Tag: finance

More than 24 hours have passed since Essex police were called to investigate a container truck with 39 dead bodies inside, including one victim believed to be a teenager. And while police have been tight-lipped, some new information trickled out on Thursday.

British media reported that all of the dead found in the truck were Chinese nationals, according to the BBC. The truck in which they were traveling was refrigerated. Temperatures in these types of trucks can get as low as -25 degrees Celcius, prompting some to speculate that the cooling system may have been turned on accidentally.

Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said conditions for anyone inside the truck were “absolutely horrendous.”

Police discovered the bodies at 1:40 am local time on Wednesday at an industrial park in Grays.

Initial suspicions have been confirmed: The Chinese nationals were likely victims of human trafficking.

Shaun Sawyer, the UK’s National Police Chiefs Council lead for modern slavery and human trafficking, said that while UK police had prevented thousands of trafficking-related deaths, “tragically, for 39 people that didn’t work yesterday.”

Reports that the lorry was from Bulgaria have been proven incorrect: Turns out, the truck is believed to have entered the UK from Belgium.

A map provided by the BBC shows that all of the information provided by police on Wednesday about how the cargo arrived into the UK was incorrect. Meanwhile, local churches held candlelit vigils for the victims.

The trailer arrived in Purfleet on the River Thames from Zeebrugge in Belgium. A truck came to pick it up, and they left the port at Purfleet shortly after 01:05. The truck unit came from Northern Ireland.

The Bulgarian ministry of foreign affairs said that it was “highly unlikely” that the deceased were Bulgarians, and that the truck was registered in Bulgaria under the name of an Irish-owned company.

The Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price for the area where the bodies were found called for an international response to the deaths.

“We have partnerships in place but those efforts need to be rebooted, this is an international criminal world where many gangs are making lots of money and until states act collectively to tackle that it is going to continue,” she said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was an “unimaginable tragedy and truly heartbreaking”.

Unfortunately, the UK isn’t a stranger to these types of incidents: In 2000, 58 Chinese nationals were found dead in a lorry at Dover after suffocating to death. Elsewhere in Europe, back in 2015, the bodies of 71 people were found in an abandoned truck on an Austrian motorway. Police believed they were victims of a Bulgarian-Hungarian human trafficking ring.

So far, the only lead is a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland who drove the truck. He was arrested and is the main suspect into a murder investigation that has been launched over the incident. He has been identified as Mo Robinson from County Armagh.

The latest Markit servey data released on Thursday confirmed that Germany’s manufacturing recession continues to broaden. The worst fears are now being realized as loose ECB monetary policy is failing to contain the economic slowdown as it successfully transmits weakness from manufacturing into the services and jobs market.

IHS Markit’s Flash Germany Manufacturing PMI remained little changed at 41.9 in October, a slight increase from September’s ten-year low of 41.7, however red alerts flashed below the surface as employment in Germany’s factory industry fell the most in almost 10 years.

What is just as concerning is that the weakness in manufacturing has clearly infected Germany’s relatively immune – until now – service sector, as Germany’s Service PMI fell to 51.2 from 51.4 in Sept, down sharply from 54.7 a year ago, and the lowest reading since Sept. 2016. Notably, New Business orders dropped to 47.6 vs 48.6 in Sept, the lowest reading since June 2013.

The Composite Index, registered 48.6 in October, little-changed from September’s near seven-year low of 48.5 and below the 50 unchanged level for the second month in a row. However, most ominously, the survey showed employment falling for the first time in six years.

🇩🇪 Stabilization in Oct manufacturing #PMI is encouraging, but the next months will tell how durable it is. More worrying for #growth outlook is the further weakness spilling over the service sector, raising the risk of a more protracted downturn. #Germany is not out of the woods pic.twitter.com/ldhnsty08D

— Aila Mihr (@aila_mihr) October 24, 2019

The rapid deceleration of manufacturing in Europe’s largest industrial hub has severely weighed on employment, now falling for the first time in six years according to Markit:

“October saw employment across the German private sector fall, albeit only slightly, for the first time in six years. Job losses were largely centered on manufacturing, where staffing numbers fell to the greatest extent for nearly ten years amid the widespread paring of temporary and contract workers. That said, a slowdown in service sector job creation to a three-and-a-half-year low was also recorded.

The drop in overall employment in October was in line with signs of easing capacity pressures and a deterioration in business confidence towards the future activity. Firms reduced backlogs of work for the twelfth month in a row and at the quickest rate for nearly seven years,” IHS wrote.

Commenting on Germany’s manufacturing recession spreading into employment is Phil Smith, Principal Economist at IHS Markit, who said:

“Hopes of a return to growth in Germany in the final quarter have been somewhat dashed by the October flash PMI numbers, which show business activity in the Eurozone’s largest economy contracting further and underlying demand continues to soften.

“Manufacturing remains the main weak link, though here there are some signs of encouragement with rates of decline in production and new orders easing and business confidence improving to a four-month high.

“Perhaps most concerning are the signs of increasing strain on the domestic economy, with the growth of service sector activity slowing to the weakest since September 2016 and employment now in decline for the first time in six years.”

IHS Markit highlight that the German services PMI dropped to the lowest since September 2016 pic.twitter.com/5PSX62MOIt

— Justin McQueen (@JMcQueenFX) October 24, 2019

The souring outlook in Germany is a clear indication the Eurozone might not see a recovery this year. The world as a whole, is stuck in a synchronized global downturn, where monetary policy is becoming less effective than ever before to generate a 2016 style rebound. The calls for fiscal stimulus by ECB authorities, global banks, and governments tell us that elites who run the world know that central banking died in 2019. This should terrify us all that central banks’ supposed monetary cannons, or let’s say monetary toolkits, are likely depleted. Who is ready for helicopter money and MMT?

The day has finally arrived.

After eight years of leadership, Mario Draghi is stepping down from the helm of the European Central Bank. His final press conference as ECB president, which will be held Thursday afternoon in Frankfurt, is expected to be something of a lovefest for the man whom many economists have credited with saving the euro (for better or worse).

Courtesy of Bloomberg

What’s more, seven years after his infamous promise to do “whatever it takes” (within the central bank’s mandate) to save the joint currency, Draghi will leave the central bank in the hands of Christine Lagarde, a former French finance minister and leader of the IMF who was appointed to lead the central bank despite having little in the way of pertinent experience, whose term begins next Friday. Back in September, Draghi did her the favor of setting the central bank on a new policy course by restarting QE (over the objections of one-third of the governing council’s members) but this time leaving it open-ended. He also lowered the already negative deposit rate to – 0.5%, rejiggered the central bank’s system for publishing forward guidance and much, much more.

While Lagarde has been pretty well provisioned, Draghi’s will leave his post under a cloud of uncertainty: Despite the central bank’s best efforts to revive economic growth in the eurozone, the bloc’s economy is instead teetering on the brink of another recession. And Draghi’s last meeting will likely be peppered with serious questions about the outlook for growth and the possibility of fiscal stimulus – will Germany step up to save the bloc from recession? It’s going to be an interesting meeting, to say the least.

Thanks to Draghi’s decision to follow the Fed with an about-face back toward stimulus, economists don’t expect rate hikes in the eurozone until 2022, two years into Lagarde’s term. The answer to the question of whether the central bank has done all it can do to save the underlying economy, while seemingly obvious to thousands of market participants who have watched economic inequality soar during the international QE experiment, still hasn’t dawned on many economists.

During his final press conference, Bloomberg’s economists David Powell and Maeva Cousin expect Draghi to deliver an even more forceful plea to national governments to step in with fiscal stimulus.

“Draghi will likely reiterate – if not intensify – calls for fiscal policy to play a larger role. He can afford to shout louder and perhaps be more specific about who needs to act now that he’s leaving office. Further details on monetary policy are unlikely to emerge.”

But that likely won’t be all for Draghi. Here’s a roundup of what to expect during his final press conference, courtesy of Bloomberg.

Inflation Miss

Despite unprecedented monetary stimulus, Draghi has fared worse than his two predecessors on inflation, falling well short of the goal of below, but close to, 2%. The rate was 0.8% in September, the lowest in almost three years.

Officials have pledged to pursue record-low interest rates and large-scale asset purchases until price growth is firmly in line with the target, which they don’t expect until after 2021. Investors are trying to judge whether more rate cuts will be needed, and how long quantitative easing can run without the ECB hitting self-imposed limits on how much debt it can buy.

Worrying Outlook

ECB chief economist Philip Lane said last week that the currency bloc is facing a more extended slowdown than previously anticipated amid global trade tensions. Consumer confidence is at the weakest this year, and a survey of purchasing managers showed Thursday that the economy remained close to stagnation at the start of the fourth quarter.

While euro-area officials expect a downgrade to growth forecasts in December, that may not be enough to provoke more action though. Last month’s divisive decision has left little appetite to add to more stimulus any time soon.

Stimulus Controversy

The dispute over September’s decision was extraordinary. A third of the Governing Council opposed restarting QE and some of them vented their frustration publicly, prompting the president to warn that such dissent can undermine the ECB’s credibility.

For the first time, skepticism toward ever-looser monetary policy reached beyond the region’s core. Italy’s Ignazio Visco – usually a strong supporter – signaled he would be reluctant to back another rate cut further below zero. His maverick colleague Robert Holzmann of Austria wants a return to positive borrowing costs.

Fiscal Boost

With monetary policy stretched, Draghi has cranked up his call for governments to boost spending, telling an audience in Milan this month that countries such as the U.S. where fiscal support played a bigger role after the financial crisis saw a faster return to price stability. He’ll almost certainly hit that subject again. Whether he’ll be listened to is another question.

Germany is the country best placed to act because of its economic heft and its budget surplus. Yet Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann is skeptical, and the government has been reluctant – though there are signs it’s warming to the idea.

Data next month should confirm that the nation slipped into a recession. Even if that sparks a fiscal response though, it’s not clear how much the rest of the euro zone would benefit.

And maybe, for old time’s sake, we’ll get one more glitter bomb:

Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,

Former British ambassador Craig Murray has published a very disturbing account of Julian Assange’s court appearance yesterday which I recommend reading in full. There have been many reports published about Assange’s case management hearing, but the combination of Murray’s prior experience with torture victims, his familiarity with British courts, his friendship with Assange, and his lack of reverence for western power structures allowed for a much more penetrating insight into what happened than anyone else has been able to provide so far.

Here is a small excerpt:

Before I get on to the blatant lack of fair process, the first thing I must note was Julian’s condition. I was badly shocked by just how much weight my friend has lost, by the speed his hair has receded and by the appearance of premature and vastly accelerated ageing. He has a pronounced limp I have never seen before. Since his arrest he has lost over 15 kg in weight.

But his physical appearance was not as shocking as his mental deterioration. When asked to give his name and date of birth, he struggled visibly over several seconds to recall both. I will come to the important content of his statement at the end of proceedings in due course, but his difficulty in making it was very evident; it was a real struggle for him to articulate the words and focus his train of thought.

Until yesterday I had always been quietly sceptical of those who claimed that Julian’s treatment amounted to torture — even of Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture — and sceptical of those who suggested he may be subject to debilitating drug treatments. But having attended the trials in Uzbekistan of several victims of extreme torture, and having worked with survivors from Sierra Leone and elsewhere, I can tell you that yesterday changed my mind entirely and Julian exhibited exactly the symptoms of a torture victim brought blinking into the light, particularly in terms of disorientation, confusion, and the real struggle to assert free will through the fog of learned helplessness.

This may be the most important article you will ever read. I’m not exaggerating. I beg you now to read it. #JulianAssange in Court – Craig Murray https://t.co/D42gqKDsMz

— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) October 22, 2019

Murray reports that there were no fewer than five representatives of the US government in the Westminster Magistrates Court that day, and that there were seated behind the British prosecutors and essentially giving them orders. The judge, Vanessa Baraitser, reportedly behaved coldly and snarkily towards the defense, smirking and refusing their requests without explanation, while behaving warmly and receptively toward the prosecution. Assange’s extradition hearing will commence without delay on February of next year, despite the case violating the 2003 US/UK extradition treaty, and despite new evidence emerging of CIA-tied espionage on Assange and his lawyers while he was at the Ecuadorian embassy. It will commence in a tiny Belmarsh courtroom with almost no room for the public to provide scrutiny, without Assange’s defense having adequate time to prepare.

Assange’s lawyer Mark Summers told the court that the case was “a political attempt” by the United States “to signal to journalists the consequences of publishing information.” And of course he’s right. Nobody sincerely believes that the 175-year sentence that Assange is looking at if he’s successfully extradited to the US by the Trump administration is a reasonable punishment for publishing activities which the Obama administration had previously declined to prosecute based on the exact same evidence, citing concern for the damage the precedent would do to press freedoms. These charges have nothing to do with justice, and they aren’t meant to be merely punitive. They’re made to serve as a deterrent. A deterrent to journalists anywhere in the world who might otherwise see fit to publish inconvenient facts about the US government.

This is obvious. It is obvious that the US government is destroying Assange to signal to journalists the consequences of publishing information. It is therefore also obvious that any journalist who fails to use whatever platform they have to speak out against Assange’s persecution has no intention of ever publishing anything that the US government doesn’t want published. Their silence on or support for what is being done to this man can and should be taken as an admission that they are nothing other than state propagandists. State propagandists, sycophants, and cowards.

Today in court, Julian Assange struggled to say his own name and date of birth as he appeared in the dock. He claimed to have not understood what happened in the case management hearing, and was holding back tears as he said: “I can’t think properly”.

— Tristan Kirk (@kirkkorner) October 21, 2019

Cowardice is driving public support for Assange’s persecution. Cowardice and sadism. Even if every single bogus smear against him were true, from the lies about feces on embassy walls to the still evidence-free allegation of Trump/Russia collusion, even if every single one of those ridiculous fantasies were true, his punishment to date would be more than enough. I mean, exactly how much torture is appropriate because your preferred candidate wasn’t the one who was elected? How weird is it that such entitled sadism goes unquestioned? To continue to call for more is to reveal your sick fetish, whether you’re one of the powerful people he pissed off or just another mindless repeater in the comments section. Enough. You’ve had your pound of flesh.

We are watching a great tragedy unfold in a fractal-like way, from the zoomed-out meta tragedy of the worldwide death blow to press freedom, drilled down to the personal tragedy of this death blow to a man called Julian Assange. His once encyclopaedic brain can now barely remember his own birthday. This guts me. There are no other minds on earth that understood the power dynamics of invisible imperialism and the Orwellian dangers humanity now faces as we hurtle towards and AI-dominated information landscape as well as his did. That mind has been purposely destroyed. We must never forget that. We must never forgive that.

It’s been a tough day. My heart has been hurting and my sighs have been long. The only brightness I can see through the bleakness is the quandary that appears to be emerging for these nationless plutocrats who are pulling the strings. The more they get their way, the more obvious their actions must necessarily be, because the thing they are attempting to do is so totally abnormal. Yesterday’s court proceedings were blatantly farcical, from the curious rulings, to the strange sight of US advisers interfering in a UK case about an Australian citizen, down to even the dismissive smirk on the judge’s face. None of this is normal, and when things aren’t normal there is a risk that people will notice, and things are only going to get stranger as they attempt to pull this off.

The only thing keeping people from really seeing what’s going on here is a thin layer of narrative management, and the only thing keeping them from acting on their seeing is feeling like they are alone in their seeing. Keep the pressure up, keep watching, and keep talking about what you’re seeing to anyone who will listen. It may very well save Julian’s life.

*  *  *

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When last year Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) hosted his second annual Future Investment Initiative, he was under international condemnation and scrutiny, and his invitation for major investment in modernizing the kingdom was immediately branded with pariah-status by global elites, given the event dubbed “Davos in the Desert“ awkwardly came a mere three weeks after the Oct. 2, 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the consulate in Istanbul. 

A year later we now know more about the Saudi state-sanctioned murder, with comprehensive investigative reports by the UN and CIA pointing the finger directly at MbS for ordering the grizzly hit and dismemberment, and though last year’s “Davos in the Desert” was boycotted by a number of high profile companies and CEOs, this year’s MbS-hosted investment forum in Riyadh appears business as usual once again, a mere one short year later. 

“Never mind the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi — there’s money to be made,” Axios aptly observes. 

“That’s the clear message sent by the list of grandees scheduled to attend the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia later this month.” 

CEOs from Wall Street, Silicon Valley and global industrial giants, as well as heads of state will flock apparently without qualms to the event set to begin Oct. 29, including India’s Narendra Modi and the man dubbed the ‘Brazilian Donald Trump,’ Jair Bolsonaro, and White House adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — all who skipped last year’s event due to the Khashoggi killing. 

Energy Secretary Rick Perry, World Bank president David Malpass, and former White House communications chief Anthony Scaramucci are also slated to attend, among other big names. 

Axios further lists top financiers attending to include Japanese billionaire Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, CEO of Citigroup Michael Corbat, as well as Tidjane Thiam, CEO of Credit Suisse, and Noel Quinn, CEO of HSBC. And further on the list are a who’s who of fund managers such as Ray Dalio of Bridgewater, Robert Smith of Vista, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, Larry Fink of BlackRock, Daniel Loeb of Third Point, and Barry Sternlicht of Starwood.

This after Wall Street largely boycotted last year’s event. Among the hottest topics is expected to be the question of Saudi Aramco’s delayed IPO, stalled following the Sept. 14 drone and missile attack on its biggest oil processing facility, after wide-spread skepticism over its touted $2 trillion valuation.

Bloomberg reports:

Senior executives from many of the 25 banks working on Aramco’s mammoth deal — which could see advisers sharing a fee pool of as much as $450 million — are set to attend next week’s meeting.

US State Department booked 45 rooms at Riyadh’s Burj Rafal Hotel for Kushner and Mnuchin to attend Saudi investment forum https://t.co/h2DBXQaRAp

— Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) October 21, 2019

Axios obtained and published a “Draft Narrative Program” of the program, which is marked “Not Final — Subject to Change,” which revealed many of the aforementioned names and a draft guest list.

See the whole program here

Authored by Kevin Baldeosingh via The Mises Institute,

The European Union’s objections to Volkswagen’s future factory in a non-EU state reveals that the Brussels bureaucracy doesn’t really want to help poor nations.

EU politicians and technocrats like to present themselves as progressive and enlightened policymakers. But that virtuous mask slipped last week after German auto giant Volkswagen announced that its new facility would be located in Turkey instead of an EU member nation. A news report carried in Zeit Online last Monday quoted German Green Party politician Reinhard Bütikofer as saying that Volkswagen’s decision has “caused consternation” within the European Parliament. This, Bütikofer said, was because of “the increasingly deteriorating situation of the rule of law, media freedom, and democracy under President Erdogan.” He also revealed that Volkswagen may face legal action from the EU Commission due to a breach of competition rules that bind member states.

If the Commission follows through on this threat, it will be bad for Volkswagen, bad for automobile buyers and, especially bad for Turkish people. Volkswagen plans to invest 1 billion euros in the multi-brand plant, which will employ around 4,000 workers. Bulgaria was reportedly the second-preferred choice but, as an EU member, was bound by funding regulations which constrained both Volkswagen’s and the Bulgarian government’s negotiation space.

Yet, while businesses are not charitable organizations, it is inarguable that Turkey benefits more from this investment, in relative terms, than Bulgaria would have (or Romania or Serbia, which were also considered by VW). Turkey has an unemployment rate of 13% as compared to Bulgaria’s 5%. More importantly, Turkey has more political tension than Bulgaria, so the very fact that VW is willing to set up a factory there sends a strong signal both internationally and internally about the need for political stability. Yet journalist Ivan Dikov argues in European Views that:

“In Bulgaria or Romania, the Volkswagen investment would have boosted tremendously the middle class, and thus the pro-Western, pro-EU orientation of the respective society (which have come under attack by foreign powers in recent years), and thus the potential of the respective country to contribute far more to the well-being, dynamics, and development of the entire European Union.”

Dikov is oblivious to the fact that he’s arguing for VW to support a middle-class, which is by definition relatively well off, over support of a poor class, which is the cohort that stands to benefit most from VW’s investment in Turkey.

It is therefore ironic that the issue of human rights is being raised by EU spokespersons as an objection to VW’s decision. The argument seems to be that a country should have its political house in order before any firm can in good conscience invest there. Yet the history of most European nations shows that economic development long preceded any expansion of political freedoms. Most of the time, it is economic progress which leads to liberal democracy, which is not surprising given that business is most efficient when free, whereas governments are always attempting to restrict citizens’ rights as much as possible.

Protectionism requires political connivance. And, although free trade was one of the key arguments used to justify the creation of the European Union nearly three decades ago, the EU’s true protectionist face is becoming more and more bared. As economist Ryan Bourne of the Cato Institute has argued, “The long and short of it is that the EU is internally trade liberating but outwardly protectionist…This is particularly obvious when one sees certain tariffs, like those on oranges, applied seasonally as protection against the South African harvest.”

Whether by accident or design, this policy is an economic carving knife aimed to separate poorer countries, like Turkey, from the benefits of free trade with wealthier nations.

Russia views Africa as a continent that will achieve supergrowth through 2050. The continent’s population is expected to double alongside energy consumption.

Moscow is making its move to strengthen relations with countries in the region; if that is through oil deals, increased nuclear cooperation, or defense contracts, the shift to Africa is being made today. 

What better way to show Washington that Africa is shifting to Russia than land two nuclear-capable bombers in South Africa.

The bombers touched down in South Africa on Wednesday, during the first-ever Russia-Africa summit in the southern Russian city of Sochi. President Vladimir Putin asked African leaders to double trade with Russia through 2025, Reuters reported. 

President @MBuhari meets President Vladimir Putin of Russia at the Russia-Africa Economic forum in Sochi. pic.twitter.com/FqU8Nc8Gb4

— Legit.ng (@legitngnews) October 23, 2019

#RussiaAfricaSummit #Putin #Africa pic.twitter.com/rQrL9ggbEI

— Rauf Mammadov (@RaufNMammadov) October 23, 2019

#Putin pledges to double trade with #Africa in 5 years #RussiaAfricaSummit #Sochi pic.twitter.com/5KUpwniNeK

— Ruptly (@Ruptly) October 23, 2019

South African Air Force officials reported that two Tupolev Tu-160 bombers landed at Waterkloof Air Base on Wednesday. At the same time, Russia’s Ministry of Defence released several statements indicating the mission of the planes is to foster increased military cooperation with South Africa. 

I was just sent this incredible video of one of the Tu-160s landing at AFB Waterkloof, taken from right under the approach path. pic.twitter.com/uwDZhtjBWE

— Darren Olivier (@darren_olivier) October 23, 2019

Russian nuclear-capable TU-160 bombers land in South Africa #Newsnight #Newsfile #NewsZERO #NewsAlert #News1st #news #Russian #RussiaAfricaSummit #Russia
#African #Africa #Putin #War pic.twitter.com/uzShF1VnTE

— codedtestament (@codedtestament1) October 23, 2019

Two Russian “Blackjacks”, the world’s largest supersonic nuclear bombers, arrive in South Africa for joint training. Putin hosts dozens of African leaders in Sochi. Russia is back to Africa. pic.twitter.com/HlqdW9Hf0g

— Murad Gazdiev (@MuradGazdiev) October 23, 2019

Earlier this week, we featured an article from Vanend Maliksetian via OilPrice.com, that outlined Russia’s recent move into Africa and the upcoming importance of this week’s meeting.

“Virtually all great powers have set their eyes on Africa as the continent’s global importance grows. Its population is set to double by 2050 and its economy is expected to expand significantly alongside its energy consumption. It is these projections that have driven Russia to invest heavily in strong relations in the region for when the continent’s explosive growth takes off. The Kremlin’s goal is to emulate China’s success in fostering economic, diplomatic, and military links with Africa. To become an important partner, Moscow is organizing the first-ever Russia-Africa summit on 23-24 October.”

President Putin’s expansion into Africa is to restore the Russian empire to its pre-Soviet collapse size. To do this, Russia must expand into Africa, and increase its imports of natural resources with the continent, increase arms exports with various countries, develop and share nuclear technology, and project power to Washington that Africa is pivoting to Moscow. 

“During the Cold War, Moscow maintained strong relations with countries embroiled in anti-colonial conflicts such as Angola, Mozambique, and Algeria. Russia’s strategy in regaining its position vis-á-vis Africa partly revolves in reinvigorating these existing relations,” Maliksetian wrote. 

Reuters noted that Tupolev Tu-160 bombers landing at Waterkloof is an example of strong diplomatic ties between the countries.

“Our relations are not solely built on ‘struggle politics’, but rather on fostering mutually beneficial partnerships based on common interests,” Russia said.

Maliksetian noted Russia is positioning itself in Africa as an “alternative to Chinese money and Western meddling.” 

President Putin on Monday told TASS News that Western powers have been intimidating African countries to exploit their natural resources. 

“We see how an array of Western countries are resorting to pressure, intimidation, and blackmail of sovereign African governments,” he said.

The global status quo is shifting, Western dominance of the world is deteriorating, the American empire stands to lose big if Russia and or China wins control of Africa. 

 

 

Authored by Daniel Lacalle via The Mises Institute,

The idea that governments can’t lower taxes because there is a deficit, but are free to raise all expenses even if there is a deficit can be found in many political manifestos these days. Central planners always see the economic challenges as a problem of demand, and as such cringe at the idea of prudent investment and saving. When GDP growth, gross capital formation, and consumption are lower than what Keynesians would want, they always blame the alleged problem on “too much saving.” This is a ridiculous premise based on the perception that economic cycles and excess capacity do not matter and if companies and citizens don’t spend as much as the government wants, then the public sector should spend a lot more.

That is why tax cuts are hated and government spending plans are hailed. Because tax cuts empower citizens while government spending empowers politicians. An extractive view of the economy in which politicians and some economists always consider that you earn too much and they spend too little.

The big bet of the huge increases in spending and taxes that we read about all over the eurozone is that:

a) these will not have an impact on growth,

b) they will improve public accounts and

c) they will exceed budget expectations.

However, we have empirical evidence showing that massive government spending plans and tax hikes generate the opposite effect: weaker economic growth, higher debt and larger imbalances. The probability of attacking potential growth, worsening public accounts and breaching optimistic estimates is more than high.

The empirical evidence of the last fifteen years shows a range of fiscal multipliers of public spending that, when positive, is very poor (below 1) and in most countries, especially with open and indebted economies, the fiscal multiplier of higher government spending has been negative.

Fiscal multipliers are particularly negative in times of weakness in public finances, and nobody can deny that the eurozone has exhausted its fiscal space after more than three trillion euro of expansive budgets in a decade.

More government spending will not spur growth in economies where the public sector already absorbs more than 40% of the GDP, and where the previous large stimulus plans have generated more debt and stagnation.

Adding tax hikes to the formula is even more damaging. The IMF analyzes 170 cases of fiscal consolidation in 15 advanced economies from 1980 to 2010 and finds a negative impact of a 1% increase in taxes of 1.3% in growth two years later.

Additionally, the vast majority of empirical studies going until 1983 and especially in the last fifteen years, show a negative impact of tax increases on economic growth and a neutral or negative impact of increases in spending on growth. Moreover, studies on the effect of bigger tax hikes on tax revenues reveal a negative impact on receipts. In fact, a 1% increase in the marginal tax rate may reduce the taxable income base by up to 3.6%.

The risk for the eurozone is huge because one of the main reasons for its stagnation is precisely the chain of massive fiscal stimulus plans implemented in the past two decades. To say that Germany should copy the fiscal strategy of France, a country that has been in stagnation for three decades defies any economic logic. There is no evidence that Germany is spending or investing ñless than what it needs, rather the opposite.

The problem of the eurozone is not lack of government spending or taxes, but the excess in both.

The string of spending increases announced daily in Europe disguise an extremely dangerous bet: that the ECB will bail out the eurozone forever, especially because the diminishing effects of monetary and fiscal policy are evident.

Tax cuts will not work either if those are not matched with efficiency improvements and red tape cuts precisely to ensure that public services continue to exist within thirty years.

Burdening the private sector with more taxes and increasing an already bloated government spending may lead the eurozone to the Argentine paradox. By ignoring the sources of wealth generation as well as job creation and expelling them with confiscatory and extractive policies all that is achieved is unemployment and stagnation.

The eurozone cannot expect to achieve the growth it has not delivered repeating the same mistakes, further weakening an economy that needs to bet on attracting investment, reinforcing growth and improving technology and the competitiveness of companies.

When politicians charge an economy with large and growing fixed costs, without prioritizing investment attractiveness, productivity and economic freedom, they jeopardize the welfare they pretend to defend.

The problem of productivity, growth, and employment is not solved by putting obstacles to investment and increasing extractive measures.

Growth and the welfare state are not strengthened by putting up political spending and debt as pillars of an economy.

Authored by Jacob Hornberger via The Future of Freedom Foundation,

The chaos arising from U.S. interventionism in Syria provides an excellent opportunity to explore the interventionist mind.

Consider the terminology being employed by interventionists: President Trump’s actions in Syria have left a “power vacuum,” one that Russia and Iran are now filling. The United States will no longer have “influence” in the region. “Allies” will no longer be able to trust the U.S. to come to their assistance. Trump’s actions have threatened “national security.” It is now possible that ISIS will reformulate and threaten to take over lands and even regimes in the Middle East.

This verbiage is classic empire-speak. It is the language of the interventionist and the imperialist.

Amidst all the interventionist chaos in the Middle East, it is important to keep in mind one critically important fact: None of it will mean a violent takeover of the U.S. government or an invasion and conquest of the United States. The federal government will go on. American life will go on. There will be no army of Muslims, terrorists, Syrians, ISISians, Russians, Chinese, drug dealers, or illegal immigrants coming to get us and take over the reins of the IRS.

Why is that an important point? Because it shows that no matter what happens in Syria or the rest of the Middle East, life will continue here in the United States. Even if Russia gets to continue controlling Syria, that’s not going to result in a conquest of the United States. The same holds true if ISIS, say, takes over Iraq. Or if Turkey ends up killing lots of Kurds. Or if Syria ends up protecting the Kurds. Or if Iran continues to be controlled by a theocratic state. Or if the Russians retake control over Ukraine.

It was no different than when North Vietnam ended up winning the Vietnamese civil war. The dominoes did not fall onto the United States and make America Red. It also makes no difference if Egypt continues to be controlled by a brutal military dictatorship. Or that Cuba, North Korea, and China are controlled by communist regimes. Or that Russia is controlled by an authoritarian regime. Or that Myanmar (Burma) is controlled by a totalitarian military regime. America and the federal government will continue standing.

America was founded as a limited government republic, one that did not send its military forces around the world to slay monsters. That’s not to say that bad things didn’t happen around the world. Bad things have always happened around the world. Dictatorships. Famines. Wars. Civil wars. Revolutions. Empires. Torture. Extra-judicial executions. Tyranny. Oppression. The policy of the United States was that it would not go abroad to fix or clear up those types of things.

All that changed with the conversion of the federal government to a national-security state and with the adoption of a pro-empire, pro-intervention foreign policy. When that happened, the U.S. government assumed the duty to fix the wrongs of the world.

That’s when U.S. officials began thinking in terms of empire and using empire-speak.  Foreign regimes became “allies,” “partners,” and “friends.” Others became “opponents,” “rivals,” or “enemies.” Events thousands of miles away became threats to “national security.”

That’s when U.S. forces began invading and occupying other countries, waging wars of aggression against them, intervening in foreign wars, revolutions, and civil wars, initiating coups, destroying democratic regimes, establishing an empire of domestic and foreign military bases, and bombing, shooting, killing, assassinating, spying on, maiming, torturing, kidnapping, injuring, and destroying people in countries all over the world.

The results of U.S. imperialism and interventionism have always been perverse, not only for foreigners but also for Americans. That’s how Americans have ended up with out-of-control federal spending and debt that have left much of the middle class high and dry, unable to support themselves in their senior years, unable to save a nest egg for financial emergencies, and living paycheck to paycheck. Empire and interventionism do not come cheap.

The shift toward empire and interventionism has brought about the destruction of American liberty and privacy here at home. That’s what the assassinations, secret surveillance, torture, and indefinite detentions of American citizens are all about — to supposedly protect us from the dangers produced by U.S. imperialism and interventionism abroad. One might call it waging perpetual war for freedom and peace, both here and abroad.

There is but one solution to all this chaos and mayhem  —  the dismantling, not the reform, of the Pentagon, the military-industrial complex, the vast empire of foreign and domestic military bases, and the NSA, along with an immediate end to all foreign interventionism. A free, peaceful, prosperous, and harmonious society necessarily entails the restoration of a limited-government republic and a non-interventionist foreign policy to our land.

Today in “when you have more oil money than you know what to do with” news, Abu Dhabi’s massive 11,612 square meter “Snow Park” is reportedly “well on its way to completion”, according to The National. 

The park, called Snow Abu Dhabi, will be home to the world’s largest “snow play area” and will be located in the upcoming Reem Mall on Reem Island. It is set to be finished by the end of 2020. Reem Island is a natural island 600 metres off the coast of Abu Dhabi island that is being jointly built out by property developers and real estate companies.

The entrance to the park will house an area called Snowflake Garden (make your millennial jokes here), which is described as an open-play area with attractions like ice labyrinths. 

The park will also host a Crystal Carousel, which is “centred around a twinkling winter forest and all the magical creatures found within.” 

…whatever the hell that means.

The park will maintain an indoor temperature of -2°C (always an easy task in the middle of the desert) and a snow depth of 20 inches. It will also include a retail outlet that will set hats and cold weather clothing. Which, of course, you can then promptly throw out when exiting the park into the 100 degree desert heat.

The park will also include an attraction called Flurries’ Mountain that leads to the park’s Enchanted Tree. The tree will soar above the park and will have “creative ornamentation” on each of its branches. Employees will be dressed as “winter wonderland-style characters” and, in sum, the park will host 13 different rides and games. 

Chalk this one up as another high quality use of resources in the middle east…