- JFK Files Reveal Robert Kennedy And CIA Plotting False Flag Attacks To Provoke War With USSR
False flag conspiracy theories have arisen from thousands of global tragedies ever since pirates allegedly spawned the term by flying the flag of the home country they were preparing to attack. Of course, these “conspiracy theories” would be far easier to discredit if they’d stop coming true…
Alas, a recently revealed document from the so-called ‘JFK Files’ will only serve to stoke the flames of conspiracy theorists as it very clearly confirms a plot crafted by then Attorney General Robert Kennedy and the CIA to carry out a false attack that could be pinned on the USSR and serve as a basis for a U.S. “counterattack”.
According to a formerly “Top Secret” document summarizing a meeting from March 22, 1962, officials from JFK administration secretly strategized on the best way to “manufacture or acquire Soviet aircraft,” including a MIG 17 or MIG 19. Per the following except, plans ranged from building aircraft that could stand up “distant observation” or “close observation” and ranged in cost from $3.5 million to $22 million.
So what were these replica planes to be used for? Well, it turns out those details were laid out with some level of specificity as well…that is, if you can get beyond the brilliant efforts at redaction in the excerpt below…
“There is a possibility that such aircraft could be used in a deception operation designed to confuse enemy planes in the air, to launch a surprise attack against enemy installation or in a provocation operation in which Soviet aircraft would appear to attack U.S. or friendly installations in order to provide an excuse for U.S. intervention. If the planes were to be used in such covert operations, it would seem preferable to manufacture them in the United States.”
According to the Daily Caller, the meeting was held by the “Special Group (Augmented),” which according to an encyclopedia on the Central Intelligence Agency, included Attorney General Robert Kennedy, CIA Director John McCone, National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lyman Lemnitzer. And while not members, President Kennedy and Secretary of State Dean Rusk were said to attend certain meetings as well.
Perhaps it’s time to once again reassess what you ‘think’ you know…
With that, here is the full document:
- "Out Of Control Genicide" In Baltimore, Residents Support Martial Law
While in Baltimore City, Maryland, death and despair are a few things that are plentiful as the region descends into chaos. Deindustrialization coupled with depopulation started in the 1960s stripping the city of economic wealth. Many don’t want to admit, the city is shrinking as their looking glass is clouded with Kevin Plank’s gentrification narrative.
Wealth inequality in the area is some of the widest in the United States with more than 100,000 African Americans with zero dollars to their name, according to JPM. Baltimore is a skeleton of what it once was many decades ago when it had its industries.
Now, 46,800 homes are vacant– almost 16% of the housing stock as citizens are either leaving the area or being pushed into multi-family complexes by the city. Neighborhoods are rotting away as the local economy crumbles giving way to a surge in homicides. Baltimore is on track for the worse year ever with a homicide rate the highest in the United States.
Baltimore is home to about 615,000 people, but the city has more homicides than New York or Los Angeles, both of which have far larger populations. Earlier this year, Mayor Catherine Pugh called in the Federal Government in hopes to restore order. She was even quoted, “violence in the city is out of control”…
With the police department hemorrhaging officers, local community organized groups have taken to the streets in attempt to slow the momentum of out of control homicides.
The movement is called Baltimore Ceasefire and the group has held two weekend city-wide ceasefire campaigns of “Nobody Kill Anybody”… Both ceasefires have failed.
According to WSJ,
Most murder victims are African-American men, and shootings happen largely in areas where residents live surrounded by poverty, unemployment, drug addiction and crime, city police records show.
WSJ interviews Jackie Moodie, a resident of Baltimore who said
“I’m always looking around at my surroundings”…. Moodie’s 27-year old son, Sir Jamareo Moodie, was fatally shot in February.
“These children are so crazy. They get on drugs, they don’t care and they have guns. This is nothing but a bunch of genocide,” she said.
According to WSJ, Moodie supports “martial law” on the streets to stop out of control homicides,
At this point she would support “martial law” on the streets.
“They need it in the areas that are highly targeted as shooting zones, killing zones,” she said, noting that this month, three people were shot, one fatally, a short distance from a Northwest Baltimore police station.
In a preview of what’s to come, we reported on an incident over the weekend where the “police declared martial law” according to one citizen, after an entire neighborhood was shut down with the installation of checkpoints. The 4-5 day lockdown started late last week and ended Monday, after a police detective was executed in broad daylight.
And apparently police been standing on corners like this the last two days pic.twitter.com/y9Qrd2TSRe
— #KingDay Nov29th (@KINGDACEO) November 17, 2017
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- All The Old World Systems Are Being Deliberately Torn Down
Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com,
As we approach the holiday season many people turn to thoughts on tradition, heritage, principles, duty, honor and family. They consider the accomplishments and even the failures of the past and where we are headed in the future. For most of the year, the average American will keep their heads in the sands of monotony and decadence and distraction. But during this time, even in the midst of the consumption frenzy it has been molded into, people tend to reflect, and they find joy, and they find worry.
What perhaps does not come to mind very often though are the institutions and structures that provide the "stability" by which our society is able to continue in a predictable manner. While many of these institutions are not built with the good of the public in mind, they often indirectly secure a foundation that can be relied upon, for two or three generations, while securing power for the establishment. The problem is, the establishment is never satisfied with a static or semi-peaceful system for very long. They are not satisfied by being MOSTLY in control, they seek total control. Thus, they are often willing to create chaos and crisis and even tear down old structures that previously benefited them in order to gain something even greater (and more oppressive for the rest of us).
The official Thanksgiving holiday, for example, did not really begin as a homage to the colonial settlers and pilgrims of America's birth and their struggles to build a new life. While George Washington did proclaim a "Day of Thanks" in 1789, the model for Thanksgiving began far later, in 1863 as the Civil War was raging. It was the Civil War that upset the traditional balance of power between the states and the federal government, nearly annihilating the nation and asserting federal power as unquestionable for decades to come. A moment of great chaos which destroyed old institutions (like the 10th Amendment) but gave establishment elitists even more control in the end.
In Abraham Lincoln's proclamation for the Thanksgiving holiday, he stated: "In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity … peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict."
This may sound like a rather delusional claim on Lincoln's part as we look back now at that time period, especially for those who understand how much freedom was actually lost in the process. But this is what the establishment does — it provides some security and some stability for a time, then suddenly rips it away to frighten the masses into conforming to increased centralization, then it returns that security and stability afterwards as a reward for our compliance.
In 1864, Lincoln gave a second proclamation for a Thanksgiving holiday, stating that: "I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust." Now, I sometimes wonder if Lincoln was referring to reverence for God, or reverence to the power structure which was about to give back some of the predictability and tranquility it had taken away?
Well, America has enjoyed another period of relative calm in terms of institutional peace and most citizens have grown rather used to the idea that this calm is somehow the norm. However, it is becoming ever more clear that another shock to the system is coming, this time through domestic AND international events, and some of the old world structures we are used to seeing may not exist afterwards. Here are just a few…
NATO
The cold war era defense alliance between multiple Western nations is on the verge of breaking apart. Turkey, a key NATO ally in projecting power across the Middle East, has undergone a dramatic and aggressive shift towards increased totalitarianism recently. This has all been in the name of stopping a "coup," which is rather bewildering because there is almost no evidence of a coup actually being planned or attempted.
Ever since, Turkey has launched a campaign of anti-western sentiment and is embracing closer economic and military ties with Russia. Recep Erdogen's chief adviser has publicly called for Turkey's membership in the NATO alliance to be reconsidered.
At the same time, two dozen European nations have signed a defense pact this month, seeking to build a centralized European military and end dependency on the U.S. and NATO.
The old world military order is being upended. But to what goal? As stated earlier, the establishment is shaking up our conceptions of what is safe and secure. They are taking away the carrot to make way for the stick. When all is said and done, the goal would be a renewed interdependency between nations to a greater degree and a reduced and hobbled U.S. populace more easily frightened into submission.
OPEC
As I examined extensively in my article "Saudi Coup Signals War And The New World Order Reset," there is a vast change coming to the dynamic in the Middle East and specifically involving OPEC pillars like Saudi Arabia. The old order of oil trade and stability is about to crumble and be replaced with something much less agreeable to the U.S. economy.
It is important to remember that while oil and gas only make up about 10 percent of international trade, these are perhaps the most important commodities in the industrial world. Energy from petroleum sources is a root feeding all other trade and production. The fact that the dollar has been inexorably attached to this energy and production has allowed the U.S. a level of economic advantage that is perhaps unprecedented.
As multiple OPEC nations begin to question the validity of the dollar as the petrocurrency, and Saudi Arabia leads the way towards bilateral deals with Russia and China, it is imperative that we ask ourselves how much stability we can count on in the future of our currency? We also need to look at the systems that are being staged to take over from the dollar, including the IMF's SDR currency basket system and ask ourselves who is really benefiting from the derailment of old world dollar dominance?
Cash And Anonymity
While fiat monetary systems are an abhorrent creation that destroy economies slowly over time, cash at least has the advantages of being anonymous and existing in a physical space – hopefully your pocket. Unfortunately, current trends indicate that even these small consolations are about to be taken away.
Over the past several years, cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology have been touted in the liberty movement as the end all be all solution to central bank corruption and control. They were going to decentralize everything, and perhaps even collapse the banking system as we know it. These fantasies have so far been proven to be just that – fantasies. The primary investors and supporters of blockchain technology and cypto have turned out to be the international banks themselves. Globalist pillars like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are working fervently to push varying incarnations of the blockchain, and the goal is becoming increasingly clear: To eliminate all physical transactions in the near future and make digital systems the preeminent method of commerce.
I do not think very many people realize how world changing and catastrophic this development will be if it is allowed to continue. Cryptocurrencies were promoted as a means to stop international banking power, and now they represent a whole new level of centralization. The death of anonymity in trade means the death of individual freedom. It is that serious.
East/West Economic Order
Most alternative analysts have observed the economic power shift over the past 10 years from the West to the East. China is now the largest exporter/importer in the world, and is set to surpass the U.S. as the number one economy on the planet in the next couple of years. We have also seen a slow but methodical decoupling from the U.S. dollar as the world reserve currency. But, what many analysts mistake as a "positive move" by the East away from Western control is actually a deliberate dismantling of the old monetary order by the globalist establishment with the intent of creating a new world order.
As I have outlined and heavily evidenced in numerous articled, eastern powerhouses like Russia and China are quite public and open about their desire for a new monetary system, NOT under their control, but under the control of the IMF using the SDR basket as a bridge. Once again we see that the deconstruction of the old is almost always pursued to the benefit of the same people that have always been in control.
American Civility
Here at home, divisions have become extremely pronounced in the past few years. There was a time, not long ago, when the primary intention of political ideologues was simply to "win elections" and gain influence over societal norms through legislation. Today, the goal of ideologues is to outright destroy their political opponents by any means necessary, including lies, violence and subterfuge. The political Left in particular has, in my opinion, reached a point of no return in this regard.
The level of zealotry that has been achieved through "social justice" propaganda and cultural Marxism is staggering. There is no logic or reasoning with these people. They are essentially a cult. And while a large percentage of leftists claim they do not necessarily agree with the methodology of these cultists, they do nothing to stop them and often go along quietly with their objectives.
This zealotry and insanity designed to snuff out conservative principles and wreak havoc on American heritage is dangerous. Not because it will be victorious, per se, but because it has the potential to drive conservatives to opposite extremes and into the arms of a totalitarian government response.
When one side reaches a point of zero-tolerance for the ideals or even the existence of the other side, there is a potential for civil unrest. When both sides reach a point of zero tolerance for existence of the other, war is probably coming.
Of course, there should not be "two sides," but as many sides as there are individuals. And by merely observing the non-aggression principle and refusing to apply force to others except in self defense, much of these divisions could be defused. But presenting this solution is easy, making it a mainstay of our culture is another thing entirely.
The Old And The New Belong To Us
These holidays should not be a celebration of luck, which is what they have become. We should not be thankful for one more year without total crisis because the establishment "allowed us" to have it. If something "new" needs to be constructed within our societal framework, then it should be a change in our mentality in terms of how we view the stability of the old world.
These holidays should become a celebration of our own self reliance and independence. A reflection on how we provide our for own stability and continue our traditions. The existing and planned structures of establishment elitists should play no part in how we reflect and set our course. These systems should not matter. We should not need them.
What does matter? Conscience, freedom, family, responsibility, self reliance and integrity. The best traditions are built on these things. Everything else is a fiction, an illusion of solid ground under our feet that can be taken away at any moment by people who would have us abandon all that matters just to get that poisoned ground back again.
- Need A Jumbo Jet? China's E-bay Can Help You With That…
In a first for not just China, but the entire world, Alibaba’s online auction website, Taobao, has successfully auctioned off two Boeing 747-400 jumbo jets for a combined $49 million. The jets were bought by Chinese cargo airline SF Airlines after they were seized by courts during Jade Cargo’s bankruptcy proceedings in 2013. According to the South China Morning Post, the successful online auction was conducted after six failed private auctions.
Two Boeing 747-400 Freighters were sold on Tuesday on Taobao, the online shopping platform owned by Alibaba, for a combined 322.8 million yuan (US$49 million), reflecting the first time such jets were sold via online auction in China, and possibly the first-ever globally at online auction.
The sale was concluded after six failed attempts at offline private auctions organised by the seller – a state court – in the past few years.
SF Express, China’s largest private courier, bought the jets from the Intermediate People’s Court in the southern city of Shenzhen, which seized them after Jade Cargo International filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
Three Boeing 747-400s had been put up for sale on Taobao’s judicial auction arm from Monday to Tuesday. One of the jets parked at the Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport went unsold, with a starting bid of 122.6 million yuan.
According to rules on Taobao’s auction site, bidders were required to make security deposits of 6.1 million yuan, 6.7 million yuan, and 6.8 million yuan for the respective jets before the auction. The winning bidder now has 15 days to send payment in full according to Taobao auction rules.
Last year, Concord Aerospace, a Florida-based aerospace company, tried to sell a Boeing 747 jumbo jet on eBay, with a starting bid of US$300,000. The aircraft’s four jet engines had been removed and its electrical components had been stripped…needless to say, the plane didn’t sell.
And, for our next item, this entire Chinese Ghost City, complete with dueling horse statues, can be yours for an opening bid of just $10…any takers?
- The Saudi System And Why Its Change May Fail
The Saudi clown prince Mohammad Bin Salman is an impulsive tyrant. But what accounts for his urge to purge the country of any potential competing power center? Why does he run a such an activist foreign policy? The answer might be Iran. Not Iran the country, but Iran the system.
Since the U.S. war on Iraq the sclerotic Saudi Arabia continuously lost standing in its region. The Iranian model gained ground. A decade later the authoritarian Arab systems were challenged by the so called "Arab spring". While the movements in the various countries -as far as they were genuine- have failed, they were a warning sign for things to come.
Saudi Arabia reacted to the challenges by moving away from a sedate, consensual run family business towards a centrally controlled, supercharged tyranny. The move allows for more flexible and faster reactions to any future challenge. But it also increases the chance of making mistakes. To understand why this endeavor is likely to fail one needs look at the traditional economic and social system that is the fabric of the country. The fate of the Hariri dynasty is an example for it.
Since Salman climbed the throne he has moved to eliminate all competition to his rule. The religious establishment was purged of any opposition. Its police arm was reigned in. First crown prince Murqrin was removed and then crown prince Nayef. They were replaced with Salman's inexperienced son. Economic and military powers were concentrated in his hands. During the recent night of the long knives powerful family members and business people were detained. The Wall Street Journal reports of a second arrest wave. More higher ups have been incarcerated. This round includes senior military commanders and very wealthy business people.
As the prison for the arrested VIPs, the Ritz-Carlton hotel, is fully booked, the next door Mariott is now put to use. Qualified staff was hired to handle the prisoners:
As many as 17 people detained in the anti-corruption campaign have required medical treatment for abuse by their captors, according to a doctor from the nearest hospital and an American official tracking the situation.
…
The former Egyptian security chief, Habib el-Adli, said by one of his advisers and a former Egyptian interior minister to be advising Prince Mohammed, earned a reputation for brutality and torture under President Hosni Mubarak.
After the torture reports spread due to employees of local hospitals, a medical unit was established in the Ritz itself.
My assertion in earlier pieces, that one motive of the arrest wave was to fleece the prisoners, has been confirmed. The arrested rich people are pressed into "plea deals" in which they give up their assets in exchange for better treatment and some restricted kind of freedom. The aim is to "recover" up to $800 billion in so called "corruption" money. Thousands of domestic and international accounts have been blocked by the central bank of Saudi Arabia. They will eventually be confiscated. But Saudi billionaires have long been looking for ways to park their money outside of the country. The accounts which were blocked are likely small change compared to their total holdings in this or that tax haven. Historically the recoveries of such assets is problematic:
Asset recovery programs never really go quite to plan. They are beset by obstacles — most often in the form of wealth squirreled away offshore and political infighting over wealth seized onshore.
Most likely, Saudi Arabia will obtain a sliver of these assets — say in the tens of billions of dollars — a useful, but temporary, gain. What happens after that depends on how Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman re-sets relations with business.
The financial success of the MbS raids will be small. The financial damage he causes with his jihad against his own family members will be significant. It ruins his plans for attracting foreign investment:
“Half my Rolodex is in the Ritz right now. And they want me to invest there now? No way,” said one senior investor.
“The wall of money that was going to deploy into the kingdom is falling apart.”
One can not steal money from some people and then expect other people to trust assurances that such could never happen to them. MbS's big plans for Neom, a $500 billion artificial city financed by foreign investors, will fall apart.
To accuse princes and high officials of "corruption" is a fancy excuse. "Corruption" is how business is done in Saudi Arabia. It is tightly connected to the traditional ruling system. The king and his son are trying to change both:
Foreign investors tend to enter the Saudi market via partnerships with established business franchises or princes as they seek to exploit their domestic clout to navigate a complicated bureaucratic landscape.
The same goes for any state tender. To contract for building a road or public housing a company will have to find a prince or high official with the necessary clout. To get a tender signed it will have to promise, or pay upfront, a share of the expected profits. When the job is finishes it will need to come back to its protector to get its bill paid. No money will flow for the delivered work unless another bribe is handed over. Contracts are calculated with 40% on top to compensate for these necessary lubricants.
The systems works. The Saudi State has enough money to compensate for such distribution. The system is only problematic when a contractor delivers shoddy work, but can still bribe his patron into accepting it. Drainage man-hole covers in Saudi streets without the necessary drainage tunnels below them are a well known and despised phenomenon.
Rafic Hariri, the father of the Lebanese premier minister Saad Hariri, built a construction empire in Saudi Arabia by paying the right people. He knew how to work within the system. He was also a capable manager who ran his business, Saudi Oger, well. He was also the Saudis man in Lebanon and did his best to fulfill that role.
His son Saad never got a grip on the business site. By 2012, seven years after Rafic Hariri had been assassinated, the family business in Saudi Arabia ran into trouble:
Almost a year ago, the Saudis began keeping an eye on Hariri’s company, which reeked of corruption. Several high-ranking officials – some close to Saad Hariri – were accused of theft and extortion. But Hariri could not find a solution to the crisis, nor was he able to restore the confidence that the company lost in the market.
So he began a major pruning operation, laying off lower-level employees without any indication of objections to their job performance. The dismissals did not even spare Saudi nationals, leading to widespread dissent.
…
The Saudis once treated the company with care, providing it with contracts in the region’s biggest oil economy. Now, the company is suffering from internal disputes and theft. It became closer to a scrapyard for the Kingdom.
Saad Hariri had the wrong contacts, bribed the wrong people and delivered shoddy work which made his company an easy target. He also failed to be a reliable Saudi asset in Lebanon. There the Shia Hizbullah gained in standing while the Sunnis, led by Hariri, lost political ground.
The Hariri company took up large loans to finance its giant construction projects for the Saudi government. But by 2014 oil prices had fallen and the Kingdom simply stopped paying its bills. It is said to own $9 billion to the Hariri enterprises. Other Saudi constructions companies, like the Bin Laden group, also had troublesome times. But they were bailed out by the Saudi government with fresh loans and new contracts.
No new contracts were issued to Hariri. No new bank loans were available to him and his bills were not paid. The Saudis demanded control over Lebanon but Hariri could not deliver. In July, after 39 mostly successful years, Saudi Oger went out of business. The Hariri family is practically bankrupt.
Hariri's two youngest children, 16 and 12 years old, are kept hostage in Saudi Arabia. After the recent trip to Paris his wife also returned to Riyadh. The French President Macron had intervened and Hariri was allowed to leave Saudi Arabia. But Macron failed (intentionally?) to free him from Saudi influence. Hariri's financial means and his family are under control of the Saudi tyrant. He is not free in any of his political, business and personal decisions.
Hariri is pressed to now drive a political hardline against Hizbullah in Lebanon. He knows that this can not be successful but his mischievous Saudi minder, the Minister for Gulf Affairs Thamer, does not understand this. His boss, MbS, believes that the whole world can and should be run the same way he wants to run his country.
Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker has long observed how business is done in Saudi Arabia. His recent observations at a nightly desert picnic explains how the wider al Saud family used to run the country:
It was almost midnight when the prince held a Majlis, a traditional Bedouin ceremony in which tribesmen come to pay their respects and ask for charity. A line of men in white robes and red-and-white Arab headdresses stretched into the darkness. One by one they approached, removing their sandals, bowing and handing him pieces of paper. Some recited poetry. The prince scribbled on each cover sheet and put the papers on a stack.
Saudi Arabia used to run on such patronage:
Saudi society is divided by tribe, region, sect, degree (or nature of religiosity), and class. Although these various groups are only rarely organized in formal structures outside of the state, many developed special connections with specific state bodies, turning the sprawling state apparatus into constituencies of sorts.
…
Middle East expert Steffen Hertog has aptly described how the Saudi state emerged in the oil era: leading princes carved out structures they could dominate; state institutions worked in silos and coordinated poorly; and networks of beneficiaries, contractors, and influence brokers populated various bureaucracies. The Saudi state expanded rapidly into an uncoordinated group of what Hertog goes so far as to call “fiefdoms.”
High up princes take care of lower ranking ones. Each has common folks, clans or whole tribes he is supposed to take care of. Obedience is bought by controlling the "social" spending that trickles down through this pyramid. The princes make their money by having their fingers in, or "taxing", all kind of state businesses. It is this money that sponsors their luxurious life as well as the benefits they distribute to lower folks. This was never seen as corruption as it is understood in the west. For decades these tribute payments were simply owned to the princes. They had a birth-right to them.
MbS "corruption" drive is destroying that system without him having a replacement. Saudi Arabia has been run as a family business. Decisions in recent decades were taken by consensus. Every part of the family was allowed to have its cash generating fiefdom and patronage network. The rule of King Salman and his activist son are trying to change that. They want to concentrate all business and all decisions in one hand. But what will replace the old system?
Mohammad bin Salman's view of the world is that of Louis XIV – "L'etat, c'est moi" – I am the state. In his own view MbS is not just a crown prince or the future king of the state of Saudi Arabia. He, and he alone, is Saudi Arabia. He is the state. He let this view known in an interview with the Economist in January 2016:
[W]e have clear programmes over the next five years. We announced some of them, and the rest we will announce in the near future. In addition to this, my debt-to-GDP is only 5%. So I have all points of strength, and I have the opportunities to increase our non-oil revenues in many sectors, and I have a global economic network.
As I remarked at that time:
The young dude not only thinks he owns the country, he actually thinks he is the country. He has debt-to-GDP, he has ten million jobs in reserve, he has all women of Saudi Arabia as productive factor and he has scary population growth.
Does the guy understand that such an attitude guarantees that he personally will be held responsible for everything that will inevitably go wrong with his country?
Saudi Arabia and its state apparatus have for decades been built on an informal but elaborate system of personal relations and patronage. MbS expects that he can take out one part of the system, the princes and businessmen, and the rest will follow from that. That he will be the one to control it all.
That is a doubtful endeavor. The ministries and local administrations are used to do their business under tutelage. Eliminating the leadership caste that controlled them will not turn them into corruption free technocracies. Seeing the exemplary punishments MbS hands out at the Ritz the bureaucracies will stop working. They will delay any decisions out of fear until they have the okay from the very top.
Tens of thousands of tribal and clan leaders are bound to and depend on the patronage system. The hundreds of people who sought audience with Alwaleed bin Talal at the desert picnic will turn whereto? Who will take up their issues with higher authorities? Who will provide them with hand outs and the "trickle down" money they depend on?
Another target of Mohammed bin Salman's activities have been the religious authorities. Some critical sheiks have been incarcerated, others are held incommunicado. The Salman "revolution from the top" extends into their judiciary role:
Historically, Saudi leaders have propounded the view that the sharia is the country’s highest law and the overall legal system operates within its bounds.
…
the domination of the religious establishment in law is ending. The king and crown prince are clearly favoring (and fostering) religious figures who repudiate some long-standing official views.
Bin Salman is purging the religious establishment, the military, the competing members of the families, the business people and the bureaucracy. He wants to run the state on his own. He demands the right to review any decision in the legal, business and foreign policy realm. He has authority to punish people responsible for decisions he dislikes. Under his system any personal initiatives will become extinct.
The country is too big for one person to control. MbS can not take all decisions by himself. No large system can work like that. The people will soon become unhappy with his centralized and unresponsive control.
That centralization does not work well is already visible in his failing foreign policy. MbS wants to be seen as the indisputable "leader of the Islamic world". His hate for everything Iran originates there. The Iranian system of a participatory and democratic Islamic state is a living alternative to the autocratic model he wants to implement in Saudi Arabia. The western model of a "liberal democracy" does not adapt well to the historic social models that are prevalent in the Middle East. But the Iranian system is genuine and fits the local culture. It is the sole competition he fears. It must be destroyed by any means.
But all his attempts to counter Iran (even where it was not involved) have been unsuccessful. Saudi interventions in Yemen, Qatar, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon have been disastrous. Over the weekend the Arab League delivered the usual criticism of Iran but decided on nothing else. Half of the Arab League states, including the powerful Egypt, are not willing to follow the aggressive Saudi course. Mohammed bin Salman's grand scheme of using Israel and the U.S. to fight Iran in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran itself is unraveling.
The Saudi response to the competition of the Iranian system is a move towards more authoritarian rule. This is hoped to allow for more agile policies and responses. But the move breaks the traditional ruling system. It removes the sensible impediments to impulsive foreign policies. It creates the conditions for its very failure.
- India's $207 Billion Mess Is Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunity For Asia's Richest Banker
In October, we discussed Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s, decision to hand over $32bn to recapitalise India’s state banks. The motivation was India’s slowing growth rate and the need to add one million Indians to the workforce every month. Crippled by massive bad debts, the state-owned banks were struggling to extend more credit to the economy. The announcement caused a surge in India’s Sensex equity index, led by the banks. India has the second highest bad debt ratio of the world’s largest economies – possibly third since China’s official figure is patently incorrect.
Enter Uday Kotak, Asia’s richest banker (net worth over $10 billion) and managing director of India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Kotak is a self-made man. Turning down a job offer from a multinational, he set up a financial services conglomerate, beginning with bills discounting before adding stockbroking, investment banking, mutual funds and car finance. Kotak thinks he’s spotted a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” in Indian finance…so it probably bears considering. Nor is he alone as sovereign wealth funds and pension funds are also taking a close look.The opportunity is in India’s bad loans, as Bloomberg explains.
For India, it’s a $207 billion mess, a pile-up of bad loans years in the making that’s dragging on growth. For the nation’s wealthiest banker, it’s the kind of opportunity that very rarely presents itself.
What has billionaire Uday Kotak salivating is the government’s attempt to finally draw a line under delinquent loans, with recent steps to overhaul India’s bankruptcy laws and recapitalize state-owned banks. The moves are intended to lift a burden from the country’s banks and encourage them to accelerate lending, supporting economic growth.
Over the next year, the assets and debts of about 50 of India’s biggest defaulters may be sold off by court-appointed professionals, in a process in which banks are expected to take deep haircuts on their loans. The companies’ borrowings total an estimated 3 trillion rupees ($46 billion), close to one-third of total recognized bad loans in India’s banking system.
As the first tranche of bad debts comes up for sale, Kotak is focusing on the very steep discounts on offer from the bankruptcy process, especially in the steel sector.
“The whole insolvency and bankruptcy process is a once in a lifetime event,” said Kotak, the managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., in an interview. “Through this you could actually get assets that would give disproportionate returns for long periods of time.”
Funds controlled by Kotak Mahindra are looking at deals involving the assets and debts of some of the first 12 companies going through the bankruptcy courts, Kotak said. Industries including steel are of particular interest, according to the banker. Pricing of assets put up for sale should become clearer by the end of the first quarter, he said. Banks are likely to face losses of up to 60 percent on their loans to the companies headed for bankruptcy courts, according to Kotak.
Sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East and Southeast Asia, along with several global pension funds, have also expressed interest, Kotak said. He didn’t name the funds, but TPG, KKR & Co., Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and Clearwater Capital Partners LLC are among overseas firms who have said they might invest in stressed Indian assets.
In Kotak’s parlance, the Modi government’s move to resolve the bad-debt crisis is a “watershed moment” for India. However, bankruptcy has long had a flexible meaning in the country. Progress is being made as Kotak told Bloomberg.
The insolvency and bankruptcy law put in place by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government shifts the balance in favor of the creditor from the borrower, creating greater accountability for the family owners of India’s major companies, Kotak said. “For the first time, founders fear losing control of the company if dues are not paid,” he said.
The sense among some Indian executives that they could walk away from their debts without facing consequences was a major factor limiting past efforts to bring delinquent loans in check. The government’s announcement last month that it will inject a record 2.1 trillion rupees into state-owned banks is another sea change, in that it should give the lenders sufficient capital to write off bad loans weighing down their balance sheets.
However, there’s a catch. There is the potential for owners of bankrupt businesses to make bids in order to regain control of their assets at knock-down prices. Kotak is concerned about how the bidding process will be structured, as Bloomberg notes.
Kotak expressed concern about the way that the founders of defaulting companies are free to put in bids to regain control of those same assets through the courts. “In the absence of a change in the law, the promoter is well within his rights to bid,” he noted.
As a result, creditors should put in place safeguards, such as forensic audits of any such bidders, to ensure they haven’t willfully defaulted on their loans, he said. “If it is so, then they should not be allowed to bid,” said Kotak. “If the issue is that underlying asset got into trouble because of extraneous circumstances, like the marketplace or government policy, and not because of any issues with the promoter, then it’s a different category.”
The federal government has set up a panel to review provisions of the 11-month old bankruptcy law including whether to bar defaulting founders from repurchasing assets, India’s Corporate Affairs Minister P.P. Chaudhary said in a phone interview on Monday. “The implementation of the law has to be reasonable, justified and not opposed to public policy,” Chaudhary said.
Kotak Mahindra’s bad debt ratio stood at 2.6% at the end of March 2017, a quarter of the level of the banking system as a whole…and far superior to some of the worst culprits.
Kotak described India’s attempts to clean up its bad debt problem as a “watershed moment” and he believes that the next few months are critical for the Indian economy.
“You have the Indian courts, policy making system and several other moving parts that have to move in tandem. At this stage I feel reasonably confident that the problems will get resolved. But always be aware of something being different,” he said.
This is India after all.
- Thanksgiving: Celebrating The Birth Of American Free Enterprise
Authored by Richard Ebeling via The Mises Institute,
This time of the year, whether in good economic times or bad, is when Americans gather with their families and friends and enjoy a Thanksgiving meal together. It marks a remembrance of those early Pilgrim Fathers who crossed the uncharted ocean from Europe to make a new start in Plymouth, Massachusetts. What is less appreciated is that Thanksgiving also is a celebration of the birth of free enterprise in America.
The English Puritans, who left Great Britain and sailed across the Atlantic on the Mayflower in 1620, were not only escaping from religious persecution in their homeland. They also wanted to turn their back on what they viewed as the materialistic and greedy corruption of the Old World.
Plymouth Colony Planned as Collectivist Utopia
In the New World, they wanted to erect a New Jerusalem that would not only be religiously devout, but be built on a new foundation of communal sharing and social altruism. Their goal was the communism of Plato’s Republic, in which all would work and share in common, knowing neither private property nor self-interested acquisitiveness.
What resulted is recorded in the diary of Governor William Bradford, the head of the colony. The colonists collectively cleared and worked the land, but they brought forth neither the bountiful harvest they hoped for, nor did it create a spirit of shared and cheerful brotherhood.
The less industrious members of the colony came late to their work in the fields, and were slow and easy in their labors.
Knowing that they and their families were to receive an equal share of whatever the group produced, they saw little reason to be more diligent in their efforts.
The harder working among the colonists became resentful that their efforts would be redistributed to the more malingering members of the colony.
Soon they, too, were coming late to work and were less energetic in the fields.
Collective Work Equaled Individual Resentment
As Governor Bradford of the Plymouth Colony explained in his old English (though with the spelling modernized):
For the young men that were able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children, without recompense.
The strong, or men of parts, had no more division of food, clothes, etc. then he that was weak and not able to do a quarter the other could; this was thought injustice.
The aged and graver men to be ranked and equalized in labor, and food, clothes, etc. with the meaner and younger sort, thought it some indignant and disrespect unto them.
And for men’s wives to be commanded to do service for other men, as dressing their meat, washing their clothes, etc. they deemed it a kind of slavery, neither could husbands brook it.
Because of the disincentives and resentments that spread among the population, crops were sparse and the rationed equal shares from the collective harvest were not enough to ward off starvation and death. Two years of communism in practice had left alive only a fraction of the original number of the Plymouth colonists.
Private Property as Incentive to Industry
Realizing that another season like those that had just passed would mean the extinction of the entire community, the elders of the colony decided to try something radically different: the introduction of private property rights and the right of the individual families to keep the fruits of their own labor.
As Governor Bradford put it:
And so assigned to every family a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number for that end . . .
This had a very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted then otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content. The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little-ones with them to set corn, which before would a ledge weakness, and inability; whom to have compelled would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.
The Plymouth Colony experienced a great bounty of food. Private ownership meant that there was now a close link between work and reward. Industry became the order of the day as the men and women in each family went to the fields on their separate private farms. When the harvest time came, not only did many families produce enough for their own needs, but also they had surpluses that they could freely exchange with their neighbors for mutual benefit and improvement.
In Governor Bradford’s words:
By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine, now God gave them plenty, and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God. And the effect of their planting was well seen, for all had, one way or other, pretty well to bring the year about, and some of the abler sort and more industrious had to spare, and sell to others, so as any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day.
Rejecting Collectivism for Individualism
Hard experience had taught the Plymouth colonists the fallacy and error in the ideas that since the time of the ancient Greeks had promised paradise through collectivism rather than individualism. As Governor Bradford expressed it:
The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years, and that amongst the Godly and sober men, may well convince of the vanity and conceit of Plato’s and other ancients; — that the taking away of property, and bringing into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God. For this community (so far as it was) was found to breed confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort.
Was this realization that communism was incompatible with human nature and the prosperity of humanity to be despaired or be a cause for guilt? Not in Governor Bradford’s eyes. It was simply a matter of accepting that altruism and collectivism were inconsistent with the nature of man, and that human institutions should reflect the reality of man’s nature if he is to prosper. Said Governor Bradford:
Let none object this is man’s corruption, and nothing to the curse itself. I answer, seeing all men have this corruption in them, God in his wisdom saw another course fitter for them.
The desire to “spread the wealth” and for government to plan and regulate people’s lives is as old as the utopian fantasy in Plato’s Republic. The Pilgrim Fathers tried and soon realized its bankruptcy and failure as a way for men to live together in society.
They, instead, accepted man as he is: hardworking, productive, and innovative when allowed the liberty to follow his own interests in improving his own circumstances and that of his family. And even more, out of his industry result the quantities of useful goods that enable men to trade to their mutual benefit.
Giving Thanks for the Triumph of Freedom
In the wilderness of the New World, the Plymouth Pilgrims had progressed from the false dream of communism to the sound realism of capitalism. At a time of economic uncertainty and growing political paternalism, it is worthwhile recalling this beginning of the American experiment and experience with economic freedom.
This is the lesson of the First Thanksgiving. This year, when we, Americans sit around our dining table with family and friends, we should also remember that what we are really celebrating is the birth of free men and free enterprise in that New World of America.
The true meaning of Thanksgiving, in other words, is the triumph of Capitalism over the failure of Collectivism in all its forms.
- Labor Market Conundrum: Number Of Millennials Living At Home With Mom Continues To Surge
Nary a day goes by that President Trump and/or the talking heads on CNBC fail to mention the following unemployment chart as evidence that “everything is awesome” with the U.S. economy…
…which might be true unless you’re among the 95 million-ish Americans who have been looking for a job for so long that you no longer even count as a human being to the Bureau of Labor Statistics…
…or if you’re a millennial.
Despite being the most educated generation ever to walk the face of the
planet, at least according to their tuition bills paid by mom and dad, a
staggering number of millennials still can’t seem to land a steady job. Moreover, despite the steadily improving labor market, as the USA Today points out, the outlook for millennials continues to inexplicably deteriorate with 20% of 26-34 year olds currently living at home with mom versus only 17% back in 2012.The share of older Millennials living with relatives is still rising, underscoring the lingering obstacles faced by Americans who entered the workforce during and after the Great Recession.
About 20% of adults age 26 to 34 are living with parents or other family members, a figure that has climbed steadily the past decade and is up from 17% in 2012, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data by Trulia, a real estate research firm. The increase defies record job openings and a 4.1% unemployment rate, the lowest in 17 years.
Not surprisingly, a much larger portion of younger Millennials age 18 to 25 (59.8%) live with relatives, but that figure generally has fallen the past few years after peaking at 61.1% in 2012.
So why does the professional development of millennials continue to diverge from other generations? While one can never be sure, perhaps the answer to that question lies in the personal experience of young Heidi Toth who decided to quit her job, after gaining just two years of experience, to join a church mission for nearly two years. Then, after returning to work from her travels, Toth quit again in 2013 after a “series of layoffs modified her duties”…which we assume roughly translates to...”a bunch of people got fired which meant I had to work harder so I quit.”
After graduating from Texas Tech University with a journalism major in 2005, Heidi Toth, now 35, got a job quickly at a Provo, Utah, newspaper. But in early 2007, she went on an 18-month church mission, landing her back in the job market in the depths of the recession in 2008. Unable to find work, she moved in with her mother in Roswell, New Mexico, for nine months while she hunted for work and took part-time, low-paying jobs.
She was rehired at the Provo paper in spring 2009 but left again in 2013 after a series of layoffs modified her duties. After months of fruitless job searching and traveling, she returned to her mother’s house for three months until she was hired at a Lubbock, Texas, paper.
Toth was grateful she could live rent-free during her periods of unemployment. But, she adds, “It wasn’t ideal, professionally or personally.”
Prospective employers in larger, distant cities didn’t think she would be readily available for interviews. And at home, “I felt like I was back in high school,” she says. “I felt like I had to ask permission to go out.”
Meanwhile, as the Pew Research Center recently noted, even the Millenials that manage to hold a job and establish their own residence aren’t much better off as they now head more households living below the poverty line than any other generation and, in aggregate, represent nearly one-third of all impoverished households in the United States.
More Millennial households are in poverty than households headed by any other generation. In 2016, an estimated 5.3 million of the nearly 17 million U.S. households living in poverty were headed by a Millennial, compared with 4.2 million headed by a Gen Xer and 5.0 million headed by a Baby Boomer. The relatively high number of Millennial households in poverty partly reflects the fact that the poverty rate among households headed by a young adult has been rising over the past half century while dramatically declining among households headed by those 65 and older.
Of course, that’s all despite the fact that they only head just over 20% of all households…
Millennials are the largest living generation by population size (79.8 million in 2016), but they trail Baby Boomers and Generation Xers when it comes to the number of households they head. Many Millennials still live under their parents’ roof or are in a college dorm or some other shared living situation. As of 2016, Millennials (ages 18 to 35 in 2016) headed only 28 million households, many fewer than were headed by Generation X (ages 36 to 51 in 2016) or Baby Boomers (ages 52 to 70).
Of course, those aren’t the only stats that prove just how much those anthropology degrees are paying off…Millennials are also winning at the ‘cohabiting-couple’ game…presumably because it takes a village of millennials to cover one monthly rent bill.
Conclusion:
- THaNKSGiViNG 2017
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