple of government policy since the early start of the 20th century; that is, Keynesian economics and government intervention.

No one should be opposed to fair trade, but it’s time to recognize “free trade” is fiction because every trading relationship is managed in some way. This is true because Canada and the United States have become the world’s dumping ground for cheap, slave-labor goods produced in places where there are low or no labor standards or social safety nets like the Western world has.
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Our major trading partners manage their economies to benefit their citizens, so why can’t we? Get our jobs back, put money in our wallets, let us spend it as we see fit and watch the economy grow again. Taxing does nothing but impede spending and discourages people from making proper investments and encourages outrageous financial scandals. The World Trade Organization was never voted on or discussed with the general working man or woman on “main street,” so who’s benefitting from job losses and the so called “knowledge based economy” which is really just a euphemism for unstable industries based solely on services which is nothing more than redistributing wealth rather than creating it.

You can’t spend your way out of a recession. You have to save and produce your way out of it.

What about this “Tea Party?”

The Boston Tea Party was a direct action protest by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. The incident remains an iconic event of American history, and has often been referenced in other political protests.

They’re calling themselves the “Tea Party Tax Protesters” and already dozens of them have held events across the USA. The protesters say they’re fed up with excessive state and federal tax increases and they’re rallying to express their outrage and demand change (KKTV, 2009).

More than $2 trillion has been spent on bailouts and stimulus packages in the last year. In the $800 billion spending package, members of Congress had a few hours to read 1,000 pages of bill text. No one in Congress noticed that it authorized bonuses to AIG executives, which the House later voted to tax at 90 percent. Congress imposed a penalty on payments that it authorized! That should have been a sure sign that Congress was trying to spend too much money too quickly (Kansas City, 2009).

Written by EconoChristian.com with outside sources.

Jury says refusal to pay tax not crime
Sonja Puzic and Dave Battagello
Windsor Star
Tuesday, June 27, 2006

A Superior Court jury ruled late Monday that a Windsor optometrist was not guilty of tax evasion when he refused to pay nearly $350,000 in income taxes over five years.

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Mr. Charlie Hart of Winnipeg Man., Engineer, Never paid one cent in Federal Income Tax. The Feds took him to court and, using the B&A Act (the recognized Canadian Constitution, the judge found him not guilty. The feds took him to court two more times with the same result. The third time the Judge told the Revenue Canada that if it took Mr Hart before it again, he (the judge) would fine Revenue Canada in contempt of court. Read the B&A act. It is remarkable that Canada is the only Country of stature that does not teach its Constitution to its students.

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There are two specific sections of the B.N.A. Act that deal with the delegation of authority between the Federal and Provincial Governments. Sections 91 and 92 deal with authority for various types of taxation, who has authority to levy which taxes, and various other areas of jurisdiction.

The Act is very specific in its direction. The right to tax income, known as “direct” tax, was delegated to the provinces; and it was clearly indicated that any monies so raised must be raised provincially, and used for provincial purposes. The Federal Government was denied the right to levy income tax.

But the Supreme Court of Canada goes further. It states that no level or government is allowed to transfer its authority to another level of government, and if transfer were attempted by one level, it could not legally be accepted by another.

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Jury says refusal to pay tax not crime
Sonja Puzic and Dave Battagello
Windsor Star
Tuesday, June 27, 2006

A Superior Court jury ruled late Monday that a Windsor optometrist was not guilty of tax evasion when he refused to pay nearly $350,000 in income taxes over five years.

Dr. Jack Klundert hugged his lawyer, Doug Christie of British Columbia, and wiped tears from his face and glasses after the jury was discharged. He smiled faintly at his wife, who sat in the courtroom and took notes.

Superior Court Justice Joseph Quinn thanked the jury for tackling “the complex issue.

“These decisions are not easy to make,” he said.

SECOND TRIAL

Klundert, 53, was standing a second trial for tax evasion under the Income Tax Act. He failed to pay $348,231 in taxes on income estimated at $1.5 million between 1993 and 1998.

Klundert was found guilty of making a false statement on a tax return in 2002 and fined $80,000.

He was also ordered to enrol in a constitutional law course as part of his two-year probation.

But the Court of Appeal found fault with Superior Court of Justice Steve Rogin’s instructions to the jury and Klundert took his protest against Revenue Canada to court again.

He told the jury he wrote zero income on his tax forms because he believed the federal government had no constitutional right to pursue him. He said disclosing his earnings to the government would be like “sitting down with thieves” and telling them where his valuables are kept.

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The media likes to spin this story to make it look like he is avoiding paying taxes. The real truth is that he is trying to prove that the Federal government has been taking power away from the provinces for the past 90 years and by refusing to pay income tax to the Federal government, they won’t be allowed to hoggle all the money that the Provinces should be getting directly.

Giving power back to the Provinces would be a major step for democracy because this political paradigm works best when it is decentralized and closest to the hands of the electorate.

Written by EconoChristian.com with other sources.