not the nine o'clock
news
No 32 Friday February 22
2002
All Blacks For
Gold
New Zealand's debt is rising relentlessly, even as
national
assets are sold to pay for it. Four million
Kiwis now owe international
banks $120,000 million.
That's $30,000 for every man, woman and
child.
Gross National Product growth has passed 3%. But foreign debt is
growing faster. It has blown out from 48% to 120% of GNP. To
pay
its debts, NZ has to sell more goods. But how? The debt is
now three times
annual exports. Debt service takes one in every
five dollars of export
income. That compares with one dollar in
ten in 1983. It's equivalent to
total meat and dairy exports. Even
with the nascent trade surplus, NZ is
borrowing just to pay interest
on accumulated deficits.
Reserve
Bank Governor Brash warns, "The more indebted, the
less resilient to
adverse economic shocks, and the higher the
potential vulnerability. The
culprit is households spending more
than their income." NZ has the lowest
ratio of household wealth
to income. Living hand to mouth, like the
harvest grasshopper,
putting nothing in store against the gathering
winter, what will
happen to current account and currency when exports
freeze over?
Longwhitecloudland could end up one of the World Bank's
'Highly Indebted Poor Countries.' NZ indebtedness already
surpasses
levels associated with the 1997 Asian crisis when
Indonesia's debt at 25%
of GDP, Malaysia's 39% and Thailand's
50% rendered those currencies so
vulnerable. Between the
Argentine Peso and the South African Rand falls
the shadow.
One would think in these circumstances that gold would be
attractive to Kiwi savers. Paper dollars buy less and less. An
ounce
of gold historically increases in value. Why sink as low as a
dollar when
you can levitate with a golden bar?
'Save'? What's 'save'? Kiwis are so
short-sighted and
consumerist they are selling their Otter Gold shares at
liquidation
prices a fraction of the going rate in terms of projected
annual
production ounce. A capital raising at 20 cents a share would clear
company debts and develop Favona as New Zealand's biggest
gold project
and timeliest, as gold awakens from a 20-year
slumber.
Who is there
to stop the haemorrhaging? Good news for
endangered Kiwis is that the
Clark government is taking off the
blinkers and looking for winners.
Economically challenged 'think-
tanks,' bankers, US embassy and IMF gasp in
horror. But the
reality is, there is no free market. The one thing every
businessman hates is competition. And one thing big business
knows is
how to neutralise competition. When the people are not
represented, when
the corporate lodge dictates the rules of the
game, then workers,
consumers, borrowers and local businesses
alike are sheep for the
slaughter.
Curtailing cartels, the government is putting up capital for
NZ
Post's bank for families. Kiwibank will cut the cost of banking
and
eliminate home loan application fees but it needs 100,000
customers to be
viable. Or will Kiwis 'stick with the strength'? Oh
well. Sheep are born
to be shorn.
While conning mums and dads to buy what they are selling,
insiders are getting into real money, the only money in a crisis,
gold. It might sound mystical but what is really needed to rescue
EndZedders from their savings vacuum and debt morass is
GoldBank.
Let the government take the lead and invest in gold
production,
for countries producing gold will gain relative strength in
the
coming crisis. Let it use its well-earned credit to repatriate debt
and build a corporate bond market in New Zealand. Don't go ba
ba .
Think big. Go gold and bar bar bar all the way to the
bank.
US Widens War
The US is set to launch a series of wars in Central Asia,
according to Russian intelligence sources. Preparations are in
full
swing with two hundred thousand US troops being moved
into position. Air
Force Central Command will commence
counter-terrorism in
September.
Kurdish communists fighting for independence in Iraq, Syria
and
Iran are being recruited to play the same role as the Northern
Alliance played in Afghanistan. According to Spain's La
Vanguardia,
the US intends to eliminate Iraq's ground forces and
air bases in
extensive air strikes. A "popular uprising" will be
announced and a
pro-western leader like Khamid Karzay installed.
A "peacekeeping mission"
will set up bases as in Kosovo. Similar
operations will be carried out in
Syria, Iran and Turkey, which
will be compensated for loss of Kurdistan
with a franchise over
the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline from Caspian Sea oil
fields.
Britain, Russia and Europe are not amused. The EU's Chris
Patten
admonishes Washington's "unilateralist overdrive." Even NATO
Secretary-General George Robertson, usually an enthusiastic
Atlanticist, urges Europe to boost defence spending in response.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told Der Spiegel that
"no
evidence has been presented to me that Osama bin Laden's
terror has
something to do with the Iraqi regime. The international
coalition against
terror is not in and of itself a blank check to
invade countries." Der
Spiegel depicts Bush as Rambo, Rumsfeld
as Conan the Barbarian, Powell in
a Batman suit, Cheney as the
Terminator, and Condoleeza Rice as Xena the
Warrior Princess.
"Is The US Going Mad?" Le Monde
demande.
The Skeptical Environmentalist
Coming soon after a petition signed by
19,000 US scientists
declared the Kyoto Carbon Emissions Treaty "a
fraudulent
con," a book by Danish statistician Bjorn Lomborg shows
global warming is more political than scientific, undermining
the
depopulation plans of global visionaries.
Satellites are the only
reliable measure of atmospheric
temperature and show there has been no
warming over the last ten
years. If the Weather Bureau can't predict
tomorrow, how much
reliance can we place on 100-year forecasts by
tree-hugging
econuts? Let them reduce their own pollution by not flying
around
the world in Boeings to attend their stupid conferences. See also
essays by Dr Aaron Oakley for example:
http://www.newaus.com.au/science310miller.html.
Cosi E Si Vi Pare
The Japanese government says banks have on their
books 40
trillion yen or $300 billion in non-performing loans. Others
say it's five times that, equal to 20 Enrons. As of April Fool's
Day,
Japan will no longer guarantee term deposits. Many are
taking their cash
while they can.
Yoshihiro Matsumoto, Mitsubishi's head of gold retail,
says,
"Normally our customers buy 1 or 5 kg of gold. Recently they're
buying huge amounts. And more want to take their gold home
than leave
it in a bank box." "Customers tell me that even if the
price of gold
falls," says Yoshiko Mizutani, manager of The Gold
Shop, "it will never
fall to zero. If their bank goes under, their
savings could
disappear."
Banks built on pyramids of fractional-reserve book-entry
money
created out of thin air and loaned out at interest are as safe as
depositors believe. Debt's great in an expanding economy. For
every
hundred dollars capital base, banks lend about a thousand.
But when the
economy shrinks under the weight of the
malinvestments of a credit boom
causing money expansion - too
much capital chasing too few economic
business propositions -
leverage goes into reverse and losses multiply. A
bank loses its
hundred dollar base ten times over when a thousand dollar
loan
goes bad.
"It is so, if so it seems to you!" said Luigi
Pirandello's play,
mocking modernism and the imagineering solipsism of New
Age
neo-Hindu madness: "it's all one, my dream is true for me, you
too
can be whatever you want to be." Aaah, Fantasyland! The
happiest kingdom
of them all. A more realistic version of
Pirandello's expression will soon
be gracing the lips of rueful
savers all around the world: "Cosi e!" Or as
my cousin Ned Kelly
said, Such is
life!
Live And Let Die
70 terrorists from the fundamentalist Hindu
organisation
Bajrang Dal attacked Holy Family Church at Hinkal India on
Sunday with clubs, smashing windows, ransacking the
sacristy, and
injuring seven people including a 4-year-old.
The terrorists are
violating standards laid down in the Universal
Declaration of Rights:
freedom of speech, association and
religion. They accuse Christians of
converting Hindus but only
God converts. Following the incident, the
perpetrators were
identified but no arrests made. Why does the Indian
government
countenance fanatics exacerbating international tensions?
Hindus
must accept responsibility for peace like all members of the global
community. For the new order of peace and security for the world
is
multicultural.
My Dog's A Terrorist
"America has thrown open its doors and laid out
the welcome
mat for murderers and revolutionaries," says Joseph Farrah
of WorldNetDaily.com. "Terrorists are flocking into the US
because of
phenomenally lax, many say suicidal, border and
immigration
policies.
"Since 911 most Americans have become aware our nation's
borders are a sieve. Terrorists, if they want to get into America,
can
do so. Middle Eastern illegals find easy entrance into the US
from Mexico.
Corruption at US Customs Service has opened a
door. Clinton and Gore
pressured the Immigration And
Naturalization Service to naturalize
thousands of criminals just for
votes. Canada is another entry point.
Unchecked immigration is
fueling a secessionist movement in the US
Southwest."
Farrah cites Pat Buchanan's book The Death Of The West:
"America has undergone a cultural and social revolution. We are
not
the same country that we were in 1970 or even 1980. We are
not the same
people. While the awful events of September 11
created a national unity
unseen since Pearl Harbor, they also
exposed a new divide. The real chasm
in our country is not one of
income, ideology or faith, but ethnicity and
loyalty. Suddenly we
awoke to the realization that among our millions of
foreign-born,
a third are here illegally, tens of thousands loyal to
regimes we
could be at war with, some trained terrorists sent to murder
Americans. Uncontrolled immigration threatens to deconstruct the
nation and convert America into a conglomeration of peoples with
almost nothing in common - not history, heroes, language,
culture,
faith, or ancestors. Balkanization."
What is to be done? Farrah says
Samuel Adams - "one of the great
American founders, one under-appreciated
among a long list of
heroes under-appreciated" - had the answer to today's
unAmerican power brokers in Washington who are producing a
nation of
immoral fat lazy and stupid people: 'A general
dissolution of principles
and manners will more surely overthrow
the liberties of America than the
whole force of the common
enemy. While the people are virtuous, they
cannot be subdued.
But when once they lose their virtue, they will be
ready to
surrender their liberties to the first external or internal
invader. If
virtue and knowledge are diffused, the people will never be
enslaved.'
The Beast Unveiled
The vile media is once again revealing the true
spirit of
republicanism: the mentality of hate. Journalists: profession of
treason. What hypocrites! How dare these worn-out old sexual
liberationists cast the first stone? How many teenage girls did you
have John? How many abortions Geraldine?
If the rat-pack are so
concerned about children being abused, let
them investigate a whole list
of homosexuals in high places, let
them look into policies of their own
making that put children on
the streets and replace fathers with predators
and counsellors and
mum's boyfriend.
This scabby rabble of scribes,
these hell-bound hyenas, are baying
for the blood of an innocent man. Let
Howard and Hollingworth
stand firm as Horatio at the bridge. Hey, is there
any prima facie
evidence of a criminal cover-up? If so, call the police.
If not, howl
yourselves to death.
"The fact is," as Maree Howard
points out
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0202/S00105.htm
"our system
works rather well. When you look around the world at the
countries which seem the most stable, liberal in their laws and
tolerant of diverse opinions, overwhelmingly these countries tend
to
be constitutional monarchies: Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden,
Denmark,
Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia
and, of course, New
Zealand."
How Do Soar Like An Eagle?
In valuing South African gold stocks,
Gold-eagle.com reveals
astute Magellan, Gabelli and American Express
buying Durban
Deeps. Take a look at a ballistic trajectory, search AU:DRD
at
bigcharts.com.
When Surrounded By Turkeys
Felix Rohatyn, as senior a banker as the
head of America's central
bank, Alan Greenspan, wants an increase in
regulation of the
banking industry to prevent the spread of
Enronitis.
G'day Gundagai
The dog sits on the tucker-box / He's getting pretty mad
/ The
country's gone to other dogs / It's getting flaming bad / They're
sellin' out Australia / It makes you wonder why / Whole tucker-
box is
foreign-owned / Said the dog from Gundagai / They're
sellin' farms and
factories / And a million's out of work / From
Sydney town to Adelaide /
And way out back o' Bourke / It's time
that true-blue Aussies / And that
means you and I / Stood up to
guard the tucker-box / Says the dog from
Gundagai / For in ten
years time what happens / If we don't make a stand /
Who'll own
those jolly jumbucks / Across our native land / Who'll run our
mines and factories / Who'll pay our kids the dole / Which bank
will
own your mortgage / Who'll own you heart and soul / Who'll
pay your
flamin' wages / Who'll have you payin' rent / Who'll tell
your kids what
happened / And where your freedom went / Or can
that good old digger
spirit / A bit of do or die / Get back that
flamin tucker box / Asks the
dog from
Gundagai.
Goodbye AMA
At the Sydney Mardi Gras festival Australian Medical
Association
president Dr Kerryn Phelps launched a Gay Lobby report 'Meet
The Parents' that claims children do well with 'same-sex parents.'
Who
does Kerryn represent? Australia's doctors? Or her
girlfriend?
Women Power And Money
A woman worries about the future until she gets a
husband; a man
never worries about the future until he gets a wife. A
successful
man is one who makes money faster than his wife can spend it, a
successful woman one who finds such a man.
Have you noticed though
that the woman always has the last say?
When the man has the last say,
that's a totally new
argument.
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The problem is in the will not the intellect. As it
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veritatis non receperunt ut salvi fierent' -
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