What about the Consumer
23 September 08 - 16:24
So Bush has bailed out the banks, which is akin to granting amnesty to Bin Ladin – too bad it won’t work – it will simply prolong the inevitable and provide an opportunity for the speculators to make more money. It won’t work because the banks won’t pass on the same ‘Forgiveness Strategy’ to their customers – the ones they’ve been robbing for as long as they’ve been in existence. I have been saying for years that the way to deal with the global financial problems is a universal forgiveness of debt – it started some years ago when the Big 7 began waiving debt owed by third world countries. It was done with the knowledge that leaving the debt in place would be counter productive to those countries ever having a chance of restoring pride in their existence and any chance of financial stability. When faced with hopelessness countries and their people tend to begin killing each other.
Now the powers that be have realized that the banking system have become architects of their own demise. ... (more)
Whose to Blame for the Credit Crunch
16 September 08 - 16:21
The credit crunch tells us perhaps not. The Holy Grail of medieval science was to find the formula to turn lead into gold. Today, globalisation is driving down profit margins in making everything, from steel to software. If you make a profit, soon someone in China will make it be gone. But deal-making, putting companies together and taking them apart, financing it all, offers great rewards. Then there are the risks. Making risks evaporate in the morning sun, or the shadows of Wall Street, seems to be where the wealth lies.
Enter our financial engineers. They don't deal in metals or mega bytes they deal in companies that make them. Combining them and financing them, taking them apart putting them together again. That's the stuff of modern fortunes. But what of those risks? The engineers that assemble these deals say all the risks can be laid off on other engineers and their clients. And by investing in each other, everyone's money will be safe. Profits without risk. They even thought they ... (more)
How I would Deal with 'Broken Britain'
16 September 08 - 11:20
Having originally been born and raised on the tough streets of West Yorkshire and having the foresight to escape back in the early 70's I know all too well the mind set of the 'Uneducated great unwashed'. There have always been gangs and bullies and known bad guy's who infect every working class neighbourhood but never, never like it is today.
I have somewhat of a unique insight into this problem as I have recently returned to the UK after spending most of my adult life in North America. What I have observed since my return has been a shock to the system as I have witnessed first hand these low life council estate thugs terrorizing our neighbourhoods. It's time for the authorities to wake up and stop pussy footing around with these animals - it is too late to use the timid laws of the past to deal with this chronic social plague of today. See my solutions at the end of this sermon!
I believe the problems really started back in the 60's when we suffered a 'Lost' generation ... (more)
The role of ‘God’ in natural disasters
16 September 08 - 11:12
A dear friend of mine made a statement the other day that basically stated that the reason we have seen the number of recent so called ‘Acts of God’ and the deterioration of morals and society in general is due to ‘Religion’ no longer being taught in our schools. It seems that the thrust of his statement is that because God has been taken out of society over the recent past that he has stepped back (being the gentleman that he is) and allowed these natural disasters to happen.
I disagreed strongly. The world is littered with 'Broken Societies' due to nothing more than the 'have not’s' rebelling against the 'have lots'! God or religion has nothing to do with it - he is just a figment of insecure people’s imagination. I say ‘He’ because no woman would ever fuck things up the way he has! I remember the day I became a non believer - it was in 1962 - I was 9 - there was a Kindergarten school in a town called Aberavon in North Wales. ... (more)
Foreclosure Alternatives
02 September 08 - 17:17
I have watched in total disbelief at the governments refusal to take action against the banking industry for causing millions of families to lose their jobs, their homes and their personal pride by practising deceit in their financial dealings over the past several years. They have been ignoring common sense and moral business practises for years by utilising insane mortgage lending policies calculating a familys ability to afford a mortgage using 6 times a families income whilst offering ficticiously low interest rates knowing full well when they came up for renewal that family would not be able to afford the resulting increase in payments.
This lending practise is universal among all the financial services industry and the big banks led the charge through their greed to make hay while the sun shined and justify exhorbitant bonuses for senoir officials within their organisations - shame on them! What they have done is far worse than the corporate crimes committed by Enron - they were ... (more)
