Het financieel-economische systeem, dat tegenwoordig wereldwijd heilig is, is bedacht in Nederland. Het leverde ons de Gouden Eeuw op, plus de eerste en allergrootste multinationale onderneming die er ooit in de wereld heeft bestaan, de VOC.
Er is weer een aandeel in de VOC te koop. Dat is groot nieuws, tot in China aan toe.
The Hague, (Xinhua) — An old note a Dutch student found in the West Fries Archive in Hoorn of the Netherlands is identified as hitherto the oldest share in the world, the archive said on Thursday. This share in the Dutch East India Company is dated Sept. 9, 1606, which was issued three weeks before what had been the oldest known share in the corporation. The Archive said that the holder of this share was Pieter Harmenz and the share is worth 150 guilders. [read on](more…)
Eén zo’n goeroe is de Amerikaanse tv-presentator Glenn Beck in wiens geraaskal dankzij Fox News zo’n 30 procent van rechts Amerika gelooft. Hij wordt betaald door het frauduleuze goudbedrijf Goldline. Hij promoot het bedrijf schaamteloos in zijn show waar Goldline ook nog eens adverteert. Zijn truc is van alle tijden. Hij maakt domme Amerikanen bang (Barack Obama has ‘a deep seated hatred for white people’) en lokt vervolgens de arme schapen zijn kerk binnen: Goldline.
Crooks and Liars - California officials have opened an investigation into Goldline, the stalwart Glenn Beck Show advertiser, favorite of Mick Huckabee and other apocalyptic types. ABC’s Nightline picked right up on it and did a report tonight.
This idea of buying gold in tough financial times isn’t new. What is new is the high-profile pimping of it on cable news. Not only in ads, but as part of the message like Glenn Beck’s “God, Gold and Guns”. Using typical scare tactics, Beck recommends buying gold as a hedge against the government’s ultimate financial armageddon.
Goldline’s business is simple: They buy and sell precious metals, specializing in numismatic gold coins. Investigators are looking specifically at whether Goldline International misrepresents pricing policies on its collectible coins, inflating them when they’re purchased and deflating them when they’re sold. [read on](more…)
Vlak voor de Grote Depressie was in de Verenigde Staten het deel van het nationale inkomen dat naar de rijkste 1 procent ging met 23,9 procent heel groot. Vervolgens daalde dat door regeringsbeleid. In de jaren tachtig begon met name onder president Reagan de kloof tussen arm en rijk weer groter te worden. En onder de Republikeinse president Bush kwam deze weer uit op het niveau van 1928. De rijkste 1 procent kreeg in 2007 23,5 procent van het Amerikaanse nationale inkomen.
Consider: in 1928 the richest 1 percent of Americans received 23.9 percent of the nation’s total income. After that, the share going to the richest 1 percent steadily declined. New Deal reforms, followed by World War II, the GI Bill and the Great Society expanded the circle of prosperity. By the late 1970s the top 1 percent raked in only 8 to 9 percent of America’s total annual income. But after that, inequality began to widen again, and income reconcentrated at the top. By 2007 the richest 1 percent were back to where they were in 1928—with 23.5 percent of the total.
– Robert Reich in Unjust Spoils, The Nation, July 19, 2010
DailyKos - Despite sweetheart settlements with the likes of Goldman-Sachs, the United States is plagued by corporadoes whose premises should be surrounded, Michael Moore-style, with yellow police tape for class war-crimes. [read on](more…)
C&L - After 18 months, Wall Street reform is on its way to the President’s desk. The Senate invoked cloture by a vote of 60-38 and the final conference committee report passed by the same margin. A good summary of the key provisions can be found here.
Even before the final passage, Minority Leader John Boehner (R) called for its repeal. “I think it ought to be repealed. I think it is going to make credit harder for the American people to get.”
Here is a list of Boehner’s 1,299,120 reasons why repeal appeals to him. Draw your own conclusions. Reactions from around the blogs: Continue»
Hartmann: “The history of food took an ominous turn in 1991, at a time when no one was paying much attention. That was the year Goldman Sachs decided our daily bread might make an excellent investment.”
And then towards the end of the story, just a couple of sentences here. “Bankers had taken control of the world’s food, money chased money and a billion people went hungry.” Remember the food riots of a couple of years ago around the world?
“The world wide price of food had risen by 80% between 2005 and 2008 and unlike other food catastrophes in the last half century or so, the United States was not insulated from this one.” Could it be because it was our banksters that were doing it?
“As 49 million Americans found themselves unable to put a full meal on the table, one in five kids came to be dependent on food kitchens. In Los Angeles nearly a million people went hungry. In Detroit, armed guards had to watch over grocery stores.” And then the question, “Could this happen again?”
Too bad our “mainstream media” isn’t touching this one. As they noted during the interview, it looks like there’s nothing that these bankers won’t exploit to make a buck. Really disgusting. And all we’ve got going on in the United States is some half-baked sorry excuse for “reform”.
LONDON - A full-fledged disintegration of the eurozone would trigger the worst economic crisis in modern history, devastate every country in Europe including Germany, and inflict a deflationary shock on the United States. There would be no winners, warns the Dutch bank ING in a new report, Quantifying the Unthinkable. [read on](more…)
DailyKos - Nouriel Roubini, the economist and founder of Roubini Global Economics, has yet to join the growing but far from unanimous chorus saying a double-dip recession may be in the offing. On the other hand, he isn’t exactly optimistic. The guy known as “Doctor Doom” - who in 2006 prophesied the massive hit the U.S. economy would eventually take (to a barrage of ridicule from experts who didn’t predict the recession until well after it was under way) - told CNBC today: [read on](more…)
DailyKos - The Pew Research Center’s latest survey shows the majority Americans don’t think the recession that began December 2007 - the Great Recession, as some call it - is over.
The National Bureau of Economic Research, whose word the experts accept as official regarding beginnings and endings of recessions, has yet to call this one over. But the NBER always takes its time when making such declarations. For instance, the NBER did not declare that the current recession began in 2007 until December 2008. As of two months ago, the majority of eight panel members who make such decisions said an announcement that the downturn is definitely over would be “premature.” [read on] (more…)
The world is going through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. America lost 8 million jobs and $17 trillion in retirement savings mainly thanks to the irresponsible fiscal policies of George W. Bush and Congressional Republicans. But according to Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner the financial crisis is an ‘ant’:
Boehner criticized the financial regulatory overhaul compromise reached last week between House and Senate negotiators as an overreaction to the financial crisis that triggered the recession. The bill would tighten restrictions on lending, create a consumer protection agency with broad oversight power and give the government an orderly way to dissolve the largest financial institutions if they run out of money.
“This is killing an ant with a nuclear weapon,” Boehner said. What’s most needed is more transparency and better enforcement by regulators, he said.
On The Gavel, the blog of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Karina writes, “An ant, Mr. Boehner? [read on](more…)
Veel recente politieke helden hebben ze niet rechts Amerika. Nixon?… nou nee, George H. Bush?… mwahh, George W. Bush?… aarghh. Maar ze hebben Ronald Reagan. De filmster die in zijn eentje het communisme beeindigde. En de man van Reagonomics. Hij begon het economische beleid van veel geld uitgeven om rijk Amerika rijker te maken. Hier de werkelijkheid over Reaganomics. Kijk in elk van deze grafieken naar het jaar 1981 toen Reagan president werd.
OurFuture - It seems that you can look at a chart of almost anything and right around 1981 or soon after you’ll see the chart make a sharp change in direction, and probably not in a good way. And I really do mean almost anything, from economics to trade to infrastructure to … well almost anything. I spent some time looking for charts of things, and here are just a few examples. In each of the charts below look for the year 1981, when Reagan took office. [read on](more…)
US District Judge Martin Feldman has given the green light for all offshore drilling to restart despite the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Why would he do that?
Let’s have a look where his money is. Here’s a list of Feldman’s income (dividends) in 2008, all energy stocks. Marty Feldman has invested millions of his money in oil companies. Still wonder why?
UPDATE, juni 14th, 2010 at 11:48 am - Er zit voor bijna een biljoen dollar aan mineralen in de Afghaanse grond, vooral lithium, maar ook ijzer, koper en goud. Dat is gebleken uit Amerikaans bodemonderzoek. Chinese en Indiase mijnbedrijven staan te dringen om de grondstoffen uit de grond te halen, aldus de NYT vandaag. Nog een reden om te vechten dus.
DailyKos - As the world turns its attention to new sources of energy demand for lithium, specifically lithium carbonate, has increased substantially in the last ten years. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the United States imports 3,450 metric tons of lithium carbonate while producing about 1,500 tons annually. Approximately 80% of the world’s lithium is located in the great salt flats of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. As with any valuable commodity, lithium is becoming another focus of competition in national and world politics.
Almost all the the innovations in battery technology today use lithium. Lithium is not an obscure, precious commodity. It has applications in ceramics, pharmaceuticals, and in aluminum production. The rapid rise in demand for it, however, is due to its increasing usefulness in lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are desirable because they are lightweight, have a very slow loss of charge when not in use, and have double the energy density of nickel-based batteries. [read on]
Vice President Dick Cheney was the big boss of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000. Democrat senator Lautenberg found that Dick Cheney’s Halliburton stock options have risen 3,281 percent in 2004/2005, RAW STORY can reveal. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) asserts that Cheney’s options — worth $241,498 a year ago — are now valued at more than $8 million. The former CEO of the oil and gas services juggernaut, Cheney has pledged to give proceeds to charity.
This morning on ABC This Week, Arianna Huffington brought up the role the Bush administration played in creating a regulatory system “full of loopholes, full of cronies and lobbyists filling the very agencies they’re supposed to be overseeing,” especially when it comes to the oil industry. Indeed, a 2008 report by the Interior Department’s Inspector General found that workers at the Minerals Management Service were “partying, having sex, using drugs and accepting gifts and ski trips and golf outings from energy company representatives with whom they did government business.” She then tried to talk about the role Halliburton, the energy giant formerly run by Dick Cheney, has in the oil spill, but she was soon cut off by Liz Cheney, who rushed to defend her dad and the corporation:
HUFFINGTON: Right here, we have the poster child of Bush-Cheney crony capitalism. Halliburton involved in this, and we haven’t said about that. They after all were responsible for cementing the well. Here’s Halliburton, after it defrauded the American taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars –
CHENEY: Arianna, I don’t know what planet you live on, but that’s not – read on>> (more…)
Citibank was zonder een enorme injectie van de Amerikaanse regering failliet geweest. Weet u waarom? Debrahlee! Het is allemaal de schuld van: “a head turning beauty with soft eyes and flawless bronze skin. She is J-Lo curves meets Jessica Simpson rack meets Audrey Hepburn elegance.”
Oftewel Citibank medewerkster Debrahlee Lorenzana. Nu ex-Citibank medewerkster. Ex, omdat de bankiers in haar omgeving zich onmogelijk konden concentreren op hun werk met deze overweldigende schoonheid in hun nabijheid. Volgens Debrahlee dan!
Eerst kreeg Debrahlee te horen dat ze geen coltruien, strakke rokken of hoge hakken mocht dragen naar werk. Zeg maar een boerka, dat mocht nog net. Uiteraard weigerde ze. Daarop werd ze overgeplaatst naar een ander filiaal. Ook daar vielen mannen flauw bij bosjes. Uiteindelijk verloor ze haar baan. Dus staat ze nu voor de rechter met een miljoenenclaim. Gelooft u haar? foto’s>>
So the thousand-point drop on Wall Street was a ‘perfect storm’.
Why is it that, whenever something happens that the people who should’ve seen it coming didn’t see coming, blame it on one of these rare, once-in-a-century ‘perfect storms’.
For some reason they takes place every fucking two weeks?
I’m beginning to think these are not perfect storms.
I’m beginning to think these are regular storms and we have a shitty boat. –Jon Stewart, Daily Show
Er zijn mensen die hun hele leven roepen dat we allemaal doodgaan. Ze hebben gelijk!
Ook op financieel gebied zijn er dat soort mensen. Beursgoeroes als Rienk Kamer, Marc Faber, Maarten Verheyen en vele anderen die constant hel en verdoemenis rondbazuinen. Ook zij hebben gelijk.
Er is altijd wel wat mis in de wereld van het geld en soms wat meer dan wat. Er zijn altijd mensen, en bedrijven, en landen die zich groter voordoen dan ze zijn. Ze geven meer uit dan ze verdienen. En je kunt er donder op zeggen dat ze uiteindelijk bij vrienden en familie op de stoep komen te staan.
Luilakken, dommeriken, Grieken, ach, wie kent ze niet. De beursgoeroes hebben dus gelijk. Luister maar even naar de praatjesmakers maar niet te lang, is het advies van JdeW. Ze hebben namelijk maar één deuntje.
Het grote probleem met doemdenkers is dat ze wel weten wat er gaat gebeuren maar niet wanneer. Pastoors, dominees en imams weten dat u doodgaat maar niet wanneer. Goeroes voorspellen altijd dat de financiële wereld in elkaar gaat storten maar ook zij weten niet wanneer. Het kan een jaar duren, maar ook tien jaar, twintig jaar.
Kortom: ze krijgen een keer gelijk maar je hebt er geen zak aan!
Het is wel een mooi vak trouwens: beursgoeroe. Net als geestelijken hebben ze een antwoord op al uw vragen. Hun God (vzmh) is Goud! Huh, hoor ik u zeggen. Ja… goud. Je kunt het niet eten, je kunt er niet in rijden, je kunt er niet in wonen, je kunt er niets op verbouwen maar toch, het antwoord is god goud!
Eén zo’n goeroe is de Amerikaanse tv-presentator Glenn Beck in wiens geraaskal dankzij Fox News zo’n 30 procent van rechts Amerika gelooft. Hij wordt betaald door het frauduleuze goudbedrijf Goldline. Hij promoot het bedrijf schaamteloos in zijn show waar Goldline ook nog eens adverteert. Zijn truc is van alle tijden. Hij maakt domme Amerikanen bang (Barack Obama has ‘a deep seated hatred for white people’) en lokt vervolgens de arme schapen zijn kerk binnen: Goldline. Zie dit verhaal van de vrienden van drasties Crooks and Liars:
Congressman Anthony Weiner is trying to put a stop to Glenn Beck and other fear mongering, primarily right wing radio show hosts from scaring the hell out of their customers and then using that fear to help their sponsor Goldline fleece them.
Throughout Glenn Beck’s meteoric rise to become king of all right-wing media, a once-obscure Santa Monica peddler of gold coins called Goldline International has been along for the ride. The support of Beck and other radio hosts — mainly conservatives like Mark Levin and Fred Thompson — who spend 55 minutes creating fear of an economic collapse and then five minutes telling you why coins from a company like Goldline are the only safe haven has helped Goldline become a $500 million company.
This, for example, is what 2 million TV viewers who clicked on Beck’s nightly Fox News Channel show heard on Oct. 6, 2009: read on>> (more…)
Iceland - More than a year and a half after Iceland’s major banks failed, all but sinking the country’s economy, police have begun rounding up a number of top bankers while other former executives and owners face a two-billion-dollar lawsuit.
Since Iceland’s three largest banks — Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir — collapsed in late 2008, their former executives and owners have largely been living untroubled lives abroad. But the publication last month of a parliamentary inquiry into the island nation’s profound financial and economic crisis signaled a turning of the tide, laying much of the blame for the downfall on the former bank heads who had taken “inappropriate loans from the banks” they worked for. read on>> (more…)
A new WSJ/NBC poll finds that only 4 percent of respondents have a very or somewhat positive view of Goldman Sachs; 50 percent have a somewhat or very negative view, worse figures than even those of oil-giant BP.
Nee, het is geen Jules Verne boek. Het gebeurde gisteren echt op Wall Street. Aandelen die van veertig dollar naar één cent gingen en weer terug.
Waar zouden we zijn zonder computers? Computers die binnen een seconde 60.000 verkooporders van aandelen op de markt kunnen brengen. Wel ik kan u verzekeren, JdeW zou een stuk minder rijk zijn.
Als die orders niet gelimiteerd zijn, en dat gebeurde gisteren op Wall Street, en er even niemand is die wil kopen, dan weten computers niet dat ze beter even kunnen wachten tot er wel iemand in de markt komt. Die laten de prijs in milliseconden zakken tot nul. Gisteren werden enkele gerenommeerde bedrijven dan ook even nul cent waard. Nul! Het degelijke bedrijf Accenture (tienduizenden werknemers) zakte binnen een kwartier van $40 naar 1 cent om vervolgens weer omhoog te schieten richting $40. En zo waren er meer. En zo kan zelfs een eenvoudige boerenlul als JdeW binnen een kwartiertje zomaar miljonair worden. Vrienden… het ga je goed!
Jim Cramer can hardly contain himself as the market falls nearly 1000 points in the span of a few minutes, and uses Procter & Gamble as an exemplar of how investors can turn a downturn to their advantage. read on>> (more…)
According to Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), he could have the votes to get the Wall Street reform bill to reinstate the so-called depression-era “Glass-Steagall” regulations. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited a company to sell loans, and deal and broker in the financial markets, and sell insurance. The Republican Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933.
Remember him… the arrogant nitwit Phil Gramm? He was the financial adviser of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Basically Glass-Steagall was passed to control the rampant speculation that had helped cause the collapse of banking at the outset of the Great Depression. After the Republicans removed the walls between loans, insurance, and investments the banks quickly became economy twisting monsters again. Amazing how fast it happened.
Let’s look at Goldman Sachs business which was completely useless for the economy and the American citizens. There were mortgages, bundled mortgages, derivative instruments against those bundled mortgages, credit default swaps offered as insurance against the mortgages (and the bundles, and the derivatives), and derivative instruments built on top of the swaps. Every single one of those transactions had its own set of customers. Every single deal that Goldman swung through this mess had winners and losers among its own customer base. read on>> (more…)
Pensioenfonds Vervoer, Schiphol, Netherlands, terminated Goldman Sachs Asset Management as manager in a mandate valued at about €7 billion, according to chief investment officer Patrick Groenendijk. He said the move is not related to SEC civil charges against Goldman Sachs and its vice-president Fabrice Tourre for failing to disclose vital information to investors. “We have been working for a long time evaluating the underperformance [of Goldman Sachs].”
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Vooruitgang bestaat niet, en dat is maar goed ook, want zoals het is, is het al erg genoeg.
Gerard Reve