Finally – A Bill To Get The US Out Of NAFTA

Devvy Kidd

(Editor's Note: Ron Paul has already signed on to this bill. - JSB)

"Free" trade has all but destroyed our most important and productive jobs sectors: manufacturing, agriculture and industrial. Not to mention stomping on our sovereignty.

On February 15, 2010, I wrote a column titled, Congress refuses to bring home millions of jobs.[1] For all the talk about unemployment and no jobs, why won’t Congress get us out of the major, unconstitutional trade treaties that have killed MILLIONS of good paying jobs and bring them home?

Back in 2007, Rep. Marcy Kaptur introduced a Band Aid bill titled the NAFTA Accountability Act, H.R. 4329.[2]

Former Congressman Virgil Goode (R-VA) also introduced a bill back in January 2007: H. Con. Res. 22.[3] However, it went no where because the Republicans still controlled Congress with Bush in the White House.

HOWEVER, we now have a new bill and if Americans don’t fight like warriors to get it passed, we will never take the first step in bringing home jobs. If we can get this passed and sent to the usurper, he will veto it, no question. Congress can over ride Comrade Obama, but it will not happen without massive and consistent pressure on Congress.

I know, we’re all worn out trying to stop the unconstitutional take over of the health care system. The usurper is hell bent on passing another unconstitutional and phony "climate change" bill aka cap and trade.[4]

The fake president, Marxist Obama, is also cranking up to give criminals (illegal aliens) a free pass with the help of vile senators, Lindsay Graham [R-SC] and Juan McCain [R-AZ]. They are pushing hard to reward these criminals who smuggled themselves across our borders with jobs that belong to Americans and naturalized citizens. It is beyond an outrage, it is a slap in the face for all of us.

Our plates are overflowing. We are full of rage, but here is our first very real shot at getting out of NAFTA. I sincerely hope the national tea party groups will embrace this fight and make it a priority as well as every American who fully understands how important it is to get out of that treaty.

Rep. Gene Taylor, [D-MS] has introduced H.R. 4759 – 'To provide for the withdrawal of the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement’

111th CONGRESS 2d Session

H. R. 4759

To provide for the withdrawal of the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 4, 2010

Mr. TAYLOR (for himself, Mr. JONES, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. ARCURI, Mr. BACA, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. FILNER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HARE, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. KAGEN, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KISSELL, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. MASSA, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. PAUL, Mr. SCHAUER, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mr. WILSON of Ohio, Ms. WOOLSEY, and Mr. STARK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To provide for the withdrawal of the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. WITHDRAWAL OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THE NAFTA.

(a) Withdrawal of Approval- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the approval of the NAFTA by the Congress provided for in section 101(a) of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act shall cease to be effective beginning on the date that is six months after the date of the enactment of this Act.

(b) Notification of Withdrawal- On the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall provide to the Governments of Canada and Mexico written notice of withdrawal of the United States from the NAFTA in accordance with Article 2205 of the NAFTA.

(c) NAFTA Defined- In this section, the term `NAFTA’ means the North American Free Trade Agreement entered into between the United States, Canada, and Mexico on December 17, 1992.

As you can see, this bill already has a fair number of co-sponors. I can tell you sure as the sun shines, Rep. John Boehner [R-OH] will not embrace this bill unless enough heat is put on him. I wrote a column back in October 2009, titled, "Where are the jobs congressman? I’ll tell you.[5] Boehner sold out hundreds of thousands of jobs in Ohio, yet voters keep sending him back to Congress. See links in column (Footnote 1) for a list of who voted for and against NAFTA.

Comrade Obama won’t embrace this bill because he’s going all out to see American jobs never return to our country: Mexico Tops List of Trade Issues Facing White House.[6] Not content with seeing Americans remain unemployed while our factories grow weeds, the Marxist in the Oval Office is also pursuing yet more destruction: 'US industry groups warn on Obama trade plan in Asia’.[7] During the pretend primaries in 2008, Comrades Obama and Clinton exchanged spit over NAFTA. How many bills did they introduce to get the U.S. out of NAFTA? Not one. Both of them lie every time they open their mouth.

Unions are behind this bill big time.[8] There is also this: Union Cheers Broad Push To Repeal NAFTA[9]:

"One of the nation’s oldest and largest labor unions is praising new, bipartisan legislation that would withdraw the United States from NAFTA, and vanquish one of the biggest enemies of American organized labor for more than 15 years.

"A remarkably broad coalition of lawmakers from across the political spectrum came together Thursday to sponsor a bill to repeal U.S. participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

"The lives of average workers in Mexico and in the U.S. have gotten so much worse since NAFTA, says Jim Hoffa, head of the Teamsters, which represents 1.4 million American workers. "When you realize you’ve made a bad deal, you try to get out of it.

These treaties are not Democrat or Republican, they are an American issue and it’s damn time we put America First.

Let me tell you my own experience with NAFTA. When I ran for Congress eons ago, instead of wearing out my Jeep Cherokee, I purchased a Ford Escort with the extended warranty. That vehicle was in the shop more time the first year than I drove it. Ford lost a ton of money on rental cars and parts. The man at the dealership told me NAFTA was killing them. The parts coming out of Mexico were junk.

Do you want to restore those car parts jobs to America? Do you want to buy toasters, clothes, appliances and all the other things that used to be made here in America by American workers? Then, please get behind this bill. If you are union, spread the word and let us all do our part. If you’ll notice on OpenCongress.org[10] - the media is ignoring this major piece of legislation.

This MUST become a major election issue. Our very survival depends on a short list: Abolish the FED, get rid of the unnecessary income tax and replace it with constitutional revenues, get US out of Bretton Woods, the UN and ALL these destructive treaties. I am hammering on my congress critter. Please do the same and keep the pressure on day in and day out.

Here is more and again, only a massive demonstration and outcry by the American people will get us out of GATT:

"Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is expected to vote later this year on whether the United States should remain a member of the World Trade Organization."[11]

[1] Congress refuses to bring home millions of jobs http://www.devvy.com/new_site/congress_refuses_part_I_0211510.html

[2] NAFTA Accountability Act, H.R. 4329 http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h4329/show

[3] H. Con. Res. 22 http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-hc22/show

[4] Everything you need to know about 'cap and trade’ At the bottom of this column are 25 items http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd452.htm

[5] "Where are the jobs congressman? I’ll tell you http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd472.htm

[6] Mexico Tops List of Trade Issues Facing White House http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704784904575112032142899068.html?mod=rss_Politics_And_Policy

[7] US industry groups warn on Obama trade plan in Asia http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/latest/story/0,4574,374982,00.html?

[8] Support U.S Withdrawal from NAFTA Int’l Assoc. of Machinists and Aerospace workers http://www.goiam.org/index.php/imail/latest/6932-support-us-withdrawal-from-nafta

[9] Union Cheers Broad Push To Repeal NAFTA http://onthehillblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/union-cheers-broad-based-push-to-repeal.html

[10] Open Congress.org – bill http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h4759/show

[11] Chance to get out of GATT http://73wire.com/2010/03/u-s-lawmakers-launch-push-to-repeal-nafta/

Devvy Kidd has made guest appearances more than 2,500 times on talk radio shows plus countless personal speaking appearances. She ran for Congress in 1994 & 1996 and is also the author of four other published books dealing with construction financing and government systems. Diverging from her regular columns, she is also the author of a children's book titled, Keeley & Mrs. Kidd: A Lost and Found Story; seeking a publisher of this wonderful story.

Devvy spent 19 years in construction and banking before going on to various civilian positions with the Department of Defense. During her tenure as an Administrative Officer for the Department of the Army, she was responsible for contracts and budget management oversight in excess of $8,000,000.00.

Following this assignment and due to Devvy's husband's transfer, she became a Contract Administrator for the Department of Air Force, Air Force Space Command at Peterson AFB, Colorado. Despite being the only person in her division to be awarded outstanding performance certificates and awards, her appointment was not renewed. Devvy is a federal whistle blower. While at Peterson AFB, she filed a fraud, waste & abuse against her own job. The three-ring circus that followed is sadly all too typical of what happens to those who step forward with the truth.

http://www.devvy.com

Iceland, the Mouse that Roared

Szandor Blestman

I thought I heard something the other night. It was a distant sound, a low rumbling, a roar from some far off beast that had finally pronounced its presence. It woke me for a second, but it was so distant I felt no threat and simply rolled over and went back to sleep. The next morning I learned that Iceland was taking a stand. It was refusing to pay its British and Dutch debts. It is claiming the debts are a result of fraud, and it's right. They have made the offer to pay some years from now, if they can afford it at that time, and only as a percentage of their GDP. This offer has been, of course, declined by Iceland's creditor banks as they demand payment in the form of real assets. The Icelanders have grown a pair, so to speak. They are doing something I wish Americans would have done, or will do in the future. They are standing up to the privately owned banks that seem to think they are above the law, that they can change the rules at their whim, and that they alone know what's best for the world, which of course happens to empower them and help their profits. I may not agree with all the politics of Iceland. It might not be the bastion of freedom one looking to get away from intrusive government might run to, but I do admire their stance against the banksters. Let's examine the situation a little closer. The Icelanders claim that private banks owe the money to other private banks, not taxpayers. The people who own the private banks should be responsible for paying back the creditor banks, not the people of Iceland. I agree wholeheartedly with that assessment. Furthermore, I would take it a step further and make the assertion that any government official voting for any public borrowing that requires payment of public funds for interest be held responsible, or their family be held responsible, should the loans go into default. In other words, these public officials should not be allowed to maintain their fortunes while the common folk are expected to pay for the mistakes they made. Perhaps that would help stop the corruption. It seems that Iceland was fooled into the same ponzi scheme the rest of the world finds itself in. This all revolves around the fact that money in and of itself has no intrinsic value. It is just paper, for the most part, and in the modern world it is just data floating around in cyberspace. Even metal coins are made from cheap and common metals anymore. The fiat system devised by the central banks are designed to collapse at some point, and it's designed to collapse in such a way that the very few, very rich, very powerful end up with all the marbles. It's not enough to them, it seems, to be at the top of the heap, they have to be so high up and keep the common folk down so low as to be untouchable. Those that own the banks now hope that they can swoop in and buy up the nation's infrastructure for pennies on the dollar, or in this case aurar on the krona. This is how they operate. They print money based on nothing but debt at negligible cost to themselves, then charge interest on that debt, interest that is never created by the way, and then when the debt can't be repaid they end up acquiring all the real wealth that's been created. It's a brilliant scheme in its simplicity. They end up with all the real wealth and they risk nothing of any real value. I could be wrong, but I think it's safe to say that the Icelanders figured this out when their creditor banks started demanding things like their geothermal power stations and other such publicly owned infrastructure as payment for their defaulted loans. They cried "foul!" - as well they should having played by the rules all this time - and charged that they had been defrauded. They may well have shocked the establishment with their refusal to pay the extortion. One may well ask, "Is this the fate that awaits all nations?" How many nations in the world today are in the same boat as Iceland? How many are having problems just servicing the interest on their debt? I dare say it would be easier to count the nations that weren't experiencing debt trouble. And one could rightly ask where all the money has gone. Certainly the debt hasn't been put back into the economy to create more wealth. Indeed, I would venture a guess that there's trillions of dollars, euros, yens, pounds, francs, marks, you name it, stashed away in vaults somewhere just waiting for the day when they can be used again, money that should no longer exist that somehow found its way into secret vaults that also shouldn't exist. It is interesting to note that the biggest banks, the ones that managed to get bailed out by US tax dollars rather than made to liquidate, are intimately connected to the same international bankers who own the central banks across the globe. Indeed, Goldman Sachs seems to have become a "bank of the world," so to speak, as it has its fingers in a little bit of everyone's pies these days. It is also interesting to note that their largest competitors were allowed to fail, effectively setting them up with monopoly privileges. That's how the power banking elite want it, all the money in their hands and all the corporations under their thumb as they monopolize the issuance of currency and credit. Everyone will have to do as they say or they will quickly become bankrupt and destitute. Such is the power of monopoly.

One may well wonder what happens next. The British and Dutch have threatened economic sanctions should the Icelanders fail to fall in line, but is this how we want to treat our brethren? Is this how we want to treat our allies that stood by us in the darkest of times? Do we now just shun people we consider friends simply because they stand up for what they believe is right? Do we go so far as to commit an act of war on such a democratic nation because they recognize a fraud when they see one? This situation should get everyone thinking. The corruption now exposed is so grievous and obvious that we should all realize the time has come to obliterate the current system and deny any power to those who brought this situation to bear. It is once again time to set up a system of money based on labor instead of debt. We should have a system where free people are able to own property outright, not have to borrow to afford it and then worry that an uncaring bank may come and claim it should one find one´s self in financial trouble. Similarly, it is very disturbing that government can claim private property via eminent domain and non payment of property taxes as if they feel they already own the land you pay for. These wrongs have needed correction for a long time now and hopefully the actions of the Icelanders will help start the ball rolling. While the Greeks are rioting because they worry their entitlements will be taken away, the Icelanders have been able to take a more direct roll in the political process. The Greeks may well feel they have been left out of the political process, much like many Americans feel at this point in time as we watch the congress blatantly ignore the wishes of the common folk time and again. The bailouts, the wars, the passing of laws violating our rights and the health care bills are all examples of the minority political class ignoring the wishes of the majority to the detriment of society. The Icelanders may have to pay a price for their bravery, but they are finding their way back to freedom and self reliance. We have been dependent on these banks for far too long and they have taken advantage of it. They have threatened our lawmakers with martial law and economic destruction. They have refused to honor the will of the people and answer questions involving how they´ve spent our money. As I write this, a very few senators, Bob Corker (R-TN), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Judd Gregg (R-NH), are working to strip the Audit the Fed amendment from the Financial Reform Bill and give the Federal Reserve even more power. This will assure they will never be held accountable for the wrongs they have done. These senators need to be shown in no uncertain terms that we the people have had enough and will not obey their dictates and whims any longer. We as a society need to start producing again. We need to start competing with others who wish to produce. This is how wealth is created. The more wealth we create, the more prosperous we all become. For a few decades now, we have tried to maintain our lifestyles with a service economy. It didn´t work. Now the economy is collapsing worldwide. Now the banks are hoarding that which they created and are trying to claim the real wealth that should be owned by private sovereigns. We need to ask ourselves, can we be proactive and stop this before we wake up and find ourselves in the same boat as Iceland? If not, will we simply say no and refuse to pay as they did, or will we allow our society to break down and resort to violence as the Greeks? Don´t let a few politicians on the bankster´s payroll dictate what needs to be done. Demand action now. Roar louder than the Icelanders. Hopefully, we will find justice later. Hopefully, we can avoid the fate of nations that remain on the central banker´s preferred course.

Szandor Blestman was born the 6th of 8 children to a high school English teacher and a certified financial planner. He attended the University of Illinois and earned a Bachelor's degree in Rhetoric in 1984 with minors in Math and Geology. He took some time off school to raise a family. He has five wonderful children, three of which have grown to adulthood. He achieved a Master's of Science in IT from the University of Maryland University College in Dec. 2004. Szandor has been laid off from work since January and is looking for employment. If you know of or have any job openings, particularly in writing, editing, acting or media production, please contact him at sblestman@yahoo.com. Also contact him if you are a publisher and wish to offer him a contract for the work he has already done. He will relocate for the right opportunity. Szandor loves receiving email and feedback.

www.americanchronicle.com

China wants to lord over gold and forex markets

David Lew

Gold is making news in China these days. China’s aggressive attempt to build up gold reserves has been the talk of the bullion world in the last few months. Especially, ever since India bought 200 tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last year, there has been speculation that the Chinese central bank would be the next to purchase the remaining IMF gold. Now that the IMF has announced the sale of 191 tonnes of gold, there has been lots of rumours and speculation running thick around the world that China is all set to buy gold from IMF. China, in fact, is moving very cleverly. The country’s strategy is not just in buying more gold and mopping up the yellow metal reserves. China also wants to ensure that the country defeats the US dollar dominance and the Chinese currency - Yuan - emerges as the next reserve currency of the world. In order to rule the world in gold and currency markets, China is planning to allow private enterprises to buy gold from the international market. If such an approval comes from the Chinese government, China is going to play the most pivotal role in the global gold and bullion market. Now, the question every economist is asking is whether China would beat the US in lording over gold reserves and the currency reserves of the world. May be, it is a possibility, if the current Chinese moves are any indication. In this following article, Russell Hsiao is the editor of China Brief at The Jamestown Foundation, discusses the exact strategy that China is playing with regard to gold reserves and forex reserves in the global market.

"Chinese leaders convening in Beijing for the annual plenary session of the National People's Congress (NPC) - China's ceremonial legislature - this week will, among other things, hammer out a blueprint for the ascendancy of the country's currency, the yuan (or renminbi). China's 2010 economic blueprint, which was officially unveiled at the plenary's opening, set the country's target growth rate at the proverbial 8%, which is the rate Chinese economists deem sufficient to generate enough domestic demand to make up for dwindling exports to regions such as the United States and Europe. The 8% growth target has remained the same since 2004 and is also widely seen as politically necessary to create enough jobs to stave off social unrest. While the world's largest economy - the United States - struggles to stem the bleeding of jobs in its ailing economy, its biggest creditor - China - has been quietly increasing its gold reserves in an apparent effort to hedge the weakening value of the US dollar and stabilize the value of its massive foreign exchange (forex) reserves. Depending on the pace and scope of China's forex reserves diversification strategy, this trend will have broad implications for the internationalization of the yuan and China's US$2.27 trillion forex reserves, which are mostly parked in US Treasuries. One of the key issues that Chinese leaders will have to tackle is whether to let the yuan rise to help restructure the domestic economy and rebalance the global economy. If they decide to allow the yuan to appreciate against the dollar and other currencies, gold may increasingly become an attractive alternative to include within the basket of China's reserves. As one of the world's largest holders of US Treasury bills - the general estimate is that China owns close to $1 trillion of US Treasury securities - Chinese leaders have become more vocal in expressing their concerns over the United States' fiscal discipline and in calling for an alternative international reserve currency. Since the outset of 2009, Beijing has taken pains to diversify its monetary risks, which include signing multiple bilateral currency swaps, and pushing for the restructuring of international financial institutions. An instrument less discussed in mainstream analysis but with long-term implications for the viability of the US dollar as the universal reserve currency, can be gleaned from the fact that in 2009 China reportedly bought 454.1 tons of gold from its domestic market, which is equivalent to nearly 50% of the total purchases of 890 tons of gold made by the world's central banks last year. China increased its gold reserves by 76% in six years (2003) to 1,054 tons in 2009, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), Hu Xiaolian. China's present gold holdings make up about 1.2% of its total forex reserves, according to Market Watch. US gold reserves totaled 8,133.5 tons in September 2008, accounting for 76.5% of its total forex reserves. Japan's 765.2 tons accounted for 1.9% of its forex reserves.""The Guangzhou Daily reported in 2008 that China's central bank was considering raising its gold reserve by 4,000 metric tons from the then 600 tons to diversify its forex risks. A China News report last year, citing Ji Xiaonan, the chair of the supervisory board for big state-owned companies under the Chinese State Council's state assets commission, said that "China's gold reserves should reach 6,000 tons in the next three to five years and perhaps 10,000 tons in eight to 10 years".

According to statistics released by the World Gold Council (WGC) - an association of the world's leading gold mining companies - in 2007, China surpassed South Africa as the world's largest gold producer, and in 2009 passed India as the world's largest consumer of gold. While China bought nearly 50% of the total gold purchases by central banks in 2009, the volume of China's gold reserve in terms of its forex reserves only ranks fifth in the world, and is well below the global average. According to some experts, in light of the uncertainty posed by the global financial crisis, as a large forex reserves holder with a small gold reserve, China's forex reserves are at risk and the stability of its value is in question. Thus, increasing China's gold reserve is critically important for the currency's long-term prospect and the country's comprehensive national strength. A senior official from the People's Bank of China (PBoC) suggested, "China should formulate a long-term plan and constantly and secretly increase its gold holdings, claiming that at present the percentage of gold in China's total reserve was too low ... PBoC should try to buy as much gold as possible from China's annual gold output of almost 300 tons, while the gold needed by industries and residents could be imported." Since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on February 17 announced its plans to sell 191.3 metric tons of gold, there has been speculation whether China would be a purchaser. The IMF has not officially commented on the prospect. Soon after India and Sri Lanka bought IMF gold in late 2009, Wei Benhua, former SAFE deputy head, said in an interview with the reputable Chinese-business journal Caijing that, "At present we should not buy. Instead we should wait for the IMF to sell gold next time, when the price of gold drops to a relatively low level ... ". Although Chinese leaders may have avoided buying from the international gold market before to steer clear of triggering market fluctuation, there is clearly a growing chorus that supports abandoning this conservative strategy. According to Xia Bin, the director of the Financial Research Institute of the Chinese State Council - the Chinese government's executive branch - China should continue long-term buying of gold and take advantage of when the international price is low to increase the volume of China's gold reserves, which will help strengthen the position of the yuan as an international reserve currency and China's long term economic development. Furthermore, Xia and other Chinese economists recommended that China allow its private enterprises to purchase gold from the international market. In either case, the long-term implications of Chinese debates to increase its gold reserves will have far-reaching impact on the stability of China's forex reserves and the yuan's ability to become the next reserve currency of the world. The question for Chinese leaders now appears no longer if, but how, that will come about."

www.commodityonline.com

Dollar Bulls Beware

Peter Schiff

By late 2009, as the U.S. dollar flirted with multi-year lows against most foreign currencies, big investment players crowded into trades that shorted the greenback. Commentators noted that the anti-dollar momentum had taken on a life of its own and that the trade had become too crowded. It is true that markets have a nasty tendency to move against the crowd. When a lot of traders agree on a particular trade, it's more likely that in the short-run the opposite trade will be a winner. The 2008 "flight to safety" rally of the U.S. dollar was a once in a lifetime event that presented huge opportunities for aggressive currency traders. By December 2008, after rallying 25% over the previous five months, the dollar topped out. However, there were many speculators who had come somewhat late to the party, as well as many others who had ridden the dollar up and were thus sitting on huge unrealized gains. Those technical reasons, combined with the re-emergence of strong growth in emerging markets and solid earnings from overseas companies, redirected investment flows away from the dollar. 2009 became a year of dollar weakness, with the buck giving back nearly all of its gains. At that point, most people made the reasonable conclusion that the decline would continue. As is often the case, an unforeseen event came along that made mincemeat out of the consensus' well-conceived strategy. Once some fiscal squabbling grabbed headlines in the eurozone, the negative sentiment that had built up on the dollar was suddenly diverted to the euro. Catalyzed by the Greek debt crisis, the greenback surged by about 8% in six weeks. From a technical standpoint, the short dollar trade of late 2009 was too crowded; but from a fundamental standpoint, I don't think it was crowded enough. As with stocks, there can be no long-term substitute to examining a government's fundamentals to determine its currency's worth. Based on the fundamentals, far too many investors remain far too confident about the greenback's underlying viability. In fact, I do not think I have ever seen so rapid a change in sentiment in my career. The crowd had completely switched sides, with most now betting on the demise of the euro rather than the dollar. This is looking like July 2008 all over again, with the dollar poised to put in over-sized gains. It also presents a good opportunity for those who keep their heads. In my opinion, the market is now perfectly positioned for a massive dollar sell-off. The fundamentals for the dollar in 2010 are so much worse than they were in 2008 that it is hard to imagine a reason for people to keep buying once a modicum of political and monetary stability can be restored in Europe. In fact, the euro has recently stabilized. My gut is that the dollar sell-off will be sharp and swift. Once the dollar decisively breaks below last year's lows, many of the traders who jumped ship in the recent rally will look to re-establish their positions. This will accelerate the dollar's descent and refocus everyone's attention back on the financial train-wreck unfolding in the United States. Any doubts about the future of the U.S. dollar should be laid to rest by today's announcement that San Francisco Federal Reserve President Janet Yellen has been nominated to be Vice Chair of the Fed's Board of Governors, and thereby a voter on the interest rate-setting, seven-member Open Markets Committee. Ms. Yellen has earned a reputation for being one of the biggest inflation doves among the Fed's top players. Looking for an ally to paper over the administration's gaping fiscal holes, it is not surprising that president Obama made this selection. Yellen has consistently downplayed the dangers of inflation and has made statements that indicate she views the Fed as an extension of the Labor Department, rather than a guardian of our currency. Last month, in discussing what she saw as the Fed's obligation to promote employment, she said, "If it were possible to take interest rates into negative territory, I would be voting for that." She may very well make Chairman Bernanke look like a tightwad by comparison. It is anyone's guess which sparks will be responsible for igniting the falling dollar powder keg. From a trader's perspective, a sharp reversal in the dollar will catch many investors completely off guard. Those who stepped off the short-dollar train will be stuck on the platform as it speeds away. Those who refused to give up their seats are in for a hell of a ride.

Copyright © 2010 Peter Schiff

About: For a more in depth analysis of the tenuous position of the American economy, the housing and mortgage markets, and U.S. dollar denominated investments, read my new book "Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse." Click here to order a copy today. More importantly take action to protect your wealth and preserve your purchasing power before it's too late. Discover the best way to buy gold at www.goldyoucanfold.com, download my free research report on the powerful case for investing in foreign equities available at www.researchreportone.com, and subscribe to my free, on-line investment newsletter.

Peter Schiff | Darien, CT USA | Email

www.europac.net

The Big Dead-Cat Bounce

By Doug Hornig, Senior Editor, Casey Research It’s now been a year since the dark days of early March 2009, when, although no one knew it at the time, the stock market hit rock bottom. From there, all of the indexes went on a tear through the rest of the year, moving almost uninterruptedly higher before easing slightly in the first two months of 2010. At this writing (March 5), the Dow is still up 60%, the S&P 500 68%, and the NASDAQ 83%. Virtually no one was calling for this kind of rally a year ago. But it happened. So investors are either seeing the “green shoots” supposedly sprouting from the moribund economy or believe that they’re about to break ground any day now. That sentiment is continually reinforced by government officials and media talking heads who almost universally proclaim that “the worst is past,” “we’re back from the brink,” or other words to that effect. It’s often said that stock market action is a leading indicator, reflecting what investors think the economy will be like six or nine months down the road. Are they right? Will good times soon be here again? Or is this just a big dead-cat bounce? Jobs: Now here, we’ve clearly turned the corner. Everyone says so. For evidence, all we need do is look at the declining rate of job loss in the country. Uh-huh. Perhaps it’s rude of us to point this out, but a declining rate of job loss is still a job loss. It is not the same as job creation. The hard reality behind February’s “encouraging” numbers is that 14.9 million people remained out of work. 8.4 million jobs now have been lost since the start of the recession. In addition, there is a net need for 100,000 new jobs a month, just to keep up with first-time entrants to the workforce. Even if the economy were suddenly to start churning out new jobs at the robust rate of a half-million a month – and the chances of that range from zero to none – it would still take nearly two years to return just to pre-recession employment levels. (Near-term employment figures may blip up, as the government hires one and a half million people – who knew we needed so many? – to help take the census. That could lead to a classic false dawn.) Anyone looking to the housing market to lead the recovery, as it often does, had better find a magnifying glass. January marked the third consecutive monthly drop in new home sales, and it was a whopping 11.2% tumble. Mortgage applications fell to the lowest level in 13 years. There was even a decline of 6.1% from January of 2009, itself a very dark month. Congress’s extension of home buyers’ tax credits is proving to be of increasingly little consequence. New home sales are very important, since they cause a cascade effect down through the entire supply chain, from architects to building contractors, to sawmills, to sheetrock manufacturers, to carpenters, plumbers, and electricians. But sales of existing homes are also relevant, and there, too, the figures are grim. After piggybacking on federal subsidies through the fall, sales absorbed the worst pummeling on record in December, down 16.2%. January was a little better, only off 7.2%. One number that is unfortunately growing is this: distressed sales, such as foreclosures, accounted for 38% of sales in January, up from about 32% in December. People are losing their homes at an increasing rate, with few buyers stepping up to the plate. But hey, maybe there is a huge pent-up housing demand out there. We doubt it, but if there is, it doesn’t matter. Because lenders are ignoring it. In 2009, U.S. banks posted their sharpest decline in lending since 1942. One reason is that many are too cash-strapped themselves to deal with borrowers. According to the FDIC, at year’s end its “problem” list of U.S. banks at risk of failing hit a 16-year high at 702 (or nearly one in eleven), rocketing up from 552 at the end of September and 416 at the end of June. And little wonder. More than 5% of all outstanding loans are now at least three months past due, the highest level recorded in the 26 years the data have been collected. Then there’s those that can’t lend because they’re no longer with us. 140 banks went belly-up in 2009, and 2010’s total will be worse than that if January’s 15 failures prove representative. The FDIC is bankrupt after reporting a $20.9 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2009 in its Deposit Insurance Fund. However, never let it be said that the government won’t try to squeeze some lemonade out of its bag of lemons. To wit, the FDIC’s own financial woes haven’t prevented it from opening a huge new satellite office in the Chicago area. The facility will be dedicated to managing receiverships and liquidating assets from failed Midwest banks, and will occupy seven floors of an 11-story building. The office space being leased is well over 100,000 square feet and will employ approximately 500 temporary employees and contractors. Does the FDIC know something we don’t? We can’t say for sure, but the fact is that the agency has already opened similar offices in Irvine, California, and Jacksonville, Florida. Each time, the number of bank failures in those states spiked dramatically after the FDIC set up shop. Elsewhere, consumer confidence is flagging and, since the economy is 75% consumer-driven, that doesn’t bode well. The Conference Board’s index took a swan dive in February, to its lowest point since last April. The index plunged to 46 from January’s reading of 56.5, stifling the previous three months’ uptrend. As a measure of how bleak the public mood is, the economy is considered stable only when the consumer confidence reading exceeds 90. We’re barely halfway there. And finally, we don’t want to lose sight of the 800-pound gorilla in the room, the federal debt. How bad is it? Well, the Bank for International Settlements recently released a very frightening figure. In order just stabilize debt at pre-crisis levels, the BIS says the U.S. government must run a budget surplus of 4.3% of GDP. Every year. For ten years. For an in-depth look, try Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff’s new book, This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly (co-authored with Carmen Reinhart of the University of Maryland), the first comprehensive survey of past financial crises around the world. Dr. Rogoff, who may be the country’s leading expert on the historical record, concludes that a banking crisis often leads a country into default, because government’s response is usually to try to prop up the financial system with yet more debt. If that sounds familiar and disconcerting, it should. Even more so because Rogoff has identified a clear tipping point, beyond which there is little hope of recovery. When a government’s debt grows to equal annual GDP, the game is essentially over. Where we are now: We have $12.5 trillion in gross debt, growing at $2 trillion per year, on a GDP of $14.3 trillion. Next year, it will be $12.5T + $2T = $14.5 trillion on a projected $14.5T of GDP. Or 100%. A level we cannot survive for long. That means it’s likely, in the not-too-distant-future, that the government will be confronted with a very stark choice between defaulting on the debt or trying to inflate its way out. The former would kill off economic growth and likely launch a worldwide depression of epic proportions. Disastrous as that would be, if the alternative is chosen and Washington’s printing presses beget hyperinflation, that would probably be worse. In a serious deflation, those who have saved for a rainy day can make it through okay. In hyperinflation, which unconstrained further spending could easily bring on, everyone loses. The truly prudent prepare, as best they can, for either eventuality. How to prepare for the worsening crisis… how best to diversify your portfolio and protect your assets… which investments and specific stocks to pick… learn all that and more at the Casey Research Crisis & Opportunity Summit in Las Vegas, April 30-May 2, 2010. Listen (and talk!) to top-notch speakers like Doug Casey, Agora Financial Chairman Bill Bonner, real estate pro Andy Miller, Sprott Chief Investment Strategist John Embry, and many more. Early-bird discounts still available for those who sign up today. Click here to find out more…

Municipal Deflation: Consequences of the Greatest Speculation

By Frederick Sheehan

03/12/10 North Weymouth, Massachusetts – “The financial difficulties of local governments in consequence both of the inflation and deflation of real estate values demonstrates strikingly the unwisdom of a revenue s ystem concentrated so heavily upon real estate….” – Herbert D. Simpson, Meeting of the American Economic Association, 1933

On March 10, 2010, the Kansas City Missouri School Board voted to close nearly half its schools (28 of 58). On the same day, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn warned that if the state income tax is not raised by 1%, education will face “draconian cuts.”

To employ the most hackneyed metaphor of the recent financial meltdown, we are only in the first inning of municipal deflation in the United States. This has not gained much attention in the recovery vs. recession debate.

Yet, states and municipalities spend around twice as much money as the federal government. (Since only the federal government can print money, this comparison may have changed in the last year.) The gap between tax receipts and spending is forcing big changes in Missouri and Illinois, though it is probable these cuts are miniscule in comparison to what is ahead.

A recovery is expected in tax receipts by those who think the economy is rebounding, but in fact the broad swath of municipalities will suffer deeper reductions in tax receipts for a long time to come. (Municipalities – cities and towns – receive most of their revenue from real estate taxes. State revenues are skewed towards income, corporate, and sales taxes.)

The Great Depression taught this lesson but it was tossed in some ash heap of history. Revered economists are particularly immune to events that contradict their theories. In the 1938 Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Lady Vanishes, the mistaken psychiatrist is told: “You must think of a fresh theory.” Doctor Hartz responds: “It is not necessary. My theory was perfectly good. The facts were misleading.”

Doctor Hartz had a sound reason not to change his theory since reconsideration may have precluded his intent to murder his victim. In a similar vein, intended or not, Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin espoused a murderous theory that has claimed many victims: “To begin with, the bursting of asset price bubbles often does not lead to financial instability….There are even stronger reasons to believe that a bursting of a bubble in house prices is unlikely to produce financial instability…. In the absence of financial instability, monetary policy should be effective in countering the effects of a burst bubble.” This prediction was made in January 2007 before the Forecaster’s Club of New York. (Novelists shy from such parody.)

Current theories and books written about the Depression do not dwell on the 1920s real estate boom. Real estate lending in the 1920s might rival the recent debacle, in form if not degree. There was a flight to the suburbs.

The building balloon included houses, roads, sewers, schools, skyscrapers, and highways that crossed the country for the first time. When Treasury “Secretary Mellon endeavored to cut back federal spending, state and local governments stepped up spending at a rate that more than offset the Mellon program….”

This was speculative building on a grand scale, as Professor Herbert D. Simpson of Northwestern University informed the Forty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association in 1933: “Throughout this period there was another form of real estate speculation, not commonly classified as such, but one that has had disastrous consequences. This is the real estate ’speculation’ carried on by municipal governments, in the sense of basing approximately 80 per cent of their revenues upon real estate and then proceeding to erect a structure of public expenditure and public debt whose security depended largely on a continuance on the rate of profits and appreciation that had characterized the period from 1922-29.”

In The Crash and Its Aftermath, A History of Securities Markets in the United States, 1929-1933, Barrie Wigmore wrote: “Municipal governments were expected to be an active countervailing force in the anticipated business downturn after the Crash. However, many municipalities were not in a position financially to bear the twin burdens of unemployment relief and capital construction….”

It is easy to see why. Municipalities were spending because tax receipts rose. Since tax receipts rose, local governments could leverage growth through bond issues. Outstanding municipal bond debt doubled in the 1920s. Over the same period, federal government debt fell by 30%.

With nothing learned, states and municipalities borrowed $23 billion in 2000 and $215 billion in 2007. One reason credit rained on bubbly school committees was the ever-rising revenue stream from real estate taxes: receipts increased from $254 billion in 2000 to $421 billion in 2008.

Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin dismissed the body blows of real-estate bubbles, but A.M. Hillhouse, author of Municipal Bonds: A Century of Experience, wrote in 1936: “[T]he major portion of overbonding by municipalities arises out of real estate booms…. The prize crop of boom bond troubles of all time came with the collapse of the Florida real estate speculation in 1926.” In consequence, the property tax in West Palm Beach, Florida was raised to 42.5% of assessed value. This effort to balance the books failed.

At the 1933 meeting of the American Economic Association, Simpson was not a happy professor: “During this period of prosperity, real estate taxes were paid with little complaint…. [U]nder these conditions, public expenditures expanded and taxes were increased without protest…. The result has been a structure of public expenditure which has been difficult to curtail, and a volume of indebtedness whose solvency is now jeopardized on a large scale.”

Simpson delivered his paper at the bottom of the Depression but the number of beleaguered municipalities kept rising until 1935, when there were at least 3,252 municipal issues in default. There are at least three reasons to think current municipal problems will be worse.

First, the latest real estate bubble has probably been much bigger and more leveraged than in the 1920s. Second, expenses are not as easy to cut. The earlier retrenchment was not hamstrung by bloated government retiree pension and health benefits. Third, property assessments lag current prices.

This promises to be a fierce battle. Towns want to hold the status quo so are in no hurry to tax properties at falling market values; residents do not want to fund comfortable teacher retirements when they are wondering what happened to their own pension plans.

At the One Hundred Twenty-First Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association in 2009, Professor Frederic Mishkin (who has departed the Fed and returned to Columbia University) contributed a paper, “Is Monetary Policy Effective During Financial Crises?” Whatever he had to say, may it gather dust as the world learns the lessons taught and discarded by Professor Herbert D. Simpson.

Regards,

Frederick Sheehan, for The Daily Reckoning

[For more of Frederick Sheehan's perspective you can visit his blogs here and at www.AuContrarian.com.]

Frederick Sheehan

Frederick Sheehan is author of Panderer to Power: The Untold Story of How Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession and co-author of Greenspan’s Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve. Sheehan was a director at John Hancock Financial Services where he wrote the Market Outlook and Market Review. He contributes to the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, Whiskey & Gunpowder, and the Prudent Bear, among others. He also advises an investment firm and a non-profit foundation. Sheehan is a CFA and graduate of Columbia Business School.

Special Report: Introducing the Single Best Way to Make Sure You’ll Never Run Out of Money… The Endless “Paycheck Portfolio”

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Greece: Austerity Measures Unsettle Public

Greek protesters turn violent over budget cuts - Is US next? Greece betrayed by European Partners and even it's own Government Athens grinds to a halt as public sector workers go on strike for the second time in as many weeks over the government's planned austerity measures.

posted by Randy @ 4:56 AM 2 comments links to this post

Grecia, anarchici e maialini.

Mar 1013

Pubblicato da Debora Billi alle 01:00 in Bugie, Finanza, Mass media, Ordine Pubblico

Felice Capretta, sul suo blog, riporta la notizia dello sciopero generale in Grecia e ne sottolinea un aspetto divertente: il Corriere della Sera pubblica in home page una bella foto che ritrae alcuni manifestanti travestiti da maialini. Che carini! Che bella manifestazione, di quelle colorate, pacifiche, danzerecce e coi tamburelli che piacciono tanto ai governi... e che io personalmente odio dal più profondo.

La situazione è molto diversa dalle carnevalate per le strade. La Grecia è sull'orlo della rivoluzione, tutti i servizi (dagli aeroporti alle scuole ai supermercati) sono chiusi fino a nuovo ordine, e l'intera cittadinanza è in piazza contro le manovre governative per "il debito". Si vocifera persino che i poliziotti passino dalla parte dei manifestanti, cosa logica in una situazione del genere.

Possiamo immaginare il brivido gelato che corre per le schiene dei governanti di altri Paesi, specialmente quelli a rischio default ed ironicamente, appunto, definiti PIGS, al pensiero che anche i propri addormentati cittadini un bel giorno decidano di tirar fuori l'anima del combattente ateniese e mettere il Paese a ferro e fuoco. Per ovviare, si usano come sempre i media.

Provate a cercare in questo momento sulla home di Repubblica una qualsiasi notiziuola riguardante la Grecia: ebbene, ricerca vana. Che in un Paese europeo ci siano rivolte per le strade non fa notizia, meglio tacere (a meno che le rivolte non siano opera di sporchi negri, come nelle banlieue parigine: in tal caso se ne parla, tanto noialtri non rischiamo di identificarci), sia mai che qualcuno qui scopra che ci si può ribellare a misure ingiuste e assurde. Il Corriere dipinge il tutto come la solita manifestazione pacifica, ma altre testate fanno persino di peggio: provate a cercare su Google News le parole "Grecia anarchici" , scoprirete un mondo. Decine di testate italiane, inclusa L'Unità, l'ANSA, Repubblica di ieri, hanno descritto le rivolte come "scontri tra polizia e qualche centinaio di anarchici". Anarchici, vi rendete conto? Si sono trattenuti dal definirli "anarcoinsurrezionalisti" per un sussulto residuo di dignità.

L'informazione italiana tutta ha deciso di trasmettere al popolo la seguente descrizione: i greci manifestano pacificamente, e qualcuno dei soliti anarchici fa casino. Nulla di nuovo, insomma.

Invece no. Qui è un'intera popolazione europea che si sta ribellando a misure draconiane vòlte ad impoverire la gente per salvare il mercato e la finanza. Ma noi è meglio che non veniamo a saperlo.

http://crisis.blogosfere.it/2010/03/grecia-anarchici-e-maialini.html

I ricchi non piangono

La crisi, per qualcuno, è finita davvero. Ogni anno “Forbes” - rivista di economia e finanza del magnate americano Malcom Stevensons Forbes Junior - stila la classifica degli uomini più ricchi del Pianeta. Classifica che accoglie solo chi possiede almeno un miliardo (di dollari). Classifica che è stata pubblicata questa settimana. Classifica che parla non chiaro. Chiarissimo. E dice che per i Paperoni della terra, il peggio è assolutamente alle spalle. Per loro, la crisi - appunto e salvo imprevisti - pare finita. Passata. Anzi: quasi come se non ci fosse mai stata.

La cosa, per certi versi, è davvero sorprendente. Lo scorso anno - il disgraziatissimo, economicamente parlando, 2009 -, il mondo ha sperimentato forse la sua prima vera grande recessione globale. La peggior crisi dal lontano 1929. Ma l’uomo più ricco del mondo - il miliardario messicano, Carlos Slim (che possiede diverse compagnie telefoniche, una quota del New York Times e molto altro) - ha aumentato il suo patrimonio di ben 18,5 miliardi di dollari. Tanto è vero che la sua ricchezza totale è arrivata alla ragguardevole cifra di 53,5 miliardi, e sempre di dollari. Come a dire: poco più del prodotto interno lordo di uno Stato grande come la Bolivia, che - secondo il World Factbook - ammonta a circa 45 miliardi di dollari.

Un caso isolato? Niente affatto. Anche Bill Gates - retrocesso, rispetto al 2008, dalla prima alla seconda posizione - ha battuto la Bolivia e rimpinguato il suo portafoglio. Il patrimonio del patron di Microsoft, nel 2008, valeva 40 miliardi di dollari e ora ne vale circa 53 (più 13 miliardi di dollari). E pure il terzo classificato - il miliardario americano Warren Buffet, grande giocatore di Borsa e vero e proprio re di Wall Street - ha messo a segno una performance di tutto rispetto: 47 miliardi di dollari di patrimonio, 10 in più dell’anno scorso.

E non è finita qui. Perchè sempre il disgraziatissimo 2009 - anno in cui, per la cronaca, Stati Uniti ed Europa hanno distrutto qualcosa come 7,5 milioni di posti di lavoro (dati Eurostat e BLS, alla mano) - si è rivelato una vera cuccagna per tutti ricchi. Anche quelli un po’ più poveri. Stando ai dati elaborati da Forbes: i miliardari (in dollari) hanno, oggi come oggi, un patrimonio medio di 3,5 miliardi. Ossia: 500 milioni di dollari in più rispetto ai dodici mesi precedenti. Non solo. Ma i veramente ricchi sono pure più di prima: i Paperoni con almeno un miliardo nel forziere, l’anno scorso, erano 793; ora sono 1.011.

Insomma: non siamo ancora ai livelli pre-crisi, visto che nel 2007 - prima dello storico crack della banca americana Lehman Brothers - i miliardari erano 1.125. E visto che pure il trio di testa - due anni e rotti fa - aveva un gruzzolo ancora più consistente (Buffet, che allora era l’uomo più ricco del mondo, “valeva” 62 miliardi di dollari; Slim, 60 miliardi di dollari; Gates, 58 miliardi dollari). Ma almeno i miliardari sono - a differenza di tanti loro concittadini rimasti senza lavoro e senza il becco di un quattrino - decisamente sulla buona strada.

Come mai?

Mistero? Fino a un certo punto.

Va da sè che si sta parlando di persone che vivono nei quattro angoli del mondo. Ogni storia, quindi, meriterebbe un discorso a sè. Ma almeno i magnati che compongono il terzetto di testa - il messicano Slim, e i due statunitensi, Gates e Buffet - hanno qualcosa in comune: la Borsa. Nel senso, ovvio, dei mercati azionari.

Come ha osservato il Financial Times, in un servizio video firmato da John Authers: i patrimoni di Slim, Gates e Buffet sono tornati a crescere in maniera robusta, per una ragione ben precisa. Le Borse - da marzo dell’anno scorso - sono cresciute a un ritmo vertiginoso. E per il trio di testa, è stata una vera e propria manna dal cielo. I tre supermiliardari, infatti, hanno in tasca valanghe di azioni delle loro aziende. Azioni che oggi scoppiano di salute e valgono un mucchio di quattrini. Per la gioia di chi le possiede.

Merito delle performance delle loro aziende? Anche. Ma merito pure della politica, e in particolare di quella monetaria. Per capirci. Dall’inizio della crisi le banche centrali di Stati Uniti, Giappone ed Europa hanno ridotto il cosiddetto costo del denaro (o tasso di sconto) quasi a zero. In altre parole e per farla semplice: hanno rovesciato una valanga di denaro nell’economia. Dove è andato a finire? Poco - a giudicare da licenziamenti e fallimenti a raffica - nell’economia reale. Parecchi quattrini, invece, sono finiti in azioni. E infatti le Borse - dopo il crollo clamoroso di fine 2008 - hanno avuto un andamento letteralmente strepitoso. Secondo il “Corriere della Sera”: Piazza Affari a Milano, da marzo a ottobre 2009, ha guadagnato il 93%; Francoforte, il 58%; il Dow Jones a New York, il 54%.

Domanda: a guadagnarci, quindi, sono stati i soliti noti e, passata la bufera, tutto è ripartito come prima (per la serie: chi ha avuto, ha avuto; e chi ha dato, ha dato)? Non esattamente. O almeno non è quello che ci dice la classifica stilata da Forbes. Che racconta, in numeri, come in realtà la crisi stia cambiando il mondo.

Il più ricco dei ricchi non è uno statunitense, bensì un messicano. E’ la prima volta dal 1994. E non è un caso.

La maggior parte dei miliardari (in dollari), infatti, ha ancora il passaporto targato Usa. Ma la prima potenza economica mondiale sta perdendo terreno. I super-ricchi americani, nel 2008, erano il 44% del totale. Oggi sono in tutto 403, ossia il 38%. Viceversa ben undici Paesi hanno raddoppiato il numero dei loro miliardari. E tra questi spiccano - tanto per non cambiare - l’India e la Cina, che è diventata il secondo Paese al mondo per numero di Paperoni. Pechino vanta ora 64 super-ricchi. Tra cui spicca il nome di Li Shufu, il patron della casa automobilistica cinese Geely; famoso in Europa perché sta per comprare Volvo (non nel senso di una station-wagon, ma dell’intera azienda).

Del resto: nel 2009 i destini dell’Oriente hanno - in parte - divorziato da quelli dell’Occidente. Stati Uniti ed Europa hanno visto il loro Pil crollare. Cina e India hanno continuato a crescere a ritmi sostenuti. Il risultato è che l’intera Asia oggi vanta - sempre all’interno della classifica Forbes - ben 234 miliardari. Solo 14 in meno dell’Europa (che, in totale, quest’anno ha 248 super-ricchi). Un simbolico sorpasso dell’Asia sul Vecchio continente, insomma, non è più solo una eventualità. Ma una possibilità concreta. Per lo meno sul fronte delle ricchezze estreme.

E in Italia? Nel Belpaese del Gattopardo - in cui tutto cambia perchè nulla cambi - i miliardari sono quelli di sempre. Primo tra gli italiani, si è classificato il re dei cioccolatini, Michele Ferrero (17 miliardi di dollari); secondo, il patron di Luxottica, Leonardo Del Vecchio (10,5 miliardi); e terzo è l’imprenditore di sè stesso, nonchè primo ministro Silvio Berlusconi. Il premier - causa crisi - nel 2008 aveva visto il suo patrimonio scendere nella classifica Forbes da 9,4 miliardi di dollari a 6,5 miliardi di dollari. Quest’anno ha recuperato alla grandissima, tornando a quota 9 miliardi. Due giorni fa, proprio Berlusconi invitava tutti a cavalcare la ripresa. A lui, in effetti, sta riuscendo benissimo. Ai suoi concittadini - che sono alle prese con una crisi che l’anno scorso ha fatto crollare il Pil a livelli record - forse, un po’ meno. Ma anche questa, a pensarci bene, non è una novità. E’ il copione degli ultimi dieci anni.

http://bamboccioni-alla-riscossa.org/?p=5549