From 10,000 Feet

Inventors always want to protect their ideas so that only they can capitalize on them; however, that may be misguided. In the history of recent technology, being the “first in” has proven to be of no advantage – possibly even a disadvantage.

At one time, there was a very good operating system called CPM that was crushed by a late arriver MS DOS. Commodore once had a future in personal computing until it went head-to-head with the PC (IBM Personal Computer). Atari had a superior computer for a long time but was eliminated in an “early round” by the fashionably late PC clone. Xerox produced the feature-rich, Venture Publisher, that was “marketed” out of the business by Adobe Page Maker for Macintosh – a far inferior product.

Almost none of the original players are around today to enjoy the fruit of their ground breaking labour. The forerunners who dream and challenge new horizons don’t always make the best managers. Steve Jobs may appear to be an exception – he stayed close to his function as “Head-Dreamer” of the company and it worked for him and Apple.

Being second or third into a big market has proven to have its advantages. Research In Motion conceived and birthed an idea which required a tremendous amount of creative and technological resources, only to have others build on and innovate the idea. It is much easier to refine a good idea than it is to make it a reality. RIM’s competitors have made a place for themselves “frilling up” a monumental technology with a user friendly interface (Iphone) and a fortune of supplementary applications which appeal to anyone and everyone’s personal interests. Some of these apps are “software froth” and some are well conceived and designed add-on functions to the main and original idea of mobile e-mail, internet and phone service.

RIM still has a unique market advantage in spite of the press that is determined to destroy them. Their networks are secure because they operate them. That one advantage for an intelligent and informed consumer is worth trading all the “frills” any marketing manager on steroids can come up with. It seems that RIM’s superior security has irritated more than one government. Saudi Arabia wanted a “backdoor” into the Blackberry system in order to spy on their people. Somehow, Blackberry was “responsible” for the riots in London in August. Their networks were secure and for that reason rioters used them to organize. The British didn’t like that and called in the Blackberry folks to give an account for themselves. The social unrest and religious persecution of Christians in countries such as Egypt have made RIM the secure and obvious choice of many. For that reason, RIM has gone from being heros to zeros, at least in the press. It would appear for being just too darn good. There are a lot of people who would like them to give up their secure networks so they can  “trap data” and spy on whomever they please. In some cases, that is good and in others it is bad, but who gets to decide which is which?

RIM has a lot of enemies, but the founders are used to fighting for what they believe. They were around long before Blackberry and learned their “tuffs” over years of struggling in order to arrive where they are today. They may have made some mistakes and become mesmerized by their tremendous success for a season, but the next battle is for the survival of the company. My money is on RIM. They have the leadership to make the adjustments that need to be made. They are “forerunners” who can lead the industry again. They have been there and know what it takes to create and pioneer. They just need to remember who they are! As with most forerunners, they don’t mind taking some heat for doing things their way.

I am optimistic about RIM’s future in spite of the media’s intentional attacks and pessimistic predictions. As a team, they are more than what the “barking dogs” (the press) say they are. They have proven their character and good will in the market place and to our community whenever there was a need. This battle is not primarily about stock prices, or shareholder value, or marketing, or PR. It is about control and who is going to get it.

The first line of defense in this battle is character….“character” that says: “I will not let ‘them’ destroy me or this company.” This attitude must start at the top and trickle down through the ranks and infect those not intimidated by a good fight with courage and determination. I’ve seen that from the senior RIM team in the midst of a volley of personal attacks. They stood firm when their leadership was challenged and when “analysts” wanted to break up the company. Their courage and strength tell me they are not finished fighting, and it gives me courage and the conviction that RIM will not only survive, but will flourish.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization recently reported that world food prices had risen 3.4% in January (the seventh monthly increase in a row) to the highest level since records began in 1990. Continued increases are expected. Food prices have proven to be the underlying motivation for civil unrest in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Pakistan, Jordan, and Yemen and more uprisings are expected in countries around the world. Indonesia and Thailand have been rationing staples for more than a year. Here in Canada, the increases have been slightly less but substantial enough for people to notice the difference when they go to the grocery store. What is the future of food, what is happening, and what can we do?

The general consensus outside the US is that the problem is caused by US monetary policy. Printing  $600B (QE 2) and the very loose lending policies of the Federal Reserve aimed at resuscitating the US economy have caused inflation and the destabilisation of world currencies. French President Sarkozy  and G20 head has pointed his finger at food speculators. Inside the US, Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, and Noble Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman, have redirected the attention from US policy to drought and reduced supply. They also claim that countries have the option of appreciating their currency to offset the policies of the US; however, that would also kill their exports.

From the ground-level, the problem seems like a complicated stand-off between the interests of the US government and the rest of the world. The flaws in globalization and the world currency system are not going to be resolved by you and me. It is obvious from 10,000 feet, however, that the solution for us is to de-couple ourselves from the world in strategic areas such as food and regain our sovereignty.  It is not likely the Canadian government is going to do that. There have been many forward thinking outsiders (forerunners) warning about the need for food sovereignty for years with little response. So what can you do?

The lifestyle of Canadians has become increasingly dependent on others to supply their basic needs. Urban living has made us dependent on food which has been grown far away. Being linked to and dependent on the rest of the world to feed us makes us vulnerable to soaring prices and disruption in supply caused by war, drought, transportation problems, and political and social upheavals, to name only a few. Globalization has given us a world of reasons why we should take care of ourselves, particularly in the production of food.

If you grow your own food, you remove the impact of subsidies, transportation costs, carbon emissions, trade barriers, speculators, shortages, wars, earthquakes –  effectively all the obstacles!

There are many highly developed techniques for growing your own food such as “square foot gardening” and “intensive gardening” which make the process simple and give incredible yields. Growing food is therapeutic and giving some of it away, as most home gardeners do because they have too much, is joy to the giver and receiver. Growing your own food also reduces pressures on existing supplies, thus leaving food for others who are hungry. By helping yourself, you help others – it is a win-win solution. Now is a good time to start planning a garden.

If, however, you can’t grow your own food, the next best solution is to buy it from local producers. There are many cooperatives and farm-gate growers in our township and we need to support them and encourage more food suppliers in our area to sell locally. We have some of the best land in the province and it could feed us and much of the country.  Small farms produce many times more food per acre than industrialized farms, making them quite profitable.

It is convenient to buy garlic from China but when you compare the quality and the price, Canadian garlic is still the better deal. Some things are a little more expensive when they are grown here, but there are other values to consider. When you buy imported food, the money leaves the community, but when you buy local, all of the money stays right here. Hidden subsidies create inequities between foreign and local pricing. Food production and food sovereignty should be part of our federal government’s policies and commitment to protect Canadian food growers. Our region should also develop plans and incentives to stimulate the growing of food locally.

By growing our own food and taking care of ourselves, we become positioned to take care of others. We also regain control of our lives and strengthen our community.  Buying and supplying our food locally is a powerful solution anyone can use to overcome soaring food prices.

How to Beat World-Wide Food Inflation

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization recently reported that world food prices had risen 3.4% in January (the seventh monthly increase in a row) to the highest level since records began in 1990. Continued increases are expected. Food prices have proven to be the underlying motivation for civil unrest in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Pakistan, Jordan, and Yemen and more uprisings are expected in countries around the world. Indonesia and Thailand have been rationing staples for more than a year. Here in Canada, the increases have been slightly less but substantial enough for people to notice the difference when they go to the grocery store. What is the future of food, what is happening, and what can we do?

The general consensus outside the US is that the problem is caused by US monetary policy. Printing  $600B (QE 2) and the very loose lending policies of the Federal Reserve aimed at resuscitating the US economy have caused inflation and the destabilisation of world currencies. French President Sarkozy  and G20 head has pointed his finger at food speculators. Inside the US, Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, and Noble Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman, have redirected the attention from US policy to drought and reduced supply. They also claim that countries have the option of appreciating their currency to offset the policies of the US; however, that would also kill their exports.

From the ground-level, the problem seems like a complicated stand-off between the interests of the US government and the rest of the world. The flaws in globalization and the world currency system are not going to be resolved by you and me. It is obvious from 10,000 feet, however, that the solution for us is to de-couple ourselves from the world in strategic areas such as food and regain our sovereignty.  It is not likely the Canadian government is going to do that. There have been many forward thinking outsiders (forerunners) warning about the need for food sovereignty for years with little response. So what can you do?

The lifestyle of Canadians has become increasingly dependent on others to supply their basic needs. Urban living has made us dependent on food which has been grown far away. Being linked to and dependent on the rest of the world to feed us makes us vulnerable to soaring prices and disruption in supply caused by war, drought, transportation problems, and political and social upheavals, to name only a few. Globalization has given us a world of reasons why we should take care of ourselves, particularly in the production of food.

If you grow your own food, you remove the impact of subsidies, transportation costs, carbon emissions, trade barriers, speculators, shortages, wars, earthquakes –  effectively all the obstacles!

There are many highly developed techniques for growing your own food such as “square foot gardening” and “intensive gardening” which make the process simple and give incredible yields. Growing food is therapeutic and giving some of it away, as most home gardeners do because they have too much, is joy to the giver and receiver. Growing your own food also reduces pressures on existing supplies, thus leaving food for others who are hungry. By helping yourself, you help others – it is a win-win solution. Now is a good time to start planning a garden.

If, however, you can’t grow your own food, the next best solution is to buy it from local producers. There are many cooperatives and farm-gate growers in our township and we need to support them and encourage more food suppliers in our area to sell locally. We have some of the best land in the province and it could feed us and much of the country.  Small farms produce many times more food per acre than industrialized farms, making them quite profitable.

It is convenient to buy garlic from China but when you compare the quality and the price, Canadian garlic is still the better deal. Some things are a little more expensive when they are grown here, but there are other values to consider. When you buy imported food, the money leaves the community, but when you buy local, all of the money stays right here. Hidden subsidies create inequities between foreign and local pricing. Food production and food sovereignty should be part of our federal government’s policies and commitment to protect Canadian food growers. Our region should also develop plans and incentives to stimulate the growing of food locally.

By growing our own food and taking care of ourselves, we become positioned to take care of others. We also regain control of our lives and strengthen our community.  Buying and supplying our food locally is a powerful solution anyone can use to overcome soaring food prices.

How to Beat World-Wide Food Inflation

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization recently reported that world food prices had risen 3.4% in January (the seventh monthly increase in a row) to the highest level since records began in 1990. Continued increases are expected. Food prices have proven to be the underlying motivation for civil unrest in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Pakistan, Jordan, and Yemen and more uprisings are expected in countries around the world. Indonesia and Thailand have been rationing staples for more than a year. Here in Canada, the increases have been slightly less but substantial enough for people to notice the difference when they go to the grocery store. What is the future of food, what is happening, and what can we do?

The general consensus outside the US is that the problem is caused by US monetary policy. Printing  $600B (QE 2) and the very loose lending policies of the Federal Reserve aimed at resuscitating the US economy have caused inflation and the destabilisation of world currencies. French President Sarkozy  and G20 head has pointed his finger at food speculators. Inside the US, Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, and Noble Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman, have redirected the attention from US policy to drought and reduced supply. They also claim that countries have the option of appreciating their currency to offset the policies of the US; however, that would also kill their exports.

From the ground-level, the problem seems like a complicated stand-off between the interests of the US government and the rest of the world. The flaws in globalization and the world currency system are not going to be resolved by you and me. It is obvious from 10,000 feet, however, that the solution for us is to de-couple ourselves from the world in strategic areas such as food and regain our sovereignty.  It is not likely the Canadian government is going to do that. There have been many forward thinking outsiders (forerunners) warning about the need for food sovereignty for years with little response. So what can you do?

The lifestyle of Canadians has become increasingly dependent on others to supply their basic needs. Urban living has made us dependent on food which has been grown far away. Being linked to and dependent on the rest of the world to feed us makes us vulnerable to soaring prices and disruption in supply caused by war, drought, transportation problems, and political and social upheavals, to name only a few. Globalization has given us a world of reasons why we should take care of ourselves, particularly in the production of food.

If you grow your own food, you remove the impact of subsidies, transportation costs, carbon emissions, trade barriers, speculators, shortages, wars, earthquakes –  effectively all the obstacles!

There are many highly developed techniques for growing your own food such as “square foot gardening” and “intensive gardening” which make the process simple and give incredible yields. Growing food is therapeutic and giving some of it away, as most home gardeners do because they have too much, is joy to the giver and receiver. Growing your own food also reduces pressures on existing supplies, thus leaving food for others who are hungry. By helping yourself, you help others – it is a win-win solution. Now is a good time to start planning a garden.

If, however, you can’t grow your own food, the next best solution is to buy it from local producers. There are many cooperatives and farm-gate growers in our township and we need to support them and encourage more food suppliers in our area to sell locally. We have some of the best land in the province and it could feed us and much of the country.  Small farms produce many times more food per acre than industrialized farms, making them quite profitable.

It is convenient to buy garlic from China but when you compare the quality and the price, Canadian garlic is still the better deal. Some things are a little more expensive when they are grown here, but there are other values to consider. When you buy imported food, the money leaves the community, but when you buy local, all of the money stays right here. Hidden subsidies create inequities between foreign and local pricing. Food production and food sovereignty should be part of our federal government’s policies and commitment to protect Canadian food growers. Our region should also develop plans and incentives to stimulate the growing of food locally.

By growing our own food and taking care of ourselves, we become positioned to take care of others. We also regain control of our lives and strengthen our community.  Buying and supplying our food locally is a powerful solution anyone can use to overcome soaring food prices.

Humanity is caught between corporations and ineffective and corrupt government. Some corporations act more like the Mafia than companies. They will use any tactic including bribery, extortion, murder, overt lies, deception to achieve their greed driven objective. Governments and political leaders have been intimidated, threatened and bribed, to give these marauding pirates what they want. Corporations even have their own government which protects their interests above the government of the people. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization all force government of the people to comply to their demands or pay the consequences. The sad and ironic part in all this is that these corporations have funded their toxic and diabolic work with our money. Money we have earned has been invested in companies through the stock market and used to destroy our freedom, our health and the planet.

Here are a few things that should be done to make change in our country and the world

1. Corporate Crime and Corruption
- we need new laws to make directors and officers of companies criminally responsible for their actions
- we need enforcement agencies specifically for corporations
- we need to educate people in all positions of responsibility about the harm, consequences, and options they have if confronted with bribery, or intimidation.
- we need to increase the penalties for these type of crimes to reflect the damage done to the country and the people.
- we all need to understand that taking a bribe, or giving benefit for benefit is treason because it destroys the country.

2. Political, Bureaucratic, Judicial Accountability
The peace and prosperity we enjoy is directly connected to the ethical behavior of these institutions.
- we need new laws to make politicians, bureaucrats, and judges criminally responsible for their actions
- we need structural revisions to make these agencies easier to monitor and more accountable for their actions
- we need enforcement agencies (police agency) specifically to investigate claims of misuse of power in government
- we need to educate people in all positions of responsibility about the harm, consequences, and options they have if confronted with bribery, or intimidation.
- we need to increase the penalties for these type of crimes to reflect the damage done to the country and the people.
- we all need to understand that taking a bribe, or giving benefit for benefit is treason because it destroys the country.

3. We need to develop a strategy to regain political autonomy. That means restructuring debt, and choosing to mitigate the negative impact of trade agreements in particular NAFTA and the policies of WTO.

4. We need new laws that repeal the interpretation of law by a few judges to allow the patenting of life forms.

5. Corporations must be responsible for their actions in particular genetic pollution and contamination. They are liable and accountable and must compensate those who they cause harm to, rather than the other way around. This is a distortion of justice.

6. Genetically modified foods and other additives must be tested before and proven beyond doubt that they are safe before being introduced into the food system. The protocol of scientific procedure for approval can not be superseded by the political or bureaucratic branch of government. All manufactured products which enter food, air and water directly or indirectly which can not demonstrate via independent study that they are safe must be assessed. If and when they are approved, they must be labeled giving each person the right of choice when using the product.

7. We must protect the production of food in this country as a national security measure. Subsidized products from other countries must not be allowed to destroy the domestic food production industry. Government incentives to grow food locally and personally must be introduced to remove our dependence on the multi-national corporations control of food production

8. The policy of “intensification” which makes it near impossible for a family to own agricultural land and grow their own food only supports the agenda of multi-national corporations and their objective to control all food production. This policy must be changed to provide access to agriculture land to anyone.

It was difficult choosing a topic for this month’s column because there has been so much going on in the news that I wanted to bring to your attention. But with the US dollar “dropping off the table”, I decided to do my year-end projections for 2011 a month earlier.

Since June, the US dollar has lost more than 9% which is good news if you are buying US cash to take a trip or make a purchase. But the reality is that what is happening to our currency and the economy is going to require us to change the way we think and do business with the Americans.

Much of the move in the US dollar has happened in the last month in response to an announced second round of stimulus, sometimes called QEII (Quantitative Easing 2). The first round didn’t work and the second round is unlikely to work either – so you might ask, “what are they doing?”

Bill Gross, President of PIMCO (World’s Largest Mutual Fund), gave us some insight into what is really happening when he commented recently on America’s economic woes.

“It is a globalized economy of our own doing for the past 20-30 years. We encouraged all of this, but it is coming back to haunt us. To the extent that Chinese labor, Vietnamese labor, Brazilian labor, Mexican labor, wherever it is coming from that labor is outcompeting us and holding down our economy. ……Other countries and citizens are willing to work for less and willing to work harder—and we forgot the magic formula somewhere along the way,” he said.

He went on to say, “One of the ways to get even, so to speak, or to get the balance, is to debase (devalue) your currency faster than anybody else can. It’s a shock because the dollar is the reserve currency. But to the extent that that is a necessary condition for rebalancing the global economy over time, then that is where we are headed.”

He also said later in this interview that he thought the US dollar could be devalued by as much as 20%.

Globalism is Dead
I have been speaking out against globalism for 30 years because it has killed our manufacturing (particularly in Ontario), and made a lot of multi-national corporations and their upper management unbelievably wealthy at the cost of millions of well paying jobs in Canada. In the US, it has wiped out the middle class almost completely. However, Mr. Gross, though accurate about globalism, demonstrated a total disregard for the value of our labour when he said, “we (America’s labour force) have forgotten the “magic formula”. He compares us with workers who are forced to work (through circumstances) for pennies an hour, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. He has forgotten that we HAD built up enough wealth in the west so that we didn’t have to work day and night for a subsistence income before globalism. Now that wealth is in the hands of a few corporations. Instead of raising up those other countries to a more humane labour standard, they have devalued our labour to the lowest level possible and oppressed even the poorest of poor in order to make even greater, and greater profits. These are the people who are running the financial world who we so foolishly “invest our money with”. 95% of the world’s wealth is held by 5% of the people. There can be no recovery without the redistribution of wealth – it’s impossible. I wonder what he thinks his labour is worth???
Now that I have that out on the table, Gross did say a few other things that really matter to you and me. By devaluing the Greenback through the increase of the money supply (printing it), you do two things. You devalue the current debt of the US. (They have the equivalent debt of a person making $50k per year and owing $5M.); and more importantly, imports (from Canada) becoming more and more expensive in the US.The Canada/US exchange rate has gone from -20% to +2. Obama has assured the G20 that he would not start a currency war, but he really doesn’t have any other options. This effectively makes NAFTA pretty much worthless.

You and Me and 2011
That being said, what does that mean for you and me in 2011? The coming year will be an opportunity for Canadians to break free from US “dependency”. The US will begin to make more of their needs at home as it becomes more expensive to import products. Canada should look for ways to increase the labour component in our raw materials and there will be opportunities to develop and provide services to Canadians from the US as the value of their dollar decreases and ours increases.
The Waterloo Region will continue to invest heavily in technology as our major export. We are among the best managed and economically sound areas in Canada. We are well positioned to do better than most of the country because of our progressive, forward-thinking and creative people who will rise to the challenges of change. Innovation and creativity, on which this region was built, can turn the coming challenges into wealth building opportunities. 2011 will have its “bumps in the road” but in a world of change, I have great confidence in our creativity and innovative ability to lead and prosper.

Read the whole story here

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39957072

Get an education here….
See “Inside Job” the film

http://www.insidejob.com/

Predictions for our economic future by the Bank of Canada are for a “marked slowing” of the economy in the second half of 2010 because of the Spanish government’s insolvency. One may ask the question, “why should the problems of Spain affect us here in Canada?” – what is wrong with this picture??? It would seem that having and keeping your financial house in order has been highly over-rated (sic). Or maybe it should be stated slightly differently – being interconnected to a whole group of other nations has been a huge world-wide problem which no one cared to discuss when they were “selling” the idea of globalism.

As I write this column, I feel like an intellectual geek bringing up the issue of globalization. The media and governments have always presented it as an absolute sacrament of an economically prosperous future. There never was a real debate about its merits and potential problems – it was forced upon us. Anyone who opposed it was marginalized and dismissed as a “kook”. However, in the 20/20 vision of first hand experience, NAFTA or the EU have NOT been proven to increase the prosperity of Europeans or North Americans. It has, in fact, done just the opposite. It has made some people very rich, but for the average Canadian, it has been a “cancer”. It has made us victims of market manipulation and has destroyed our manufacturing sector (real wealth) and our economic sovereignty and self-determination.

True Democracy is rooted in the belief that each of us has the inalienable right to choose for ourselves our own course. That right has been taken away from each of us by globalism. We no longer control our economic future. That is determined by people we neither elected nor who have any thought of our welfare in mind.  The centralization of power has few benefits to anyone except those who have it. They are far from the people their decisions affect.

My expectations of what they cunningly called “free trade” have been completely fulfilled – “the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer”. The problem is we all have a short attention span and few pundits ever return to “the scene of the crime” for a second look. I suppose that is what makes some politicians say anything to “sell us”, knowing that later, when the truth becomes known, nothing is ever done about it- but that can change.

Could Wilmot Township drop out of NAFTA? Not likely; however, the concept of economic sovereignty on a local level is a dream worth “noodling”. It would be a “gutzie” move from an informed, united, and creative people that would lead change.

Ontario, Canada, and the world are in a season of monumental change. Those countries and people who lead and shape change are best positioned to prosper from it. The world is looking for leaders who understand the problems and who can facilitate the solutions. We here in Wilmot can lead the province and the country with creativity, vision, and courage in a number of areas. It doesn’t matter where you come from or where you are right now, it only matters where you are going. Our dreaming is not a worthless endeavor, it can shape the future. Our dreams are valuable to us and to others. Our choice to pursue our dreams will be inspiration to those who know us and an example for our children. Dreamers – dream on!!

With the G20 having just ended, Canadians are thinking about what was accomplished in the “mega-meetings” and if they will help produce economic stability for a world which is standing on the edge of a financial abyss.

Within days of the meetings, renowned economist Paul Krugman predicted a “Third Depression” (NY Times – June 27/10) which will be characterized by prolonged periods of deflation and unemployment. There had been hope that there could be solutions to the plaguing economic problems which are facing the entire world. “A Third Depression”, in Krugman’s analysis, is another “correction” which will be deeper, longer and more painful than the one in the fall of 2008 – not the news we wanted to hear after investing so heavily in the G20.

Personal Income: 1.5 Billion a Year.
A recent Time Magazine article profiled a hedge fund manager whose earnings for 2009 were 1.5 Billion dollars which averages to about 6 million dollars a day. His job: he trades commodities for a “living” – if you could call $1.5B a year a living.

The questions I am asking is how much money do you have to make for your company for them to pay you a billion and half dollars a year and where does that all that money come from?

It isn’t all that complicated. A hedge fund is the “pretty” name for a speculator. Using government approved financial instruments, the trader can multiply his purchase ability by 100 times the amount of his on-hand cash – we are talking hundreds of millions of dollars at a time. The leverage is an important aspect of the “free market” sham. With enough leverage (money) your trades can influence the market. Of course a “good trader” is betting the price will go up. When you look at it,  it’s kind of like fishing in a barrel. It’s not really much of a gamble and it sure isn’t investing.

When oil hit $140/ barrel it had nothing to do with the cost of production or supply. An oil analyst interviewed on CBC claimed that oil at $60/barrel is very, very (lift an eyebrow) profitable for oil companies. When it hit $140 a barrel, it was the work of speculators.

Unregulated speculation of commodity prices like oil, grains, and real estate have inflated prices beyond what people can afford. The first collapse only partly deflated prices because the Federal Reserve (Baranke) and the US government and the banks insisted on pumping up the balloon with a trillion dollars of printed money. When prices exceed what people can pay, consumption goes down and unemployment goes up. So to fix the problem, they have to deflate commodity prices back to where (more) people can afford them. But they didn’t do that.

Speculators were allowed to pump up commodity prices again using our bail out money creating an illusion of recovery but leaving prices inflated, consumption low, and unemployment high.  Hence, they have called this blip in the market, “The Jobless Recovery”.

Governments and regulators never made any significant correction in the system which allowed the speculators to continue to manipulate commodity prices. Furthermore, they have increased taxes to compensate for falling revenues (Ontario) which is the equivalent of inflating prices. The result – more than 20% of Americans are sacrificed on the altar of “Free Market”. Of course, there is nothing free about a market that is being manipulated and there is nothing free about a nation that is being held hostage and plundered by its enemies.

The wealth of the nations is being siphoned off by speculators who manipulate prices of commodities to extort obscene profits from everybody on earth. Governments stand by as these pirates pillage and plunder, in many cases, generations of work and savings through a sophisticated “shell game”.  They even speculate on food, raising prices which literally starve people to death and no one does anything. (See Food Riots – Mogadishu, May 5 2008). Could there be anything more repulsive than billionaires gambling on food futures at the expense of peoples’ lives?

Krugman calls the problem “policy failure” – he’s being kind. It is “human failure” which caused the problem and it is the failure to “end the party” (through regulations) that will drive us into the Long Depression. The G20/G8 meetings were about as effective as painting the Titanic – there is a hole in the boat! We are all in that boat together. Unfortunately, there is not magic “bullet” that will fix the problems. The system is fatally flawed and it is only a matter of time until we see another “correction” to inflated prices, possibly as early as this fall. Stand by……..

The birth of HST in Ontario has arrived. I doubt if anyone will be handing out cigars – on second thought, maybe Dalton McGuinty will. Compared to British Columbia, the first step in selling the HST to Ontarians has gone down like an Oceans 11 movie. The tax will probably have a longer life than any of us – sadly, taxes never die; and most of you will by now have received your “bribe cheque”, as many people are calling it. But I am wondering if a bribe today will quell the building anger over the next few months as people see the cost of living in Ontario go up yet again.

Brian Mulroney gave us GST. You may remember that he went from a majority government to holding his caucus meetings in a phone booth because of the hated tax. He never suspected that taxpayers were prepared to respond with such collective retaliation. He underestimated, or possibly misinterpreted just how strongly people felt about the issue even if they didn’t march in the street. It became a life lesson for every politician in Canada that we don’t always say everything we are thinking.

Although Wilmot Township’s taxpayers haven’t marched in the streets in a HST tax revolt (it just isn’t our style), I am convinced that the modest reaction to such a significant increase in taxes does not mean that we believe what we have been told about the tax. In fact, the most common response to questions about the tax is that people don’t believe the government about the personal impact of the HST. They are suspicious and cynical about the cost. They may have been reflecting on the Smart Meter Answer Book which Mr. McGuinty distributed across the province. We were told, as you may remember, that the new system was a way for us all to save money on our electric bill – NOT.  In reality, hydro prices for the same usage were increasing significantly. If you wanted to save money you would have to cook your meals and do your laundry between 9 pm and 7 am – a bit inconvenient for most of us to say the least. The “spin-doctors” where working overtime and what we were “sold” and what we got were very different.

With the G20 ending, some economists suggest that we have entered into a world-wide third depression which they are calling the Long Depression characterized by deflation and continued unemployment. Ontario’s manufacturing sector (our greatest strength) has been destroyed over the last 20 years by NAFTA and globalism in general. The challenges the province faces are of a grand scale and the remedies (if there are any) are multifaceted. Raising taxes seems like the easy way out again. But my conflict with Mr. McGuinty is that  we have been sold the HST with less than half truths; in particular, how higher taxes will increase employment and make all of Ontario more prosperous. If there was any truth to that, I would be the first to suggest doubling taxes. I understand the cynicism among taxpayers because what we are being sold and what we will get I think will be quite different.

Over the next few months the illusions about HST will fade and reality will become evident. If Mr. McGuinty has oversold his “product”  there will be a great deal of anger and possibly voter retaliation to a government which has “ zoomed” us yet again. Sadly, by then it will be too late for taxpayers. Rarely are bad taxes ever repealed even by the succeeding government. If nothing more, we will be reminded of the old adage: “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.

Russian Corruption Skims Billions
Corruption is described as a disease in Russian society

Corrupt Russian officials are creaming off about $120bn (£61bn) a year – the equivalent of a third of the national budget, a senior prosecutor has said.
The country’s new President, Dmitry Medvedev, has pledged to tackle the problem – although correspondents say few expect things will change quickly. Reuters – Friday, 6 June 2008 18:12 UK

Comment
Corruption is prevalent in all levels of government and is seemingly not considered too serious a crime in North America. There is not much outrage when corruption is exposed. Corruption is more serious than the money that is lost from the public purse. When corruption becomes wide-spread the country becomes sick. The systems don’t work and there is a breakdown of society. Our reaction to corruption is a measure of the restraint and the level of integrity we demand. When there is corruption exposed we must (for the sake of the country) oppose it strongly, because it threatens the entire country. Rome wasn’t defeated, it collapsed from within. Corruption is a very real Trojan horse for America – let’s not repeat history, but learn from it.

Among the greatest threats to the US and Canada is not terrorism from the outside not terrorist from the inside but the threat of the breakdown of society through corruption.

Paul Weigel

The Story:

By Barbara Lewis
LONDON (Reuters)
Speaking about the increasing price of oil:

QUOTE: ……Investors have been drawn in by a weak U.S. currency, which has made dollar-denominated commodities relatively cheap for holders of other currencies.

Speaking to Reuters during a visit to Venezuela, OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri said the soft dollar was one of the factors that could keep pushing oil higher.

Tanker tracker Petrologistics said on Wednesday OPEC’s oil output in May had risen by 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared with April.

Extra OPEC crude has had little impact as the market has instead focused on short-term refinery problems, which are symptomatic of chronic underinvestment.

The Comments

It is clear from these reports that prices have NOT been established by supply and demand. Wealthy investors are using commodities as hedges against the devaluating US dollar. You can’t read that in the major media because they defend the system. They defend the system, because it is a system developed by and promoted by large corporations. In fact any questioning of the system is considered blasphemy, which is punished and that has quieted a lot of intelligent and knowledgeable people.

There has not been an increase in fuel consumption by 12% this year, nor has there been a 12% decrease in supply, so what justifies a 12% increase in the price? The Answer: nothing! The markets are not free, they are distorted significantly by speculators who know that the consumer has few if any alternatives. With the consumer up against the proverbial wall, speculators have driven the price up regardless of supply and demand ratios.

Oil supplies have increased and consumption is at its lowest in the year, yet prices have increased dramatically. Price increases are justified by paper thin excuses over fears of supply problems. Even when those fears never materialize, the prices continues to increase and the medias continues to defend the system and its abuses. They assert that the problem is OPEC, which keeps people from pointing their finger at the real problems and demanding the government does something about them.

Governments have not protected the consumer from the abuses of the system. They have failed not because they didn’t know what was happening. The housing crisis was a disaster waiting to happen and the government did nothing. It has effectively transfered the wealth of millions of citizens to the wealthy, turning the country into a labor camp.

If the markets were truly free, then they would reflect the actual price a consumer was willing to pay for a product. The fact that this week 84% of Americans had concerns about the economy and high energy prices, indicates that the market does not reflect the consumer’s willingness to pay the price the market is dictating. Furthermore, it is not just the US which is bidding for world oil. Countries with far weaker currencies should effectively lower prices if it was market driven. The markets are far from free. They are being manipulated by speculators who are holding the entire world hostage and extorting from them their life blood.

The idea that markets can operate freely is idealism in this present world. General Motors has more revenue than the majority of countries in the world. When there are corporations with the financial capacity to dominate markets there is no hope of truly free markets. The consumer becomes the victim of extortion. In the case of food, people go hungry, become weak and sick, and even die in third world countries, because of market speculators and the irrational defense of the myth of free markets. There is something wrong with a system that can destroy lives and kill people in the name of profit?

Paul Weigel

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The Stories:

April foreclosures rise 65 percent on year:

Wed May 14, 2008 3:28pm EDT (Reuters) “The total number of U.S. properties with foreclosure activity in April was the highest monthly total we’ve seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005,” James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.

In March, home foreclosure filings had risen 5 percent from February.

The surge in foreclosures indicates an increasing number of homeowners are struggling to make mortgage payments amid the worst U.S. housing market downturn since the Great Depression.

Tame April price rise eases inflation worry

The biggest story in the news today, as it has been for 5 months, is the price of oil. There has been a lot of disinformation about what is causing the rise in the price of crude. It has increased 25% in the past 4 months. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and G. W. Bush have been calling for OPEC to increase supply in a season when normal consumption is at its lowest (spring). The forecasted economic slow down is expected to further slow demand by 1.5%. As the price increases it becomes out of reach for many buyers with weaker economies and currencies, also reducing demand. OPEC continues to assert that there is adequate supply to meet demand. Saudi Arabia has even reduced supply slightly in response to the slowing demand. So why is the price of oil continuing to climb?

The daily assertions in the media about fears of disruptions in supply are misleading. The real cause of the price inflation is the weakening US dollar. Hedge funds used to take refuge in gold, silver, platinum and other metals because they offered protection against a devaluating dollar. But the large investors see oil as a better hedge against the devaluating dollar, because it is a world-wide consumable. Recently, market pundits have predicted $200. per barrel of oil, which would more than double the price in a year. That doesn’t reflect supply or demand for oil, but the lack of confidence in the US economy precipitated by the sub-prime banking scandal, massive debt and trade deficit, and a costly war.

Here is the crux of the problem. In the short term, oil provides protection from inflation (devaluation of the dollar), but in the long term the increase in the price of oil causes the cost of food and manufactured goods to increase. That is inflation. To protect against inflation investors continue to bid up the price of oil and thereby cause inflation. It becomes a destructive cycle which has the potential to bring a catastrophic world-wide economic collapse. So far there has been little leadership from governments in the west. Thailand and Indonesia have banned exports of rice in the anticipation of the coming problems. They have effectively taken themselves off the world markets. They will grow their own food and supply their own demand at prices their people can afford. Nationalism has been presented in the corporate agenda driven media as the counter-productive, small minded ideals of backward governments. However, it now will protect countries from the whims of the global investor and soften the blow of a potential world-wide financial catastrophe.

The US has been the detonator for this economic explosion but the problems in the world financial markets are equally as severe as in the US. There has been a tremendous increase in the accumulation of wealth. The imbalance this creates is like a 400 pound guy in a canoe with two 50 pound children. The markets have been destabilized by the relative size of the “players”. Greed, and fear have no conscience and the investors who “play” the markets have no moral, ethical or social responsibility. They play for today with little foresight into the implications their actions will have on tomorrow or on others.

Our relatively short experiment with globalization of world markets has put the future of the planet in the hands of people who have no intention of managing it. They neither want the job nor are capable of handling it. Their goals are incompatible with the task. Political leaders have failed to lead because their leadership has been compromised by duplicity. They know they should do something, but they are afraid to end the party. The party being, the amassing of the world’s wealth by a relative few.

The planet faces environmental, and economic problems of monumental magnitude. The resulting social upheaval could cause unimaginable human suffering and loss if there isn’t inspired leadership. The planet can not survive under the current system. It is destructive, oppressive and diabolic and if left uncontrolled will self destruct. The question is, will our leaders mitigate the suffering and loss by taking the necessary but difficult high road; or will they compromise and surrender to pressures and stand on the sidelines as the impact of their compromises ravishes the nations.

There is a new age coming, heralded and ushered in by a company of forerunners. The current pains are but the birth contractions of a new era. More on that in the coming posts.

Paul Weigel