[macro-economic delusions] part three – shifting debt is not recovery

Part 1 was here.
Part 2 was here.

Hat/tip







Brown: First of all, for the first time, we have come together to set principles to reform the global banking system. This is a comprehensive programme of measures that includes, for the first time, bringing the shadow banking system, including hedge funds, within the global regulatory net.

[Higham: Wow - so the Bavarian, Parisian and British old-family slush money, the proceeds from the drug-running and porn, along with the World Bank and BIS holdings plus all practices by said bodies are all going to be under one global supremo oligarchy? Well, at least he's honest in this.]

Keiser: Meeting of gamblers anonymous. These guys get together and they hope that if they follow some sort of steps and principles and logic, that they can overcome their gambling addiction. But they're not going to overcome their gambling addiction and the numbers being thrown around - 5 trillion here and 1 trillion there sounds like a lot of money, except when you consider that banks like JP Morgan have 90 trillion in dollars worth of derivatives on their books; there're hundreds of trillions of dollars of derivatives on various banks' books around the world where the captcha parties are in, as Gordon Brown put it, in the shadow banking system which is, right now, totally unaccounted for.

And when all's said and done, I'm afraid the banks are going to have to admit that many of the world's banks are completely insolvent and the jobless number that Gordon Brown referred to is only going to go higher in the short/medium term - we're talking about depression level unemployment in countries like the UK and the U.S. and it's amazing that, in the UK, the rhetoric coming out of Gordon Brown and his cabinet is that it's OK to take money from the IMF.

I'm sure the people of Britain are loving to hear this - they remember back in the 1970s, when Britain was a basket case, taking money from the IMF and now it's OK to take money from the IMF? How shameful is Gordon Brown? It's absurd. The people of Britain should run him out ... it's absurd. He's sold them short to the IMF, a global institution. The UK doesn't want to join the Eurozone but they're going to sell out to the IMF. How sick is that? Gordon Brown - step down!

Forbes:







Keiser: Oh it's more accounting fraud. In other words, the way the economy has been moving, and in the UK, they know this very well because they sacrificed their manufacturing base and mining and they squandered their North Sea reserves and they decided to become the hedge fund capital of the world and the concierge for all the money launderers and the money shysters and financial terrorists from America found a home in Britain.

Now that the game is blown up, interest rates are no longer accommodating this money laundering in Britain and the divine right of hedge funds. I thought Britain got rid of the divine right of kings back in 1649 withe the elimination of Charles I ... they need to get back to some kind of rule of law. These numbers that are bieng thrown around are pure fraud ...

The IMF are going to become the new receptacle ... they're going to take a fee again ... the same financial oligarchs that have seized the system in the UK and the U.S. and they're just going to simply repackage the debts, dump 'em in the IMF and say that this is somehow making progress.

[Higham - it was loud and clear in parts 1 and 2 that you only need to go to history to see that this is a repeat performance of exactly the same game, particularly in the U.S., throughout their history.

But even in looking at history, the question is which history? Obama likened his deal to the 1930s New Deal but in fact that is disingenuous in the extreme - it is much more like the Weimar Republic and its inevitable hyper-inflation. Tiberius Gracchus says that "good history", i.e. drawing the right lessons from the right era, contributes to understanding the present and presumably should have an impact on policy:

One way it does so is through encouraging scepticism: the good historian is a professional sceptic both of his sources and of her own ideas. You learn through history to distrust what the sources tells you (who, whom is a great historical question from Lenin) and also to distrust your own temptation to overarching explanation. The second thing that you learn that is crucial to writing and thinking about good history is some sort of sympathy or empathy with those that you are writing about.

Lenin. Y-e-e-e-s, Tiberius. Moving on. If we look at the history of money, we see the history of the current crisis, who caused it and why. Only once this is understood should one go back to one's Economics 101 and start sprouting macro-economic theories again.]

[respect] has to be earned - it's nobody's "right"

Had to smile - one blogfriend was speculating on whether I speak in real life as I write on the blog.

Depends on the company. When I'm with my mate, the air's pretty blue but even there I don't go as far as a DK or Eugenides. If a lady comes in, it stops. You can call that double standards but I call it part of how we were brought up. I just think there are such things as standards one maintains. Over a pint in male company, most things go. Not with ladies present.

Your nails are clipped, your ears clean, your hair brushed [if you have any] your shoes clean - that just goes without saying if you live with people around you and even if you don't. Many married men have a certain base level of hygiene and manner their wives maintain in them. On your own, you dress down but I don't have that many clothing choices any more anyway so, at home, it's a variation of what I'd wear to the beach.

On another post, I wrote that these days, you might be in a shopping arcade, say, and all you hear is a constant stream of bile coming out of the mouths of kids, especially the girls who are trying to be every bit as bad as the boys and this is their way to find acceptance. That sort of thing can be seen in the antics of bloggers like John Edwards’ harpies, this one here called McEwan:

What don’t you lousy motherfuckers understand about keeping your noses out of our britches, our beds, and our families? Oh, and I see on your shitbag website that “Hate Crimes Bills” are one of your priorities.

and Britbloggers like Caroline Hunt:

No it's not a monster - it's a fuck off big grey cloud. But hey ho. The wind and rain make the sea look more picturesque and wild 'n all that crap.

I mean, just what is she trying to prove? Whatever is she trying to be? Does she think that that gets her in better with the boys? Is that somehow her street cred, in lieu of talent? I mean, those things are just low.

There are certain very strong, subconscious urges in women [and in their less self-controlled form - girls], including the urge to get out of their clothing in public and walk about in as little as they can [imagine us doing that - why do you think men wear boxers?], the urge to be accepted by the boys as just as bad as them and even worse [it seems to be a kicking against their upbringing] - the urge to be dissolute.

Hence St Trinians, hence every boring kick-butt Joliesque movie - some sort of constant battle to be taken seriously, interpreted as being as bad as the bad boys they admire. No female today would be seen dead in a Princess Bride role. Look, girls, if you want to be taken seriously, it's very simple - take responsibility for your words and actions, just as males are expected to do, learn the word "no" and act with respect, just as you urge us to do towards you. That's all.

Do you think you can't kick butt and be the achiever everyone admires and respects without being low? How about one of my heroines - Dame Ellen Macarthur, one of the greatest achievers of all time [despite the emotion and tears or maybe even because of them]? How about another heroine - Dame Judy Dench? Would you dare to treat them without respect? Would you heck as like. Why are they Dames in the titled sense? Do you think they don't enjoy life?

If you want respect - you go out and earn it, same as men have to.

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese wrote:

It has not been easy to acknowledge that feminism has promoted the unraveling of the most binding and important social bonds. Not easy, but unavoidable. Like countless other women who cherish improvement in the situation of women in the United States and throughout the world, I was initially quick to embrace feminism as the best way to secure our "rights" and our dignity as persons.

Like countless others, I was seriously misled.

In practice, the sexual liberation of women has realized men's most predatory sexual fantasies. As women shook themselves free from the norms and conventions of sexual conduct, men did the same.

There can be no doubt that women's situation has demanded improvement -- and continues to do so throughout much of the world. But the emphasis upon individual rights at the expense of mutual responsibility and service is not the way to secure it.

Worse, it is destroying the fabric of our society as a whole because it is severing the most fundamental social bonds. Binding ties constrain women, but they constrain men as well. As Danielle Crittenden has noted, the family "has never been about the promotion of rights but the surrender of them -- by both the man and the woman".

Hear, hear. One male said, in a previous post that observing the double standard, i.e. respecting a woman and respecting her womanhood, is controlling her sexuality and treating her as a commodity. WTF?

Lord Nazh© answered him:

I, for one, will always treat a lady (be she young, old, ugly, whatever) with the respect I think she deserves until such time as she makes me take it away. If that is by holding the door, looking out for her, helping her, whatever, that is what I will do. I have never tried to control any females' sexuality, I have tried to get them to expand it a few times (successfully a lot heh) but control? That's more smoke than Britain has banned.

In came a Feminazi who shall remain nameless:

We don't want to be discriminated against for our gender nor paid less than our male colleagues or less for equivalent work. I'm not going to touch the sexuality issue except to say that if women allow themselves to be oppressed sexually it is often because they have low self esteem, possibly given to them by men. Why do you so seldom see men with low self esteem? By the way if you open the door for me that doesn't mean that you show respect for me nor defer to my opinion. It just means your mother brought you up well and you paid attention.

Sigh. A blogger called KellyMac answered her and saved me the job:

No. Wrong. What most women, i.e. feminists, want is equality of outcome, no matter how much you must disadvantage men to do it. Men and women are biologically different - gender is NOT a social construct. Honestly, that's among the most ridiculous things I've ever heard - gender being a social construct. We evolved differently because that was the most efficient way to survive.

It amuses me that feminists say we're the same when it benefits women, and say we're different when it doesn't. You can't have it both ways, ladies. Men naturally want to protect and care for us. And we naturally want to be cherished and needed, and, believe it or not, we want to make them happy. Do you ever wonder why women are so freaking unhappy these days? Because we're supposed to not be women.

That's just sick.

My own addendum is that that Feminazi is one sad person. What's with this "oppressed" bit they always harp on about? Look, Nazh said it, I say it, many blokes say it - take responsibility for your words and actions and you'll have the same respect males accord other males who accord respect to them and take them seriously.

For you to take my words on this blog seriously, I hve to say something seriously. For you to take me as a buffoon, I only need write like one.

If you one night stand, men will take advantage of it but don't ask, next morning, "Do you still respect me?" The answer is no but you were a nice piece of meat though. If you walk around with it all hanging out, then don't be surprised if you get ogled and later, in drunken company with two dozen males, if you get "raped". It's total tosh to say that the way you acted was not a factor and don't even try that old chestnut that the way you dress and the company you keep should be kept totally separate to the way you get treated.

If I dress like something out of a horror movie and go for an interview for a job in the City, what can I realistically expect? If I go for a job as Sunday School teacher and it's effing this and c--- that, what can I realistically expect? If I go for a job in fashion and dress like a Jehovah's Witness, what can I realistically expect?

If you swear like a navvy, out of some misguided desire to be one of the boys, then you're going to get beaten on, just as male does on male and how on G-d's earth do you ever think this is going to translate into respect for you?

As you give and expect in return, so you will get in return.

They're as rare as hen's teeth these days, ladies and gentlemen but I was brought up with men who respected a woman's right to be treated as a lady and taken seriously and with women who'd look askance if the man did not accord them the same respect as they showed the men.

Do you think the sex was any less good in those days? Do you think we all prayed before copulating or asked ourselves if we're oppressing each other?

Give me a break.

[bryan ferry] roxy music and jerry hall

Bryan Ferry is more likely to redecorate a hotel room than trash it. [Nicky Haslam]

[Try this first, courtesy Hookie]

Aren't youtube so annoying with their "embedding disabled" rubbish? If you access this version, check out the string section. Meanwhile, the Jerry Hall version is still mighty good:



The live version is nice to look at but his voice is better here:



Ah - more champagne, to lose this pain, would be very nice
So I'll help myself to one more drink and I'll find myself if it takes all night!



This one's for the genuine Roxy fans - sorry, no vid. I went to their Country Life concert - best concert I've ever seen - very intense:



"You - the hero, so many times, you've loved and didn't linger
Now my finger points at you - another loser
You - an island, on your own, complete in every detail
Monumental, a precious jew-el or just a fo-ol!"

How are they for words? Amazing group they were.

[anything we do] magnify by 200 in china

Bl--dy hell. In Britain, it would be: "A small coastal village was evacuated when a storm slammed the shoreline. Some damage was sustained."

In China, it's: "One million evacuated as typhoon hits China."

[sunday quiz] five you could do on your head

1. The pentatonic scale is far more widely used than people suppose. What is the name of the other, western beloved scale? Starts with an H.

2. 393 years after the death of Shakespeare, there are 15 million pages of him on Google. In comparison, 2.7 million for Elvis Presley, and 14.7 million for George Bush. Who's the biggest hit-getter, with 135 million?

3. Which of these groups of women are statistically least likely to suffer partner violence - cohabiting, dating or married?

4. Are you more likely to be prosecuted in the U.S.A. or France?

5. Which is the only country with a single-coloured flag?

Answers

heptatonic, G-d, married, U.S.A. - 66 times more likely, Libya

[fastnet] when sport turns to disaster

Fastnet gets under way today - that race for the Fastnet Rock, one of the most treacherous races on the international calendar. No one remembers the good weather races so much but everyone remembers a disaster and 1979 was such a year. Wiki says:

Storms during the race wreaked havoc on over 306 yachts taking part in the biennial race, resulting in 15 fatalities. Over 13–14 August, 25 of the 306 yachts taking part were sunk or disabled due to high winds and "mountainous seas".



The Daily Telegraph (15 August, 1979, p. 1) described the situation, where "Royal Navy ships, RAF Nimrod jets, helicopters, lifeboats, a Dutch warship and other craft picked up 125 yachtsmen whose boats had been caught in force 11 violent storm strength gusts midway between Land's End and Fastnet".

The effort also included tugs, trawlers, and tankers. Rescue efforts began after 6:30 am on 14 August, once the winds had dropped to severe gale Force 9.

Apart from the magnificent response and the name-calling and scapegoat finding which inevitably followed, a lot of good came out of it and though I'm not one for regulation in what is, after all, a leisure time sport, nevertheless some quite sensible rules were put in place since that race and it's a safer business now. Below is the only decent youtube of the event in general.

The Sydney to Hobart race in 1998 was a similar situation, with many deaths. This race has a reputation of being one of the world's premier bluewater events and is known to be unpredictable and gruelling. Below is a sometimes annoying video because of the wildly dramatic commentary but the footage is rivetting and conveys the nature of the mayhem.

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Those vids really do show just how difficult it is to rescue someone in high winds and 30 metre seas.

The start of the race is rated one of the most spectacular in the world but once they're round the heads and heading south, then they're at the mercy of the Pacific and that ocean can be anything but pacific.

My own rescue does not reach those heights for drama but I'd like to inflict it on you if you can stand it. I

t was in a stretch of water called Port Philip Bay, known for its treachery and I was sailing out of my yacht club. The conditions were not good but not too bad - the winds were about 15 knots.

It was a race and as usual, the faster, larger boats were sent off last, which I always thought was silly because we'd have to work our way through the smaller craft, many of those crewed by kids. One thing you don't need is a cat like mine slicing you in two at 15-20 knots and it stresses us out too.

Anyway, I decided to use my boat speed when sailing off the wind a bit to avoid the mass of small craft and sailed out to the edge of the course. At that point, some of the kids were having trouble in the distance, more in fornt of the clubhouse and the last I saw was the rescue boat charging towards them.



At that point, I heard the snap of the trapeze I was on and the resulting momentum threw me through the air, maybe 5 metres, 15 feet or so, with the boat still sailing away at top speed - more now that I was off it. Then it slowly keeled over and turned upside down, making it invisible, in those waves, from even the control tower.

It was the end of the season, the last race and there I was in the water, in life-vest [I didn't wear a lifejacket when racing], the boat gone and about 0.7 of a kilometre from shore, with the wind coming offshore. Strike out for the shore or for the boat? That was the question.

This was my class of boat, the A Class, 18 feet, 150 sq ft in area, 30 foot mast, sailed from trapeze

I tried both but it was no use - the boat was drifting away and the shore now seemed the only way. However, the cold was now getting to me and I was going numb. I thought I might have about 20 minutes consciousness left. Using sidestroke, the vest was in the way but I thought I'd better leave it on.

I ceased moving forward and started to go in and out of consciousness, treading water, then forgetting to, sinking, coming to and trying again and so on.

Suddenly, there was a boat on the scene - a pleasure craft, with some girls on the front. That was the only powercraft I'd seen that day as it was end of season and chilly. So, OK, the clumsy clots or heroic rescuers, however you see them, did eventually rescue my boat, breaking it in the process and rescued me, of course.

After a hot cuppa in the clubhouse later, I went to the control tower and asked why they hadn't sent the boat. They hadn't known I was in trouble - as a senior of the club, no one expected I'd ever come a cropper on that leviathan. Fair enough - the kids have to come first, always.

Still, it left a sort of chill which doesn't stop me sailing but I'm a bit more careful nowadays.

The clubhouse is a wonderful place to be after it all

One hopes that this year's Fastnet will be a much smoother passage. If you're religious and even if you're not, you might like to spare a prayer for these men and women.