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Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

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Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link The Curious Links Between the Backers of the Assisted Dying Bill Wed Dec 11, 2024 07:00 | Charlotte Gill
The rushed passage of the Assisted Dying Bill, pushed through by powerful lobby groups, has left many wondering what's really behind the rush and who's pulling the strings, says Charlotte Gill.
The post The Curious Links Between the Backers of the Assisted Dying Bill appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Wed Dec 11, 2024 01:11 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Pensioner Convicted of Incitement for Posting Negatively About Migrants in the Latest Politically Ch... Tue Dec 10, 2024 19:00 | Eugyppius
Eugyppius recounts the sad story of Doris van Geul, a 74 year-old pensioner fined for incitement after a Facebook post critical of migrants, with her conviction threatening to bankrupt her for the rest of her life.
The post Pensioner Convicted of Incitement for Posting Negatively About Migrants in the Latest Politically Charged German Speech Prosecution appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Storm Darragh Leaves U.K. Solar Farm in Pieces Tue Dec 10, 2024 17:00 | Richard Eldred
Storm Darragh has ravaged Anglesey's Porth Wen solar farm, tearing hundreds of panels from their mounts, shredding turbine blades and leaving a cleanup effort that will stretch well into 2025.
The post Storm Darragh Leaves U.K. Solar Farm in Pieces appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Justin Jellyby Tue Dec 10, 2024 15:00 | Peter Harris
Justin Welby, like Dickens's Mrs Jellyby in Bleak House, is all charity abroad but blind to problems at home; now, even his apologies ring hollow, says Peter Harris.
The post Justin Jellyby appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?111 Fri Dec 06, 2024 12:25 | en

offsite link Attempted coup d'?tat in South Korea Fri Dec 06, 2024 12:17 | en

offsite link What is changing in the Middle East , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 03, 2024 07:08 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?110 Fri Nov 29, 2024 15:01 | en

offsite link Verbal ceasefire in Lebanon Fri Nov 29, 2024 14:52 | en

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The Paulson Plans

category international | miscellaneous | other press author Saturday October 18, 2008 17:09author by David Arthur Walters Report this post to the editors

Inflation works

We want instant salvation: we want to be born anew from the injected liquidity. But it is difficult to make people have faith in anything, particularly in their fellow creatures if not in the supreme personality.


It was certainly fascinating to see presumably rational experts relying on the fluctuations of the so-called wisdom of a volatile stock market to influence their judgments. When the indexes plummeted after Henry Paulson’s original asset management bailout bill was voted down, Congress hastily took up the bill again and modified it for quick approval, providing pork barrel incentives such as relief from taxation on children’s wooden arrows. Why, then, did the efficient stock market indexes fall, after the modified bailout was approved by congress?

Perhaps the Stock Market read the International Monetary Fund’s September 2008 Working Paper, ‘Systemic Banking Crises: A New Database, prepared by Luc Laeven and Fabian Valencial. One might reasonably presume that bailout mastermind Henry Paulson, U.S. Treasury Secretary and member of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund, had read it too. After studying 42 well documented banking crises in 37 countries, where excessive credit expansion was among the many causes of the crises, one of the conclusions drawn by the researchers was that the use of government asset management companies to take over and manage distressed assets has been largely ineffective:


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Related Link: http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewnews.asp?AuthorID=23453&id=24968
author by john throne - labors militant voicepublication date Sat Oct 18, 2008 18:51author email loughfinn at aol dot comauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors


Saturday, October 18, 2008
The capitalists are frightened
Today's Wall Street Journal has the main headline on its front page, and in red ink no less: "Capitalism's Crisis of Confidence." The article is about their crisis and the recent taking into part ownership by governments of some banks and increased regulation. They write: "In the past two weeks governments in Asia, Europe and the US have effectively nationalized vast swathes of banking. Perhaps the world has gone so far down the road of socialized finance that there is no turning back. However the doughty remnants of capitalism should be under no illusion about the risks and opportunities they confront. They cannot miss the risks. Mr. Paulson pledges that the government's bank investments will be passive and apolitical, but the record of the depression-era Reconstruction Finance Corp. suggests that the federal government is a shareholder that can throw its weight around."

The bourgeois see this recent tendency towards take overs and some turn again to regulation as a threat. This tendency could become a strong trend in the future on the basis of a deepening of the economic crisis. And it is hard not to conclude that this crisis is just beginning.

Today's Wall Street Journal also had an interview with Anna Schwartz who once co-authored the work: "A monetary of the United States" along with Milton Friedman. She argued strongly that the bail out and the partial nationalization policies were wrong, that finance houses in trouble should be let fail, that this was the only way that the ones which were in trouble could be identified from the ones not in trouble and this was the only way to free up the money markets and trade and the real economy.

There is a partial truth in her arguments but only partial. She leaves out the political, the class struggle and the potential power of the working class. The union leaders have been so subservient in the past period, and the working class so on the defensive that it is easy for her to miss this. But on the basis of a world depression the working class will have no choice but to get to its feet and to fight. Their entire system would be in danger. This is why the Paulsons and Bushs and co are acting.

The Financial Times is a bit more careful than Schwartz. It quotes Keynes in 1933: "We have reached a critical point. We can see clearly the gulf to which our present path is leading. If governments do not take action, we must expect the progressive breakdown of the existing structure of contract and indebtedness, accompanied by the utter discredit of orthodox leadership in finance and government, with what ultimate out come we cannot predict." Yes the ultimate outcome we cannot predict. Keynes was talking about the danger of world revolution. And the discrediting of the orthodox leadership in finance and government. He was talking about the capitalist class.

The Financial Times goes on: "Keynes whose life's mission was to save capitalism from itself, is more relevant than at any time since his death in 1946." This is what is happening. This is why extreme right wing capitalists like Bush and Paulson and governments around the world are part nationalizing sectors of the banking industry. They are afraid of the collapse of their system and the explosive movements of the working class that would result. The Wall Street Journal while accepting the handouts wants to campaign against government action at the same time and the Schwartz's the same. The truth is neither opinion have a solution.

Capitalism is in catastropic crisis. It is the working class with a revolutionary socialist leadership and establishing a democratic socialist world that can show a way out for the human species and the planet. Capitalism has forfeited its right to exist and the capitalist class has forfeited its right to rule. And the union leaders have forfeited their right to lead. A new movement has to be built.

john throne

Related Link: http://laborsmilitantvoice.com
 
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