STAFF NEWS & ANALYSIS
DB Briefs: Great Men Run the World, Especially Politicians and Bankers / Greece Is OK Now and Recovering From Its Problems/ FEMA Federal Family
By Staff News & Analysis - September 02, 2011

Great Men Run the World, Especially Politicians and Bankers … ‘Prickly’ Sir Mervyn King was nearly sacked by Labour government … The “prickly” relationship between Sir Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, and Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), was one reason regulators’ failed to prevent the banking crisis, Alistair Darling reveals in his memoirs. … Mr Darling describes Sir Mervyn as “amazingly stubborn and exasperating”. According to excerpts from Back from the Brink: 1,000 days at No 11 on the Labour Uncut website, he claims the “prickly and strained” relationship between Sir Mervyn and Lord Turner contributed to the regulatory failures ahead of the crash. – UK Telegraph

Greece Is OK Now and Recovering From Its Problems… Greece budget watchdog warns ‘debt is out of control’ The Greek finance ministry went on the defensive after a new budget watchdog released an internal report warning that debt was “out of control.” Evangelos Venizelos, the Finance Minister who earlier this week had to explain to auditors from the EU, ECB and IMF why the debt-laden country had missed targets, said in a statement: “All responsible international organisations know in which way macroeconomic and fiscal reports are compiled, checked and published. It is clear that the budget office knowledge, experience and responsibility.” The report warned that the dynamic of Greece’s enormous debt is “out of control” and said slippage on meeting deficit targets, exacerbated by a deep recession, threatened to cancel out the EU bailout. – UK Telegraph

FEMA Federal Family … Don’t think of it as the federal government but as your “federal family.” In a Category 4 torrent of official communications during the approach and aftermath of Hurricane Irene, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has repeatedly used the phrase “federal family” when describing the Obama administration’s response to the storm. The Obama administration didn’t invent the phrase but has taken it to new heights. “Under the direction of President Obama and Secretary Janet Napolitano, the entire federal family is leaning forward to support our state, tribal and territorial partners along the East Coast,” a FEMA news release declared Friday as Irene churned toward landfall. – Palm Beach Post

Great Men Run the World, Especially Politicians and Bankers

‘Prickly’ Sir Mervyn King was nearly sacked by Labour government … The “prickly” relationship between Sir Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, and Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), was one reason regulators failed to prevent the banking crisis, Alistair Darling reveals in his memoirs. Former Chancellor Alistair Darling describes Sir Mervyn as “amazingly stubborn and exasperating” in his memoirs. The former Chancellor also confirms that he came close to sacking the Governor in 2008 but could not find a suitable alternative. Had his tenure not been renewed, Sir Mervyn would have been the first Governor in 50 years to be axed after serving just one term. According to excerpts from Back from the Brink: 1,000 days at No 11 on the Labour Uncut website, he claims the “prickly and strained” relationship between Sir Mervyn and Lord Turner contributed to the regulatory failures ahead of the crash. – UK Telegraph

Dominant Social Theme: History is made by great men.

Free-Market Analysis: Once again, we see the great man model of history being applied. It has kind of gone out of favor in the past decades, given that the Internet has proposed different models entirely. But now at least for a moment, the great man model is back again.

Yes, in this Telegraph article we learn that the “prickly and strained” relationship between Darling and King may have contributed to regulatory failures ahead of the 2008 economic crisis, which is ongoing today. Funny, from what we can tell regulatory failures had nothing to do with the great economic crisis of the 2000s.

What caused the economic crisis was easy credit and too much money printing, something that King can bear the responsibility for along with every other central banker and most politicians as well. As far as history goes, we’ve proposed another model entirely here at DB that has nothing to do with “great men.”

Instead, we’ve suggested that modern history is the narrative of how well new communication technology informs the masses about the plans of their elites to manipulate them in various ways and we have branded the process as the Internet Reformation. History, then, is the conflict between the middle classes especially and the elites that are out to destroy or enslave them.

This model of history was perhaps seen originally with the advent of the Gutenberg Press, which enlightened Europe about the Catholic Church and eventually led to the Renaissance, Reformation, US and French Revolutions and numerous other upheavals.

Who knows what the Internet Reformation will bring? But we would argue the changes have already begun, and they will be substantive. They will not be driven by great men, either, especially ones funded and manipulated by the elites.

Greece Is OK Now and Recovering From Its Problems

Greece budget watchdog warns ‘debt is out of control.’ The Greek finance ministry went on the defensive after a new budget watchdog released an internal report warning that debt was “out of control”. The Greek finance ministry went on the defensive after a new budget watchdog released an internal report warning that debt was “out of control”. Evangelos Venizelos, the Finance Minister who earlier this week had to explain to auditors from the EU, ECB and IMF why the debt-laden country had missed targets, said in a statement: “All responsible international organisations know in which way macroeconomic and fiscal reports are compiled, checked and published. It is clear that the budget office knowledge, experience and responsibility.” The report warned that the dynamic of Greece’s enormous debt is “out of control” and said slippage on meeting deficit targets, exacerbated by a deep recession, threatened to cancel out the EU bailout. Eurozone leaders approved a new €109bn bailout for Greece in July to save the country from bankruptcy, with the private sector providing another €50bn. – UK Telegraph

Dominant Social Theme: Everything is under control and any news to the contrary is simply alarmist.

Free-Market Analysis: Politicians lie, but EU politicians seem to lie the most. That’s partially because of the stress they’re under, but this news about Greece could hardly come at a worse time. You can bet it’s being noticed in Germany where there is about to be a court ruling on whether the various EU bailouts in which Germany is entangled are constitutional.

The betting is always that Germany’s establishment is solidly behind the EU – and even driving it forward. But we are not so sure of this. At some point the national worry over funding the dysfunctional southern half of Europe may take precedence over the tidy market that Germany has achieved through the EU. This latest news about Greece shall surely further alarm German voters, no matter how Greece tries to explain it away.

It’s handy to have a built in market, as the Germans have had, especially when the currency is in your favor. But with the South declining in all ways – including purchasing power – maybe the risks begin to outweigh the rewards. Germany can go it alone, as it has in the past, with a reduced EU or even an invigorated DeutscheMark.

We’ve argued that given German unrest – more important even than the PIGS’ protests – nothing is sure when it comes to the EU anymore. Even Angela Merkel’s own party is beginning to voice overt recriminations. The EU is about to enter an Autumn of “interesting times.” And Greece is surely one of the EU’s most interesting regions. We’re not predicting the end of either the EU or the euro, but their survival will surely be tested.


FEMA Federal Family

Don’t think of it as the federal government but as your “federal family.” In a Category 4 torrent of official communications during the approach and aftermath of Hurricane Irene, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has repeatedly used the phrase “federal family” when describing the Obama administration’s response to the storm. The Obama administration didn’t invent the phrase but has taken it to new heights. “Under the direction of President Obama and Secretary Janet Napolitano, the entire federal family is leaning forward to support our state, tribal and territorial partners along the East Coast,” a FEMA news release declared Friday as Irene churned toward landfall. The G-word — “government” — has been nearly banished, with FEMA instead referring to federal, state and local “partners” as well as “offices” and “personnel.” “‘Government’ is such a dirty word right now,” says Florida State University communication professor Davis Houck. “Part of what the federal government does and any elected official does is change the terms of the language game into terms that are favorable to them.” – Palm Beach Post

Dominant Social Theme: You wouldn’t ordinarily think of the US federal government as part of your family, but … hey … why not?

Free-Market Analysis: What inflates your money and taxes you at perhaps 50 percent of your income, all in? What’s built secret prison camps around the country that the bureaucrats involved refuse to explain or enumerate? What’s been involved in up to five undeclared wars in the Middle East – with more on the way? What’s used depleted uranium as a weapon, thus poisoning mothers and their babies throughout Afghanistan and Iraq – and other countries as well? What’s the author of so many regulations that small, domestic businesses are literally choking to death on them? What’s US$14 trillion in debt with a notional (national) debt that may be as high as US$200 trillion? What’s run by a president who has released none – NONE – of his records dating back to kindergarten and who may have released a forged birth certificate recently? What country (among others) is run secretly behind the scenes by a group of unaccountable, impossibly wealthy banking families? What country is responsible for enforcing the rise of the nascent world government and its appendages – the UN, IMF, World Bank, BIS, WHO and the ICC (World Court)? What country … well, you get the picture. It’s your friendly “federal family”!

Posted in STAFF NEWS & ANALYSIS
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