WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2008
German Finance Minister Mocks Brown's "Great Rescue Plan"
"All this will do is raise Britain's debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off" says Peer Steinbrück, the German finance minister. He isn't a conservative finance minister from Merkel's CDU, he is a Social Democrat member of the coalition government.
Worth reading the full interview in Newsweek. Devastating.Crash Gordon - Saved the World (In His Mind)
A Freudian slip from the Prime Mentalist? In his own mind he believes he is the saviour of the global economy, his bail-out copied from the Swedes, he reckons has been copied by all. Sarkozy thinks differently, Merkel thinks he is going to destroy the public finances, EU Finance Commissioner McCreevy gave a pointed speech about the downward spiral of government debt.
He leads the world he is saving, in his mind...
Via : The Crown BlogCharles Moore is Britain's Gandhi :
200,000 Pledge Not to Pay TV Licence
Since launching last August the Campaign to Abolish the TV Licence has received over 200,000 online pledges not to pay as of the beginning of December. That is pretty good going for a new and unfunded grassroots campaign.
In 1930 in order to help free India from British control, Mahatma Gandhi proposed a non-violent march protesting the British Salt Tax, continuing Gandhi's pleas for civil disobedience. The Salt Tax essentially made it illegal to sell or produce salt, allowing a complete British monopoly. Since salt is necessary in everyone's daily diet, everyone in India was affected. The Salt Tax made it illegal for workers to freely collect their own salt from the coasts of India, making them buy salt they couldn't really afford. The British Broadcasting Corporation's TV Tax protects an unjust monopoly, since television is necessary for information it affects everyone in Britain. It makes it illegal to freely receive information without paying the TV Tax. Information which is essential for civil society and democracy to function. The TV Tax can be defeated - on April 5, 1930 Gandhi and his satyagrahis reached the sea coast. 
After prayers were offered, Gandhi spoke to the large crowd. He picked up a tiny lump of salt in his hand, breaking the law. In that moment India's freedom from colonialism was secured. In Charles Moore the British people have their Gandhi.
Mass civil disobedience is as easy as canceling your direct debit, then pick up your Sky remote in your hand, break the law. By this small act freedom from cultural domination by a left-wing metropolitan elite can be secured. If Gandhi was the quintessential Indian, Charles Moore is surely the quintessential Englishman. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Pledge not to pay here.The Tax Base is Fading to Grey
It takes something like 30 taxpayers to support a bureaucrat, yet the ratio of bureaucrats to productive taxpayers is worsening. State pensions are unfunded. Where in the coming decades are the taxes going to come from to pay for the pensions and bureaucrats as well as servicing the colossal government debt?
Who will bear the terrifying burden?TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2008
+++ US Treasury Bills Trade at Negative Yields +++
For the first time in history, not even in 1929, $27 billion of three-month bills were sold at a discount rate of 0.005% and are now trading at negative yields. Investors will get back less than they pay for them for the security of actually being repaid.That shows real fear in the markets.
Unfortunately British Gilts are not considered such a safe bet...
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
The number of people over state pension age is now officially greater than the number of children for the first time in our history. Today there are 4 people of working age for every person of retirement age. By 2050 there will only be 2 for every retiree.
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