It reeks of storm!

Do you smell it?

I do not think I do: I really do. It rather stinks; it is going to be one of those storms described as perfect. Perfect because things are starting to fall into place that we expected to eventually fall but not all at once.

I could live with bad management, lousy and/or corrupt managers being punished like it finally seems to happen with RBS and HBOS’ so called former bosses. Whether in the end any of those heroes will ever really get punished - I doubt it. See the Libor scandal! What scandal you might ask? True: that law-breaking insolence is dealt with behind those thick curtains that protect today’s banksters’ offices from any light; just in case Deutsche Bank and others set up provisions, some hundred million Euro, measurements in return reducing their tax load and buying them off. But, that scam will end without further consequences except for them trying harder, next time.

That Offshore Leak might be a different story; for one there is not much about that in British media, yet * ; may be that is because there are many off-shore paradises, money wise in this case, that speak English, some very close, and many are somehow related to thee Queen, thee Commonwealth and thee City? Mind you, we are told it involved 170 countries and 120.000 letterbox-companies. Mind boggling that amount of data going back 30 years and as much as this needs to be dealt with ** – I am afraid this could be a financial and social tsunami. What if the Queen and the Camerons are part of this, or even Tony and George? What if Putin, Merkel, Hollande and Berlusconi plus Sarkozy needed to be arrested and put into the same jail cell? Well, guess somebody would notice and put Madame Merkel into the female block.

Watch the suicide and emigrant lists of those 170 countries … and do not believe a minute that any criminal or immoral aspect of all this will be put into any bankster's basket; evil to him who evil thinks and while all banks offer sophisticated off-shore services it is the stupid customer that gets caught, eventually.

Emigration will not really help anybody to avoid that global currency battle, now entering an unknown dimension with Japan going berserk. As a measurement of last resort they are printing vast, vast, vast sums of money – mind you, that’s hitting return after punching in 12 or 15 zeros behind a 1 or a two or actually any figure and that not only once but monthly from now on – fiat money the easiest way, ever - to buy back their own crap; recycling, snow-balling, ponzi-ing? Government bonds and then dump them in a bin, or the worst bank, if that’s the better name for it. That is the most daring monetary experiment of modern times as The Telegraph titled this flooding the market with YEN; the idea is to massively devalue the currency for exports (jobs!) to grow fast and furious, to force-inject inflation into what is a deflating economy and hope for nobody else following that pattern.

That’s hopeless, stupid! What BO and BSB do for the greenback in the US, why Merkel insists on a EURO agitated by the PIIGS’ and french stress to keep it soft, DC and GO want to do in the UK; strengthen UK exports by weakening the Pound or rather vice versa; woau! How much of that export strength is left? I believe proper schooling, training, apprenticeships worth the title, dual education plus on-going, extensive studies and education would do much better!  Want an example?

While discussing Passiv Haus Standard during this year’s ecobuild seminars and the installation of a MVHR, a mechanical ventilation system including heat recovery, UK experts explained coram publico that this would make things too complicated, too difficult a gadget for the average British tenant/owner to cope with.

Sorry? Hellooow!? Such a system includes a ventilator and a mechanical heat exchanger controlled by three or four buttons to press – basta.

Frightening; and insulting: why would the average middle-European be able to cope with that kind of high tech while the British … ? Or, this very likely is the early result of adding the word vitiosus to this circulus of cuts and savings into schools, training, education? Next step will be to forbid knife and fork endangering the hungry!

Apropos weak: how much does a weak Pound buy? We import more than 50% of our energy and, while you might like it cold, more than 50% of our food! Do you like strict diets? This year we might even have to import much more, or do you see UK potatoes growing with the coldest March on record?

Just for another record: in general terms importing means we have to pay in a foreign currency after swapping Pound into $, € or ¥ where, please note, the last stands for the YEN but also for the YUAN!

China is boosting its defence spending by almost 11% - this year! Obviously China has the funds, hardly any debts and something to prepare for or against? It is also growing its agriculture and pumping a lot of money into renewables. Funny, isn’t it? We are cutting any incentives, we are discussing silly bedroom taxes for the poorest and whether to install Casinos in Cyprus to save its economy, Merkel’s Euro and Schaeuble’s regime - while China prepares for its future. They might not value human life as high as we are rumoured to do, but then...

Well - the Euro! Really, I wanted to avoid that criminal rubbish; it is still alive; rather, it is not disconnected, yet, from life supporting but until lately utterly illegal instruments such as bad banks, bail-outs and bail-ins, and the on-going … here we are again: money printing.

A pity they cannot print jobs. Unemployment in the EU rates are soaring, even the official ones, the ones that lack continuity and belief:

Spain 26.3%, Portugal 17.5% Italy 11.6%, Greece 26.4%; that’s the overall one.

But our future even looks more difficult and much darker:

Spain 55.7%, Portugal 38.2%, Italy 37.8%, Greece 58.4%, France 26.2%; the official figures for those between 18 and 24 years old. Official! And what kind of jobs does the rest have? Low-paid ones, un-trained ones, picking tomatoes or serving beer to poor tourists? How many of them all have gone through any decent apprenticeship and can base their lives on the founds of a sustainable education?

Source: www.querschuesse.de

Shows unemployment of the 18-24 in countries…

Please see Greece, Griechenland!

30% when it entered EURO-Casino!

You could call it the Euro’s unemployment bomb - until it explodes; no wonder DC and GO think, why should they put any money and effort into a dying market of people needing training and education?

Guess what, at least car sales show some sympathy:

Spain minus 13.9%, France minus 16.4%, Austria minus 19.9%, Finland minus 58.6%, Germany minus 17.1, Netherlands minus 31.4, and in addition Japan minus 16.7, Brazil minus 4.7%. So, really, how long can we be happy and proud on headlines like UK car sale rise for 12^th consecutive month? And what is the base of this rise, how are they paid for, those cars, and how long do they or does this last?

Is it a coincidence that VW is creating new jobs, outside the EU?

It becomes apparent that Mr Neo and Mrs. Lib have not only allowed all those jobs to be exported to – mainly – China; any kind of job machine has been given up for nothing, for free. This is the third time I add this video… I think it should now read 2020, not 2030:

My respect, China. Age must help in becoming wiser.

While Gobi Dessert is growing steadily, 28% of Chinese landmass is dessert-like area, anyway, and China buying all kinds of land worldwide, we are all in for increasingly bad weathers; if you thought that cold lately would tell us Global Warming has had it then I would recommend to come to senses and title the problem Climate Change. And that’s what it is.

http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/

http://climatecrocks.com/

http://tamino.wordpress.com/

The rate of changes multiplied by the level of ignorance in solving any of our problems is unbelievable; we are presented with scientific results by crowds of scientists from all over the world, they describe the problems we face, we see and in many cases feel those; we do understand most of them but we are unwilling or incapable of addressing and solving them; or, even worse, we wilfully ignore them all for all kinds of stupid, bad and criminal reasons; that makes it easy for the storm to become that perfect storm.

I can smell it.

Carpe diem!

 

* … might be that they all need time; similar to the big fish on Cyprus when Putin took two days to decide whether he would support Cyprus or rather give his friends and soon-to-be-friends time to visit those London branches of the Cyprus banks to sort out their accounts just in time…

** ... we will see capital control mechanisms installed like we had them before 1985, no question.

 

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!

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!

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!

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.

being different is not that difficult

about China: where? whereto?

Very interesting: Yang Lan tells you a lot about China, its society, social media, the country's and people's transition. 80% of the children in the cities go to college; an aging population; the youth is questioning basically every thing.

Carpe diem!