BREXIT

THE JINGOISM OF BRITISH CONSERVATIVES

Leading UK conservatives act as if they know everything. But they know little about the world outside

The UK was a pivotal player in EUROPEAN affairs. In keeping with its favorite historic role as the “offshore balancer,” it has served as a somewhat distant, but effective member of the EU until now.

ABANDONING ITS HISTORICAL ROLE

That the UK would effectively remove itself from that vital role via the BREXIT vote is one of the most stunning acts of isolationism in our time.

That BRITAIN’S conservatives were the ones to bring this move about is even more stunning, considering that they are usually the ones to preserve — not wreck — deeply engrained national traditions.

To add madness to all this short-sightedness, BRITISH conservatives also argued that an important reason for pulling up the drawbridge and removing their country from the continent’s politics was GERMANY’S “dominance” in EUROPEAN affairs.

That is the height of folly and irrationality. After all, BREXIT makes this scenario much more probable.

UK CONSERVATIVES: JINGOISM RULES

This turn of events should not come as a surprise in a political camp that increasingly panders to jingoism.

That is a deliberate choice on the part of the Tories. By playing to anti-foreigner sentiments, they expand their voting pool.

Most leading conservative politicians in the UK also hold a world view where the UK is plainly superior to all other cultures. They act as if they are there to judge everything and everybody, while really being not knowledgeable about the rest of the world. No language skills, no first-hand insights.

TABLOIDS AS ENFORCERS OF ANTI-FOREIGNER MINDSETS

Perhaps the most important factor the Tories are utilizing is the bosses of BRITISH media empires. They are calling on their journalistic brigades to whip the BRITISH people into an anti-foreigner frenzy.

The peculiar irony in this curious display of media power? Most of the owners of the mass circulation tabloid newspapers are either foreigners themselves – or, equally apropos in PANAMA Papers times, they do not pay taxes in BRITAIN.

RUPERT MURDOCH owns tabloids like THE SUN and the establishment THE TIMES newspaper. The owners of the middle-class’s favorite paper, the DAILY TELEGRAPH, live in tax exile, as does LORD ROTHERMERE, the owner of the influential DAILY MAIL, with 16 million online readers.

THERESA MAY: A PRISONER OF DARK FORCES

THERESA MAY, the new Prime Minister, is a prisoner of these forces, no matter how reasonable and rational she may want to act.

It was DAVID CAMERON who not only conceived of the BREXIT referendum idea but who, like the sorcerer’s apprentice, let the jingoism out of the bottle.

THERESA MAY may try to become the master of these dark forces. However, no amount of lofty rhetoric about independence will heal the deep level of resentment that sears BRITISH society.

IWF AN EU:

ENTEIGNET EURE BÜRGER!

Das globale Finanzsystem gleicht seit 2008 einem Patienten, der auf der Intensivstation liegt und künstlich am Leben erhalten wird. Seine Ärzte sind die Zentralbanken, die ihm immer höhere Dosen immer billigeren Geldes verabreichen und dabei wissen: Ohne diese Behandlung wäre der Patient innerhalb kürzester Zeit tot.

Von Ernst Wolff

Ähnlich wie mit dem Finanzsystem verhält es sich derzeit mit den italienischen Banken. Sie sind aus eigener Kraft nicht überlebensfähig. Für genau diesen Fall hat die EU die Bail-in–Regelung eingeführt. Sie besagt: In Not geratene Banken sollen nicht mehr wie 2008 durch ein Bail-out, also mit dem Geld der Steuerzahler, sondern zunächst durch die teilweise Enteignung von Aktionären, Einlegern und Sparern gerettet werden.

ITALIEN UND EU IN DER SACKGASSE

Dieses Prinzip ist allerdings bereits im vergangenen Dezember bei vier Banken in der Toskana angewendet worden und hat nicht nur dort, sondern in ganz ITALIEN für Aufruhr gesorgt: Es wurde nämlich deutlich, dass es alles andere als sozial gerecht ist. Während ultrareiche Investoren ihre Vermögen durch ihren Informationsvorsprung rechtzeitig abziehen und in Sicherheit bringen konnten, wurden Arbeiter, Angestellte, Kleinunternehmer und Rentner kalt erwischt und über Nacht zwangsenteignet. Einige von ihnen verloren ihre gesamten Ersparnisse, ein Rentner nahm sich aus Verzweiflung das Leben.

Die italienische Regierung steht nun vor einem unlösbaren Dilemma: Wendet sie die Bail-in-Regelung erneut an, muss sie mit heftigem sozialem Widerstand, möglicherweise einem Volksaufstand und einem Run auf die Banken rechnen. Wendet sie die Regelung nicht an, ist sie auf die Unterstützung der EU angewiesen.

Die EU aber befindet sich ebenfalls in einer Zwangslage: Gibt sie den italienischen Forderungen nach, macht sie sich nicht nur unglaubwürdig, sondern verteilt das Problem einfach nur auf alle europäischen Steuerzahler. Diese aber sind gleichzeitig die Wähler der nationalen Regierungen und werden jede weitere Maßnahme dieser Art durch Abwendung von den etablierten Parteien und nach dem Brexit-Votum der Briten durch weitere Austrittsforderungen aus der EU quittieren.

DER IWF SCHALTET SICH EIN

In die Patt-Situation zwischen der italienischen Regierung und der EU-Führung hat sich nun der IWF eingeschaltet. Die erste Frage, die sich dem Beobachter aufdrängt, lautet: Wieso mischt sich der IWF überhaupt in innere Angelegenheiten der EU ein? Die Antwort: Die Angelegenheit ist alles andere als ein internes Problem der EU. Hier der Grund:

Wegen der seit Jahren instabilen Situation des Finanzsystems wird heute kaum noch ein Kredit ohne Kreditausfallversicherung (englisch: credit default swap oder CDS) vergeben. Dabei versichert sich der Kreditgeber gegen den möglichen Zahlungsausfall seines Schuldners. Was einmal vernünftig als Maßnahme zur Risikobegrenzung gedacht war, ist durch die Deregulierung der Finanzmärkte in eine der gefährlichsten Tellerminen im Finanzgeschäft verwandelt worden: Heute ist es nämlich auch solchen Marktteilnehmern, die an der Vergabe eines Kredites nicht beteiligt sind, gestattet, eine Kreditausfallversicherung abzuschließen.

Das hat jede Menge Spekulanten auf den Plan gerufen, die sich gezielt nach unsicheren Krediten umsehen und darauf Ausfallversicherungen abschließen, d.h.: auf ihren Ausfall wetten. Je mehr von ihnen auf den Zug aufspringen, umso größer die Summe, die bei einem tatsächlichen Ausfall des Schuldners fällig wird – im Falle der italienischen Banken dürfte es sich dabei inzwischen um weit mehr als eine Billion Euro handeln.

Insbesondere Hedgefonds (Vermögensverwaltungen für Milliardäre) lauern im Hintergrund und warten nur darauf, dass es zu Zahlungsausfällen kommt. Da die meisten Kreditausfallversicherungen bei Marktgiganten wie der DEUTSCHEN BANK, der CRÉDIT SUISSE und den US-Großbanken JP-MORGAN und GOLDMAN SACHS abgeschlossen wurden, ist das Problem der italienischen Banken also kein nationales, sondern ein internationales. Und in der internationalen Arena hat vor allem einer das Sagen: der IWF.

Allerdings steckt der IWF in Bezug auf die EU ebenfalls in der Klemme. Auf der einen Seite ist die EU ein Konkurrent der USA, daher ist der IWF an ihrer Schwächung interessiert. Auf der anderen Seite ist die EU ein essentieller Teil des globalen Finanzgefüges und könnte es im Falle ihres Zusammenbruchs mit in den Abgrund reißen. Aus diesem Grund muss der IWF also versuchen, die EU trotz aller Störmanöver am Leben zu erhalten.

DAS REZEPT DES IWF IST BEREITS AUSGESTELLT

In der Tat bemüht sich der IWF zurzeit um eine solche Doppel-Strategie: Indem er die italienische Regierung in ihrer Forderung nach einem Bail-out durch die EU unterstützt, treibt er die seinem Vorschlag ablehnend gegenüberstehenden deutschen Politiker in die Enge: Geben sie nicht nach, droht der Banken-Kollaps in ITALIEN, geben sie nach, wird die Empörung darüber ihren Rückhalt in der Bevölkerung weiter schwinden lassen.

Noch kann niemand sagen, wie das Drama um die italienischen Banken ausgehen wird. Nur eines ist gewiss: Selbst ihre vorübergehende Stabilisierung würde nur einen Bruchteil der Probleme in der Eurozone lösen. Derzeit nicht im Blick der Öffentlichkeit sind nämlich noch die spanischen, portugiesischen und griechischen Banken, deren Bilanzen ebenfalls riesige Löcher aufweisen. Dazu kommen die Staatsschulden, die inzwischen nicht nur in GRIECHENLAND, sondern auch in ITALIEN, SPANIEN, PORTUGAL, BELGIEN und IRLAND mehr als 100 % des Bruttoinlandsproduktes ausmachen und damit als untragbar gelten.

Das Problem, vor dem die EU zurzeit steht, ist also erheblich größer als das der italienischen Banken und erfordert langfristig wesentlich mehr Geld als eine „einfache“ Bankenrettung. Doch woher soll es in einer Situation allgemein hoffnungsloser Verschuldung kommen?

Der IWF hat seine Antwort auf diese Frage bereits vor Jahren gegeben: In der Broschüre „Taxing Times“ vom Oktober 2013 hat er zur Lösung der europäischen Schuldenkrise eine „einmalige Vermögensabgabe“ in Form einer Steuer auf Privatvermögen ins Gespräch gebracht und diese Forderung sogar präzisiert: „Um die Schuldenquote auf das Niveau vom Jahresende 2007 zu senken, bedürfte es… eines Steuersatzes von etwa 10 % auf alle Haushalte, die über Kapitalvermögen verfügen.“ Da die Verschuldung seit 2013 um ca. 1,5 Billionen Euro gestiegen ist, müsste der Prozentsatz heute also noch etwas höher liegen.

In anderen Worten: Für den Ernstfall verlangt der IWF von der EU, der arbeitenden Bevölkerung durch einen Rundumschlag einen Teil ihrer hart erarbeiteten Rücklagen zu entziehen. Und das nicht etwa, um die Probleme der EU ein für allemal aus der Welt zu schaffen, sondern nur, um einen Reset auf den Stand von 2007 vorzunehmen! Da der IWF keinerlei Konsequenzen für die Verursacher der Krise fordert, ist es nicht schwer, sich seine Zukunftsvision auszumalen: Nach der Enteignung darf das gegenwärtige Spiel zu den gleichen Regeln wieder von vorn beginnen: Nachdem die arbeitende Bevölkerung gezwungen wurde, für die von ultrareichen Investoren angerichteten Schäden aufzukommen, dürfen diese nach dem Willen des IWF auch weiterhin ungehemmt auf Kosten der Allgemeinheit spekulieren.

Ernst Wolff ist freier Journalist und Autor des Buches „Weltmacht IWF – Chronik eines Raubzugs“, erschienen im Tectum-Verlag, Marburg. Sc

SAUDI ARABIA BOMBINGS

SUICIDE BOMBINGS IN MEDINA

The suicide bombings in Medina, the second holiest shrine of Islam, on 4th of July has indeed brought the spectra of radical Islam full circle for the SAUDIS.

Having spawned Islamic radicalism and funded terrorists for more than two decades now, it was but a matter of time that the radicals bit the very hand that fed them.

The SAUDIS have been doing a balancing act for far too long to be able to sustain it endlessly- maintaining a close relationship with the US on one hand, and secretly funding the jihadist on the other, was always mutually incompatible. It has become even more so, with the Islamic state taking their fight to altogether new levels of barbarianism.

The attack was also meant to direct two significant missives at the world. One, the attack was planned in the holy month of Ramadan, and two, it was carried out on the 4th of July. 

Coinciding with the AMERICAN Independence Day, it was evidently symbolic of the Islamic state’s fight against the global hegemon. That it was done during Ramadan was clearly a challenge to traditional Islam’s view of a month of spirituality and penance by the  IS, trying to superimpose its own interpretation of the scriptures, portraying Ramadan as a month of plunder and conquest.

Despite all the best efforts of the countries aligned against the IS, there is yet much of a palpable fight left. Equally, for the  SAUDIS, the proverbial chickens have come home to roost.

BY VISHAKHA AMITABH HOSKOTE via Eurasia Review 

ARGENTINA - LIVING WITH 40% INFLATION

Photo by Emiliano Libman (via flickr)

AND STILL PEOPLE SUPPORT ULTRA CONSERVATIVE “BUSINESS FRIENDLY” PRESIDENT MACRI…. THE QUESTION IS FOR HOW LONG

By Elke Wakefield via The Argentine Independent 

In most parts of the world, people can barely imagine what living with double-digit inflation would be like. So how do ARGENTINE'S cope when inflation is running above 40%?

For many of us, it’s hard to imagine a place where cars appreciate in value and houses are bought in cash. Where, from one quarter to the next, your rent may go up 20%. Where you can buy a bike, a mobile phone and a television in 50 interest-free installments.

THIS IS ARGENTINA, A COUNTRY WHERE ECONOMIC INSTABILITY TENDS TO FORM THE RULE, NOT THE EXCEPTION.

If you ask a local about the economy, they’re likely to roll their eyes and tell you another ‘crisis’ is either already happening or on the way.

One of the perennial problems that ARGENTINA faces is high inflation. According to World Bank Data, the average rate of inflation in ARGENTINA since 1991 is 20% (this figure does not include the years 1975-1990, when the country experienced hyperinflation of up to 5,000%). There were eight years of low inflation in the 1990s, but that decade ended disastrously: in 2001, ARGENTINA declared what was at the time the largest sovereign default in history (GREECE has since snatched the title), unleashing unprecedented social and economic misery.

EVEN IN THE CONTEXT OF A PERMANENTLY HIGH-INFLATION ECONOMY, 2016 IS MANAGING TO STAND OUT.

Consumer prices shot up by approximately 23% in the first five months of this year alone, according to the City of BUENOS AIRES, and annual inflation in the nation’s capital is projected to be around 40% (compare this to neighboring CHILE where inflation last year was 4.6%).

In 2001, when Argentina defaulted, then President De la Rua
had to flee by helicopter from the Casa Rosada, now Argentine's are curious
if and when Macri is leaving the Casa Rosada also by helicopter  

The figures are fantastically high, exceeded only by conflict zones like UKRAINE or crisis-stricken VENEZUELA, but they are real. How do people cope? What is it like to live in a place where the money that bought you a kilo of bread in December buys you only half a kilo the following May?

“Sometimes I sit down and do the accounts and think ‘did I make a mistake?’” says Nilsa, a softly-spoken office administrator who lives in BUENOS AIRES Province with her two children and husband.

Florencia, her co-worker, a spirited blonde in her late thirties, is a little more blunt: “They’re paying me on Saturday. Today is Wednesday. I don’t have a peso until then.”

OVER THE LAST SIX MONTHS ARGENTINA HAS JUST BEEN GOING BACKWARDS

Nilsa and Florencia work at a private medical clinic in Barracas, a lower middle class neighborhood in the southern part of BUENOS AIRES. They earn about $14,000 (around US$1,000) per month working full-time, ostensibly a decent wage considering that ARGENTINA’S minimum wage is currently about $6,800 per month).

But, even though they say they haven’t really changed their spending habits, this year the money they earn seems to evaporate with ever-increasing rapidity. “Over the last six months we’ve just been going backwards,” says Florencia, who lives with her 14-year-old son in QUILMES, also in BUENOS AIRES PROVINCE. “I live day to day, worrying about everything.”

It’s no surprise she’s feeling the pinch: according to the Foundation of LATIN AMERICAN Economists (FIEL), an average four-person family would need an additional $3,353 (US$240) per month in income in comparison to this time last year just to cover the cost of their basic needs without falling into poverty.

Florencia copes by cutting back wherever possible. “I used to buy a kilo of milanesa – now I buy half a kilo,” she says. “I use everything to the last drop – soap, toothpaste, shampoo – before buying a replacement. And we eat meat only very rarely.”

“Yes, we don’t get together for Asados anymore,” sighs Nilsa, referring to that meat-intensive staple of ARGENTINE identity and cuisine. (Macris administration lambasted the previous government because the farming sector reduced the cattle stock in favor of soya seeds, thus making meat expensive for the “meat loving” ARGENTINES, but at least people were still having their Asado each weekend. Now 6 month into office ARGENTINES are at the verge of becoming vegetarians due to high inflation and astronomic meat prices!) 

THE PATH OF NEOLIBERALISM

For Nilsa, managing inflation is almost like a second job. She cannot do her shopping at a single supermarket because they are too expensive, so she scours the local CHINESE supermarkets and independent stores looking for the cheapest prices. The purchases she makes are piecemeal because she can’t afford to buy everything at once. “You have to have time and patience to hunt for cheaper prices,” she says.

Many people I spoke to echoed Nilsa’s statement, lamenting the corrosive effect of inflation on all aspects of their life. Time, energy and money that would otherwise have gone into socialising, studying, travelling, going out, dreaming, planning and creating are instead invested in daily economic survival.

Some fruit and vegetable stores are now accepting
credit cards and payments in installments
(Photo via SanJuan8.com)

Esther, 36, originally from PARAGUAY, a cheeky, maternal type with dimples, three kids and an endless supply of wisecracks, is not despairing. But she makes clear that high inflation has narrowed her opportunities: “We don’t go hungry, but we don’t go out,” she says.

Esther lives in QUILMES and earns minimum wage at a restaurant in PALERMO. Last year, when she returned to work after having her third child, she and her husband began to enjoy the possibilities and freedom afforded by two salaries. “I always wanted my children to have the same opportunities as other kids their age. So last year we did something most weekends. We went to the cinema, to the museum; we went away for the weekend.”

However, this year’s rampant inflation has put an end to this. “We have to make savings wherever we can, so we will leave all that for this year.”

‘CUOTAS’

When I ask Florencia if she has savings, she looks at me like I’m mad. I try a different line of questioning: “Do you have any debts?”

“Do I?! Pay for purchases outright? Forget it”, says Florencia, “I pay for everything in installments”.

This brings up a particularly ARGENTINE phenomenon: the ‘cuota’, or installment, system.

In order to encourage spending in an economy where high inflation means wages lag behind the price of goods, many businesses offer interest-free or low-interest payment plans over long periods of time. A walk down your average street in BUENOS AIRES will reveal enough ‘specials’ and ‘offers’ to make BLACK FRIDAY pale. Signs advertise electronic goods, appliances, holidays and even groceries in anywhere from three to 50 interest-free installments.

The cuota system is all-pervasive and, given double-digit inflation, it is often seen as a good financial deal. Last year, when things weren’t quite as tight, Florencia went to BRAZIL for one week with her son. She is paying this trip off in 12 interest-free monthly installments of $1,800, the fixed sum looking ever smaller next to rising prices elsewhere.

Since 2014, the government has also pushed this system with Ahora 12, a credit program that enables cardholders to purchase goods in 12 interest free payments (“Because when one ARGENTINE consumes, many more keep their job”). The program extends to a range of domestically manufactured products – everything from mobile phones to white goods to bus tours – and there is no ceiling on the price of what you can buy.

However, the plan is not for everyone, and the program’s reach is limited by the fact that many low-income earners are wary of credit cards and financial institutions. Memories of the 2001 crisis, when the government froze bank accounts, combined with the vagaries of the ARGENTINE economy, means they prefer to avoid getting into debt.

Esther says she has never used a credit card and is not interested in acquiring one: “My husband and I pay everything in cash. We’ve seen other people fall into credit card debt and they can’t get out.”

She says she wouldn’t sign up to the program: “It’s all fine at the start, but there will be a moment when everything goes bad and you have to maintain that account.”

TARIFAZOS

The 2016 spike in inflation is caused, in large part, by recent increases in tariffs on basic services like water, electricity, gas and public transport. Referred to as the tarifazos (in SPANISH, the suffix ‘azo’ can be added to words to convey a sense of hugeness), they have seen some staggering price increases: gas has gone up, on average, by more than 300%; water by more than 300%; public transport has doubled.

The new government says that, over the long-term, these tariff increases, alongside other pro-market reforms, will help normalize the economy and cure the country of its chronic inflation problem. Most people I spoke to agree the price increases were necessary. Since the 2001 economic crisis, when unemployment hit 40%, the government has subsided these basic services by very high amounts. To take the example of electricity: until this year, ARGENTINES paid 1.7 US cents for every kilowatt of energy where their CHILEAN and BRAZILIAN neighbors paid 11.9 and 16.5 US cents, respectively.

Still, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. Many say the tariff hikes are “very sudden” and cut deep into the pockets of working class people. “the increase in tariffs is ok because before we weren’t paying enough,” says Nilsa. “But all at the same time? No.”

“Everything has doubled in price. Electricity water, gas, public transport”, says Florencia. Last year, she paid an average of $400 per month for electricity; this year the bill is nearer $800 per month. “I can live without heating or air conditioning. But the kid that plays all day in your house? You can’t just turn off their heating in winter.”

The utility hikes have also put pressure on many small and medium businesses, which struggle to absorb enormous gas and electricity price increases when high inflation means people buy less.

KILLING SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZE ENTERPRISES

The ARGENTINE Confederation of Medium-Sized Businesses points to the case of a ceramics factory in CHUBUT whose gas bill rose from $33,400 (US$2,403) in March to $421,000 (US$30,300) in April. They argue that, even with a government-imposed cap of 500% on this increase so that it is reduced to $200,300, the business has become unviable.

Even shops that do not rely on intense energy usage are struggling to survive. Walking home late one evening, I stop at one of those kiosks that is so permanently open it has a metal grill over the entrance. The vendor is an old, elfin lady, swaddled in clothes and scarves against the evening chill. I need only say the word ‘tariffs’…

“They’re killing me. The prices have gone up so much. Last year my electricity bill was $500, now it’s $1,100. And all I have is this light bulb and the fridge. I freeze in winter and bake in summer.”

I return the next day and talk to her husband, Oscar (“like the awards in the UNITED STATES!”). I ask him about the kiosk’s takings. He laughs, “nothing but change”. He doesn’t complain but he’s clear-eyed about their situation: “We make it to the end of the month and that’s it.” Framed by the miscellany of the classic ARGENTINE kiosco – chocolates, lollies, tissues, toys, cigarettes, notepads and chewing gum – 70-year-old Oscar smiles ruefully and tells me he wishes for only one thing: “Good health, so I am able to keep working”.

SAVING IN CARS

Oscar and Mari are some of the many ‘retired’ ARGENTINES I speak to who continue working full time. They have no choice. Mari can’t live on her pension (“how are you going to live on $3,800 per month?”) and, as a result of the 2001 default and years of persistently high inflation, she and Oscar have no savings or investments.

“We used to have two cars, a factory and a second house in MAR DEL PLATA”, says Oscar. “Now we have one house and the kiosco.”

This is a constant theme in the conversations I have: the way in which high inflation makes planning for the future, saving and investing very difficult.

“Why did you have to remind me?” says 40-year-old receptionist Patricia clutching her head dramatically, half-joking, half-serious. She needs to renew her rental agreement in August but high inflation means the numbers could go anywhere: “I don’t know how much money I need to get together. That’s stressful.”

Her current plan is to use her aguinaldo – a mandatory “13th month” bonus all employers are required to pay their employees – to pay the difference. “I won’t use that money to buy clothes or paint the house. I will use it to renew the contract for another two years.”

Patricia tells me she is keen to have children but her financial situation makes this impossible. The money she earns disappears quickly in the swirl of rising prices; even if she could put aside part of her salary each month, the corrosive effect of inflation of savings – especially when prices rise faster than interest – would make this pointless.

Finding ways to preserve wealth in a high inflationary environment – where holding on to money is pointless – generates some intriguing results.

I am a little surprised when, after asking Nilsa about her savings account, she tells me about the savings scheme she entered into to buy a car. Purchasing an expensive item? “For me that’s saving,” she says.

An economist I speak to points out that in the topsy-turvy world of ARGENTINE economics, high inflation means that some middle class people buy cars as a means of storing wealth. Although the value of the car drops by 20% the moment they take it out of the store, high inflation means that, over time, the loss is absorbed and they can sell the car for the price they bought it for.

Annual inflation reached 44.4% in May 2016
(Image via BA Office for Statistics and Censuses)

It works like this: instead of putting the extra money you make each month into a bank, where it will just lose its value, you enter into a “savings plan”, paying off a new “0-km” car in up to 84 installments, which are updated to reflect the value of the car, which accompanies inflation. Although this implies the price of the installments increases each month, it also means that the amount you have already paid off is also updated to reflect the inflated price. In this way, money invested in the plan maintains its value and you are insulated from the effects of high inflation. If you sell the plan before paying off all the installments, you can even profit.

Another option for those ARGENTINES with savings to protect is to turn to foreign currencies, which are perceived as more stable. For example, the vast majority of ARGENTINE property is bought and sold in US dollars. This practice is so ingrained that, when the last government introduced currency controls restricting ARGENTINES from purchasing US dollars, the property market came to a grinding halt.

By reducing government subsidies, eliminating ‘inefficient’ taxes, offering tax amnesties to attract offshore wealth back into the country, and restoring confidence in official inflation data, the new business-friendly government hopes to reduce inflation to 5% by 2020.

ARE PEOPLE OPTIMISTIC?

No one I spoke to was expecting a miracle. But they weren’t about to sell off their assets and immigrate to URUGUAY either. They’ve seen it all before – the apocalypses and the rebirths from one administration to the next – and know that that, even if anything can happen, life goes on.

As Florencia and Nilsa’s colleague, Gladis, puts it to me: “ARGENTINES are resilient. We’ve seen it before. We can survive anything.”

BREXIT REFERENDUM IS NON-BINDING

Photo: Global Research

UK PARLIAMENT NOT VOTERS HAS FINAL SAY

Prime Minister CAMERON has announced his resignation effective in October, a new Conservative Prime minister is to appointed following the Conservative Party conference.

Among the contenders for the Conservative Party leadership are former London Mayor BORIS JOHNSON and Justice Secretary MICHAEL GOVE, both of whom were firm supporters of the BREXIT campaign. Home Secretary THERESA MAY is also a potential contender.

The implementation of BREXIT is in part dependent upon the new leadership of the Conservative Party. There are divisions in both Conservative and opposition parties with regard to BREXIT.

At this stage, there is, however, no assurance that the Brexit proposal will be ratified by Parliament.

Moreover, CAMERON’S decision to resign in October contributes to delaying the process.

EXAGGERATED TURMOIL REGARDING BREXIT

All the fuss and bother about BREXIT largely ignores its non-binding status – parliament, not voters deciding if BRITAIN stays or leaves the EU, the latter extremely unlikely.

Writing in the Financial Times, BRITISH lawyer DAVID ALLEN GREEN explained BREXIT voting is “advisory,” not “mandatory.” Parliament has final say.

MPs can legally disregard the public’s will either way, they alone empowered to decide the path BRITAIN chooses.

What happens ahead is “a matter of politics not law. It will come down to what is politically expedient and practicable,” said GREEN.

Various options exist, including supporting Thursday’s outcome, ignoring it, or “re-negotiating another deal and put (ting) that to another referendum” – repeating the process “until voters eventually vote the ‘right’ way,” what’s best for monied interests, not them.

Invoking Article 50 of the LISBON Treaty is another matter entirely, legally binding, unlike Thursday’s vote. It states as follows:

“1. Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.

2. A Member State which decides to withdraw shall notify the EUROPEAN Council of its intention. In the light of the guidelines provided by the EUROPEAN Council, the Union shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union.

That agreement shall be negotiated in accordance with Article 218(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EUROPEAN UNION. It shall be concluded on behalf of the Union by the Council, acting by a qualified majority, after obtaining the consent of the EUROPEAN Parliament.

3. The Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification referred to in paragraph 2, unless the EUROPEAN Council, in agreement with the Member State concerned, unanimously decides to extend this period.

4. For the purposes of paragraphs 2 and 3, the member of the EUROPEAN Council or of the Council representing the withdrawing Member State shall not participate in the discussions of the EUROPEAN Council or Council or in decisions concerning it.

A qualified majority shall be defined in accordance with Article 238(3)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EUROPEAN UNION.

5. If a State which has withdrawn from the Union asks to rejoin, its request shall be subject to the procedure referred to in Article 49.”

POLITICS ALONE WILL DRIVE WHAT HAPPENS AHEAD, NOT THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE

GREEN highlighted key points. Member states can choose how to vote on withdrawal – by referendum, parliament or other means.

The withdrawal process begins with formal notification. Once “given, the member state and the EU are stuck with it.”

Member states wishing to withdraw have up to two years maximum to complete the process “unless this period is extended by unanimous agreement.”

Once withdrawal intentions are announced and initiated, there’s no going back. At the same time, what’s “created by international agreement can be undone” the same way.

BRUSSELS could “come up with some muddling fudge which holds off the two year deadline,” or a new treaty amendment could be adopted.

Politics alone will drive what happens ahead, not the will of the people. BRITAIN is no more democratic than AMERICA – nor are any other EU countries.

Special interests decide things. Whatever they want they get. However voting turns out, government policy “is to remain in the EU,” said GREEN.

Leaving would require Prime Minister DAVID CAMERON invoking Article 50, unlikely given his vocal opposition to BREXIT.

By Stephen Lendman via Global Research

ARGENTINA AND ITS NOTORIOUS ILLNESS - CORRUPTION

THE DOWNFALL OF ARGENTINA - 

CORRUPTION

By Carlos Aznárez

Every newspaper in ARGENTINA is reporting on facts that seem to have no connection with each other but, actually, are part of the same scheme. On the one hand, a President, in this case MAURICIO MACRI, affirms he will repatriate 18 million pesos from the BAHAMAS (one million 304 thousand dollars), to invest it in local bonds that his own administration will issue. This initiative was announced as the President’s “great gesture” — the same President who was denounced in the PANAMA Papers—, since he is showing everyone he has confidence in the country’s’ new era, and it will also be accompanied by a tax amnesty bill that must first be approved in the National Congress.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD THE HEAD OF STATE WOULD BE INDICTED – NOT SO IN ARGENTINA

This situation, which in any other part of the world that adheres to the basic foundations of legality and where there are at least a little ethics in the government’s actions, would be considered a crime (worsened due to the fact that the people involved are civil servants).

But under MACRI’S rule this has become an honest gesture while receiving the applauses of the hegemonic media, the same media that constantly attacks VENEZUELA and doesn’t hesitate to praise the Presidential decision. Businessmen welcomed the measure for considering it “healthy” and, at the same time, because it opens the possibility of laundering dirty money, which comes mostly from kickbacks or other “benefits” provided by businesses that usually gestate at the high levels of power.

But, of course, MACRI is not the only one. Some officials of his cabinet are following in his steps. CARLOS MELCONIÁN, President of the National Bank, who has made clear that he is partial to these practices as well (1). He confessed, without fear or shame: “As many ARGENTINES, I have money stashed abroad. Of course, I will bring some of it back”, and he will repatriate the rest as soon as investors “regain confidence” in the local economy. (In six month of ruling the new administration was unable to curb in inflation which stands at a staggering 48 %!)

NO FAITH IN THE COUNTRY AND ITS POLITICAL SYSTEM

“Then, I will bring the money”, he shamelessly concluded. It seems to be a joke but in fact, it’s true: if the President of the main Bank in ARGENTINA has no certainty on the effects of his own administration, what can he ask of the 40 million ARGENTINE people, who are suffering layoffs, increments in services fees, hunger and, as in the 90s, are seeking a way out of the hopelessness of the situation.

This is what “MACRISMO” represents: the right-wing, the neoliberal model and the foreign policy of the US on the continent. The great problem is that, on the other side of the ring, things are not better. Or, in worlds of a Peronist leader: “You suck”. Every illegal activity that comes to light operates in service of a sector that wants to hide other illegal activities, and so on. Now, we could state once again: “they are all thieves”.

As happened in BRAZIL with some of the higher officials of the Workers’ Party, it’s evident that here too the former cabinet has also had some undesirable characters who didn’t hesitate to steal, become corrupted and promote that attitude with impunity. If the treasurer of the Workers’ Party, JOACO VACCARI (imprisoned) pocketed 70 million dollars of bribes and DILMA’S publicist, JOAO SANTANA (also imprisoned) payed himself extra wages of various million dollars as a price for the corruption scheme of Petrobras, then here some people have not fallen behind in terms of high-level corruption.

THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IS THE MOST CORRUPTED INDUSTRY  IN THE WORLD

The recent example of former Secretary of Public Works, JOSÉ LÓPEZ, throwing bags full of money up the walls of a Convent after having unearthed them from another hiding place when he was notified that he was being persecuted. Nine million dollars seem to be an exaggerated amount of money for a saver, but this is actually only a small portion of the actual number of pesos, dollars, euros, etc. that he and other officials have been receiving in the past years as investments for public work.

SHARE OF THE CAKE – PLUNDER OF THE COUNTRY CONTINUES…..

In fact, it was well-known that on both the national and local level, some officials have asked for bribes of up to 60% to carry out projects. Another Secretary, from Transportation, in the past government called RICARDO JAIME had been caught in a similar transaction and is now imprisoned with several judicial cases against him. A long list of MACRISTAS officials are charged with similar “achievements”, but are not imprisoned because it is time for them to rule and the roles have changed now.

 “Disgust” is the proper world but it doesn’t seem to be enough to express the anger generated by this situation, in which both the progressive and neoliberal agents are unified in the plan to plunder the country, generating more hopelessness in new generations, who feel embarrassed when looking at these politicians of the bourgeois democracies as they build a system of impunity to continue earning dirty money.

What happened with JOSÉ LÓPEZ is not a coincidence but part of a scheme in which corruption is naturalized in a sector that allegedly raised the “national and popular” flags, but who in fact (not all of them) wanted to fill their pockets with the brutality of the capitalist thinking. As they collected more and more money in their bags or off-shore bank accounts, the more powerful they felt when “doing politics”. LOPEZ is JULIO DE VIDO’S man. Both of them were part of the permanent staff of the KIRCHNER era. The lack of utterance makes us wonder. And the main explanation to this is not related to loyalty or efficiency but to operative groups in administrations that were not always fully legal. What happened this time can’t be allocated to media campaigns nor conspiracies, but to those who raised flags that didn’t belong to them, soiled with the blood of real men and women of the country, and now tainted with dirty money.

CAN’T HIDE DIRTY MONEY? – SIMPLY IMPLEMENT A TAX AMNESTY

MACRI and his friends can’t hide their illegal activities and that’s why they are trying to approve the tax amnesty —with help of forces from the opposition who vote together in the National Parliament and the BUENOS AIRES legislature— just like LÓPEZ, JAIME and others are now being chased by their same colleagues, with different political colors but actually in a similar situation, and all with the same aim of maintaining the system. This is what we should repudiate and fight, in this complex scenario, which looks a lot like BRAZIL—. These are, with little differences, the facilities with which the regional right operates comfortably in each country. 

Regardless of this situation, the common people (no matter their ideology), the working class, do not earn enough to feed their own families, those who study and then have no place to work in, those who fight against layoffs and the increase in services’ rates, those who take up the fight of militants from the past, who believe that politics have nothing to do with stealing for them. Women and men that have not given up on their dreams, who hope ARGENTINA will someday be freed and will end the era of white-collar criminals