Naomi Klein 'The Shock Doctrine' - El Modelo is Finito & Neo-Liberalism Sucks

Transcript: [confirm audio, for quotation purposes] [transcript directly below via Big Think channel YouTube - LINK] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKTmwu3ynOY Naomi Klein on Global Neoliberalism Published on 23 Apr 2012 Naomi Klein on the end of "El Modelo" Question: Why did you write The Shock Doctrine? Naomi Klein: It came out of reporting that I was doing in Iraq after the invasion the first year of occupation. But I guess it dates back earlier than that. I happen to have been in Argentina making a documentary film when the war in Iraq began. And it was a really amazing time to be in Latin America. This was 2002, 2003. And this was, I guess, the beginning of what we now think of as this pink tide that has swept Latin America. But it was a moment in Latin American history -- certainly a moment in Argentinian history -- where the economic model that Latin Americans call neo-Liberalism, Americans call the free market. But these policies of privatization; free trade . . . the so-called free trade deregulation in the interest of corporations; deep cuts to social spending; healthcare and education cuts; things like that, in Argentina they actually just call this "el modelo" -- the model. Everybody knows what the model is. It's the so-called Washington Consensus. It's the policies that have been imposed on Latin America first through military dictatorships, then as conditions attached to loans that were needed during economic crises . . . the so-called "debt crisis" of the 1980s. When I was in Argentina the model was collapsing, and Argentinians overthrew five presidents in three weeks. So it was this moment of incredible tumult and political excitement because people were trying to figure out what would come next. But it went beyond Argentina. In Bolivia they hadn't yet elected Evo Morales, but they had these huge protests against water privatization. And Bechtel had just been thrown out of Bolivia. And in Brazil they had just elected Lula. And of course Chavez was already in power in Venezuela, but he had successfully overcome a coup attempt. He had been brought back to power. So there were all of these things going on in Latin America that were all connected in this rejection of this economic model. So to be in Latin America when the invasion of Iraq began was a really unique vantage point from which to watch the war. I'm very grateful to have had that experience to have been able to watch that through the eyes of my Latin American friends who saw the war so differently from . . . from the way it was seen, I think, by so many of us in North America. They saw a real connection between their rejection of these economic policies and the fact that the same economic program was being imposed in Iraq through tremendous violence. And you really saw and felt those connections in Latin America. You know Bechtel just thrown out of Bolivia suddenly shows up in Baghdad with the exclusive contract to rebuild their water system. And what it felt like was that . . . was that there was a change going on; that this model that had been imposed coercively though peacefully through the International Monetary Fund, through the World Bank, through the World Trade Organization -- that that wasn't working anymore. People were rejecting it that the legacy of these policies . . . the legacy of inequality was so dramatic that the sales pitch of "Just wait for the trickledown" wasn't working anymore. And so now there was this new phase. And it wasn't even asking, and it wasn't negotiating. It was just imposing through raw violence. And that's where I came up with the thesis for the book, which is we have entered this new phase that I'm calling "disaster capitalism"; or The Shock Doctrine using a shock -- in this case the shock and awe invasion of Iraq -- to impose what economists call "economic shock therapy". So I think it was . . . It was definitely that experience of seeing it from Latin America -- a continent in revolt against these policies -- that made it easier to identify this as a new phase. And once I identified that I started to see these patterns recurring. After the Asian tsunami there was a very similar push to use the shock of that natural disaster to push through, once again, these same policies. Water privatization, electricity privatization, labor market [flexibilisation]..., displacing poor people on the coasts with hotel developers. So a sort of social re-engineering of societies in the interest of corporations, which I think is what we've been doing under the banner of free trade. But now it's under the banner of post-disaster reconstruction. [above transcript, via Big Think channel YouTube - LINK] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKTmwu3ynOY -------/\/\/ Continued: Further (DIY) transcript beginning at 4:48 [of 14:24]  [confirm audio, for quotation purposes] 4:47 - Is shock necessary for imposing neo-liberal economic policies? Naomi Klein Well, if we look at the history of the advancement of this really quite radical economic model of privatising key state assets, deep cuts to these key social spending areas that people tend to protect, like healthcare and eduction, or these reform to labour laws that take away protections, take away pensions, take away the safety net. What we know is that when politicians try to do this during normal circumstances, people tend to organise and resist, because they like their healthcare systems and they actually like, you know, having labour protections. So the use of crisis for political ends has been a part of the advancement of this ideology in many lesser ways. You know, in my country -- in Canada -- we have a public healthcare system, we have a pretty strong social safety net. This is really how we distinguish ourselves from the United States. We lost a lot of these protections in the mid-1990s.  Not because the Canadians wanted to.  In fact they had just elected a Liberal government that ran on the platform slogan "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs."  But we ended up getting an austerity budget with deep cuts to a lot of the social protections because there was a debt crisis.  That's another kind of a shock, and it was really hyped in the media.  If we think back, it's true in the United States, as well, this endless rhetoric that, you know, our countries are going to go bankrupt unless we do deep, deep, welfare reform or reform of unemployment insurance. So, what I do in The Shock Doctrine is that I take another look at 35 years of history in which this economic model has swept the globe, from former Eastern bloc countries, China, Latin America, Africa, and North America.  And I look at how crisis -- various different kinds of crises have facilitated the advancement of this ideology -- have prepared the ground. What I'm arguing in the book is that the shocks are getting bigger, that a debt crisis no longer does the trick, that a hyperinflation crisis isn't enough to disorient a whole society ... or convince them to accept their bitter medicine; that there needs to be something more disorienting and, so, what we are seeing now is that bigger shocks are being harnessed. But I do believe that crisis is required to rationalise policies that would be rejected under normal circumstances. It's not a secret that people do protect those policies that make their lives easier. 7:34 How do you reconcile this with China & India's development? Naomi Klein: My argument is not that no-one benefits. My argument is that the legacy of this economic system is tremendous inequality. It's an opening up of a gap -- a gaping gap -- between the haves and the have nots. And that's certainly the case in China.  That's certainly the case in India.  And in both countries, you have governments that have identified inequality as their greatest political challenges to, what the Chinese call, 'social stability'; because when you have such a dramatic gap between a peasant still living on $1 a day and the super rich, who are part of the Davos stratosphere, it creates a tremendous amount of resentment and instability within a country.  So, in China, they're seeing unprecedented levels of protest for this era, that had 87,000 [comment:  what?  error?  that's abt. 280 a day] protests a year ... starting in 2005 and the number of protests have been going up and up, which has required more and more surveillance, more and more repression, particularly in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, a lot of concern about this instability. So, I think the difficulty, really, about this economic model of free trade is generalising the idea that you can just talk about 'Is it good for China?' or 'Is it good for India?' It's definitely --  it's good for a lot of people in India, it's good for a lot of people in China. It's brutal for a lot of people in both of those countries, because part of these policies require displacement in the name of mega-projects, in the name of building a new export processing zone. So a huge part of this economic model requires displacing millions of people from where they live. So then they become migrants.   Where do they go?  Well, they go to the cities first and move to the slums. And, so, the flip side of this economic model of the sort of dazzling version where the world is flat is the explosion of slum dwellers, with the projections that one in three people in the world will be living in slums within the next decade. So, you really can't make these generalisations.  And that's what we know from having lived with these economic policies now for some three decades.  I think in the early stages of this economic transformation, it was possible to just use the language of 'GDP', you know, 'growth' is going to 'trickle-down', and all the promises that were a part of the first phase of this expansion.  But now you have all these parts of the world that have actually tried it.  Right? And the legacy in Latin America is this legacy of following the rules. In countries like Argentina, which were held up as the model students of the 1990s -- the model students of the International Monetary Fund --  and then so much inequality, so much capital flight, that 60% of the population fell into poverty. So that's why the model's in crisis:  the model's in crisis because people have a track record and they can measure the rhetoric against the reality. 10:59 - What system works? Naomi Klein: I think that mixed economies work better than a fundamentalist market system. I'm not a utopian and I don't believe it's perfect:  there's still going to be violence, there's still going to be repression, there's still going to be poor people -- but acceptable to UN measures of standard of living. What we see is that countries which have a mixed economy -- ie have markets, so that people are able to go shopping, so I'm not talking about a totalitarian Communist state -- but also have social protections that identify areas that are too important to leave to the market, whether it's education, healthcare -- the minimal standards of life that everybody must have. There are countries that really commit themselves to that vision of a mixed economy. The Scandinavian countries are the obvious example. Canada, before this restructuring that I'm referring to, in the 1990s was another. But it's certainly, in comparison to the United States and Britain, it continues to be. Germany as well, before their transformation.  I mean, by UN rankings, these are the best countries in the world to live in. And the countries that are trying to resist liberalism -- this economic model -- are being vilified as tyrannical, Communist and all the ways that Hugo Chavez is being vilified right now in the United States.  If you actually look what the economic program is, it's pretty Keynesian.  And it's really just a recovering of some of these principles that the state can have a role in the redistribution of wealth. And these ideas are treated as very radical, when they're coming from poorer countries that have traditionally played an economic role of straight extraction ... they've just straight supplied, whether raw resources, labour.  And that's a very profitable relationship for a North American and European multinational, so when those countries challenge that and say, "Actually, we'd like an economic system more like yours," right, then there's tremendous push-back. But, historically, if we follow the US military coups -- the CIA backed coups, starting with Mosaddegh in Iran, Arbenz in Guatemala -- you have this pattern of presenting developing world leaders as much more radical than they actually are. Mosaddegh in Iran, Arbenz in Guatemala (these were the first two CIA coups in 1953 and 1954):  they were economic nationalists who were trying to build mixed economies and their attempts to build those mixed economies stepped on the toes of some powerful multinationals. In the case of Mosaddegh, it was BP, and in the case of Arbenz, it was the United Fruit Company. That is actually what led to the blow-back. -- 14:15 - end audio -- -------/\/\/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d'%C3%A9tat Bechtel Bechtel Corporation -- largest construction and civil engineering company in USA -- ranking as 4th-largest privately owned company in USA -- HQ, San Francisco -- f. 1898, Warren A. Bechtel, construction of railroads w. team of mules -- series of railroad contracts during the early 1900s -- incorporated 1925, as leading construction company Western USA -- worked w/ California Standard Oil Company building pipelines & refineries -- 1931 - joined consortium contractors Hoover Dam - won bid. -- Warren Bechtel died unexpectedly in Moscow on business 1933. -- Hoover dam was finished 1935, Bechtel's first megaproject -- got rich building WWII x60 cargo ships with no prior cargo experience -- worked pipeline Yukon to Alaska for US Dept. of War -- expanded abroad; turnkey projects (concept pioneered by Stephen Bechtel -- 1940 Venezuela Mene Grande pipeline - first project abroad -- 1947 - Trans-Arabian Pipeline, Saudi Arabia + Jordan + Syria, ending Lebanon -- expansion 1940s Middle East -- 1949 - working w. nuclear power:  Experimental Breeder Reactor I Idaho -- built Dresden Generation Station, first commercial nuke for Illinois 1957 -- Trans Mountain Pipeline in 1952 (Canada) -- preliminary study for the English Channel (1957) -- Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system (1959) -- 1960s & 1970s, Bechtel involved in constructing 40% USA nuke plants -- 1972 - Bechtel involved in abt. 20% of all US new power-generating capacity -- by end 1970s moved from nukes construction to nukes clean-up projects -- clean-ups incl. Three Mile Island 1979 -- built the Ankara-Gerede Motorway in Turkey (part network of roads Europe & Turkey) -- project management:  undersea tunnel linking the UK and France (Channel Tunnel) -- recession 1980 ->> goes environmental clean-up + alternative energy projects -- Gulf war, Bechtel - extinguishing oil well fires in Kuwait in 1991 -- part of rebuild the infrastructure of Kuwait -- numerous other big projects abroad -- Bolivia:   2000, after a protest against water prices being raised by Bechtel owned co. -- Bechtel owned company pulls out of Bolivia & sues for $25 million in losses -- settled claim 2006 for $0.30 GOOD LUCK DOING THAT UNDER THE AMERICAN FREE TRADE CORPORATE SLAVE GIVE UP NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY AGREEMENTS - NO CHANCE -- 2003, Bechtel won a $680 million contract -- rebuilding infrastructure in Iraq for U.S. Agency for International Development WHAT A RORT -- ILLEGALLY DESTROY THE COUNTRY & THEN GIVE U.S. COMPANIES CONTRACTS TO REBUILD     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechtel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKTmwu3ynOY ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT This was a random video selection. Deregulated trade sounds:  crap. Just as I thought, everyone will be in slums. Why don't governments make the bulk of capital non-transferrable, to prevent companies starving the poor when they decide they've had enough of bleeding one location, in preference for bleeding another for greater profit?   India and China are creating a massive gap between the wealthy and poor, and they're supposed to be socialists of some kind.  That's just not right.  Everyone should suffer equally.  ;)  No, I mean it.  :) America's a complete write-off and an appalling disgrace.  It's oligarchs' paradise with no safety nets and no anything, but modern-day slavery at an Amazon warehouse.   Nations that enslave their populations have no right to lecture the world on human rights, democracy, freedom, women's rights or whatever else these oligarch-serving politicians and their oligarch-funded NGO echo-chambers use as pretexts to open new slave markets abroad. The US masses are beyond help.  It must be some amazing kind of brainwashing that has kept the masses down, self-flagellating ... wearing a 'kick me' sign, begging to remain oligarch-enslaved.  That's quite an education and media indoctrination achievement.  Wow.  I'm impressed. I've not read Klein's book.  I'm just ranting whatever comes to mind. Once the US free trade agreements are signed up, we're all f*cked ... and we can look forward to living in slums.

Sweden - The Impact on Unemployment, Productivity, and Crime (Andrew Oates, University of Puget Sound, Economics Senior Thesis 2006)

ꕤ Article SOURCE as marked EXTRACTS http://www.pugetsound.edu/files/resources/1359_ImmigrationInSweden.doc Sweden Immigration in Sweden The Impact on Unemployment, Productivity, and Crime Andrew Oates Economics Senior Thesis University of Puget Sound Fall Semester 2006 Crime Skeptics may argue that the increase in crime could easily be attributed to an increase in population, or that significant crime increases were experienced globally. The first argument is answered with simple data about population and crime. The population in Sweden was roughly 7 million people in 1950. Today, there are roughly 9 million. Total crime increased by nearly 600%, while the population only increased by about 30 percent. It is unlikely that this increase in crime would have occurred in Sweden without outside influence. It is possible that an increased number of immigrants, with different cultural values, are the cause of the increased crime. Since 1950, there has been a net increase in population due to immigrants equal to approximately 1 million people (Benito, 2005). The increase in immigration accounts for almost all of the increased population in Sweden since 1950. It is important to note that not all immigrants commit crime in their new home; rather it appears that certain immigrants are accounting for a dramatic percentage of the increased crime rates in Sweden. An argument for the increase in crime due to a change in values in the last century can be refuted by comparisons of crime rates to the United States. “The percentage of foreign-born [in Sweden] is roughly equivalent to the highest percentage of immigrants the United States ever had in its history (on the eve of World War I)” (Caldwell, 2005). Thus, the crime rates in the United States are not influenced by the difficulties that arise due to the initial merging of differing cultures. If we compare the percentage increases in overall crime, rape, robbery and assault between the U.S. and Sweden, it will become evident that the case in Sweden is unnatural. Several things are apparent from table 2.. First of all, the nature of the increased crimes in Sweden is of malicious motives, not monetary. The data shows that Sweden experienced an increase in assault crimes greater than the United States did. Robbery increased in the U.S. more than in Sweden during this time period. This reveals that the new crime in Sweden is unique, in that the increase in robbery can not be attributed to the clash of cultures in Sweden. Most important, the percentage growth of malicious crimes in Sweden are greater than that of the United States, and therefore, a global impact explanation is insufficient at explaining the entirety of the increase in crime in Sweden. In fact, criminal evidence in Sweden shows that a large percentage of the crime is attributed to immigrants. Immigrants are three times more likely to commit assault, and five times more likely to commit sex crimes than Swedes (The Local, 2005). Almost forty percent of the 1,520,000 offenses recorded between 1997 and 2001 were committed by people born overseas, or by people with at least one parent born overseas (The Local, 2006). This number is especially dramatic since the immigrant population only makes up twelve percent of the population. It is not the case, however, that all new immigrants in Sweden are criminals. According to a Swedish newspaper, Aftonbladet (Fjordman, 2006), “9 out of 10 of the most criminal ethnic groups in Sweden come from Muslim countries.” Also, according to Nima Sanandaji (2005), “some immigrant groups have a very low crime rate (such as those from East Asia).” Immigrant youths seem to be the largest contributors to the increased crime in Sweden. It is important to note that the most dramatic increases in crime are found in the crimes immigrants are most likely to commit. These particular crimes are committed to inflict pain to the native Swedish population, rather than for monetary gains. This reveals one possible motive behind the crimes: a hatred of the Swedish people. According to Åkesson’s interviews (Fjordman, 2006), immigrants feel as if they are looked down upon by native born Swedes. In return, immigrant youths have become hostile toward Swedes. An interview with one young immigrant in Sweden revealed a social war existing in Sweden. “Power for me means that the Swedes shall look at me, lie down on the ground and kiss my feet…We rob every single day, as often as we want to, whenever we want to.” This hostility, they explain, is retaliation against treatment by the native Swedes as being inferior. The clash of culture in Sweden is also apparent by the low rate of mixed marriages (Caldwell, 2005). There have also been “honor-killings”, in that family members are killing each other for dating native Swedes. There are also underground immigrant crime syndicates functioning in Sweden’s largest cities. In the 1980’s, a Balkan organized crime network spread out across Scandinavia. Most of these mafia men come from the former Yugoslavia, and came to Sweden during the Bosnian and Kosovo wars in the 1990s (Fleishman, 2006). These crime syndicates traffic drugs, weapons, and prostitutes, and commit large scale robberies. In 2004, these organizations robbed more than $ 10 million from Norway’s central bank, and stole Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” and “Madonna” from a museum in Oslo. Although these particular attacks were against Norway, these criminals live throughout Scandinavia, and wars between organizations have publicized the underground network in Sweden for the last decade. “Even in relatively small Malmö, six Balkan mafia figures have been slain since 2002” (Fleishman, 2006). Sweden’s police force is doing little to combat this problem. With lenient punishment and strong privacy laws, the investigations of organized crime are making little progress. According to Bo Lundqvist, a detective in Malmö (Fleishman, 2006), “We need tougher laws, but that directly contradicts our open society…And we’re looking at individual crimes and not the larger picture.” Another police investigator who was to afraid to reveal his name said, “They brought this gangster mentality that wasn’t anything like the normal Swedish criminal.” These criminals have moved to Sweden because it is easy to commit crime, and punishment is lax. One mobster, Milan Sevo, received only a two-year sentence for weapons-related charges. He escaped from custody during one of his weekend passes to visit his family. When he was eventually recaptured, he served no extra time for running away. Another criminal, Naser Dzeljilji, received an 18 month sentence for drugs, weapons, and conspiracy offenses, but was released from an appeal (Fleishman, 2006). These cases reveal the leniency behind the Swedish penal system, and the attractiveness of immigrating to Sweden for foreign criminals. If the situation in Sweden is not as idyllic as assumed, why is it that immigrants continue to come to Sweden? There are several reasons to immigrate into Sweden, even with the knowledge of the current economic and social problems. Most important, immigrants are attracted to Sweden because of the promise of welfare (Caldwell, 2005). Foreign citizens immigrating to Sweden are given free medical care, free schooling, decent housing conditions, and free lessons in the native language. Also, Denmark and Finland have become stricter on their immigration policies, so current citizens in these nations will move to Sweden in order to bring in their family as well. “Danes under 25 who marry foreigners no longer have the right to bring their spouses into the country. Many such half-Danish couples now live in Malmo” (Caldwell, 2005). Conclusions The decrease in productivity due to immigration has a large impact on the economy in Sweden. Take, for example, a middle aged woman who runs a restaurant business in Halmstad. She feels the effects of the labor protection laws in Sweden. She has less than ten employees. If one of them becomes sick, or takes maternity leave, she needs to find someone to replace the employee. However, now she is paying twice as much for the same level of productivity. Moreover, if the employee is absent for more than six months, the woman must debate between locking another employee into an unbreakable contractual agreement and incuring the transaction costs of hiring and training another employee. Hiring an immigrant is also a nuisance for companies. The social democratic reaction to immigration was to protect its labor unions, and enact a reform that requires companies to provide 240 hours of full pay while the immigrant receives language training. The government effectively increased the transaction costs for hiring immigrants, and to such an extent that immigrants became left behind. Because the government neglected to incorporate the increased population into the economy, Sweden no longer has any effective means for absorbing them into the labor market. Currently, Sweden is a boat, sailing near a whirlpool. They are caught in the current that will eventually lead them to disaster, but haven’t noticed. If they could foresee the problem, there could still be time to steer clear. Unfortunately, the crew is below decks, lounging on Ikea furniture. This analogy accurately depicts the present state of Sweden. The government in Sweden is handling immigration by forcing the migrants into situations where they cannot find work. They are then handing out generous welfare payments to these people, to preserve the idea of equality in the nation. Native Swedes are upset that immigrants are taking up so much of the tax money that they pay, while not working, and committing crimes. Therefore, Swedes are not working as hard; causing productivity to decrease; resulting in smaller profits and tax revenues. Meanwhile, the immigrants are committing crimes due to a feeling of separation from the Swedish culture, with little or no punishment from the institution. In fact, immigrants may realize that by committing crimes, they actually receive more handouts from the government. The impact of this will be the eventual collapse of Sweden’s welfare state. It is arguable whether or not the social democratic government is responsible, by not incorporating the new labor force into the economy. According to Johan Norberg (2006), “[Sweden] has been critically weakened by the system it helped create. Far from being a solution for the new sick men of Europe, Sweden must face serious and fundamental challenges at the heart of its social model.” If so, a major problem in solving this issue is the population’s reluctance to reform the government. The social democrats were just voted out of office in September, in favor of a more moderate government. However, in order to win the election, the moderate government had to change its policies on welfare to be consistent with the social democrats. The population is afraid of change, because they have become dependent on the welfare system. They are reluctant to vote for a reform that might limit the handouts received from the government. Apparently the furniture is really comfortable, because nothing is being done to handle the crisis. The irony of this situation is that countries are looking to Sweden as the model for successful government intervention in a globalizing world. Perhaps they do not see that if Sweden had continued its level of productivity during the fifties throughout the century, they would have higher growth and greater efficiency than any other nation in Europe. Perhaps they don’t see the hidden information that places the unemployment rate at 12%, rather than 6%. Maybe they don’t see the dramatic increase in crime levels, the incentives to commit these crimes, and the lack of indication that it will stop anytime soon. It was the immigrants that brought this change, but the ideals of the social democratic government that caused it. The policies of this government are not bad. They were successful in Sweden for almost sixty years. However, in the face of immigration, the values of the social democracy have created a mess, and need to be reformed, or done away with. There is no way to be certain if a Social Democratic ideal will ever be successful in the future. It worked in Sweden because of the homogeneous state of its society. There might never again be an environment of this nature, for which the implementation of a socialist ideology would be possible. EXTRACTS SOURCE http://www.pugetsound.edu/files/resources/1359_ImmigrationInSweden.doc ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Nooooooooooooo, it's the end of the welfare state! So this is maybe why all those neocon puppet politicians are so keen on immigration? It's to bust up the welfare state? That was really interesting reading. I've only focused on the extracts above, as I'm not that into information about the economy itself ... I'm more interested in the social (and maybe not so social) aspects. ______________ NOTE:   Earlier highlights are lost. Had to ditch the formatting because I'd pasted directly to Blogger from a Word document, which was screwing up my template codes. ꕤ

Ukraine Bail-Out - Expect Hardship

UKRAINE Article http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2015/02/ukraines-new-bail-out-0?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/ukrainebailout #Ukraine Hryvnia, Ukraine’s currency, fell today. Now worth 1/3 less than it was a few days ago. [economist] #Ukraine For IMF bail-out advance, IMF wants change: > Naftogaz cheap household GAS, price to INCREASE FIVEFOLD in 4 years. [Economist] #Ukraine For IMF bail-out, IMF wants change: Inflation @ 30% ... about to get a WHOLE LOT HIGHER, since hryvnia plunge. [Economist] #UKRAINE #IMF Central bank has already raised interest rates to 20% from just 7% a year ago. #Ukraine IMF bail-out: Propping up collapsed hryvnia means HIGHER INTEREST RATES = more difficult for Ukrainians to repay debt [Economist] #Ukraine Non-repayment of debt will hit banking sector / banking collapsing. Big interest hikes = deep economic recession. #Ukraine IMF bail-out: Expect SIGNIFICANTLY DROP to PUBLIC SPENDING over next 5 years. > So PUBLIC SERVICES will be screwed! /economist #Ukraine IMF bail-out >program inadequate/insufficient >Ukraine’s economic situation will GET WORSE!!!! [Economist] LOOK-UPS Source:  Google Ukrainian hryvnia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_hryvnia COMMENT Not looking good.  So much for that bail-out.

SUMMARY - MIDDLE-EAST & EAST MED.

MIDDLE -EAST & EAST MED. IRAN David Cameron to ask Iran’s help in battle against Islamic State http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/david-cameron-to-ask-irans-help-in-battle-against-islamic-state/story-fnb64oi6-1227067504538 …  >> "first time a British leader has held face-to-face talks with an Iranian president since the country’s revolution in 1979" -----------------------------------------------  LIBYA #Libya - link b/w toppling al-Qaddafi one-party state & emergence dangerous competition b/w tribal & Islamist factions in Libya /oilprice #Libya - unable to protect institutions, airports & natural resources, especially the oil fields / oilprice/com >>Libya’s Islamists have been unable to secure control over Libya’s oil fields - govt lacks central control over oil resources >> oil resources = bargaining chip in competition for power / high standard of living for citizens under Qaddafi set to slip #Libya - May Be Focus Of Major Rift Between US And Regional Allies - http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Africa/Libya-May-Be-Focus-Of-Major-Rift-Between-US-And-Regional-Allies.html … -- *must read* / good info >> US is moving closer to alienating Egypt, Saudi Arabia & UAE to support Turkey’s & Qatar’s objectives in Libya !! / oilprice ----------------------------------------------- Mossad Rahm Emanuel, #Obama's first Chief of Staff – also served as Obama's Israeli Mossad handler --- [presstv/ir] Israeli-Turkish Intell - Syria - US 1958 an Israeli-Turkish covert intelligence alliance (the “peripheral pact”) was formed [Deniz Tanzi] - sn/ethz/ch > #Turkey partnership w/ Israel intelligence re PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) + Armenian Secret Army for Liberation Armenia >Turkey was Israel's access to new markets + a buffer in conflict with Arab states/ Turkey = neutral position on Palestine >> things changed w/ Recep Tayyip Erdogan head of AKP >> 2009 stance re Gaza (populist move?) >> + Freedom Flotilla incident (Turkish citizens killed) >> but this is the public front / status quo remains re strategic & economic / military & security officials quietly meet #Turkey - For 50 years Mossad agents free to expand their humint network in Turkey / Israeli planes use Turkish bombing ranges /.isn.ethz.ch >> Reports of Turkish-Israeli intelligence cooperation in #Syria >> quickly denied by #Turkey >Seems Erodogan makes big show of being anti Israel (vilifying Gülen Movement as pro-Israel), while quietly chums w/ Israel? Turkish President calls for ‘no-fly zone’ in #Syria .. Discussed w/ Obama & Biden http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/182874/ … Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) met w/ FSA members & lobbying from #Turkey for a no-fly zone over #Syria >> http://tinyurl.com/mp3w3mf >hanging out in Turkey as part of duties re House Foreign Affairs Committee - jurisdiction over bills & invest foreign affairs  >Congressman Kinzinger facilitated negotiations b/w multiple groups who battled both Assad & ISIS .. CNN there too!  LOL  >>CNN, who sat in on undermining a foreign govt:  'moderate' Muslim rebel groups #Syria to form alliance w/ Christian Syriacs >Zinziger former US air-force pilot / rank Major / took part  "Operation Iraqi Freedom"  - ie Iraq War/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War >> Kinzinger ... served in Iraq & Afghanistan [ivn.us] >>Creepy how US military are in govt.  & are legislators  ... who are in foreign country plotting to overthrow foreign govt. >Thought Iranians were maybe crazy with all their Mossad tin foil hat articles, but now I'm not so sure about that ... lol #USA - "Rep. Adam Kinzinger: Freeze Putin's Assets" newsmax/ ... LOL ... when he's not plotting against Assad, it's Putin in his sights. >> favourite word is 'INNOCENT' ... innocent civilians, innocent people ... he's all for the 'innocent' -- It's Superman! #USA Texas Senator Ted Cruz: "US would effectively become al Qaeda’s air force" if US is drawn into bombing #Syria [ivn.us] ... LOL! ie ... "high reported number of al Qaeda & al Qaeda-affiliated fighters within the Syrian opposition" [ivn.us] >> Kinzinger argues Assad's 'chemical weapons' and free-for-all Iran 'weapons of mass destruction' ... Familiar?? ----------------------------------------  Greece #Greece - burden is greater than any NATO ally or #EU member>> 1) economic challenges, 2) porous borders 3) immigrant flow >> /savannanow > Greek debt stands @ 174.1% of GDP.   For every dollar Greece earns, it owes $1.74 (est) >> http://tinyurl.com/kmbv2me > Bail-out = lending institutions overseeing + over-squeezing suffocating Greek economy / Youth unemployment @ near 60% >> TENSIONS HIGH: #Athens / visible, volatile & impoverished illegal immigrants have taken over entire neighbourhoods >> 90% of Eu’s irregular immigrant entries by Greek borders or its waters — mainly traversing an *enabling* Turkey next door. >> forced by #EU law to remain in Greece ... but intend to slip into other EU countries for work. ---------------------------------------- COMMENT More random information that I found interesting at the time. The US representative in Turkey meeting up with the Syrian anti-government forces is rather distasteful.   It amounts to being involved in a plot to overthrow the government in Syria, in my opinion. Forgot what the 'must read' was about.  LOL.  Never mind.  It's there to revisit if I want. .

Sweden - Election - Unemployment & other analysis

Young voter push as election hovers Published: 12 Sep 2014 08:17 GMT+02:00 Sweden's election is now just two days away and the main parties are pushing to attract young and undecided voters. One in three voters have not yet chosen who to vote for, according to a poll for Sveriges Radio on Thursday. Among young people that figure rises to almost two in three. The figures follow a campaign during which youth unemployment has been a hot topic. Sweden elections: who's who? The Swedish economy and its AAA credit rating might be envied by most European countries, but unemployment among people aged 15 to 24 has been oscillating between 20 and 25 percent over the past years -- about three times higher than overall joblessness. Sweden's general election campaign has even spilled over into Norway as political rivals pursue votes among the tens of thousands of mostly young Swedes emigrating to find work. Close to full employment, Norway is seeking foreign workers to meet labour shortages, and many Swedish waiters, nurses, dentists, engineers are crossing the border. Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, has been campaigning in Oslo. He argues that the reason so many Swedes have to emigrate is that foreigners are taking their jobs back home. "When Sweden grants twice as many residence permits as it creates jobs, that's what you get," he told news agency AFP. However, Malin Sahlén, an economist who has written a book on the issue, believes that the reasons for the high unemployment are different. She argues that low-qualification jobs are rare in Sweden's economy and that high protection of employees on permanent contracts make employers resort to hiring temporary workers, which tends to create frequent gaps of unemployment when those workers change position. "According to Eurostat, 14 percent of the jobs in Europe are low-paid, and that figure is only 3 percent in Sweden," she said. Meanwhile Thursday's party leader debate on TV4 ended in a brawl over nuclear power. In the final stages of the discussion, the Alliance party leaders pushed Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven on how he intends to tackle the issue. Centre Party leader Annie Lööf provoked a strong reaction in the debate. Watch a clip of the leadership debate here Löfven has previously spoken out in favour of retaining Sweden's nuclear power stations, but during the debate he would only speak broadly about offering a "future analysis" of the country's energy demands and the need for a Red-Green bloc agreement on he issue. Centre Party leader Annie Lööf asked him to be more specific, producing a copy of a report by the Swedish Energy Agency and taking it over to him. He held his hand up in protest and appeared as if he was trying to push her away. "This is just bickering. You can keep it there," said Löfven. Carin Jämtin, party secretary for the opposition Social Democrats told Sveriges Radio there were still a lot of votes to play for: "The last part of the election campaign is very important. We will knock on doors, take part in debates and talk with voters in other ways right up to the end of polling day," she told Sveriges Radio. Per Nilsson, head of analysis for the ruling conservative Moderates says his party will also do what it can to attract the undecided voters: "It's not about targeting a specific part of the electorate with surgical precision", he told Swedish Radio, adding "we're going out with a broad message about how we want to make Sweden better together with our colleagues in the Alliance." Elections take place on Sunday with a major exit poll expected soon after voting closes at 20:00. http://www.thelocal.se/20140912/young-voter-push-ahead-of-polls

Good piece to set aside.

Gives an idea of the climate.

Argentina - economy info

Argentina

Interest Rate	22.50%
Inflation Rate	10.90%
Debt/GDP	45.60%
Current Account	00.90

Sticky breaking to see what the go is with Argentina defaulting on bonds. It has a very high interest rate compared to the countries that are doing OK - eg. UK interest rate 0.5%, Germany and France both at 0.15% and Australia at 2.5%.

 Inflation rate is high (as is that of Venezuela and Iran). 

Countries with low inflation include US and its allies. Debt to GDP figure doesn't seem that high. 

Not far more than Sweden.  But Sweden has a positive current account figure, low inflation and low interest rates.

The current account is a country's Goods and Services figure minus Imports (ie what it's making vs what it's spending, and a few other things in equation, I think).  Current account explanation is here.

Argentina's current account being in the negative, it doesn't have foreign wealth.  It is a borrower from foreign sources.

So what has Argentina got?  Found a cool site that lists resources - here.  Bit too involved for me, but cool info.

According to another site, country reports org - here:

Argentina - Exports
Major Exports soybeans and derivatives petroleum and gas vehicles corn, wheat	Top Export Partners Brazil .... 21.6% China ....  7.3% Chile .....  5.5% US  .......   5.5%

So Argentina's main big dollar export potential would be the petroleum and gas? However, Argentina also imports:

"machinery, motor vehicles, petroleum and natural gas, organic chemicals, plastics"

Confused now that 'petrolum and natural gas' is on the list.

Think it might be best to just try to find the 'why is Argentina in default' information in a news article, because my snooping's getting nowhere.

At this rate, I'd take days to make out what's going on -- and I haven't got days, I'm starving now.