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Content about Economics

February 2, 2012
Britain Would Be Much Worse Off Without Quantitative Easing

So says Adam Posen, of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee.

What he really means is that the City of London would be much worse off, of course. Britain could not really be much worse off, after all. Increasing unemployment, a demoralised youth, collapsing social and health care, collapsing education, collapsing manufacturing, collapsing infrastructure and an inexorable descent into full scale dictatorship - the list is unending.

January 19, 2012
WWF Population Reduction In Mexico

Last April, the Mexican National Water Commission (Conagua), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF, for its acronym in English) and the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) announced an alliance to reclaim water used by humans for environmental use, ensuring water resources needed for the proper functioning of ecosystems. Since human use is not considered "environmental", the result is nothing less than murder.

Mexico is in the midst of its worst drought in over 70 years. 1.7 million cattle have died of starvation and thirst so far this winter, and crops have been devastated. The drought is affecting almost 70 percent of the country, devastating farm life, and is expected to continue well into 2012.

Despite this, the WWF and Conagua would prefer to see people die than permit the development of water power and irrigation systems in the region.

January 17, 2012
Inflation Falls To 4.2% - Where's The Hyperinflation, Then?

The main cause of hyperinflation is a massive and rapid increase in the amount of money which is not supported by growth in the output of goods and services. The UK Column has been warning for a number of years now that we are staring hyperinflation in the face. So where is it?

It's there.

It's there in the half trillion Euros pumped into an already dead European financial system at Christmas by the European Central Bank. It's there in the half trillion Euros that the ECB is going to pump in next month. It's there in the trillions upon trillions of dollars pumped into the system by the Fed, and the hundreds of billions of pounds pumped into system by the Bank of England.

January 16, 2012
Markets Calm After Friday's Downgrades - Focus Continues On Greece

The markets seem to have mostly shrugged off France's loss of its triple-A rating.

The downgrading of France and other European nations on Friday was not unexpected, so markets had already come to terms with it; viewing it as the least of their worries.

This week sees a number of European government bond auctions, and most critically, Greece's continuing attempts to make a deal with its private creditors.

January 11, 2012
Inter-Alpha Group Banks - Hoarding ECB Hyperinflationary Bailout

On the 22nd December last year, the European Central Bank began lending some new money. 523 European banks borrowed €489 billion in one day.

The money was lent at 1% over three years. This was the biggest infusion of hyperinflationary credit by the ECB ever, and represents 5% of the GDP of the whole European Union. In one day.

The move was part of the ECB's package of measures intended to "stabilise" financial markets. The Association of German Banks said at the time that the cash injection would "decisively improve" the liquidity of European Banks, and help ward off potential credit shortages in the Euro zone.

So, has it achieved its objective?

January 10, 2012
The Financial Crash - Europe Continues Descent Into Hell

We could be forgiven for thinking that the Euro crisis has gone away, with so little coverage in the media. Sadly, it's just the calm before the storm.

Ireland, Spain, Italy, Greece or Hungary are each quite capable of lighting the fuse that sets off the Euro bomb any time now.

Today, "officials" from the "Troika" - the IMF, European Central Bank, and EU - are visiting Dublin to review its loan programme to Ireland.

As part of the visit the delegation will peruse Irelands books, to see how the country has performed against the Troika's demands for austerity. They will also outline which hoops Ireland will have to jump through in the coming three months.

December 2, 2011
The Problem With Positive Money

Positive Money bills itself as “a simple solution to the debt crisis”. With a cursory glance, it might appear to be making some of the right noises. On closer inspection, however, there’s just nothing there.

Positive Money states that it wants three things:

1. Make banks ask our permission before they gamble with our money.

October 4, 2011
Credit Easing - More Of The Same

So Osborne's big idea is out in the open now. It's called "credit easing", and it's not quite what it seems to be.

So Osborne's big idea is out in the open now. It's called "credit easing", and it's not quite what it seems to be.

Media commentators are presenting it as a much needed shot in the arm to British business. No longer will they have to go cap in hand to unsympathetic bank managers, who cannot lend them any money, because they don't have any money to lend. Now, they can issue some corporate bonds, and swap them for cash at the Bank of England.

But what does this mean, for the country and for the companies who take part?

September 23, 2011
Welcome To Weimar

The statements from within the global financial "leadership", and reflected in the mainstream press release mashup squad, have been staggering. There is "already a raging panic around the solvency of the European banking system", wrote the Telegraph's Jeremy Warner, "Most people will find the idea that more than four years after the banking crisis began, the banking system continues to require squillions of public money almost beyond belief".

The European Central Bank's "European Systemic Risk Board", a committee set up last December to manage the degree of panic in the system, began really stoking things up a couple of days ago, in a press release issued following their third scheduled meeting. They warned of a "rapidly rising risk of significant contagion [which] threatens financial stability in the EU as a whole".

Other quotations from various sources include:

You need a lot more firepower to be a circuit breaker!

September 21, 2011
Bank Of England Ready For More QE

As predicted, the Bank of England is ready to restart the money printing presses once again, possibly as early as next month.

As predicted, the Bank of England is ready to restart the money printing presses once again, possibly as early as next month.

Today's release of the Monetary Policy Committee minutes state that it is:

increasingly probable that further asset purchases to loosen monetary conditions would become warranted at some point ... for some members, a continuation of the conditions seen over the past month would probably be sufficient to justify an expansion of the asset purchase program at a subsequent meeting.

September 4, 2011
Quantitative Easing - Alive & Well

The UK is not in the firing line, says William Hague.

He must have been on drugs or something, because aside from that, he believes that European nations need to "demonstrate to the satisfaction of financial markets the credibility of their own intentions to bring their deficits and debts under control".

The UK is not in the firing line, says William Hague.

He must have been on drugs or something, because aside from that, he believes that European nations need to "demonstrate to the satisfaction of financial markets the credibility of their own intentions to bring their deficits and debts under control".

Which begs the question: who died and made financial markets the boss?

February 14, 2011
Save This Nation - Rebuild The Economy

The ignorance of the majority of our political classes to the enormity of the financial crisis that we face is staggering. Their wilful denial of the fact of the continuing collapse of our nation, its institutions and ways of life is absolute deliberate treason. In fact, I would go further, it is murderous, and that fact will become clear as the destruction of the NHS takes its toll.

As a result, they prefer to decimate public spending, while at the same time increase VAT and other taxes, in order to pay off the banking mafia that pays their salaries.

Policy Of Bailout

In 2008, our then "Prime Minister", Gordon Brown, set himself up as the "global chancellor of the exchequer" and took his tale of global bailout to the G20 conference. He organised the cooperation of the other nineteen nations in setting about a policy which could only ever have had one outcome.

Gordon Brown is not a stupid man. He certainly understood exactly what he was doing, just as he did when he gave "independence" to the Bank of England in 1998 and when he sold off the nation's gold for a song.

November 15, 2010
Behind The Sovereign Debt Crisis

The yields on Irish government debt (specifically 10 year bonds) rose to over 9% on Thursday last week on the rumours that Ireland was needing to go cap in hand to the EU for a further bailout. The Irish government denied this in a fairly carefully worded statement. The result is that yields have fallen back to just over 8% today, although it is generally accepted that if yields head back over 9% again, Ireland will be forced to run out the begging bowl.

Yields on government bonds rise in proportion to the risk investors perceive themselves to be taking when they buy them. If yields on Irish bonds rise above 9% again, it is an indication that investors believe that the Irish government are likely to default on repaying the debt when the bonds mature.

UK Not In The Eurozone? Doesn't Matter

The Irish sovereign debt issue demonstrates quite nicely the incestuous circular nature of the monetary financial system.

November 15, 2010
Plundering State Assets With Public Private Partnerships

In our One World Governance series of articles we have recently been looking at the role of Partnerships in the new system of Global Governance.

A visit to the HM Treasury website informs readers that

November 8, 2010
Rise Of The Kleptocrats

The Federal Reserve Bank's announcement of QE2, the second round of American Quantitative Easing, on the 3rd of November, caused a tidal wave of funny money to hit the markets as "investors" decided to place their bets on stocks and commodities. Stock markets around the world climbed by nearly 2% on Thursday, oil broke through $87 a barrel, and a range of other commodities also saw dramatic price increases.

While The World Shouts "Insane!", The City Of London Shouts "Not Enough!"

While government officials from around the world howl in anguish over the Fed's decision, the City of London feels a mere $600 billion of funny money is "timid."

But as is typical of politicians who are, in reality, bought and paid for by City of London interests, none of their protests included any real alternative to the continued bailout.

August 9, 2010
More Lies

The banks are back in profit, and the bankers can afford a 25% increase in bonuses. So, all's well that ends well, isn't it?

Well, isn't it?

You may have noticed that the banks are refusing to lend, while paying themselves these massive bonuses. Vince Cable and George Osborne say that the bankers are being very naughty boys to do this, and they should stop it immediately.

That's hard talk from them, isn't it? I'm glad we have those two on our side.

So, again, let me point out - the banks are bankrupt. They have no money to lend, and the little they have, they are extracting for themselves as quickly as they can, because they know this gravy train isn't going to last much longer.

August 9, 2010
Surviving The Perfect Storm

Britain is bankrupt. There's no getting around that fact. We have a national debt of over £900 billion and rising. We have a massive black hole in the public pension pot of £1.2 trillion. We have personal debt of £1.5 trillion.

That is a total shortfall, today, of £3.6 trillion.

£6 Trillion - £188,000 Each

If we add corporate debt onto this figure, then the nation, its people and its employers owe somewhere in the region of £6 trillion to bankers in one form or another, complete with its burden of interest. And we are told we can solve this debt problem by creating more debt.

October 12, 2009
Recedentia: Legatum Sounds The Retreat

Smarting from a summer of virulently anti-capitalist, anti-globalist, anti-well-just-about-everything sentiment, the Gods of the free market pantheon gathered at a recent half day seminar on the causes of the financial crisis to discuss and debate their preferred solutions amongst friendly (present) company (accepted).

August 31, 2009
Rebuilding A Nation

Britain is in a state of collapse. That must seem like a redundant statement, since just about everyone recognises it. Things are getting bad enough that even our immigration "problem" seems to be solving itself.

April 14, 2009
Bank Of England, Sterling & Government Treason

Many people believe that the Bank of England is a privately owned corporation. Many people believe that it's owned by the Rothchilds.

Neither of these beliefs is true.

The truth is much worse.

The story of the Bank of England is the story of the British Empire. The British Empire was never a political empire. It was always a monetary financial empire, as much a parasite on the people of Great Britain as the rest of the world. The idea of the Victorian's British Empire bringing civilisation to the darkest parts of the world is one that needs real reconsideration by many Britons.

April 2, 2009
A New World Order Is Emerging

Those were the closing words of the new global chancellor of nothing yesterday, during his post G20 summit speech. "These are not just a single collection of actions," he said, "This is collective action; people at their best. I think a New World Order is emerging, and with it a new and progressive era of international cooperation. We have resolved that from today, we will together manage the process of globalisation ..."

So there you have it. The much mooted New World Order takes another lurch forward with this G20 summit and (to quote Brown from a previous speech) "the greatest restructuring of the global economy the world has ever seen." He just loves to brag, doesn't he?

January 30, 2009
Hustle!

The IMF is out of cash.

That is, according to the governor of Mexico's Central Bank, Guillermo Ortiz, at this years otherwise absolutely insane Davos economic forum, who said, "The IMF does not have enough money for what is coming."

Turns out, he was right. The Wall Street Urinal reported this morning:

"The International Monetary Fund is finalizing a $100 billion loan from Japan and is considering issuing bonds for the first time in its history, as part of an effort to double the financial resources it has to fight the deepening global recession."

January 6, 2009
Public Inquiry

It is truly incredible how brass necked the financial elites and their political puppets in all parties have been in treating the world financial system as their personal cash machine, while the "experts" who, until recently, were "completely surprised" by the crisis, are now forecasting corporate and personal bankruptcies, mass unemployment, and world food shortages.

In view of this, the UK Column is demanding an independent public inquiry to investigate the swindles that have triggered the greatest financial crisis in world history.

Typical of such swindles is the Bernie Madoff scandal. Madoff is accused of having swindled fifty billion dollars from his clients, including UK banks. Incredibly, he has been placed under "house arrest" while he awaits trial, on a bail of ten million of his "own" hard earned dollars.

April 10, 2008
What Are You Looking At?

Britain's cultural life is under attack again. The British Museum is hosting this disgusting waste of time and money, as part of an exhibition called "Statuephilia."

Mark Quinn, the apparently ill artist, expects this monstrosity to sell for £10 million. Said to be the largest gold statue made since ancient Egypt, it is made from 50kg of 18 carat gold.

It's Kate Moss, by the way.

Melt it down.