THIRD WAVE REVOLT - British Students Protest as Tuition Hike Is Debated

Police clashed with protesters during a demonstration against plans to raise tuition fees for university students, in London on Thursday.

LONDON (AP) — Police with riot shields and batons pushed angry student protesters away from London's Parliament Square on Thursday as lawmakers debated a controversial plan to triple university tuition fees in England.

Thousands of students held demonstrations and sit-ins throughout the country, heaping pressure on the government to reverse course.

Throwing flares, billiards balls and paint bombs, small groups of protesters tore down barricades as police attempted to reinforce a security cordon near Parliament. Two police officers were injured_one seriously_in the fracas and two protesters were arrested for assaulting officers, police said.

The scuffles broke out after students marched through central London and converged on the square, waving placards and chanting "education is not for sale," capping weeks of nationwide protests to pressure lawmakers to reverse course.

The tuition vote poses a crucial test for both the Conservative's governing coalition with the Liberal Democrats and the government's austerity plans to reduce Britain's budget deficit.

Students have said the concessions are not enough to lessen the blow of higher fees. They say that under the proposal, piles of debt will plague graduates and make a well-rounded education unattainable for many.

Continue reading - NY Times - British Students Protest as Tuition Hike Is Debated

More pictures here -
PROTEST GALLERY 1
PROTEST GALLERY 2
PROTEST GALLERY 3

Reuters(25 pics) - Clashes as parliament votes for student fee rise

BBC - Violence flares at Westminster as MPs debate fee rises

BBC - Students removed from Belfast road protest

BBC - Royal car attacked in protest after MPs' fee vote

BBC - Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall unhurt in attack

Fee Not: London's biggest protest as students march for justice


Rotten Fruit: London scene of massive student fury


Raw Video: Angry Protesters Surround Parliament


Protesters Attack Prince Charles And Camilla's Car

Dead Cat Bounce - Bernanke Dumber Than Gold - Get Out Of Stocks

Dead Cat Bounce - Bernanke Dumber Than Gold - Get Out Of Stocks - Mike Maloney

“Fraud as a Business Model”

“Fraud As a Business Model”, the slides from Tavakoli's presentation delivered today to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Supervision Summit.

From one of the slides:
• Investment banks – securities fraud
• Mortgage lenders – widespread fraud
• Rating agencies – junk science
• CDO “managers” – crash test dummies & accomplices
• Certain hedge funds – shorted CDOs they “managed”
• Bond insurers – money for nothing
• Regulators – poseurs and enablers

FHFA1282010

Fed Chairman Bernanke On The Economy

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gives a rare interview to Scott Pelley in which he discusses pressing economic issues, including unemployment, the deficit and the Fed's controversial $600 billion U.S. Treasury Bill purchase.

Fed Chairman Bernanke On The Economy


OUTRIGHT LIES!

'RM544m bond means Sabah has no liquid cash'

The Sabah government recently declared that the controversial “bond” it issued in 2009 was part of its revenue in the state 2010 Budget.

Firstly be reminded that the state issued two bonds and not one. The earlier one was the RM500 million bond issued by the Sabah Development Bank. The second RM544 million bond was issued by the Sabah Ministry of Finance.

I’m just going to simplify the issue and focus on the RM544 million borrowed from the State Ministry of Finance.

The Sabah Ministry of Finance in 2009 initiated the issuance of government bond worth RM544 million, which is to mature in 2014 at a capped rate of 5%.

Amortisation of this bond requires the sabah government to pay RM615 million, with a monthly payment of RM10.27 million or RM123.24 million. Total cap-on will be RM71.96 million

Placing the debt in the revenue column is a trick, which makes the state government deficit expenditure look small.

This is a way of hiding the real deficit, which would otherwise be too huge to be in the picture and not sustainable

This method of accounting would serve as the easiest and convenient way to get new money.

In simple term, the whole state can and is good for “pawning off” or in local terms “pajak gadai”.

By default this means that the whole of Sabah can be put up for sale.

If Sabah is as rich as claimed by Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, with a reserve of RM2 billion, why does the state need to raise this bond and give away the RM71.96 million for no reason?

The only plausible explanation is that the RM2 billion is fixed asset – not liquid cash. Therefore the bond is used as cash reserve meant for paying emoluments (a state governments needs eight months in reserves).

Don’t forget the state government has yet to pay more than RM1 billion on water bills to Jetama Air. This should give us some idea if the state government is financially sound as portrayed.

This is a wrong way of solving payment of emoluments. The Ministry of Finance has purposely exposed Sabah to unnecessary default risk, while there are no changes to the capacity and capability of the state institutions.

This confirms the view that the state is stagnating on purpose. The people are made to believe rhetoric and hang on to palliatives.

There’s no concerted effort to develop Sabah to be at par with the other states in the country.

By putting bond as revenue, Musa, who is also the State Minister of Finance, had deliberately lied to the people on the health of Sabah's revenue.

Continue reading - Sabah - 'RM544m bond means Sabah has no liquid cash'

Bernanke Doesn't Rule Out QE Exceeding $600 Billion

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke defended the Fed’s decision to purchase $600 billion in Treasury securities and didn’t rule out expanding the program, in an interview for CBS television’s “60 Minutes,” the network said.

“He explains why the Fed announced its intention to buy $600 billion in Treasury securities, defending against charges the move will lead to inflation and not ruling out the purchase of more,” according to a press release today from CBS.

At its Nov. 3 meeting in Washington, the Fed announced the program to purchase about $75 billion a month of Treasury securities through June. The Fed’s Open Market Committee said it would “regularly review the pace of its securities purchases and the overall size of the asset-purchase program.”

Republican leaders criticized the second round of so-called quantitative easing last month, where the Fed attempts to provide additional monetary stimulus by purchasing Treasury debt. The Fed’s benchmark lending rate has been in a range of zero to 0.25 percent since December 2008.

Continue reading - Bloomberg - Bernanke Doesn't Rule Out QE Exceeding $600 Billion

Tom Woods at Illinois State University, Nov.17, 2010

Tom Woods, author of the bestselling book - Meltdown, spoke at Illinois State University on November 17, 2010. The event was sponsored by Campaign for Liberty and the ISU chapter of Young Americans for Liberty.

Thomas Woods Meltdown Introduction


Thomas Woods Meltdown Part 1


Thomas Woods Meltdown Part 2


Thomas Woods Meltdown Part 3


Thomas Woods Meltdown Part 4


Thomas Woods Meltdown Part 5


Thomas Woods Meltdown Part 6

Fed to Name Recipients of $3.3 Trillion in Aid During Crisis

The Federal Reserve, under orders from Congress, plans today to identify recipients of $3.3 trillion in emergency aid the central bank provided as it fought the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

The Fed intends to post the data on its website at midday in Washington to comply with a provision in July’s Dodd-Frank law overhauling financial regulation. The information spans six loan programs as well as currency swaps with other central banks, purchases of mortgage-backed securities and the rescues of Bear Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc.

The disclosures may heighten political scrutiny of the central bank already at its most intense in three decades. The Fed’s Nov. 3 decision to add $600 billion of monetary stimulus has met with backlash from top Republicans in Congress, who said in a Nov. 17 letter to Chairman Ben S. Bernanke that the action risks inflation and asset-price bubbles.

Continue reading - Bloomberg - Fed to Name Recipients of $3.3 Trillion in Aid During Crisis

Federal Reserve - FRB - Usage of Federal Reserve Credit and Liquidity Facilities

Congressman Paul discusses the Fed and bailouts

UN: World recovery slows, will be hit by austerity

The world's recovery from the 2008 financial crisis is losing steam, with growth, hit by austerity drives in rich countries, not enough to restore the 30 million lost jobs in the next two years, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

"The road to recovery from the Great Recession is proving to be long, winding and rocky," said an annual U.N. survey, "World Economic Situation and Prospects 2011."

"After a year of fragile and uneven recovery, growth of the world economy is now decelerating on a broad front, presaging weaker global growth in the outlook."

"The core message is that no, we're not out of the woods yet and still major risks are looming," the report's lead author, Rob Vos, told reporters.

Weaknesses in developed economies, including sluggish growth in the United States and debt crises on the periphery of Europe, were dragging down the global recovery and posing risks for world economic stability, it said.

"There will be no quick fix for the problems these economies are still facing in the aftermath of the (2008) financial crisis," it said.

The report implicitly faulted nations that have dropped stimulus packages in favor of slashing budgets. "As governments shift from fiscal stimulus to austerity, the recovery process is being placed in further jeopardy," it said.

"Withdrawal of stimulus is understandable given the large fiscal deficits and the mounting public debt in many of the developed countries, but at the same time we see there's still a lot of fiscal space available for more stimulus," Vos said.

Focusing on debt reduction without stimulus could be a "self-defeating strategy" because failing growth rates could worsen debt problems, he said.

The report also queried the policy of "quantitative easing" -- or pumping money into the economy by buying government debt. The U.S. Federal Reserve announced a program on November 3 to buy $600 billion in government bonds by mid-2011.

"Further quantitative easing and a further depreciation of the dollar could be a way for the United States to try to inflate and export its way out of its large foreign liability position," the report said. "But it could more likely risk disruption of trade and financial markets."

Continue reading - Reuters - UN: World recovery slows, will be hit by austerity

END THE FED!

END THE FED!

Hypothetical Scenario - The Day the Dollar Died

The Day the Dollar Died

Keynesian Economics Is Wrong: Economic Growth Causes Consumer Spending, Not the Other Way

Politicians and journalists who fixate on consumer spending are putting the cart before the horse. Consumer spending generally is a consequence of growth, not the cause of growth. This Center for Freedom and Prosperity video helps explain how to achieve more prosperity by looking at the differences between gross domestic product and gross domestic income.

Keynesian Economics Is Wrong: Economic Growth Causes Consumer Spending, Not the Other Way

SECOND WAVE PROTEST - Against Ireland Austerity and Bailout

"What hurts me the most is why is the taxpayer paying for the IMF. Why are we bailing out the banks. These are the people who took the risk, let them take the hurt, let them feel the hurt." That is the common refrain of the tens of thousands of people who took to the streets today in Dublin, protesting against the government's rescue of various European banks (and Goldman Sachs) investment losses. More from RTE: "Gardaí said that around 10,000 people started the march, however the crowd swelled to around 50,000 people as it moved down the quays. Speakers at the march had estimated that the crowd was between 100,000 and 150,000. A small group of around 400 protestors are currently at the front gates of Leinster House. Some 60 gardaí are lining the footpath in front of the building, with crash barriers erected in front of them."

Continue reading - 50,000 Turn Out To Protest Against Government Handling Of Irish Bailout

BBC NEWS - Dublin protesters march against cuts as bail-out looms

MV - Spirit of the Times

This is a live performance by Jeff Uzzel at the Ventura Chapter meeting of the Zeitgeist Movement as seen through Ryan's lens. ZMVC.org. Pretty inspiring.

Spirit of the Times - Zeitgeist Movement

MUST WATCH! Nigel Farage: 'Who the Hell do You Think You Are: The Euro Game Is Up!

Nigel Farage: 'Who the Hell do You Think You Are: The Euro Game Is Up!