HIGH FINANCE part 1

BANKS

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Banks pay depositors "interest" for storing their money. Banks earn income by loaning out money for "interest". The "interest rate" banks pay is less than the interest rate banks charge. That is how banks earn profits.

That's it.

All things being equal, the more money banks lend, the more money banks can earn. What is the limit? How much money a bank has, limits what a bank can lend.

Otherwise, banks could loan out money they don't have. You could do that too. They could loan out money that doesn't exist. Money would be created out of thin air.

Not so long ago, modern banks were repositories of gold. Depositors stored gold in bank vaults. Banks issued receipts to depositors. Depositors began using these receipts in exchange for other things, transferring a portion of their gold to someone else. These bank receipts were money.

Banks issued their own money which was redeemable in gold.

Banks today no longer do this. But you can still buy gold and store it in a vault in New York, London or Zurich.

http://www.bullionvault.com/

You could go there, right now, and buy a 400 Troy ounce 99.5% pure "good delivery" gold bar for about $300,000 USD. (Prices vary by the minute.) You would likely never see your gold. You would get a receipt, just the way it once was.

You can, of course, buy smaller amounts of gold.

Your gold would be safely stored in a vault run by Via Mat, a Swiss company like Brinks, which specializes in secure storage and transportation of valuable property.

Banks can no longer be trusted to do what they once did.

Banks like to maximize the amount of money loaned out which is earning money for the bank. Today banks are fractional-reserve lenders. By law, they only need to have a small percentage on deposit of what they lend out. "... nowadays banks operate the wrong kind of business to be willing and reliable custodians of your gold."

http://goldnews.bullionvault.com/houseview/banking_on_gold

Let's not forget that the money that banks loan is not their own, it belongs to depositors — even if banks had 100% reserves made up of other people's money. But they don't even have that. So they are creating money out of thin air, without any help from the central banks. But central banks are another story . . .

next HIGH FINANCE part 2: The State

MERCK THE EVIL

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Merck once was a good pharmaceutical company, I am told. [1]

But Merck cared not one whit about me or what ZOCOR did to me. [2] If Merck once was good, Merck must have been taken over by the dark side at some point. Now, Merck cares only for mammon.

Merck created the cholesterol hoax with MEVACOR. Then, when its patents expired, Merck brought ZOCOR onto the market. These drugs create myopathy and rheumatoid symptoms. But these were ignored as cholesterol lowering drugs soared in profitability to make CLDs the most profitable pharmaceutical line in history.

A few years ago, Merck revolutionized the rheumatiod pain relief market with VIOXX (which was another non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, like aspirin). Then, it was discovered that VIOXX could cause heart attacks, so it was taken off the market. But not before a very large judgement against Merck was rendered in Texas, which is famous for very large things.

Today, Merck is at it again with GARDASIL. [3] The plan is to inoculate every girl AND HAVE THE GOVERNMENT PAY FOR IT. Merck does not care what happens to your daughter. Merck cares about M.O.N.E.Y.

After what Merck did to me, I hope there is a warm place in Hell reserved for the masters of Merck. Maybe they will be able to take VIOXX to relieve their pain, but I doubt it will help. Roast in Hell, boys.

Merck brought us these winners: Lovastatin (Mevacor), Zocor, Vioxx, Fosamax, Gardasil. Some day soon, Merck, you will be getting yours.


[1] http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/06/14/merck-behavior.aspx

[2] http://www.morleyevans.com/Contents/FDA_Letter/FDA_Letter.html

[3] http://www.naturalnews.com/022140.html

In God We Trust

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"In God We Trust" is the official motto of the United States of America. The moto on the money refers to mammon. The God We Trust is Money. Money is the one true god. We are in a panic now that our idol has been destroyed. Our magnificent edifice turned out not to be a Temple, but only a house of cards. Nothing was inside. Poof!

http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/index.php?cmd=news.article&articleID=2123
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard62.html

THE WAR by Morley Evans

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This document examines the trials of the German leadership after WW II, especially the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. It does not question the deaths of millions of Jews at the hands of the Nazis during the Second World War. It does raise questions about the Holocaust story as it has been told over and over for 60 years. (Telling this story has become a very profitable business, as Norman G. Finkelstein has pointed out.) This document might be classified as criminal under Canadian law. Distributing it could be a hate crime in Canada. The article on Wikipedia which deals with deaths in WW II could also be classified as a hate crime because it "diminishes the Holocaust" by including tens of millions of Soviets, Chinese, Poles, Indonesians and others along with Jews.

What really happened in WW II is important. It directly affects what we are doing today and who we think we are.

To Other Losses by James Bacque, which revealed nearly a million Germans were killed by the U.S. Army and the French after WW II (Eisenhower, et al), we can add: those millions who were killed by the Germans on the eastern front, especially the Poles (about 1/2 of the Polish population were Jews); the Soviets who, themselves, killed large numbers of Poles before Operation Barbarosa; the Japanese who killed millions of people in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) as well as millions of Chinese, and of course the Americans, again, who fire-bombed flat the world's largest city, Tokyo, before they dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The British, those champions of decency and fair play, fire-bombed Dresden, Magdeburg and Berlin along with the massive night time bombing of the rest of Germany. Of Dresden, Churchill remarked, "Oh, I thought the Americans did it." The Americans for their part had bombed the hell out of Germany in the daytime.

On a bright note, the Nazis looked after their French, British and American prisoners of war: Ninety-eight percent of them returned home safely after the war. The Soviets too looked after their own prisoners of war, both Germans and Japanese. When 6th Army surrendered at Stalingrad, thousands had already died of starvation and frostbite. Those who reached camps in Siberia, received generous rations, despite short supplies in the Soviet Union. The commander of 6th Army, Friedrich Paulus, became a strident critic of Hitler and the Nazi regime while he was a prisoner in the Soviet Union. Germans who were lucky enough to be incarcerated in Canada and the United States, were often assigned work on farms "to support the war effort." Very few, if any, Japanese were so lucky: they either did not surrender, or they were shot when they did surrender. "No prisoners" was often our policy in Europe too.

All in all, the madness of WW II was shared by all. The story we have been told for sixty years is only partly true — we only hear the part which paints us as the noble underdogs and them as evil monsters. The rest of the story has been left out or it has been turned into a pack of lies. The roles combatants played were interchangeable. It is time we mourned the deaths of all the victims of the Second World War, sent warmongers packing, and committed ourselves to peace.

This debt is past due.

- Morley Evans

The Wicked Tenants

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Dear Seminarian,

Last night at EFM, we discussed the parable in Matthew 21: 33-45

All the Parables in this section are addressed to the Pharisees who were trying to confound Jesus. The passage below is from the oremus Bible Browser (NRSV). The KJV is also available at oremus.

Jesus outlines a series of crimes committed by tenants who refused to pay the landowner of a vineyard (who is God, himself). Of the slaves (the Prophets) sent to collect the produce, the tenants beat one, killed another, and stoned another. The landowner then sent more slaves who were treated in the same way. Finally, the landowner sent his son and the tenants killed him thinking they would be able to steal the land outright.

Jesus asks, What will the owner do to these tenants?

The Pharisees answer that the landowner will kill them and lease the land to others who will pay the rent.

That is the right answer! Jesus does not say it is the wrong answer but one might easily think he rebukes the Pharisees because they gave the wrong answer.

But Jesus does utter an apparent non sequitur:

‘Have you never read in the scriptures: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes”? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’

The Pharisees' own answer is the answer Jesus gives straight back to them: the landowner will lease the land to others who will produce the fruits of the kingdom. Jesus means the "Chosen People" are out because they are the wicked tenants.

This parable does not mean that nothing happens to the wicked tenants, as might be surmised by the unwary. The parable does not contain a contradiction.

'When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.'

What one does matters; who one is does not.

oremus Bible Browser

matthew 21:33-45 (NRSV)


The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

‘Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watch-tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They said to him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.’

Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes”?
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.



The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition), copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Wrath of God

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"No American should be allowed to forget that Iraqi society has been destroyed. The people of that unhappy land have lost everything -- their homes, their schools, their neighborhoods, their mosques, their jobs, their careers, their professionals, their health care, their legal system, their women's rights, their religious tolerance, their security, their past, their present, their future, their lives." - William Blum, American writer


No Canadian should be allowed to forget that friendly soft-spoken Steven Harper, with his shifty eyes, sly smarmy smile and blue sweaters, has hands that are dripping with the blood of innocents.

The day he became Prime Minister, Harper enthusiastically joined the war on Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan and sent Canadian soldiers off to kill people who have never lifted a finger to harm us. Harper turned peacekeepers into peacemakers. Canadian troops in Afghanistan exchanged forest green uniforms for American desert combat fatigues. Harper restocked the Canadian Forces with weapons from U.S. contractors bought with U.S. credit. Canada joined the Coalition of the Willing (to be bought).

Today, because of profligate war spending, the invincible U.S. dollar is on the skids. Washington has taken unprecedented steps to bail out Wall Street with $700 BILLION dollars to "prevent a financial meltdown." But the dollar cannot be saved. The melt-down is underway. It is spreading like wild fire. Panic and fear have gripped financial markets 'round the world. The era of American empire has ended to the applause of people who are fed up with the bully on the Potomac.

If the current financial readjustment turns into The Great Depression II, suffering Canadians can well wonder if this is The Wrath of God visited upon the wicked and their supporters.

On election day, next Tuesday, don't reward evil or evil-doers.

Syracuse

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Before the United States and the Coalition of the Willing (to be bought), invaded Iraq in 2003, William Lind warned this would not be "a cakewalk" as was claimed by those promoting the war. Instead, Lind warned, the invasion would be like Syracuse.

Briefly: After it had been defeated in the second Peloponessian War, Athens rebuilt and found much of its former strength. Soon a scheme was hatched:

"Let's get everyone into our ships and attack Syracuse."
"Sure, we can beat them."
"After we sack Syracuse and steal their stuff, we'll be on top again."
"This will be a cakewalk."

So a massive expeditionary force set sail for far off Syracuse on the island of Sicily in the west.

But the gods were not smiling on Athens and things well badly.

One disaster after another befell the Athenians. Eventually the fleet was destroyed and every Athenian was killed or captured and enslaved, to die in chains working in the quarry. One survivor was allowed to return to Athens to tell the tale.

This was the end of the line for Athens.

The Peloponessian Wars seriously weakened Greece. Soon Phillip of Macedon would conquer all.

William Lind's warning was ignored by Washington in 2003. But his prophecy is coming true today.

1). Peloponessian War:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peloponessian_War
2). Syracuse:
http://www.livius.org/su-sz/syracuse/siege.html
3). William Lind:
http://www.antiwar.com/lind/?articleid=4050

The Future?

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Good article. Thanks, Paul: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/29/miron.bailout/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

According to the geniuses who "manage" our economies (like "The Maestro", Alan Greenspan), we don't have very much inflation today. Greenspan says the smart central bankers have created fiat currencies that work "just like gold."

But since Iraq was invaded in 2003, we commonly hear people talking in terms of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars. A million dollars is just not that much any more. The Italian Lira is gone, gone, gone, replaced by the Euro. At the time it was abandoned (2004) the exchange rate was 1500 Lire to one U.S. dollar [1]. So a million dollars was 1,500,000,000 or one and a half billion Lire. Prices people see are the real indication of inflation, not what the central banks and national governments tell us.

For example, we have condos with price tags that would have been unheard of only a few years ago even for the most expensive houses in Regina. They have been priced by comparing what is for sale to what people have been paying. People here in Regina think the rising prices are an indication that we have hit big time prosperity here in Saskatchewan. We have resources to sell, dontchuknow? I think the rising prices and the ability to pay them is due to something less sanguine. We already have MONEY TO BURN. No money? No credit? No problem! Sign here: drive it off the lot, or move right in.

I watched luxury homes for sale in Las Vegas, recently. You get much much more luxury in Las Vegas today (where the subprime mortgage crisis has hit) than you do in Regina — for less money.

The U.S. economy (as it was) is in big trouble: a report from Long Beach, the Port of Los Angeles, says that imports from China have slowed down significantly. Why? Because Americans are buying less. They are even buying less low-priced stuff from China. They stopped buying high-priced American stuff long ago. American workers have asked how will they buy anything if no one buys what they are making. Good question. Canadian workers in Ontario are already waking up. Canadian government workers are still living in a dream world.

Someone I know just got a government job that pays more than $12,000, A MONTH — plus generous benefits.

Globalization will mean a general levelling at a much lower price level with greater abundance for everyone. Big Oil is already a big bust. Oil, the strategic resource upon which the 20th century economies were based, will be replaced with something else soon. In the near term: coal to liquid fuel, algal fuel, hydrogen/solar converters that make and store electricity. Centralization with its concomitant power in a few hands may disappear (I hope.) The Yankee Colossus is going the way of Rome. U.S. official world supremacy lasted from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, but things have actually been going downhill since 1945 when the United States was at the zenith of its power.

"He who is first, soon will be last." Maybe everyone will be crossing the finish line, not too far apart.

- Morley

[1] http://www.economagic.com/em-cgi/data.exe/fedny/day-fxit2us

On Oct 4, 2008, at 11:20 AM, Paul Geddes wrote:

I agree. This is the article about the bailout that I've been sending to those who've asked. In case you haven't seen it yet:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/29/miron.bailout/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Paul

700 BILLION?

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700 BILLION? Why stop there?

The fattest cats in the fat cat world are broke? If Wall Street gazillionaires become homeless, will they drag the rest of us down with them? Of course nobody wants to join them in line at the soup kitchen; we don't know these people. The U.S. government should bail them out.

Of course.

Why stop there? What about the rest of us? If Washington can give Wall Street 700 BILLION dollars, why can't they give the rest of us a bailout too? Everyone deserves a helping hand, not just the rich. Fair is fair.

If governments can simply write a cheque, they could abolish poverty. They could write everyone a cheque. Why not make them generous: great big fat cat cheques. One for everyone. Abolish poverty.

All it would take is political will. Everyone could have a chicken in the pot and a Lamborghini in the garage.

Why not?

Lamborghinis only get 5 mpg in the city, and even less at 200 mph, but once our cheques arrive it won't matter, we'll have MONEY TO BURN!

Placebo Effect

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Doctors themselves can have a placebo effect.

A "good doctor" might be the most important placebo effect in medicine.

If a doctor is confident and charming, he can instil tremendous confidence. Patients can feel better simply because the doctor makes them feel better. I have experienced this myself. If the doctor doesn't do any significant harm with whatever he prescribes ("side effects"), the patient's own body may get busy and heal itself. Even if what the doctor prescribes does have a benefit, the doctor himself may provide an additional benefit. I wonder if this has been considered in drug trials?

"Well, of course they do, stupid. Medical research scientists think of everything. They have billions of dollars."

This "physician placebo" doesn't work on me any more, however. I am very sceptical of doctors today, after 60 years of maltreatment and abuse at the hands of some doctors I have seen.

People often remember their doctors fondly and think they were great. Of course they would. The people who remember their doctors are alive. The others are dead, or — significantly — if they weren't happy with their doctor, no one listens to them so their opinions are those of the dead. Every system has enormous inertia. Every organization, itself, fights to survive.

"We don't want to know about this."

Shamans and witch doctors have always done exactly what modern doctors do. The costume of a white lab coat over a business suit with stethoscope hung from the neck, or a surgeon's green fatigues, has the same function as a mask, beads, rattles and feathers: They instil awe and confidence in the suffering and in their relatives. Billions of dollars spent annually on propaganda to sell products helps make the magic work: Every newscast contains a story about some medical breakthrough that will save lives and alleviate suffering. These are followed by pharmaceutical commercials that pay for the broadcast.