Bankitalia, Napolitano: no a forzature

Bankitalia, Napolitano: no a forzature politiche

ANSA - ROMA - ''Mentre si dà corso alle procedure per la nomina del governatore della Banca d'Italia, si va sviluppando sulla questione un serrato dibattito pubblico. Il Presidente della Repubblica, Giorgio Napolitano, auspica che si giunga alla scelta, come sempre nel passato, in un clima di discrezione e rispetto attorno ai nomi dei possibili candidati, anche per la riconosciuta qualità dei loro titoli di competenza ed esperienza''. Lo si legge in un comunicato della Presidenza della Repubblica in cui viene sottolineato che ''forzature politiche e contrapposizioni personali non gioverebbero né alla serenità della decisione che spetta ai soggetti istituzionali indicati dalla legge, né a quel prestigio internazionale della Banca d'Italia che si è espresso nella nomina del prof. Mario Draghi a Presidente della BCE e che va oggi tenuto al riparo da laceranti dispute sulla nomina del nuovo governatore''.

BERLUSCONI: CANDIDATO ADEGUATO, NO FRETTA - ''Ne parliamo un'altra volta'', ma posso dire che ''siamo consapevoli che e' un posto importante che deve essere ricoperto da una persona adeguata, quindi stiamo valutando in tutta serenita' i candidati con un procedimento che non e' affrettato ma che e' proporzionale all'importanza della scelta e della carica che occupa''. Cosi' il premier Silvio Berlusconi a proposito della nota del Quirinale su Bankitalia.

Greece Should Tell Banks To Kiss My Baklava

FORBES, Jun. 30 2011

Greece Should Tell Banks To Kiss My Baklava

posted by BILL BONNER

Greece Riots Aftermath

All the financial sweepers in Europe are working around the clock, trying to get the Greek debt mess under the carpet or out the door. By the looks of the markets, they were succeeding. But it’s not over yet.

You’ll remember that we gave some advice to the financial officials who are in charge of bailing out Greece? We told them to take a page out of Gerald Ford’s book. Just tell the Greeks to “drop dead.”

Today, we give advice to the Greeks. Tell the bankers to ‘drop dead.’

From what we’ve been able to make out of the rescue plan, they’d be better off rejecting it. Not that we’re in favor of people who don’t play fair. But this deck was always stacked. And the dealer had a few aces up his sleeve at the get go. The way we figure it, the politicians, the banks – notably Goldman Sachs, as well as the big French banks – were in on the whole thing from the get-go.

It would be considered rude to mention it, for example at a champagne-swilling reception hosted by Christine Lagarde, but the whole deal was always corrupt. Goldman Sachs helped the Greeks disguise their debt so they could get in the EU system. Then, more or less the same bankers, advising pension funds, the IMF and the European Central Bank, urged them to buy Greek debt.

When the debt went bad, they organized a rescue – which spared the lenders any losses. And then, when the rescue went bad, they set to work figuring out the terms of a new rescue and warning the Greek people that if they don’t go along, they’ll have to face Armageddon.

The Greeks would be better off calling their bluff. Then, they could go broke with some dignity. They wouldn’t get any more credit. But more credit is the last thing they need. Besides, each time they are rescued, they end up in worse shape, with more debt to pay and higher interest rates to pay on it.

So tell the bankers to ‘drop dead.’

Of course, the Greeks themselves were as corrupt as the bankers. They took their opportunities, too, as they came along. If they could get paid for not working, they didn’t work. If they could get a subsidy and not have to compete in the real world economy, they took the subsidy. If they could retire early, or get something for nothing, or hoodwink investors with some nonsense figures…of course, they did it.

So, there’s a pot. And there’s a skillet. Both are as black as a tax collector’s heart. And now they are both colluding to make sure neither has to reckon with his greed and errors.

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Trouble is, that’s not the way it works. Debt doesn’t go away just because a knave and a fool decide they don’t want it. It’s still there. Like grinning death. It knows it will have its way.

Let’s see how things are going in the U.S. We’re here in South Florida where consumer confidence is falling, just as it in the rest of the nation.

Hey, if there were a recovery, how come consumer confidence is falling?

The answer is simple: there ain’t no recovery and consumers know it. The feds can babble about anything they want, but the typical consumer knows he is in a tough spot…and it’s getting tougher.

The good news: gasoline prices are falling. “But so are home prices in South Florida,” says the Palm Beach Post. House prices rose in 13 cities says the latest news. But not in Miami…which is in Palm Beach county.

Over on page 4 it says “Fla. Seniors insecure about income.” They ought to be. They’ve lost purchasing power for the last 10 years.

Of course, that’s just a part of the story. As we keep saying, the last 10 years has been a ‘lost decade’ – for Florida seniors as well as just about everyone else, except the rich. The middle classes have lost ground on every front.

Their houses are now back to 1990s prices.

Their real incomes have actually gone down.

Their stock portfolios too have lost value in real terms.

And the job market offers them fewer jobs than it did in 2000.

A gallon of gasoline costs only $3.64 in Palm Beach County, down from $3.85 a month ago. But it’s up from $1.30 in 2000.

“Consumers will keep their wallets closed until they feel a heightened level of confidence,” says a source interviewed by the Palm Beach paper.

When will that be? No one knows, but if present trends continue Florida seniors will have turned up their toes long before they turn up their confidence.

Why Greece Should Default and Go Broke With Dignity by Bill Bonner originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning.

GLOBAL FINANCE FOR DUMMIES

http://ewnbusiness.com

Posted by EWN Business on Jun 28, 2011 in Paul Polke -

In the 17th Century people left their gold with goldsmiths for safekeeping

ALTHOUGH many of the terms peculiar to global finance are alien to us the system is easily understood when explained in layman’s terms.

Money is not created by governments but by banks; they create and lend money to governments in much the same way as they give you a credit card. The credit available maxes; finance implodes, money supply runs short, governments stop spending and you’re out of a job. Very few governments run their own banks but those that do often have successful economies; living standards are better. On the other hand privatised banking cartels have been a disaster and because their system is deeply flawed the worst is yet to come.

Banks create credit that must be paid back with interest so repayments constantly outstrip loans so more loans have to be made to keep up; it is a pyramid system fated to collapse; to consume itself.

It started off simply enough. In the 17th Century people left their gold with goldsmiths for safekeeping. In return they were issued with receipts, which we know as banknotes. As people would only collect their gold 10 percent of the time this meant the goldsmiths could lend out 10 times as much in banknotes secure in the knowledge that there was sufficient gold to cover the notes in circulation.

In effect those 90 percent of notes were counterfeit and today this is called ‘fractional reserve banking’. It became institutionalised when the Bank of England was founded in 1694.

In this way the bank financed the government; it was the national money supply. Only the interest was ever paid; the original loan was always outstanding. This flawed system is almost universal.

Noted economic analyst Ellen Brown and author of ‘Web of Debt’ says there are alternatives; loans in future would have to be interest free but transition would be formidable. Another option is to place the banks in public ownership. In this way the people own the bank; it is a co-operative and the interest and profits are recycled for the people, not the bankers benefit. The immediate benefits include lower taxation, improved public services and less expensive public infrastructure; roads, hospitals, schools, transport, etc.

Bringing into public ownership private banks has been shown to reduce the cost of public projects by between 30 – 50 percent. It is the reason why Hitler’s Germany, in just three years, morphed from a bankrupt pariah to a super state second only to the U.S.A. Others like Libya have similarly benefited from public-owned banking.

Public owned banks go much further back. Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania colony operated a ‘land bank.’

Money was printed, lent to the community, recycled and re-lent. It was a bank owned by the people for the people. The colonists paid no taxes except excise taxes. There was no inflation, no government debt. When the money supply is run by a private bank the profits are creamed off.

The privately owned Federal Reserve Bank was then set up; it basically ate itself, which resulted in the Great Depression

The first U.S. private bank was set up in 1791. It was called The First U.S. Bank and led to ruin. President Lincoln avoided ruinous Civil War debts by reverting to the public owned money control system. He was assassinated and his independent ‘greenback’ system was halted. The privately owned Federal Reserve Bank was then set up; it basically ate itself, which resulted in the Great Depression.

Robert H. Hemphill, credit manager of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, wrote in 1934: “We are completely dependent on the private banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation. If the banks create (print) ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not, we starve.” The owners and shareholders of the banks were happy. The system meant they were in control and they were more powerful than governments.

Throughout modern history control of the money supply has been wrested from privately owned banking cartels but fiscal oligarchs don’t give up easily. Wars are declared when governments opt out of the cartel.

Next week we take a look at those who did succeed and those that are doing so right now.