The Dawn Raid - Kisah Pengambilalihan Guthrie yg Menggemparkan!

MAHATHIR – KHALID IBRAHIM – DAWN RAID 1981 !!!
“Dengan pemilikan baru ini, PNB selaku wakil orang
Melayu muncul sebagai pemilik tanah ladang terbesar di dunia.“

Dari wall: Mimi Marina Jaafar..

LAGENDA ‘DAWN RAID 1981′ MENGGEGARKAN NEGARA.

Kisah benar kejayaan sekumpulan anak Melayu mengambil kembali tanah-tanah di Malaysia yang dipegang Inggeris selama 160 tahun dengan serangan terancang ke atas ibu kota Britain.Pada 7 haribulan September tahun 1981, kota London digemparkan dengan pengambilalihan mengejut syarikat perladangan Guthrie di London. Guthrie yang berusia lebih 100 tahun dan merupakan antara syarikat perladangan terbesar British jatuh ke tangan pihak asing di dalam masa 4 jam sahaja.

Apa yang lebih mengejutkan ialah syarikat tersebut jatuh ke tangan kerajaan Malaysia, di bawah pimpinan Dr. Mahathir Muhammad yang baru memegang jawatan Perdana Menteri selama 2 bulan.

Latarbelakang – Kemiskinan Orang Melayu dan Kekayaan Orang Inggeris

Selepas kemerdekaan Malaya pada tahun 1957, hampir 1 juta bangsa pendatang seperti Cina dan India diberi kerakyatan secara beransur-ansur. Sebagai balasannya, mereka bersetuju untuk menghormati hak istimewa orang Melayu dalam perlembagaan.

Setelah lebih 10 tahun merdeka, pegangan orang Melayu terhadap kekayaan bumi Malaya sangat kecil. Walaupun orang Melayu merupakan majoriti , bangsa ini memegang hanya 1.5% bahagian harta korporat (itupun melalui syarikat kerajaan) berbanding bangsa Cina sebanyak 22.8%. Walaupun tidak lagi menjajah, bangsa Inggeris pula memegang lebih 60 % dari kekayaan negara ini.

Pada masa yang sama, hampir separuh penduduk Malaya tinggal di bawah paras kemiskinan. Orang Melayu yang kebanyakannya tinggal di kampung sebagai petani dan pesawah adalah bangsa paling ramai tinggal dalam kemiskinan (74%).

Ketidaksamarataan kekayaan dan sikap perkauman tebal menyebabkan beberapa insiden pergaduhan terjadi berulang-ulang diantara kaum pribumi yang miskin (Melayu) dengan kaum pendatang yang kaya (Cina). Ia berlaku di beberapa tempat seperti di Georgetown, Pangkor dan Bukit Mertajam — sehinggalah kemuncaknya pada tahun 1969 di Kuala Lumpur.

Dalam keputusan pilihanraya tahun itu, parti-parti bangsa Cina dan parti Islam berjaya menafikan majoriti parlimen parti pemerintah, sekaligus menyebabkan orang Melayu gusar kehilangan bukan sahaja kuasa ekonomi malah kuasa politik mereka. Orang Cina pula merayakan kemenangan mereka dengan berarak membawa penyapu dan melemparkan laungan provokatif dalam perarakan besar di Kampung Baru , Kuala Lumpur – satu kawasan penempatan yang dihuni kaum Melayu.

Provokasi ini akhirnya mencetuskan insiden berdarah 13 Mei 1969 yang mengakibatkan ratusan mati dan darurat di isytiharkan.

Antara pihak yang lantang menyalahkan kerajaan pada waktu yang dianggap memberi muka kepada kaum pendatang ialah seorang ahli parti pemerintah bernama Mahathir Mohammad yang mengkritik Perdana Menteri pertama dengan satu surat terbuka.
Katanya sikap berlembut Tunku Abdul Rahman menyebabkan “… orang2 China dan India membuat kurang ajar pada 12 Mei kepada orang Melayu. Kalau Tunku biasa di-ludah di-muka, di-maki dan di-tunjok kemaluan, boleh-lah Tunku faham perasaan orang Melayu.”
Kerana kritikan ini, beliau dipecat dari parti itu.

Dasar Bagi Membantu Orang Melayu

Apabila Tun Abdul Razak menjadi perdana menteri ke-2 (1970-1976) beliau memperkenalkan satu dasar yang dianggap radikal yang diberi nama Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB). Tujuannya — menghapuskan kemiskinan bangsa Melayu dan memastikan agar pegangan orang Melayu dalam kekayaan negara dapat mencapai 30% pada tahun 1990. Dasar ini bukan saja akan membantu orang Melayu, tetapi juga boleh mengelakkan krisis antara kaum terjadi lagi.

Walaupun adanya dasar baru ini, pemilikan syarikat-syarikat Inggeris sebenarnya semakin bertambah. Guthrie contohnya, mempunyai 175,000 ekar pada tahun 1970an tetapi memiliki lebih 190,000 ekar tanah kelapa sawit, getah dan teh pada tahun 1981.
Sekitar tahun 1970an juga, seorang hartawan bijih timah Cina dari Ipoh bernama Lee Loy Seng giat membeli tanah pertanian dari British sehingga menyebabkan beliau menjadi salah seorang pemegang tanah terbesar di negara ini.

Pada masa yang sama, syarikat-syarikat British melengah-lengahkan usaha kerjasama dengan kerajaan dengan mengadakan perjumpaan demi perjumpaan dengan wakil kerajaan tanpa sebarang resolusi. Guthrie juga menolak usaha kerajaan untuk penanaman semula getah untuk pekebun kecil Melayu dan penubuhan kesatuan sekerja yang dianggap menyusahkan British.

Tetapi atas tekanan Bank Negara Malaysia, Guthrie akhirnya menubuhkan Guthrie-Ropel, sebuah anak syarikat Guthrie yang diberi kurang 17% dari jumlah tanah Guthrie di Malaysia. Usaha kerajaan ini bertujuan agar orang tempatan dapat membeli sebahagian kecil tanah Guthrie melalui Bursa Saham Kuala Lumpur. Namun begitu, tembelang British akhirnya pecah apabila didapati bahawa kebanyakan tanah kepunyaan Guthrie-Ropel adalah tanah yang buruk untuk pertanian dan lazimnya terletak di atas kawasan bukit.

Pemerintah Anti-Penjajah, Mahathir Menduduki Kerusi Penting

Mahathir yang diterima masuk semula pada 3 tahun selepas dipecat, akhirnya menjawat kerusi Perdana Menteri pada tahun 1981.

Berbeza dari 3 Perdana Menteri sebelum ini, Mahathir dirakamkan oleh ahli sejarah sebagai Perdana Menteri pertama yang tidak merokok, tidak minum arak dan tidak meminati sukan golf. Dan jika pemegang jawatan sebelum beliau berdarah raja, berpendidikan British dan mengekalkan hubungan baik dengan Inggeris, Mahathir pula belajar di Universiti Malaya Singapura, tidak mempunyai rakan berbangsa Inggeris dan terkenal dengan sikap anti-penjajahnya.

Sebelum menjadi Perdana Menteri lagi, beliau mengkritik dasar Inggeris yang membuka Tanah Melayu seluas-luasnya kepada pendatang dari India dan China, sekaligus menyebabkan orang Melayu terpinggir.

2 tahun sebelum beliau menjadi Perdana Menteri, pihak Inggeris menarik semula subsidi pendidikan kepada pelajar Malaysia yang melanjutkan pelajaran di Britain dan menaikkan yuran kepada pelajar asing, tetapi tidak kepada pelajar Eropah. Ia memberikan tamparan hebat kepada 17,000 pelajar Malaysia di negara itu yang terbeban dengan yuran pengajian yang meningkat 3 kali ganda secara tiba-tiba. Malaysia juga pada waktu itu tidak mampu menyerap pelajar-pelajar ini kerana ia hanya mempunyai 2 buah universiti.

Mahathir yang ketika itu merupakan Menteri Perdagangan memberi amaran bahwa tindakan ini akan merugikan Britain dalam jangka masa panjang. Namun begitu, amaran beliau tidak diendahkan.

Tidak lama kemudian, London menolak permohonan Malaysia agar syarikat penerbangan MAS diberi hak mendarat tambahan di lapangan terbang Heathrow. Tetapi pada masa yang sama, Inggeris mencabar kewibawaan kerajaan Malaysia apabila sebuah pesawat supersonic Concorde miliknya menceroboh ruang antarabangsa Subang dalam perjalanannya ke Singapura.

Mahathir melihat ini sebagai sikap angkuh British yang masih memperlakukan Malaysia seperti tanah jajahannya.

Dato Ismail Ali Sebagai Pemimpin Serangan

Keangkuhan British bukan sahaja disedari oleh Mahathir dan ahli-ahli politik Melayu, tetapi turut dirasai oleh penjawat awam seperti pengerusi PNB, Dato Ismail Ali. Secara kebetulan, abang ipar Mahathir ini juga adalah bekas Gabenor Bank Negara yang terlibat menggesa Guthrie menubuhkan Guthrie-Ropel.

Beliau juga adalah antara tokoh utama yang menubuhkan PNB — satu agensi yang ditugaskan khas bagi menjayakan DEB.

Sewaktu menjawat jawatan gabenor Bank Negara lagi, beliau menunjukkan sikap tidak mesra kepada Inggeris. Mark Gent, iaitu pengerusi Guthrie ketika itu berkata, beliau dan pengarah urusan Guthrie, Eric Griffith-Jones hampir pasti akan diarah oleh Ismail Ali untuk “menunggu diluar pejabatnya selama ½ jam” setiap kali mesyuarat diadakan.

Sewaktu Ismail menjadi gabenor juga, wang negara yang disimpan di bank Inggeris seperti HSBC dan Chartered dipindahkan ke bank tempatan. Bank-bank asing pula tidak lagi diberi peluang membuka cawangan di Malaysia.

Seperti Mahathir, beliau juga tidak berpuashati dengan orang Inggeris kerana sungguhpun PNB memiliki 25% saham Guthrie, tiada wakil PNB yang dirujuk dalam mesyuarat untuk menentukan halatuju syarikat. Ini termasuk keputusan Guthrie menjual beberapa kepentingannya kepada MPH, sebuah syarikat koperasi milik hartawan-hartawan Cina di Malaysia pada awal 1981.

Syarikat MPH yang memiliki aset yang banyak ini pernah cuba membeli bank UMBC (iaitu antara bank terbesar negara ketika itu) sehingga menyebabkan Mahathir campurtangan. Agar ia tidak didominasi bangsa Cina, Mahathir memastikan PERNAS dan Petronas juga mempunyai kepentingan dalam UMBC.

Kedua-dua tokoh ini melihat bahawa jika pengambilalihan demi pengambilalihan MPH diteruskan, bangsa Cina semakin hampir mengganti orang Inggeris menguasai ekonomi negara ini.

Atas sebab ini, Ismail membuat keputusan nekad. Guthrie mesti diambilalih secepat mungkin.

Kerjasama Pelbagai Pihak.

Setahun sebelum menjadi Perdana Menteri, Mahathir yang merupakan Menteri Perdagangan dan Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah selaku Menteri Kewangan telah di maklumkan oleh Ismail Ali bahawa beliau merancang untuk mengejutkan Inggeris dengan pengambilalihan syarikat mereka.

4 bulan sebelum serangan, pasukan di PNB yang diterajui oleh pengurus pelaburan bernama KHALID IBRAHIM diberi tugas khas untuk meneliti dan merangka strategi bagi memastikan semua berjalan lancar.

Khalid yang pernah bekerja di Barings London (iaitu syarikat yang menjadi penasihat kewangan Guthrie), pakar-pakar pelaburan PNB dan penasihat dari bank saudagar N. M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd diarahkan untuk mengkaji secara rahsia samada Guthrie boleh diambilalih. Jika positif, mereka diarahkan merangka strategi terperinci bagaimana ianya boleh dibuat.

Hasil dari penelitian mereka, kumpulan ini menjumpai satu kelemahan dalam akta bursa saham London yang boleh dieksploitasi. Dengan kelemahan ini, satu serang hendap ekonomi untuk mengambilalih Guthrie boleh dibuat. Syaratnya ianya dibuat sepantas dan serahsia mungkin hingga Inggeris tidak sempat melakukan pertahanan.

Dengan persetujuan Mahathir, modal pengambilalihan (sebanyak 282 juta pound) diambil dari tiga punca – Petronas, PERNAS dan menerusi satu skim amanah saham baru yang ditawarkan kepada orang Melayu 4 bulan sebelum serangan. Skim ini dinamakan Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN).

Untuk memastikan Inggeris tidak menyedari bahawa kerajaan Malaysia berada di belakang pengambilalihan ini, Khalid diarahkan oleh Rothschilds untuk membuka bank akaun di Switzerland untuk tujuan pembayaran saham.

Mengapa Guthrie?

Guthrie menjadi sasaran kerana selain dimiliki pelabur Ingeris, saham-saham Guthrie pada waktu itu juga dipegang oleh beberapa syarikat bukan Inggeris yang mesra kepada PNB. Antara syarikat tersebut antaranya adalah Genting, Bank Simpanan Nasional, Kuwait Investment Office dan OCBC.

Dengan pegangan sedia ada sebanyak 25%, PNB memerlukan 15% saham sahaja lagi bagi menjadikan keseluruhan pegangannya ke 40% , sekaligus menjadikannya sebagai pemegang saham utama Guthrie.

Untuk ini, N. M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd dilantik bagi membeli saham Guthrie dari pelabur besar bagi pihak PNB, manakala Rowe & Pittman pula dilantik menjadi broker bagi membeli saham Guthrie dari pelabur-pelabur kecil.

Ideanya di sini ialah agar sebahagian besar saham Guthrie di Malaysia dan di London dibeli serentak sebelum bursa dibuka, dan ia mesti dibeli tanpa disedari oleh pihak pengurusan Guthrie sendiri.

Untuk memastikan kejayaan serangan rahsia ini, hanya sekumpulan kecil perancang sahaja yang terlibat secara langsung. Mohammad Desa Pachi, yang juga Ketua Eksekutif PNB ketika itu juga tidak diberitahu secara terperinci bagaimana operasi ini akan dilaksanakan.

Operasi Serangan Subuh atau “Dawn Raid”

Hari serangan akhirnya diputuskan — 7 September, pukul 9 pagi waktu London (4 petang waktu Malaysia).

Mengikut rancangan, kesemua yang terlibat akan mendapatkan persetujuan penjual-penjual sebelum bursa dibuka. Apabila ia dibuka, PNB akan mengisytiharkan berita menggemparkan ini dan menguruskan dokumentasinya sahaja — sekaligus memberi kejutan kepada Guthrie dan pemegang saham lain.

Yang rumitnya ialah memastikan pembelian ini dilakukan secara rahsia. Kerana jika ia terbongkar awal, harga saham Guthrie bakal melambung tinggi dan pengurusan Guthrie akan bertindakbalas untuk menggagalkan serangan hendap ini.

Di Malaysia Khalid yang diberi tugas menguruskan pembelian di sini optimis bahawa Bank Simpanan, Genting dan Kuwait Investment Group akan menerima tawaran PNB kerana ketiga-tiganya dianggap “mesra” dengan PNB.

Dato Ismail pula bergegas ke Singapura pada hari itu untuk berjumpa dengan pengerusi OCBC. Rancangannya ialah untuk meyakinkan pihak OCBC untuk menerima tawaran membeli saham Guthrie yang dipegang bank itu pada pukul 3:30 ptg, dan menghantar notis penerimaan pada pukul 3:45 petang.

Di London, Rowe & Pittman serta Rothschilds hanya menunggu lampu hijau dari Malaysia untuk membeli saham-saham Guthrie dari pelabur Inggeris pada pagi tersebut.

Sewaktu di Singapura, Ismail dan pengerusi OCBC, Tan Chin Tuan berbincang mengenai pembelian saham Guthrie sewaktu makan tengahari. Perbincangan yang memakan masa lama itu akhirnya berakhir dengan satu berita kurang enak. OCBC menolak tawaran PNB.

Ismail menelefon Khalid dan memberitahu berita buruk tersebut. Tetapi oleh kerana Khalid telah berjaya membeli saham dari Kuwait, Bank Simpanan dan Genting, mereka tiada jalan lain kecuali meneruskan serangan.

Di London, sebaik menerima lampu hijau, kedua-dua firma yang diupah PNB memulakan proses pembelian sepantas mungkin. Bank saudagar Rothschilds berjaya memujuk M&G Investment Trust, sebuah syarikat amanah saham Inggeris (yang memegang 17% dari Guthrie) menjual 11% saham Guthrie miliknya.

Broker-broker Rowe & Pittman yang ditugaskan membeli saham dari pelabur kecil Britain pula berjaya mengumpulkan sasaran 5% saham dari orang Inggeris.

Walaupun tanpa saham OCBC, dalam masa 4 jam, PNB berjaya memiliki 8 juta saham, atau 50.41% dari keseluruhan syarikat, tanpa disedari atau keizinan pihak pengurusan Guthrie.

Lewat tengahari waktu London, Guthrie jatuh ke dalam genggaman Malaysia.

Mahathir Terus Menekan British

Pengerusi Guthrie, Mark Gent hanya sedar bahawa bahawa syarikatnya jatuh ke tangan Malaysia setelah mendengar berita itu di radio.

Pengambilalihan secara tiba-tiba dengan mengeksploitasi kelemahan system bursa London oleh tanah jajahannya sendiri menyebabkan kerajaan British malu besar.

Walaupun ada broker di London memujinya sebagai urusniaga “licik”, media London kebanyakannya menyelar serangan ini sebagai “nasionalisasi pintu belakang”. Sebagai tindakbalas, London kemudiannya bertindak meminda peraturan di Bursa Saham London bagi memastikan syarikat-syarikat lain milik British seperti Dunlop tidak jatuh dengan cara sama.

Sebulan selepas itu, London dikejutkan lagi dengan pengumuman baru Mahathir.

Mahathir mengumumkan bahawa Malaysia akan memboikot barangan dan perkidmatan dengan British melalui kempen yang dinamakan Buy British Last. Mahathir yang marah kerana spekulasi timah dunia di London mengakibatkan harga eksport utama Malaysia jatuh mendadak, telah mengarahkan agar semua kontrak kerajaan kepada pihak British dibekukan.

Tindakan Mahathir ini memberi kesan besar kepada kontrak semasa dan akan datang British berjumlah 1.25 billion pound sterling yang sepatutnya diterima oleh British. Kontrak Dunlop untuk membekal tayar kepada kerajaan sejak 1963 lagi contohnya kini diberi kepada sebuah syarikat Amerika Syarikat sehingga menyebabkan Dunlop menjual kepentingan mereka kepada MPH.

Dalam masa 3 bulan, saham-saham Guthrie perlahan-lahan dijual kepada PNB. Pada akhir tahun 1981, 100% Guthrie berada di bawah pegangan anak tempatan.

Ismail akhirnya mengambilalih pengurusan Guthrie dan memindahkan ibu pejabat operasi Guthrie dari London ke Kuala Lumpur sebagai tanda berakhirnya penguasaan Inggeris ke atas syarikat tersebut.

Tidak lama selepas Dawn Raid juga, Mahathir memboikot Persidangan Negara-Negara Komanwel (negara bekas jajahan British) yang diterajui oleh Britain. Menurutnya, mesyuarat itu hanya melebihkan kepentingan orang berkulit putih.

Beliau juga mengumumkan dasar baru kerajaan iaitu Dasar Pandang ke Timur. Dengan dasar ini , cara kerja Inggeris akan digantikan dengan cara pengurusan dan kerja orang Jepun, Taiwan dan Korea.

Hasil Besar dari Serangan

Operasi mengejut “serangan subuh” ke atas Guthrie dan dasar-dasar keras Mahathir memberi impak besar dalam masa yang cukup singkat.

Firma-firma British di Malaysia yang sebelum ini bersikap acuh tidak acuh kepada arahan kerajaan Malaysia kini akur membuka pintu rundingan.

Tidak lama selepas itu, tiga syarikat perladangan besar British di Malaysia — Highlands & Lowlands, Barlows dan Harrisons & Crosfield (H&C) akhirnya tunduk menjual kepentingan mereka di Malaysia kepada PNB. Hasilnya, tanah milik Guthrie dan tanah-tanah lain milik Inggeris di Malaysia kembali ke tangan rakyat Malaysia.

Oleh kerana H&C memiliki tanah ladang getah, kelapa sawit dan aset bukan sahaja di Malaysia tetapi di negara lain seperti di India, New Zealand dan Taiwan, PNB juga menjadi tuan tanah baru kepada asset-aset Inggeris dari seluruh dunia.

Dengan pemilikan baru ini, PNB selaku wakil orang Melayu muncul sebagai pemilik tanah ladang terbesar di dunia.

Lebih manis lagi, dalam temuramah dengan wartawan tempatan, Khalid memberitahu bahawa setelah PNB menjual aset Guthrie di luar Malaysia, keuntungan yang didapati melebihi jumlah kos yang diguna sewaktu Dawn Raid.

Kata Khalid “..kita sebenarnya mendapat Guthrie secara percuma.”

This entry was posted in KERATAN AKHBAR, Sejarah Islam, SOCIAL & POLITICS, Unsung Hero byADMIN. Bookmark the permalink.

By: pipspiper On 10:35 AM

Continue Reading

GST In Malaysia Explained

In Malaysia’s Budget 2014 speech, the implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST) was perhaps the hottest topic. To be introduced in April 2015, it will replace Malaysia’s Sales tax (10%) and Service tax (6%). Under GST, most of the goods and services (except basic necessities) will be charged a tax rate of 6% at every stage of the supply chain. The question now on everyone’s mind – How will life be after GST?

To identify the most likely effects, we must first understand the different implementations of GST and their mechanisms.

Types of GST

There will be three different categories of goods & services under the GST scheme in Malaysia. They are:

I. Standard-Rated GST

Goods and services in this category will be charged a tax rate of 6% at every stage of the supply chain. The tax is billed and collected by businesses and paid to the government. Every party except the final consumer can claim back credits on the GST they already paid (known as input tax). Examples of the goods in this category are cloth, car and fruits. The following diagram shows how Standard-Rated GST works:

II.Zero-Rated GST

Goods and services in this category will be charged a GST rate of 0%. This means that GST is not charged to the final consumer. But businesses CAN claim back credits on their input tax. Examples of goods in this category are basic food item (meats, fish and cooking oil) and first 200 unit of electricity per month. The following diagram shows how zero-rated GST works, assuming the final product is zero-rated but the raw materials are standard rated:

III.Exempt-Rated GST

Goods and services that fall in this category will be non-taxable and are not subject to GST at the output stage. This means that GST is not charged to the final consumer. But it also means that businesses, particularly the final party in the supply chain (before the final consumer) CANNOT claim back credits on their input tax even if they might have incurred it earlier on. Examples of goods in this category are residential property and health care services. The following diagram will give a clearer picture on how Exempt-Rated GST works:

Conclusion

GST is a progressive tax regime that will supplant the Sales Tax and Service Tax in Malaysia in the near future. Understanding its mechanisms will help us to better gauge its potential impact on our lives and prepare for it. Finally, if you would like to know GST’s potential impact on house property prices and home loans, look no further than Loanstreet’s explanation of how GST will impact property prices.

Source:

http://loanstreet.com.my/learning-centre/GST-In-Malaysia-Explained#sthash.eRE8ncTG.dpuf

By: pipspiper On 7:11 PM

Continue Reading

Who Controls The Global Economy? Do Not Underestimate The Power Of The Big Banks

Michael Snyder
Economic Collapse
July 25, 2013

Are the big banks really as powerful as some people say that they are?  Do they really control the global economy?  If y0u asked most people, they would tell you that governments control the global economy.  But the campaigns of our politicians are funded by the ultra-wealthy, the big banks and the large corporations that they control.  Others would tell you that the Federal Reserve and the rest of the central banks around the world control the global economy.  But the truth is that the Federal Reserve was established by the bankers and for the benefit of the bankers.  As you will see below, at the very core of the global economy there exists a “super-entity” of financial institutions that control an almost unimaginable amount of wealth and power.  These financial institutions and the ultra-wealthy individuals behind them are really the ones that are pulling all the strings.  In this world money equals power, and the borrower is the servant of the lender.  When you follow the pyramid all the way to the top, it begins to become very clear who really is in control.

In business schools all over America today, instead of dreaming of starting new businesses and contributing something positive to society, most business students are dreaming of going to Wall Street and getting rich.  But Wall Street doesn’t actually create or build anything of value for society.  Instead, the bankers make most of their profits by essentially pushing money and paper around.  In a recent article, Chris Martenson commented on this…

Today, some of the most celebrated individuals and institutions are ensconced within the financial industry; in banks, hedge funds, and private equity firms. Which is odd because none of these firms or individuals actually make anything, which society might point to as additive to our living standards. Instead, these financial magicians harvest value from the rest of society that has to work hard to produce real things of real value.

While the work they do is quite sophisticated and takes a lot of skill, very few of these firms direct capital to new efforts, new products, and new innovations. Instead they either trade in the secondary markets for equities, bonds, derivatives, and the like, which perform the ‘service’ of moving paper from one location to another while generating ‘profits.’ Or, in the case of banks, they create money out of thin air and lend it out – at interest of course.

But just because they aren’t adding much value to society does not mean that these big banks are not extremely powerful.  In fact, anyone that underestimates that power of these monolithic financial institutions is being quite foolish.

A team of researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich studied the relationships between 37 million companies and investors worldwide, and what they found was absolutely stunning.

What they discovered is that there is a “super-entity” of just 147 very tightly knit companies that controls 40 percent of the entire network…

When the team further untangled the web of ownership, it found much of it tracked back to a “super-entity” of 147 even more tightly knit companies – all of their ownership was held by other members of the super-entity – that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the network. “In effect, less than 1 per cent of the companies were able to control 40 per cent of the entire network,” says Glattfelder. Most were financial institutions. The top 20 included Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and The Goldman Sachs Group.

So exactly who are the companies that are at the core of this “super-entity”?

Well, almost all of them are banks or financial institutions.  The following is a list of the 50 “most connected” companies from the study, and the notes in parentheses are from Chris Martenson…

1. Barclays plc
2. Capital Group Companies Inc (Investment Management)
3. FMR Corporation (Financial Services)
4. AXA (Investments & Life Insurance)
5. State Street Corporation (Investment Management)
6. JP Morgan Chase & Co (Bank)
7. Legal & General Group plc (Investments & Life Insurance)
8. Vanguard Group Inc (Investment Management)
9. UBS AG (Bank)
10. Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (Bank)
11. Wellington Management Co LLP (Investment Management)
12. Deutsche Bank AG (Bank)
13. Franklin Resources Inc (Investment Management)
14. Credit Suisse Group (Bank)
15. Walton Enterprises LLC
16. Bank of New York Mellon Corp (Bank)
17. Natixis (Investment Management)
18. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (Bank)
19. T Rowe Price Group Inc (Investment Management)
20. Legg Mason Inc (Investment Management)
21. Morgan Stanley (Bank)
22. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (Bank)
23. Northern Trust Corporation (Investment Management)
24. Société Générale (Bank)
25. Bank of America Corporation (Bank)
26. Lloyds TSB Group plc (Bank)
27. Invesco plc (Investment mgmt) 28. Allianz SE 29. TIAA (Investments & Insurance)
30. Old Mutual Public Limited Company (Investments & Insurance)
31. Aviva plc (Insurance)
32. Schroders plc (Investment Management)
33. Dodge & Cox (Investment Management)
34. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc* (Bank)
35. Sun Life Financial Inc (Investments & Insurance)
36. Standard Life plc (Investments & Insurance)
37. CNCE
38. Nomura Holdings Inc (Investments and Financial Services)
39. The Depository Trust Company (Securities Depository)
40. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
41. ING Groep NV (Bank, Investments & Insurance)
42. Brandes Investment Partners LP (Financial Services)
43. Unicredito Italiano SPA (Bank)
44. Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan (Owns a lot of banks’ shares in Japan)
45. Vereniging Aegon (Investments & Insurance)
46. BNP Paribas (Bank)
47. Affiliated Managers Group Inc (Owns stakes in 27 money management firms)
48. Resona Holdings Inc (Banking Group in Japan)
49. Capital Group International Inc (Investments and Financial Services)
50. China Petrochemical Group Company

Are you starting to get the idea?

The global economy truly is completely dominated by banks and other financial institutions.

In the United States, the big banks are not just content to own other companies anymore.  Now, some of our largest banks are actually starting to directly get into businesses such as “electric power production, oil refining and distribution, owning and operating of public assets such as ports and airports, and even uranium mining”.  The following is an excerpt from a letter that several members of the U.S. Congress recently sent to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke…

We write in regards to the expansion of large banks into what had traditionally been non-financial commercial spheres. Specifically, we are concerned about how large banks have recently expanded their businesses into such fields as electric power production, oil refining and distribution, owning and operating of public assets such as ports and airports, and even uranium mining.

Here are a few examples. Morgan Stanley imported 4 million barrels of oil and petroleum products into the United States in June, 2012. Goldman Sachs stores aluminum in vast warehouses in Detroit as well as serving as a commodities derivatives dealer. This “bank” is also expanding into the ownership and operation of airports, toll roads, and ports. JP Morgan markets electricity in California.

In other words, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley are no longer just banks – they have effectively become oil companies, port and airport operators, commodities dealers, and electric utilities as well. This is causing unforeseen problems for the industrial sector of the economy. For example, Coca Cola has filed a complaint with the London Metal Exchange that Goldman Sachs was hoarding aluminum. JP Morgan is currently being probed by regulators for manipulating power prices in California, where the “bank” was marketing electricity from power plants it controlled. We don’t know what other price manipulation could be occurring due to potential informational advantages accruing to derivatives dealers who also market and sell commodities. The long shadow of Enron could loom in these activities.

You can read the rest of their letter right here.

This week, Goldman Sachs has been facing allegations that it has cost American consumers billions of dollars by manipulating the price of aluminum.  The following is from an article that was posted on CNBC…

Hundreds of millions of times a day, thirsty Americans open a can of soda, beer or juice. And every time they do it, they pay a fraction of a penny more because of a shrewd maneuver by Goldman Sachsand other financial players that ultimately costs consumers billions of dollars.

The story of how this works begins in 27 industrial warehouses in the Detroit area where Goldman stores customers’ aluminum. Each day, a fleet of trucks shuffles 1,500-pound bars of the metal among the warehouses. Two or three times a day, sometimes more, the drivers make the same circuits. They load in one warehouse. They unload in another. And then they do it again.

This industrial dance has been choreographed by Goldman to exploit pricing regulations set up by an overseas commodities exchange, an investigation byThe New York Times has found. The back–and-forth lengthens the storage time. And that adds many millions a year to the coffers of Goldman, which owns the warehouses and charges rent to store the metal. It also increases prices paid by manufacturers and consumers across the country.

If that sounds shady to you, that is because it is shady.

But as the big banks continue to gain even more power in our society, this kind of thing will become even more common.

So what can we do about it?

Not much.

Do you think that the media will tell us the truth about all of this?  I wouldn’t count on it.  At this point, there are just six giant media corporations that control more than 90 percent of the news and entertainment that you see on your television.  And those six giant media corporations are very hesitant to do anything that will damage their corporate owners or their corporate advertisers.

Do you think that our politicians will do anything about all of this?  I wouldn’t count on it.  In national elections, the candidate that raises more money wins more than 80 percent of the time.  Our politicians know where their bread is buttered, and as history has shown most of them are very good to the guys with the big checkbooks.

As I said at the top of this article, money is power, and according to a report that was released last summer, the global elite have up to 32 TRILLION dollars stashed in offshore banks around the globe.

The global economy belongs to them.  We are just living in it.

But hopefully if enough people start waking up, someday we will see some significant changes.

One of my favorite musical artists of all-time, Michael W. Smith, once wrote a song that contained the following lyrics…

Tell me, how long will we grovel at the feet of wealth and power?

Tell me, how long will we bow down to that golden calf, now?

(How long will be too long)

Will the people of the world ever get sick and tired of the overwhelming power of the big banks and start demanding changes?

That is a very good question.  Please feel free to share what you think by posting a comment below…

This article was posted: Thursday, July 25, 2013 at 5:52 am

By: pipspiper On 10:31 PM

Continue Reading

The US Debts

One Hundred Dollars

$100 - Most counterfeited money denomination in the world. Keeps the world moving.

Ten Thousand Dollars

$10,000 - Enough for a great vacation or to buy a used car. Approximately one year of work for the average human on earth.

One Million Dollars

$1,000,000 - Not as big of a pile as you thought, huh? Still this is 92 years of work for the average human on earth.

One Hundred Million Dollars

$100,000,000 - Plenty to go around for everyone. Fits nicely on an ISO / Military standard sized pallet.

One Billion Dollars

$1,000,000,000 - You will need some help when robbing the bank. Now we are getting serious!

One Trillion Dollars

$1,000,000,000,000 When the U.S government speaks about a 1.7 trillion deficit - this is the volumes of cash the U.S. Government borrowed in 2010 to run itself. Keep in mind it is double stacked pallets of $100 million dollars each, full of $100 dollar bills. You are going to need a lot of trucks to freight this around. If you spent $1 million a day since Jesus was born, you would have not spent $1 trillion by now...but ~$700 billion- same amount the banks got during bailout.

One Trillion Dollars

Comparison of $1,000,000,000,000 dollars to a standard sized American Football field and European Football field. Say hello to the Boeing 747-400 transcontinental airliner that's hiding on the right. This was until recently the biggest passenger plane in the world.

15 Trillion Dollars - US GDP 2011 & Debt

$15,064,816,000,000- The U.S. GDP in 2011. The debt as of Jan 1st, 2012 is 15,170,600,000,000. United States now owes more money than its yearly production (GDP). Statue of Liberty seems rather worried as United States national debt soon to pass 20% of the entire world's combined GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

114.5 Trillion Dollars

$114,500,000,000,000. - US unfunded liabilities To the right you can see the pillar of cold hard $100 bills that dwarfs the WTC & Empire State Building - both at one point world's tallest buildings. If you look carefully you can see the Statue of Liberty. The 114.5 Trillion dollar super-skyscraper is the amount of money the U.S. Government knows it does not have to fully fund the Medicare, Medicare Prescription Drug Program, Social Security, Military and civil servant pensions. It is the money USA knows it will not have to pay all its bills. If you live in USA this is also your personal credit card bill; you are responsible along with everyone else to pay this back. The citizens of USA created the U.S. Government to serve them, this is what the U.S. Government has done while serving The People. The unfunded liability is calculated on current tax and funding inputs, and future demographic shifts in US Population. Note: On the above 114.5T image the size of the base of the money pile is half a trillion, not 1T as on 15T image. The height is double. This was done to reflect the base of Empire State and WTC more closely. Everyone needs to see this. Source: Federal Reserve & www.USdebtclock.org - visit it to see the debt in real time and get a better grasp of this amazing number.

By: pipspiper On 9:44 PM

Continue Reading

Matthias Chang: America is Insolvent. Why Would China's Rating Agency Rate US Sovereign Debt AA When It is No Better than Junk?

Remember again that the economy is destined to collapse, to be replaced almost immedaitely by the “abundance program” or “wisdom economy” known as NESARA (National Economic Security and Reformation Act).  See articles on NESARA for more details.

By Matthias Chang

URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20176

Global Research, July 19, 2010

For all intents and purposes, the United States is insolvent.

This is not my personal assessment but that of world renowned “experts” and economists, and financial institutions. Just google “US Debts” and you can find thousands of analysts stating that there is no way that the US can ever pay off its debts. The US cannot even liquidate the accumulated interest on the outstanding debts. The debts are in the trillions!

The Casey Daily Dispatch observed:

The simple reality the Fed is waking up to is that the structural underpinnings of the economy are damaged beyond any quick or easy fix. That’s because until the debt is wrung out of the system, either through default or raging inflation – there’s no chance of it actually being paid in anything remotely resembling current dollars – the equivalent of an economic Black Death is going to plague the land.

The American rating agencies, Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch Ratings still give the thumbs up for the United States – a whopping AAA rating.  These same agencies gave AAA ratings to the CDOs and other financial products peddled by the Too Big to Fail Global Banks when they were in fact junk. It took the financial tsunami to expose their fraudulent practices.

So I don’t give too much credence to the ratings by these crooked institutions.

The National Inflation Association (NIA) believes that the real credit rating of the US should be junk. But you don’t have to believe them either.

So how do we know for sure that the US should be rated as junk?

Simple! Apply common sense to the facts before you.

Since the United States defaulted on its debts in 1971, when President Nixon refused global and sovereign creditors the right of redemption in gold for US dollars, it has been living on borrowed time. The United States conned the world into accepting its toilet paper currency and for those who dared to question the integrity of its fiat currency, the mighty US military was deployed to ensure compliance.

The global banking elites then employed subservient economists the world over to tout the merits of the floating exchange rate as the mechanism to determine a currency’s value. Countries were compelled by threats of war or coups to peg their currency to the dollar. The dollar became the “anchor” in place of gold. Trade had to be denominated in US dollar which gave the United States an undue advantage.

This “pegging” gave an illusion of strength of the US dollar and creditworthiness of the United States. While others have to produce and earn an income in a “local currency” and then exchange it for US dollars to import and or purchase goods (as over 80% of global trade is denominated in dollars), the “paper tiger United States” need only to print money to pay for goods and services when its income was insufficient to pay and sustain its standard of living.

For over 37 years, the United States got away with this con!

For over 37 years, people the world over sold their produce to the United States in exchange for a paper with a number printed on it, a number denoting its value i.e. a 100 dollar note etc. People just accepted the number printed on the paper as reflective of the “real value” of the currency. In reality it has no value. It costs a few cents to print the toilet paper currency.

Through slick propaganda, people were led to believe that the value is as printed on the paper. No one dare to question the absurdity of this proposition.

But now, we have reached the stage of total collapse of the global fiat currency system. Every country in the developed world is implementing the policy of “quantitative easing” (the central bankers’ jargon for creating money out of thin air) in a desperate effort to pay off mounting debts and compounding interest in the trillions. To a lesser extent, developing countries are also following the Washington consensus. The global financial system is flooded with toilet paper currencies.

What will be the endgame?

Let’s pause and think for a moment. Let’s apply common sense.

The US dollar $, the Euro, the pound £, the Yen ¥ etc. are all fiat currencies – they have no intrinsic value. Their value is a number arbitrarily printed on the paper and sanctioned by central bankers as “legal tender”.

In essence, they are all junk – toilet paper currencies. So how do they “float” against each other under the global floating exchange rate system?

This is where the fun starts.

How does one compare a junk from another?  How does one determine the exchange value of one junk from another?  A junk is a junk!

Forget about the market forces determining the values of the various junk currencies. It is determined by central bankers and no one else.

Whether a US dollar is equivalent to Ringgit 3.40 or Euro 1.18 or Yen 90 is arbitrarily decided by the respective central banks. And there is nothing you and I can do about it. If it serves the interest of a country to have its currency devalued, the central bank of that country will allow its currency to devalue and vice-versa.

Sometimes, the central bankers get their accomplices, the hedge funds to jointly manipulate the forex market through derivatives trading. And as long as the central bankers and their accomplices maintain the fluctuations in any one period of time in accordance with the parameters previously agreed by the central bankers, nothing much will happen. It is when central bankers cannot agree on the parameters that problems will emerge, often resulting in trade wars and even “hot” wars.

Don’t believe me?

I will give two examples:

The Plaza Accord

In 1985, at the request of the United States – France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom agreed to deliberately weaken the dollar’s exchange rate. At the material time, the United States was having huge trade deficits, especially with Japan. The agreement, known as the Plaza Accord, was to help the United States reduce its huge trade deficit to assist its economy to climb out of the 1980′s long recession. The intervention was so successful, that the dollar depreciated beyond its target level. By the end of 1987, the dollar had fallen by 54% against both the D-mark and the yen from its peak in February 1985. This sharp drop caused another panic – that of an uncontrolled dollar plunge.

To address and reverse the excessive depreciation of the dollar, the same group of countries agreed in 1987 to strengthen the dollar. This latter effort was known as the Louvre Accord. Another blatant market manipulation! Since when were any markets really free?

Why did England and France agree to participate in this blatant market manipulation? They owed US a big thank you for winning the Second World War. It was time for the US to collect past dues. In the case of Germany and Japan, being defeated nations and under occupation, they had no choice but to kow tow to big brother USA.

The Asian Financial Crisis

All you need to do is to recall what happened during the Asian financial crisis. The tiger economies were undermined and attacked and their currencies went into a free fall. Malaysia’s economic development was severely threatened. But the then prime minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad had the foresight and courage to take on the global financial elites and imposed capital and currency controls. The prime minister unilaterally fixed the exchange rate for the ringgit at RM3.80 to a dollar. Forex speculators took a major hit and never recovered from this surprise counter attack.

While this unprecedented intervention was executed to save the national economy and the livelihood of 23 million Malaysians, the global financial elites through the shadow banking system intervened to manipulate the market to reap obscene profits and to plunder.

We will now address the trillion dollar question.

How does China or the United States decide that one US dollar is equivalent to 6.7 Yuan or whatever rate?

Before addressing the question, it is important for us to understand how in a relatively short period of time, China was able to accumulate such a huge amount of dollar reserves and became the No. 1 creditor of the United States.

In their grand scheme for financial hegemony, the US financial elites proposed to the Chinese financial elites that in exchange for massive FDI and outsourcing of industries by the US, China must supply cheap goods to the American market and maintain an agreed exchange rate. This scheme was the lynchpin to an unprecedented expansion of credit in the global financial system, because such a rapid expansion of credit would be extremely inflationary. When China can supply the entire spectrum of goods at less than ten percent of the prevailing price, the financial elites knew that they could flood the global casino with dollars without having to worry about inflation.

And as they say, the rest is history.

This arrangement served the US and China well for two decades, in fact too well resulting in China having the largest dollar reserves in the world as well as becoming the largest creditor to the US.

Coming back to the trillion dollar question, as stated earlier the exchange rate is determined by the respective central banks. Of late, the Obama administration has been putting pressure on China to revalue its currency. In response to the pressure and to avoid a trade war, China allowed its currency to appreciate slightly. In fact, this happened just before the G-20 Summit in Toronto.

While the above arrangement (specifically the agreed exchange rate) has served its original purpose, it can no longer be sustained. This is because the current yuan/dollar peg is distorting the forex market and will exacerbate even further the present global financial crisis.

As a result of the global financial tsunami, the US is in default once again. But this time round, Obama cannot do what Nixon did in 1971.

The Daily Reckoning assessed the situation correctly when its subscribers were told:

Wait a minute. We’re still Number One, right?

Yes…in the sense that we can, in theory, kick any butt in the world. That is, if the Chinese let us. They’ve got so much of our money and so many of our bonds, if they decided to dump them, we’d be in one helluva fix. Because we don’t pay enough in taxes to fund our social programs and the Pentagon at the same time. We can’t afford it. So the nice Chinese lend us money.

But don’t worry. They’ve promised not to dump our bonds. And we’re sure they’ll honor that promise for as long as they want to.

As far as we know, no empire that had to borrow money from its rivals has ever lasted very long. Britain got itself in that position in WWI. It could no longer afford the carrying costs of the empire – including the huge cost of the war itself. So, it borrowed from the US. The Germans borrowed from US lenders too. But America’s lenders to Britain had more money in New York and more power in Washington. So, the US entered the war on Britain’s side rather than on Germany’s side.

Then, in WWII, when an American general was put in charge of D-Day, it was clear that Britain had ceded the lead dog position to the US. It was a friendly handover, achieved by force of economics rather than by force of arms. The US did not have to defeat Britain militarily. Instead, she merely had to finance her.

A few years later, during the Suez crisis, Britain learned what it was like to be a subordinate power. She discovered that she could no longer throw her weight around without US consent.

But that is on the military front. At home, Britons discovered that they were poor…and getting relatively poorer. Under the weight of growing social welfare programs and a shrinking empire, Britain’s economy sagged. Its old allies – France and the US – boomed in the post-war years. So did its old enemies – Japan and Germany. Soon, not only were its friends richer and more powerful…so were its adversaries.

So, we now have a ridiculous situation where the United States owes global creditors trillions of dollars (specifically China), is insolvent, yet, the exchange rate does not reflect the underlying weakness of the United States.

We also have the situation where China has been selling goods and services to the United States and is being paid in toilet paper currency that has no value other than the artificial and arbitrary value printed on the paper. China, in turn lends these toilet papers back to the United States so that it can purchase more goods and services from China. The United States has no money to repay China, so it creates money out of thin air, via the electronic printing press and use that to pay China.

Seriously, how long can this charade last?

Back in 1985, we had the Plaza Accord to bail out the paper tiger USA. The answer then was to devalue the US dollar. But Japan suffered two decades of stagnation.

Why have the same countries – UK, France, Germany and Japan not adopted a similar strategy at this juncture, thereby boosting US exports?

Simple!

1.    The US has outsourced so much of their previous exports to China and other countries that it does not have enough meaningful products to export anymore to make a substantial difference in the trade deficit.

2.    For the past decade, the main exports of the US were, and continue to be “Financial Products” – the junks wrapped up as CDOs and rated AAA and sold to gullible investors (i.e. gamblers) all over the world. The US was the centre of the global derivatives casino, managed by the Shadow Banking Cartel.

3.    There has been such a massive US dollar credit expansion in the last decade as well as toilet paper dollars in the global financial system that any attempt to devalue the dollar would result in an uncontrolled free fall, and the complete destruction of the economy of the US.

4.    And China by maintaining its current exchange rate with the dollar (and within a narrow band of fluctuation) has artificially maintained the current value of the US dollar to avoid the status of being downgraded to junk.

5.    Thus in the short term, China is complicit, together with other major central banks, in hoodwinking the ordinary folks that the global fiat money system is still in a healthy state. But, by downgrading the US one notch, China and the global elites hope that the con can be maintained for some time so that China as well as other countries can get out of their massive US dollar assets. But the situation is so volatile that no one, absolutely no one can say for sure when a child would cry out the proverbial exposé, hey, the emperor has no clothes!

6.    It is also obvious to the global financial elites that if there is a massive flight from dollar assets to euro assets, there would also be an uncontrolled plunge of the US dollar. The European global banks are also up to their eyeballs holding junk dollar assets and would thereby suffer huge losses over and above their exposure in euro loans to the “PIIGS” countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain). Unlike the time of the Plaza Accord, right now, no one wants dollar devaluation. When the slide starts, no one would be able to stop the plunge. Central bankers are sitting on a knife’s edge. Ouch!

7.    So, the “Greek crisis” was engineered to prevent such a flight from dollar assets to euro assets. Greece is “Mary Poppins” in the overall financial scheme of things. Its GDP is not even 3% of the Euro zone. In contrast, California is bankrupt and is more pivotal to the US economy. It is the 7th largest economy in the world. Yet, the bankruptcy of California did not impact on the US economy as it should. This is because the global mass media ensured that the bankruptcy would not be highlighted. The hype instead was that the euro would be heading for a crash. The result? The flight to euros was halted in its tracks.

8.    Someone threw the spanner in the works. The culprit in the eyes of the global financial elites was the indomitable Iran. China and Russia were playing geopolitical games in their trade relations with Iran in the hope that President Ahmadinejad would not spoil the party before they were ready to dump their massive dollar assets. The US and Israel played the hard ball role while China and Russia initially played the softy role so typical of the police methods when attempting to extract concessions and or confessions. But China’s and Russia’s true intentions were revealed, when exasperated with the resilience and defiance of Iran, they opted to impose severe sanctions on Iran. The quartet did not bother to maintain the farce. The nuclear weapons issue was merely a smoke screen to mislead the world of the impending financial implosion.

The downgrade by China must be seen for what it is – a stark warning that the end is near. The curtain has to come down on the charade.

Another signal that the end is near was when the Bank of International Settlement (BIS) swapped Gold as security for a dollar facility extended to a sovereign (most likely Portugal) via commercial entities. Gold, once considered a “barbaric relic” is now back in fashion in currency swaps. Who would have thought this was possible just a few months ago?  In a sense, we have turned a full circle. In 1971, Nixon decoupled gold from the US dollar. Today, the BIS have taken the first few steps in bringing gold back to its rightful place.

No matter how hard the central bankers and China try to prevent the sovereign debt bubble blow-out, they will not succeed.

Sooner or later, China has to make the decision of the 21st century – to dump the dollar and allow global economies to suffer severe pain in the short term, five to ten years, or commit mass suicide together with the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and Japan.

China at this moment in time is the only country that can survive the coming financial devastation with the least pain as it will be relatively easy to transform its economy from being export-driven to that of a domestic-based economy – tapping the limitless potential of its 1.5 billion citizens. China can do in one short year, maybe at the most two, what would take a generation for the other developed economies to do.

A marginal increase in the purchasing power of its citizens will take up whatever downturn in the export markets.

The fact that the Yuan is propping up the dollar means that it is the Yuan and not the dollar that is the undisputed global reserve currency. If China revalues drastically upwards the Yuan, every fiat currency would head for an uncontrolled free fall.

Let us not be naive and kid ourselves. It is pure pantomime for the US to demand from China to revalue the Yuan and for China to resist a revaluation. This so-called currency tug-of-war is a smoke screen to lend credence that the dollar is not junk but AA, albeit down one notch from AAA.

The fact that so many western-trained economists have not addressed and or exposed this issue can mean only two things – either they are truly ignorant or they are part of this grand charade, blowing smoke into our eyes.

Be patient.  Invest in Gold. Prepare for Act II of the financial Armageddon!

By: pipspiper On 8:54 PM

Continue Reading