The Ship of Fools...

... lost and last?

source

I am sorry for those of you who do not understand German; you would be listening to a precise description of us fools on one of those lost last ships...

The helmsman lies, the captain is fully drunk
the machinist lost in his nagging lethargy.
The crew a bunch of dirty crooks,
the radio coward too scared to morse SOS,
hobgoblin in command of this ship of fools,
full speed ahead and tack the reef1
...

Found this translation in the web, admitted, it is not an easy task to put Reinhard Mey's verses following his message into another language:

Reinhard Mey – Ship of Fools – Das Narrenschiff

Mercury falls, the signs indicating storm,
Bloody diggling and nagging from the command tower
And dull grinding sounds roll from the machine.
And rolling and pounding and heavy sea,
The on board the chapel plays "Humbataeterae",
And a mad laughter penetrates from the latrine.
The charge is putridly, the papers fictitious,
The bilge pumps leaky and the section walls blocked,
The hatches far open and all alarm bells ring.
The waves hit head high in the loading bay
And St Elms fire licks from the bay deck,
Yet nobody on board can read the signs!

The first mate lies, the captain is drunk
And the machinist sunk into a dull lethargy
The crew just loud perjured rascals,
The radio operator too cowardly to send an SOS
Kobolds are leading the fool's ship
Full steam ahead for the Reef!

On the horizon the signs of the time create lightning
Baseness and greed and vanity.
On the bridge numskulls gawk and romp about.
In the murky deep the sharp serrated shark fishes,
Bringing his catch in the dry, along the tax,
On the sand bank, with the well known treasure island.
The other money launderers and pimps who are already waiting
Brothel king, play machine baron,
In the bright light, nobody is to be in the darkness
In the banana republic, even the president
Has lost shame and knows no scruples,
Dresses up with the tax thief in the suite.

The first mate lies, the captain is drunk
And the machinist sunk into a dull lethargy
The crew just loud perjured rascals,
The radio operator too cowardly to send an SOS
Kobolds are leading the fool's ship
Full steam ahead for the Reef!

One has made himself smooth, one has positioned.
All high ideals have been damaged,
And the big rebel, who did not become too tired to argue,
Mutates to a servile, poisoned gnome
And sings lamb like devout before the bad old man in Rome
His songs, for truth: Times are changing!
Once young savages are pliant, devout and tame,
Bought, anaesthetised and wing lame,
With little velvet paws traded for the once so sharp claws.
And futile old men present perky to themselves
Always with a lot of too young women on the upper deck,
That warm their floppy limbs and spoon feed them with pre-chewed food.

The first mate lies, the captain is drunk
And the machinist sunk into a dull lethargy
The crew just loud perjured rascals,
The radio operator too cowardly to send an SOS
Kobolds are leading the fool's ship
Full steam ahead for the Reef!

They arm against the enemy, an enemy that has been here for a long time
He has his hand on your throat, standing behind you.
In protection of the paragraphs he mixes marked maps.
Everybody can see it, but everybody looks away,
And the shady character emerges from his hiding place
And crosses fire before all eyes in the kindergarten.
The lookout shouts from the highest mast: End of time in sight!
As petrified as they are they hear him not.
They move like lemmings in mindless hordes.
It is, as if all have lost their minds,
Itself to the fall and to the purge committed,
And a willo' the wisp became their beacon.

The first mate lies, the captain is drunk
And the machinist sunk into a dull lethargy
The crew just loud perjured rascals,
The radio operator too cowardly to send an SOS
Kobolds are leading the fool's ship
Full steam ahead for the Reef!


Here the German original: Das Narrenschiff

Das Quecksilber fällt, die Zeichen stehen auf Sturm,
nur blödes Kichern und Keifen vom Kommandoturm
und ein dumpfes Mahlen grollt aus der Maschine.
Und rollen und Stampfen und schwere See,
die Bordkapelle spielt „Humbatäterä",
und ein irres Lachen dringt aus der Latrine.
Die Ladung ist faul, die Papiere fingiert,d
die Lenzpumpen leck und die Schotten blockiert,
die Luken weit offen und alle Alarmglocken läuten.
Die Seen schlagen mannshoch in den Laderaum
und Elmsfeuer züngeln vom Ladebaum,
doch keiner an Bord vermag die Zeichen zu deuten!

Der Steuermann lügt, der Kapitän ist betrunken
und der Maschinist in dumpfe Lethargie versunken,
die Mannschaft lauter meineidige Halunken,
der Funker zu feig' um SOS zu funken.
Klabautermann führt das Narrenschiff
volle Fahrt voraus und Kurs auf's Riff.

Am Horizont wetterleuchten die Zeichen der Zeit:
Niedertracht und Raffsucht und Eitelkeit.
Auf der Brücke tummeln sich Tölpel und Einfaltspinsel.
Im Trüben fischt der scharfgezahnte Hai,
bringt seinen Fang ins Trockne, an der Steuer vorbei,
auf die Sandbank, bei der wohlbekannten Schatzinsel.
Die andern Zuhälter und Geldwäscher, die warten schon,
Bordellkönig, Spielautomatenbaron,
im hellen Licht, niemand muß sich im Dunkeln rumdrücken
in der Bananenrepublik, wo selbst der Präsident
die Scham verloren hat und keine Skrupel kennt,
sich mit dem Steuerdieb im Gefolge zu schmücken.

Der Steuermann lügt, der Kapitän ist betrunken
und der Maschinist in dumpfe Lethargie versunken,
die Mannschaft lauter meineidige Halunken,
der Funker zu feig' um SOS zu funken.
Klabautermann führt das Narrenschiff
volle Fahrt voraus und Kurs auf's Riff.

Man hat sich glatt gemacht, man hat sich arrangiert.
All die hohen Ideale sind havariert,
und der große Rebell, der nicht müd' wurde zu streiten,
mutiert zu einem servilen, gift'gen Gnom
und singt lammfromm vor dem schlimmen alten Mann in Rom
seine Lieder, fürwahr: Es ändern sich die Zeiten!
Einst junge Wilde sind gefügig, fromm und zahm,
gekauft, narkotisiert und flügellahm,
tauschen Samtpfötchen für die einst so scharfen Klauen.
Und eitle Greise präsentier'n sich keck
mit immer viel zu jungen Frauen auf dem Oberdeck,
die ihre schlaffen Glieder wärmen und ihnen das Essen vorkauen.

Der Steuermann lügt, der Kapitän ist betrunken
und der Maschinist in dumpfe Lethargie versunken,
die Mannschaft lauter meineidige Halunken,
der Funker zu feig' um SOS zu funken.
Klabautermann führt das Narrenschiff
volle Fahrt voraus und Kurs auf's Riff.

Sie rüsten gegen den Feind, doch der Feind ist längst hier.
Er hat die Hand an deiner Gurgel, er steht hinter dir.
Im Schutz der Paragraphen mischt er die gezinkten Karten.
Jeder kann es sehen, aber alle sehen weg,
und der Dunkelmann kommt aus seinem Versteck
und dealt unter aller Augen vor dem Kindergarten.
Der Ausguck ruft vom höchsten Mast: Endzeit in Sicht!
Doch sie sind wie versteinert und sie hören ihn nicht.
Sie zieh'n wie Lemminge in willenlosen Horden.
Es ist, als hätten alle den Verstand verlor'n,
sich zum Niedergang und zum Verfall verschwor'n,
und ein Irrlicht ist ihr Leuchtfeuer geworden.

Der Steuermann lügt, der Kapitän ist betrunken
und der Maschinist in dumpfe Lethargie versunken,
die Mannschaft lauter meineidige Halunken,
der Funker zu feig' um SOS zu funken.
Klabautermann führt das Narrenschiff
volle Fahrt voraus und Kurs auf's Riff.


Carpe diem!

Passive Passion...

... a summary of what is PassivHaus

 

Passive Passion trailer from Charlie Hoxie on Vimeo.

You can watch the full video here.

Carpe diem!

Sceptic Doubts

Scepticism's expertise...




... going down the up escalator!

That does remind me of Escher's staircase...

 


Carpe diem!

Euro! Stop here!

Any day longer will make it worse!

Much worse!

Prior to have to live through an explosion of this Unified European Currency and see the European Union become a battlefield I demand this stupid adventure to be stopped here and now!

At the moment we might have a smallish chance left to settle this suicidal experiment in a controlled and organized way. Any day longer this "Einheitswährung" as it is called in Germany, the "Unity-Currency" of something that is far from being a Unity, is strangling those totally unequal economies and peoples it will become worse; worse than any cut could be today!

Unemployment rates in the South soar with young people under 25 reaching 55% in places, overall a >25% rate of unemployment in Greece, Spain, Portugal, soon Italy are only what we will see next in other states and France, The Netherlands, even the UK once the bread and games are over with. And shortly thereafter in Germany! Combined with severe cuts into training and education all this is the recipe for extreme social pressure and economical depression of unseen dimensions; industrial output shrinks at record rates all over Europe and that is not machinery and production slowing down but complete plants shut off and people send to hell; that hell of trying to find a job in an environment that does not create labour but exported and exports any job possible for the sake of boosting wholesale markups until retail collapses along with purchase power.

If there is any intelligence left in Europe it should, it must act now; neither a bank-union, bank banks, ultra low or even negative interest rates nor any of these stunningly ignorant and all the same money-printing-Ponzi-bonanzas will solve the disaster that one currency pulled over what was an unprepared, inhomogeneous Europe, not unified economically, not legally, not socially, has caused.

As to Pound Sterling people will say it is good where it is, strong and an independent alternative, so why call for the Euro to be ended? The Pound is only so strong like the Euro is weak, independence is history and UK is still part of the Eurasian continent.

The Euro must end here! Der Euro muß weg!

Carpe diem!

LIBOR

... the interbanking scam!

DIY car maintenance to help you save money

I remember the lines of bankers I had to deal with in the past which would criticise my business plan as to not being profitable enough; 25% or 30% margins were expected otherwise, why bother?! After this we all understand the motivations:

While some try to save money going DIY others use DIY in a much more profound way; it is criminal, but who cares in a world where all those foxes put themselves in charge of all those hen houses; they set their margins themselves; monopoly at its best; this cartel doesn't even need breakfast.
This breakfast refers to a so-called breakfast-cartel of the German light bulb industry where the main producers met one morning in April 1899 and agreed to raise prices by 10% - during that breakfast they agreed on who would say what, go first, follow up, etc. Of course, this was and is declared illegal, but how good are declarations when mainstream has those for lunch?

In above video Mr Booth, representing the Institute of Economic Affairs, is masterfully trying to not answer any question in detail which seems to be the goal of this IEA, while this perky Mr Reid speaks for the one and only ICFR, International Centre for Financial Regulation, the "... only independent, non-partisan organisation to be exclusively focused on best practice in all aspects of financial regulation internationally." as you can read here.

But then you should see the list of those independent Founder Members here. If you see UBS, Barclays, Her Majesty's Government or Morgan Stanley, etc. on that list you are not nuts! Calm down, you are just watching the scam having breakfast! Simon Johnson: The Market Has Spoken...

This does not leave me and my business plans with any hope. Banksters! I recommend you reading the interview with James K. Galbraith, March 2009, three years ago!!!

…as long as the old management is in place, there are no incentives to cooperate in the evaluation you need to make.

There was clearly a systematic failure. But that does not mean there was no criminal energy around.

When a bank is insolvent, the incentives for normal banking practice disappear. They become perverse.

WHEN  will we finally see things change? What a stupid question!


Carpe diem!

We will adapt to that...

...a nice, comforting line:

Carpe diem!

much more than a SIP...

The HANSE HAUS wallstructure explained:

example: HANSE HAUS Passiv Haus wall

Carpe diem!

I started a joke...

which started the whole world crying:

Thank you Robin!

Carpe diem!

Chapeau! Guenter!

German writer and

Nobel laureate Gunter Grass...

source

is much to the anger of German, Jewish, hence, large parts of the global mainstream criticising what needs criticism. Here are the German words of his poem, "Was gesagt werden muß", i.e. "What must be said" published in Sueddeutsche Zeitung and the New York Times; I am yet trying to find an English translation; I speak both languages and foresee not only problems translating Mr. Grass' intentions!

 

Warum schweige ich, verschweige zu lange,
was offensichtlich ist und in Planspielen
geübt wurde, an deren Ende als Überlebende
wir allenfalls Fußnoten sind.

Es ist das behauptete Recht auf den Erstschlag,
der das von einem Maulhelden unterjochte
und zum organisierten Jubel gelenkte
iranische Volk auslöschen könnte,
weil in dessen Machtbereich der Bau
einer Atombombe vermutet wird.

Doch warum untersage ich mir,
jenes andere Land beim Namen zu nennen,
in dem seit Jahren - wenn auch geheimgehalten -
ein wachsend nukleares Potential verfügbar
aber außer Kontrolle, weil keiner Prüfung
zugänglich ist?

Das allgemeine Verschweigen dieses Tatbestandes,
dem sich mein Schweigen untergeordnet hat,
empfinde ich als belastende Lüge
und Zwang, der Strafe in Aussicht stellt,
sobald er mißachtet wird;
das Verdikt "Antisemitismus" ist geläufig.

Jetzt aber, weil aus meinem Land,
das von ureigenen Verbrechen,
die ohne Vergleich sind,
Mal um Mal eingeholt und zur Rede gestellt wird,
wiederum und rein geschäftsmäßig, wenn auch
mit flinker Lippe als Wiedergutmachung deklariert,
ein weiteres U-Boot nach Israel
geliefert werden soll, dessen Spezialität
darin besteht, allesvernichtende Sprengköpfe
dorthin lenken zu können, wo die Existenz
einer einzigen Atombombe unbewiesen ist,
doch als Befürchtung von Beweiskraft sein will,
sage ich, was gesagt werden muß.

Warum aber schwieg ich bislang?
Weil ich meinte, meine Herkunft,
die von nie zu tilgendem Makel behaftet ist,
verbiete, diese Tatsache als ausgesprochene Wahrheit
dem Land Israel, dem ich verbunden bin
und bleiben will, zuzumuten.

Warum sage ich jetzt erst,
gealtert und mit letzter Tinte:
Die Atommacht Israel gefährdet
den ohnehin brüchigen Weltfrieden?
Weil gesagt werden muß,
was schon morgen zu spät sein könnte;
auch weil wir - als Deutsche belastet genug -
Zulieferer eines Verbrechens werden könnten,
das voraussehbar ist, weshalb unsere Mitschuld
durch keine der üblichen Ausreden
zu tilgen wäre.

Und zugegeben: ich schweige nicht mehr,
weil ich der Heuchelei des Westens
überdrüssig bin; zudem ist zu hoffen,
es mögen sich viele vom Schweigen befreien,
den Verursacher der erkennbaren Gefahr
zum Verzicht auf Gewalt auffordern und
gleichfalls darauf bestehen,
daß eine unbehinderte und permanente Kontrolle
des israelischen atomaren Potentials
und der iranischen Atomanlagen
durch eine internationale Instanz von den Regierungen beider Länder zugelassen wird.
Nur so ist allen, den Israelis und Palästinensern,
mehr noch, allen Menschen, die in dieser
vom Wahn okkupierten Region
dicht bei dicht verfeindet leben
und letztlich auch uns zu helfen.

Update: here a translation taken from theguardian:

What must be said

Why have I kept silent, held back so long,

on something openly practiced in

war games, at the end of which those of us

who survive will at best be footnotes?

It's the alleged right to a first strike

that could destroy an Iranian people

subjugated by a loudmouth

and gathered in organized rallies,

because an atom bomb may be being

developed within his arc of power.

Yet why do I hesitate to name

that other land in which

for years—although kept secret—

a growing nuclear power has existed

beyond supervision or verification,

subject to no inspection of any kind?

This general silence on the facts,

before which my own silence has bowed,

seems to me a troubling lie, and compels

me toward a likely punishment

the moment it's flouted:

the verdict "Anti-semitism" falls easily.

But now that my own country,

brought in time after time

for questioning about its own crimes,

profound and beyond compare,

is said to be the departure point,

(on what is merely business,

though easily declared an act of reparation)

for yet another submarine equipped

to transport nuclear warheads

to Israel, where not a single atom bomb

has yet been proved to exist, with fear alone

the only evidence, I'll say what must be said.

But why have I kept silent till now?

Because I thought my own origins,

Tarnished by a stain that can never be removed,

meant I could not expect Israel, a land

to which I am, and always will be, attached,

to accept this open declaration of the truth.

Why only now, grown old,

and with what ink remains, do I say:

Israel's atomic power endangers

an already fragile world peace?

Because what must be said

may be too late tomorrow;

and because—burdend enough as Germans—

we may be providing material for a crime

that is foreseeable, so that our complicity

wil not be expunged by any

of the usual excuses.

And granted: I've broken my silence

because I'm sick of the West's hypocrisy;

and I hope too that many may be freed

from their silence, may demand

that those responsible for the open danger

we face renounce the use of force,

may insist that the governments of

both Iran and Israel allow an international authority

free and open inspection of

the nuclear potential and capability of both.

No other course offers help

to Israelis and Palestinians alike,

to all those living side by side in emnity

in this region occupied by illusions,

and ultimately, to all of us.

Günter Grass

Translated by Breon Mitchell

The discussion has begun, as expected, revealing mainstream's predominance as to the truth is in the one and only main stream, only. And Germans must say nothing, anyway, while the many not speaking German know it all.

Respect Mr. Grass! I sincerely hope your last ink lasts long!


Carpe diem!

Global suicide made in Canada!

The dirtiest fuel there is!

Hardly a difference to this intelligent way of contaminating the planet by using nuclear power but totally neglecting the consequences. Is this what is called intelligence related to what human beings supposed to have, sometimes called brainpower?

Carpe diem!

humans' incapacity

Reactor 2 radiation

too high for access

 source

29.03.2012!: The Japan Times: 

Radiation inside the reactor 2 containment vessel at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has reached a lethal 73 sieverts per hour and any attempt to send robots in to accurately gauge the situation will require them to have greater resistance than currently available, experts said Wednesday.

Exposure to 73 sieverts for a minute would cause nausea and seven minutes would cause death within a month, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

The experts said the high radiation level is due to the shallow level of coolant water — 60 cm — in the containment vessel, which Tepco said in January was believed to be 4 meters deep. Tepco has only peeked inside the reactor 2 containment vessel. It has few clues as to the status of reactors 1 and 3, which also suffered meltdowns, because there is no access to their insides.

The utility said the radiation level in the reactor 2 containment vessel is too high for robots, endoscopes and other devices to function properly.

Spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said it will be necessary to develop devices resistant to high radiation.

High radiation can damage the circuitry of computer chips and degrade camera-captured images.

For example, a series of Quince tracked robots designed to gather data inside reactors can properly function for only two or three hours during exposure to 73 sieverts, said Eiji Koyanagi, chief developer and vice director of the Future Robotics Technology Center of Chiba Institute of Technology.

That is unlikely to be enough for them to move around and collect video data and water samples, reactor experts said.

"Two or three hours would be too short. At least five or six hours would be necessary," said Tsuyoshi Misawa, a reactor physics and engineering professor at Kyoto University's Research Reactor Institute.

The high radiation level can be explained by the low water level. Water acts to block radiation.

"The shallowness of the water level is a surprise . . . the radiation level is awfully high," Misawa said.

While the water temperature is considered in a safe zone at about 50 degrees, it is unknown if the melted fuel is fully submerged, but Tepco said in November that computer simulations suggested the height of the melted fuel in reactor 2's containment vessel is probably 20 to 40 cm, Tepco spokeswoman Ai Tanaka said.

Tepco has inserted an endoscope and a radiation meter, but not a robot, in the containment vessel. It is way too early to know how long Tepco will need to operate robots in the vessel because it is unknown what the devices will have to do, Tanaka said.

A Quince was exposed to radiation of 20 sieverts per hour for a total of 10 hours, and the device worked fine, Koyanagi said. If the team conducts further experiments, it may find out the robot can resist even more radiation, he added.

According to experts, even though high radiation in the containment vessel means additional trouble, it is not expected to further delay the decommissioning the three crippled reactors, a process Tepco said will take 40 years.

The experts noted, however, that removing the melted nuclear fuel from the bottom of the containment vessels will be extremely difficult.

Tepco inserted a radiation meter into the containment vessel of reactor 2 Tuesday for the first time, measuring atmospheric radiation levels at several points inside the vessel. The readings logged 31.1 and 72.9 sieverts per hour.

Tepco has not been able to gauge the water depths and radiation levels of the containment vessels for reactors 1 and 3, as, unlike unit 2, there is no access.

I normally do not copy articles in full; this one, however, makes one break out in sweat, right to the very end where reactors 1 and 3 are declared un-accessible. All by the experts!

This all while mainstream discusses Cameron's sausage rolls, his gas station advisory capacities and ominous £250,000 dinner parties.

Carpe diem! 

Chinese taxes

where and who?






Here is the transcipt of the video in case things moved too fast and where too unbelievable...

Is year 2012 the end of the world? We will know about it very soon…Before that, as long as the earth is still spinning, you, have to pay tax.

Tax revenue and other non-tax income are collectively called fiscal revenue. And money has to be spent, right? Then do you have any idea WHERE taxpayers’ money has gone?

“I need to build houses.” “I need to build roads.” “I need to buy cars.” “I need mistresses.” “I…need ‘em all!” -_-|| Don’t worry. There must be some plan for spending money. The formal name of such a plan is “Budget Plan.”

In Chicago, USA, the government needs 7 months to draw up its budget for the next year. Besides, it has to be put to the test by various public hearings. The budget deal can’t be reached?! Government shutdown! This is so not harmonious! The budget plan made public by Chicago’s government runs as many as 600 pages. Anyone can find it on the Web, through media or paperwork.

In China, we also need about half a year to draw up the budget for… the current year…And the budget plan in print hardly runs more than 20 pages, and it always passes muster…

In many countries, a government budget can be visually seen. Moreover, each year, each taxpayer receives from the tax department a list detailing what the taxpayer’s money is used for and how much, rounded to the nearest 100th. How considerate the service is! But here, in our country, taxpayers and their money are in two different universes. So, if you also sit at home, expecting a tax list delivered to you… “Time to take mental health medications~ Dear~”

In 2010, government expenses of our country approached 9 trillion RMB (1.33 trillion USD), 1.6 trillion RMB (237 billion USD) of which was the central government’s spending. It fell into 25 categories. However, the most heart-rending part is…Category 26: “Three Public Expenditures,” which are the legendary…food and entertainment, overseas trips and vehicles purchases on the government’s dime. In 2011, 95 out of the 98 central government agencies disclosed their “Three Public Expenditures” of the previous year. The total amount was 9.47 billion RMB (1.4 billion USD). State Administration of Taxation, which reported the biggest “3 publics” figure among them all, spent 2,214 times as much as State Bureau for Petitions did, which placed at the bottom.

The expense for food and entertainment of Red Cross China was only 150,000 RMB (22,230 USD). They did spend 10,000 RMB on a single meal (News here). So the money was merely enough for 2 weeks! What did they have for the other 50 weeks?

In 2010, the local governments at all levels spent about 7.3 trillion RMB (1.08 trillion USD). It fell into 23 categories. The biggest among them was spending on education, 1.2 trillion RMB, representing a 721 percent increase over year 2000. However, what is really puzzling is, in this decade, the number of elementary schools in rural China dropped almost by half. They even ousted 448,000 substitute teachers during this time.

In many places, government buildings become their landmarks. How magnificent, imposing and sumptuous they are! The government office building of a certain county takes up 40,000 sqm (9.88 acres, or 430,556 sq ft), which is equal to the land area of 8 White Houses, and have enough office space for 2,180 county heads. But such an expense is categorized as “general public service.” Then, how much is the “Three Public Expenditures” of local governments?

。。。。。。。。。。。

According to stats, in 2004, China’s administrative expenditure was 1.2 trillion RMB. The figures for other years remain a secret. Providing all primary and secondary schools with school buses costs 460 billion RMB. Providing universal free health care costs 160 billion RMB. How great it would be if all money were spent on these! “Time to take your meds again…Dear~”

The end of each year marks the season for discounts, Christmas, and time to rush spending as well. Suppose a work unit had a budget of 1 million RMB last year, and spent only 800,000 this year, then all the 200,000 saved at year-end will have to be handed over to the state, and the budget for the next year will be cut to 800,000. That’s why each year there’s the important year-end task of rushing spending. As for how to rush it…Ahem~Sorry, it’s a secret.

The good news is, a draft revision to the Budget Law has been passed by the State Council and will be handed over to the National People’s Congress for review.

Wait a sec, under “expenditure” of the budget, there’s a category called “Other,” which amounted to 270 billion RMB (40 billion USD). What the heck is this “Other expenditure?”

[Children's song]
I just won’t tell you!~ *3

[This video is dedicated to you, me, and them, who have the right to know and supervise, and yet are nothing but frogs in a well with limited view.]

[All the statistics come from the Web, the media and China Statistical Yearbook. For reference only.]

Carpe diem!

China in...

2013:

I found this comment on "A 'Plastic surgery' that turns duck into goose", which is obviously common practice in China (today), but then as it happens...

...on a day in 2013, it is very hot. But you can’t see the sun.

Whatever. I haven’t seen the sun for a long time anyways.

I drive my car to the nearest gas station to gas up. I’ve learned that gas there is cheaper.

There aren’t many cars at the gas station. Now you don’t have to line to gas up. It feels so great.

The worker there asks, “How much gas do you want?”

“About 1,000 yuan (US$150) of gas,” I say without taking a glimpse at the gas pump.

“With this little gas, how far can you possibly go? Why don’t you fill it up?” The worker says scornfully.

“No. I would rather spent that much money on a kilo of leafy greens.”

I stare at the sky and can’t figure out what color it is.

“Okay, it is ready to go. Do you want an official invoice?”

“No invoice is needed. Thanks!”

The worker is stunned, “Oh, my god. You are awesome! A private car owner has the nerve to gas up?”

I crack a smile. I do feel proud at that moment.

I drive the car away with much contentment, because I know, this little gas is enough to get my car to the dealership.

The price of gas has risen. The price of apple has risen. The price of egg has risen. The price of radish has risen. The price of instant noodles has risen…

But I am gonna tough it out, because the price of grave plot has risen too.

It is 2 o’clock in the afternoon. The weather is still hot. And I still can’t see the sun.

Holding a small wad of banknotes in my hand, I walk out of the dealership.

I think to myself, “It’s been a long while since kids last ate any meat. It is time to satisfy their cravings.”

I look at my watch. It is already 2 p.m.

“It’s quite late. I have to get home with a kilo of meat before 7 p.m.”

I quicken my steps. Suddenly, I find to my joy that the air hasn’t got a markup, and in fact, it contains way more ingredients than before.

Thank you 网易青海省西宁市网友 [wangning4500] 的原贴!

Carpe diem!

(11-03-11)*3

14:46: Earthquake: Tsunami: Fukushima

In magnu lucto sum!

UK in real terms...

bursting into tears

Once you boil down mainstream there is not much left that enables you to see light at the end of the tunnel; numbers are hard to find, it needs a German website querschuesse.de to help out; UK mainstream rather discusses more bread and game like topics:

source

Above UK production since January 1985; January 2012 sees us back on the level of 1993, that are those brilliant 20 years of progress and growth, of securing and intensifying the industrial base? It is rather like somebody wants to de-industrialise the country on the fast lane.

Here is the UK oil & gas output:

source

The chart starts in January 1977, the output in January 2012 is the same like in October 1978. Shamed be he who thinks this is past peak UK oil and gas, only.

We are living in a bubble economy where the City is sanctimoniously defended because financial services seem to be our only answer on the question on how the UK will feed a population of +62m people in the (near) future. Financial Services that in their majority today are totally focused on betting against the masses and their economies per se by speculating, gambling, on energy and food, all kinds of past-peak resources, debts and bonds.

The UK, we all, are more and more depending on imports of energy and food of all kinds which we will have to pay for with a hard currency; so help us if the Pound should drown in these heavy European waters where no matter what, a collapse or a prolonged artificial life of this brain-dead but at any cost defended Euro will enhance the depression.

Already there are more than 50% among young black men with no job (The Telegraph); yes, in the UK; at the same time the unemployment of the <25 year old in Greece soared to 50.5%, in Spain it is 49.9%, a figure just below 50% very likely for saving the statistics from bursting into tears.

Average unemployment rate in the Eurozone hits 10.7% with the rate for the <25 year old now above 20% that`s 2 out of 10 with no job; and probably another 4 or more in jobs that are simple or financial service, interim or trainee like jobs. and do not forget, these all are official numbers; official as in doctored and faked.

It might comfort us that production output all over Europe is eroding - but we all know the reason; no need to wake up, though, with deep cuts into education, R&D, training and lecturing it is too late, anyway!

Carpe diem

CPHC, not certified...

but qualified!

Even if you live in this country for ten years now, you speak and understand the language fairly well, you are still not immune from being laughed at and from people with a question mark plus at least two exclamation marks in their eyes while they are congesting what you just said.

So happened when I explained to a friend (lucky me?) that I now was certified.

Mind you, for a one-dimensional German brain it is not really easy to understand that you hold your hard-earned Certificate in your hand but then you should not declare yourself certified. 

The German translation of "to certify" does not offer any hint that this could mean anything other than what one has learned in school and only way further down it mentions certified sick as something like krankgeschrieben, i.e. signed off ill which for my understanding is still far from the British imagination seeing the men in white jackets arrive taking away what my gom*-friend would call a certifiable, anyway!

Carpe diem!

p.s. In case you find or found any other similar two and three dimensional bemusement in these pages please, please let me know and save me from having to go through all this for another ten years!

* grumpy old man!

Relax!

The Flood



Katie Melua - The Flood from Dramatico on Vimeo.

Broken people get recycled
And I hope that I will sometimes be thrown off the pathways...

Carpe diem!

unemploystream

(ment-main)

It is almost like one must sympathise with Mr Obama in his fight for his second term. But while his fight in the end might help to not see one of those reactionary Republicans named Romney or even worse Santorum, latest rumours even threat us with Palin's comeback, to move into White House it is still pure bullshit Obama is giving us; most likely not only in reference to the unemployment situation in the US. Fair enough, it is election time and mainstream just follows the flag:

theguardian: Obama boosted by US job growth

In a boost to president Barack Obama's pledge to keep cutting unemployment a priority, the US enjoyed the longest stretch of solid jobs growth in almost a year. Government data showed 227,000 non-farm jobs were added last month, ahead of the 210,000 rise forecast by economists.

... but in the same article ...

The unemployment rate, however, remained at 8.3% as expected as more people came back into the labour market after not previously seeking work.

Pure nonsense, nothing changed to the good. Karl Denninger, a US blogger, calls it the Bureau of Lies and Scams when referring to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics and says:

We have not added a single job, adjusted for population, since 2006 -- and even then going all the way back to 2000 the "gains" were tiny and fleeting.  Until and unless we stop sending jobs overseas there will be no durable economic improvement.

Indeed, the jobs [labour] and the greenbacks [money] are both meeting up somewhere overseas.

Could it be China!


Carpe diem!

China

 BBC2
This world
The fastest changing place on earth.

wallpaper

Again, like that letter from PRC, China, to the indebted nations of Europe here is something that helps to understand the dramatic changes China is going through. It is most probably more than one fifth of the world's population, so we should at least try to understand; you have six days to watch...

BBC iplayer

Carpe diem!

PH for Standard!

passiv(e) but fast...

A HH PH (HANSE HAUS PassivHaus) going up...

An interesting article to read.

Call for Passivhaus standard to beat fuel poverty and climate change


And here a wee reminder...

Carpe diem!

Austerity...

and Growth?

An article in German paper Badische Zeitung headlined "EU-summit wants Austerity and Growth" refers to Germany urging all EU Partners to follow the German example and become stronger "on the global markets". That refers to that successful export industry and bonanza Germany is experiencing all those years, now, to be the one and only model to follow.

The last 50 years tell us that all those EU partners never really succeeded that much export-wise compared to the German strength even at times when those EU-Partners had the sovereignty, hence the tool in hand to devalue their own currencies in order to compete with world-market prices. Those times also benefited from the fact that there was no Chinese Moloch sucking up labour for in return flooding the markets with inexpensive, not to say cheap products of all kinds. So why should anything like trying to increase export (of what kind of products, by the way?) be a successful route today when everybody follows the same aim with most markets being saturated and new industries and products being more than scarce?

With unemployment and energy prices rocketing, resources peaking, lots of given up industries, sold out labour, governments with no money to spend and their mainstreams' only and unisono answer on the crisis being the call for austerity there is not much hope to see new wheels being invented for starting any successful export business. Meanwhile established exporters struggle to cope with extreme competitiveness, in parts unfair practises, and Germany's strength is taking advantage of a relatively weak Euro, an established and trained workforce that only very slowly is waking up cautiously asking for higher wages.

Worshipping so-called free markets and those tin gods called growth and austerity will be coming to an end; once those LTROx, y and z are pumped out it will soon become clear that in reality it is not "money", neither virtual nor even real money, that creates jobs, innovation, income or that beloved growth; the real world out there, the one beyond that European plate's edge will be showing its own face with China dominating the world's decisions, holding the majority of resources and a very well trained and eager labour force in its fist while the US are playing silly dollar and costly war games; only then we will suddenly wake up and ask, what's the time?

Yes, late; very likely too late mainstream will recognise, probably never acknowledge, that while good old Europe played the generous, successful wanna-be-business know-it-all dandy others will have seized the opportunity in its completeness: allowed to give themselves their own rules, to manage their own non-floating currency, to grow with double digit figures, to  invest billions on land, energy and all kinds of other resources and all this detached from any non-essential democratic crap was the fast forward for China into the 21 century!

To cut this short: should we not see an immediate turnaround of the majority of the European economies for good, now after that LTRO trillion and all the other QEs in place, we will be doomed.

Carpe diem!

Idiots!

Do not forgive them,

for they know what they do!

spiegel

BBC

Does this not mirror that planet of ours...


Carpe diem!

Merkel's Finale!

Good Luck, Madame!

source

I had not blogged during January and February this year - too busy with everything related to PassivHaus, my PH Consultant Certification and clients that definitly know what they want and learn faster than the British industry and the stolid regulators can follow.

Not much was happening in the world that really would have been worth discussing; in relation to the EURO, which for me is now in a state that in human medicine you call brain-dead the choice of measurements is getting really weird; the term LTRO = Long Term Re-financing Operation is not really hiding the purpose.

In what one calls preemptive obedience we saw LTRO2, €530bn, outpoured over 800 banks - they tell us; RBS and Lloyds amidst them; 1% interest against no security is a very convincing argument whether you need to fill up equity capital accounts, suck up bonds and other goody-goody promises or want to secure investment banksters' bonuses. "No, not for that" they scream... alone, it is believing or not...

The Telegraph tells us it was a total of £22bn what UK banks borrowed from LTRO, which it calls "an emergency programme to prevent the region's financial system from collapsing". So UK banks are part of that system, that rergion? I thought so but did David Cameron not walk away offended from that same table?

LTRO was just the latest invention amongst the dubious instruments to keep the currency alive. It started with Bad Banks, something that most of us would like to have one of and if only to bank the bad decisions one makes through the years; ECB then eased up on all kinds of regulations and started accepting ever more rotten collateral in exchange for cheaper and cheaper loans; it bought any junk causing any kind of disruption and in parallel allowed e.g. TARGET2 balances to go berserk.

accounts receivable of Deutsche Bundesbank versus ECB

querschuesse.de

January 2012: €498.131bn

There is not much more one can do to safeguard a currency that left to the markets would have seized existence about seven years ago or rather would have never ever made it on stage.

That is why I admit there is not much more that could really stop that EURO for the time being. Mind you it is brain-dead, but its virtual brain, Madame Merkel, repeated her "without the Euro there will be no Europe" as if a nuclear bomb would erase that part of the Eurasian continent and also stressed that the crisis ain't over yet, but whatever she referred to, Greece leaving Euroland, to the banksters's existing or future problems or simply to the fact that the remaining PII(G)S + Be +F will undoubtedly need to be bailed out, soon, it ain't any problem: after LTRO2 LTRO3 or LTRO4... the Euro shall live!

As long as any insolvency is avoided by throwing real amounts of virtual money in the bottomless pot it will be "Let's carry on!".

Meanwhile we will loose the rests! Not only to China and its new generation of writers which we magnanimously but rather silly ignore to remark and take consequences from but we will give up our status and we will backstab our next generations; it is already happening as described.

This process will now go into "fast forward". Remember the G20 meeting the week before last? A €2trillion rescue package was called for by the G20 to secure the strength of the Euro. Meanwhile it is pretty academic whether the Feds of this world press "return" after typing in 2, 4 or 12 billions or trillions, fine, but why would the Euro want to be strong and hard when the vast majority of the remaining currencies seek their salvation in becoming soft and softer to be able to export any goods and import inflation: finally. 

With a hard EURO Germany's export bonanza will come to a rather abrupt hold; transferring Euros within Euroland will become an even more hollow game; does neo-liberal Europe under that wonderful umbrella of repetitively return-generated money see it coming?

I doubt it.

With all old and any new or revived currencies being pure numbers backed by trust into the currency's economic background, only, its relative and absolute degree of know-how and knowledge, education and training the currency per se, its name, paper, colour, design and history will never again be of any relevance. Even backed by gold it would only be the gold.

The most important currency might very likely be called Yuan.


Carpe diem!

 

no future!!

today, tomorrow...?!

Manager Magazin (German)

 

To summarise: the latest figures on unemployment for the under 25 (15-25) in Europe, so-called Neets, not in employment, education or training:

Spain     49.9%

Greece     48.1% 

Portugal     35.1%

Italy       33.1%

Ireland     29.6% 

PIIGS/GIIPS average             39.2%

 

ER17, average over all Euro countries:     21.6%

[ER17, i.e. Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland]

EU27, average over all EU countries     22.4%

[EU27, i.e. Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (GR), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), The Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Rumania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) United Kingdom (UK)]

If you add the ones not in the statistic for all kinds of good and bad reasons... the ones in cheap and/or seasonal jobs, hanging on in higher educational schools or ongoing educational and training measures, all having in common that there are no jobs waiting for them out there, then this is the real disaster Europe is running into: fast!

Instead of fabricating all those irrational measurements to preserve what is a no-go, a dead currency, instead of blasting trillions into a cancerous system of banksters financing governments financing banksters, instead of strangling all those globalism-stressed economies with austerity measures cutting the last remaining life lines we should, we must now invest in our future. This does not need trillions, hardly billions; so RBS, Lloyds, that should be your playing field!

What we allow to fail now will take at least one generation, 30 years, to restore - but only, that is, if we manage to stand-up against the global competition, a war for labour and jobs, resources and innovation. With up to 1/3 and even 1/2 of our youngsters in a no-future fight for survival, badly trained, left to rot we will fail 100%!

If we do not take action now there will be no future today and tomorrow and the day after that any one of us would want to look forward to.

Carpe diem.

Ponzi's late revenge...

or David's long term plan?!

source

I was trying to find a photo showing David Cameron and Mario Draghi, possibly arm-in-arm; instead one jumped at me that shows Mr. Big Bertha and Mr. Soduku. There you go!

Mr. Big Bertha's LTRO programme, stage II, has even attracted UK banks, explicitly those owned by the tax payer: RBS at 84% and Lloyds anything from 43% to 77% depending who you ask and what you count; RBS has asked for £5bn and Lloyds for some £11bn out of this ECB QEx pot for Euroland banksters suffering from that lethal currency.

At 1% interest this is possibly big business for the UK tax payer; it might reinforce the tax payers' investment into those banks and it might make big profit; better not by investing that kind of money into credit crunched SMEs not only as the billions have to be repaid on February 26th, 2015, noontime. It might be much more lucrative to put it into the two tax payers' banks' investment departments, securing big boni and en passant making some tremendous margins in the casinos of wheat, rice, oil and gas; things that the masses need anyway and pretty much for sure... and if not, the, rather all losses are covered anyway.

So why did I want David and Mr. Big Bertha on one picture? Oh, yes, it could have underlined the stitch-up of David leaving that table in December only for Mario to drag him back by financing not only the Euro's insolvent Ponzi banks but also the ones owned by the British Government.

All it needs is a Big Bertha.


Carpe diem!

Sudoku - but insolvent

Numbers and figures, everywhere...

source

A displacement activity is the result of two contradicting instincts in a particular situation. Birds, for example, may peck at grass when uncertain whether to attack or flee from an opponent; similarly, a human may scratch his or her head when they do not know which of two options to choose.
Displacement activities often involve actions to bring comfort such as scratching, drinking or feeding...

... or playing Sudoku; it suits the German Finance Minister Schaeuble, playing a game on numbers; the limitation to 9 digits might be helpful to understand Draghi's 10¹² figures.

  

And, when there are no more numbers to play with, George has the answer:

“The British Government has run out of money because all the money was spent in the good years,” the Chancellor said. “The money and the investment and the jobs need to come from the private sector.”

  source

It would be interesting to learn more about George Osborne's definition of "the money", "the investment" and "the jobs". I am afraid he would avoid the answer as would he want to tell us the truth he would have to say:

"We are now and finally entering the really bad years as we exported most of the labour and jobs; deliberately, but so cleverly and to such an extent where those countries now fortunately covering what were our jobs will unfortunately not come out with those again any time soon; we failed the investment into education and innovation, training, R&D, any infrastructure and, regrettably, the good money we stuffed into the bad banksters' throats created a snowballing system that we are now lethally hooked on. Yes, you too: private sector; we will have to declare this the biggest Ponzi game in the history of money, ever.

Awkwardly, I can only declare the game over once its over."

As so often good old China has the answer to it all. Here is a must read: some extracts of the letter "To the indebted nations of Europe", written by Huang Xiangyang, a senior writer with China Daily.

We want you to know that we are your friend in your time of need.
...
But that does not mean you should take China's help lightly.
...
To be frank, some of us don't understand why the rich are holding out their hands to the poor and asking for money. For common Chinese people, the wealth of your nations is unimaginable. The average monthly income of your citizens - at around $4,000 in countries such as Germany and Belgium - is 12 times that of the average Chinese citizen. The Chinese workers in the factories in coastal cities have to work 12 hours or longer each day with basically no days off, while workers in France enjoy two months of paid vacation, national holidays and regional festivals each year. If we can save 50 percent of our earnings, surely it should be possible for you to save just 1 percent of yours.
...
Perhaps now that China has shown its goodwill toward you with its chivalrous purchasing of European debts, we can expect some demonstration of goodwill from you. I think you should recognise China's market economy status as soon as possible. After all it is of no substantial significance. China is going to get the status anyway in a few years' time according to the World Trade Organisation rules. Good relations are all about reciprocity.

I hope everything goes fine with you.

Well, first, I congratulate Mr. Xiangyang for being able and allowed to explain our situation to us so clearly; this expresses China's openness and gives us a clear picture of where we are.

Alone, while I thank you for your frankness, Huang, none of our Misters Neo or Lib want to hear the truth; as the cow they hand-in-hand with their generous lobbies milk still fills their buckets it is business as usual. Some play Sudoku, probably helpful to delay Alzheimers; others declare their country for insolvent; both issues and persons have in common: no consequences.

I referred to the below video before... in October 2010; nobody is interested, most laugh but it is not funny:

The game goes on. While America is exploring new ways of not calling the emergency printing of green floods "QEx,-y,-z" the BoE still uses the old fashioned term of Quantitative Easing; yet, Mr. Draghi has made progress, he is much more innovative by digging out old, proven technologies that precisely explain the weapon's function:

Admitted: LTRO (Long-Term Refinancing Operations) sounds what it is but boring; so Draghi's "Dicke Bertha" (Big Bertha) is a much more loving expression and really, being made from pure hard German Krupp steel is a much more trustworthy operation: now totalling to +€1trillion, while facing enormous cuts else- and everywhere. No problem for Draghi's, in fact anybody's Bertha!

Whether you call it LTRO-1 or -2 or-n, Target2, Bad Bank, trash-buying-ECB or Eurobond it is all the same quantitative easing; while they desperately wish all those tricks of QE finally created inflation it is a nonstarter, a pop and no kick while banksters celebrate Christmas and Easter in one every time Draghi fires Thick Bertha; speculatively inflated costs meet deflated goods leading us further into depression. And all we do is watch, some hope, few try to discuss, most couldn't care less.

I might contact Mr. Draghi and explain to him what that "Dicke = thick = Big" in Big Bertha also translates into.

Carpe diem!


P.S. as much as I hate to come back to it: the EURO is history, it is writing its own oblong death's oath. For the Pound it would have been better to have ended in 2002; good memories are golden.