03 Economy – Page 98 – Public Intelligence Blog

Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics and University Professor at Columbia University, was Chairman of President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers and served as Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. His most recent book is The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers our Future.

South Africa Breaks Out

NEW YORK – International investment agreements are once again in the news. The United States is trying to impose a strong investment pact within the two big so-called “partnership” agreements, one bridging the Atlantic, the other the Pacific, that are now being negotiated. But there is growing opposition to such moves.

South Africa has decided to stop the automatic renewal of investment agreements that it signed in the early post-apartheid period, and has announced that some will be terminated. Ecuador and Venezuela have already terminated theirs. India says that it will sign an investment agreement with the US only if the dispute-resolution mechanism is changed. For its part, Brazil has never had one at all.

There is good reason for the resistance. Even in the US, labor unions and environmental, health, development, and other nongovernmental organizations have objected to the agreements that the US is proposing.

Continue reading “Penguin: South Africa Opts Out of Predatory IMF/WTO System”

2013/11/022013/11/02

4th Media: Global Power Project (Part I, II, & III)

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, Commercial Intelligence

Part I: Global Power Project: Exposing the Institute of International Finance

This is the first of a series of exposés focusing on the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the very “visible hand” of financial markets. It is a continuation of the Global Power Project produced by Occupy.com. Part 1 examines the origins of the IIF.

Founded in 1983, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) describes itself as “the world’s only global association of financial institutions” with a membership that includes “most of the world’s largest commercial banks and investment banks,” along with sovereign wealth funds, asset managers, hedge funds, insurance companies, law firms, multinational corporations, development banks, multilateral agencies, credit ratings agencies and an assortment of other global financial and economic organizations. In short, the Institute of International Finance is the very visible hand of the global financial markets.

As the IIF notes on its website, its “main activities” include providing so-called “impartial analysis and research” to its members in order to “shape regulatory, financial, and economic policy issues….influence the public debate on particular policy proposals….[and work] with policymakers, regulators, and multilateral organizations… with an emphasis on voluntary market-based approaches to crisis prevention and management.”

It is also there to “provide a network for members to exchange views and offer opportunities for effective dialogue among policymakers, regulators, and private sector financial institutions.” The IIF proclaims it “is committed to being the most influential global association of financial institutions,” seeking to “sustain and enhance…. our extensive relationships with policymakers and regulators.”

The Institute of International Finance was formed at the beginning of the debt crisis of the 1980s, designed to establish a formal organization and representation for the interests of the world’s major banks and financial institutions. A meeting at Ditchley Park, England, was hosted by the National Planning Association (NPA) in May of 1982, which brought together senior representatives from major commercial banks in the industrialized Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries, as well as the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Jacques de Larosiere; other top IMF and World Bank officials; the Comptroller of the Currency of the U.S., C.T. Conover; and the Head of Banking Supervision at the Bank of England, Peter Cooke, among many others. [1]

Continue reading “4th Media: Global Power Project (Part I, II, & III)”

2013/10/302013/10/30

Paul Craig Roberts: Ignored Reality Is Going To Wipe Out The Human Race

03 Economy, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Communities of Practice, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, IO Sense-Making, Officers Call

Ignored Reality Is Going To Wipe Out The Human Race

To inform people is hard slugging. Everything is lined up against the public being informed, or the policymakers for that matter. News is contaminated by its service to special interests and hidden agendas. Many scientists or their employers are dependent on federal money. Even psychologists and anthropologists were roped into the government’s torture and occupation programs. Economists tell lies for corporations and Wall Street. Plant and soil scientists tell lies for agribusiness and Monsanto. Truth tellers are slandered and persecuted. However, persistence can eventually win out. In the long-run, truth sometimes emerges. But not always. And not always in time.

I have been trying to inform the American people, economists, and policymakers for more than a decade about the adverse impacts of jobs offshoring on the US economy. The word has eventually gotten out. Last week I was contacted by 8th grade students competing for their school in CSPAN’s StudentCam Documentary Contest. They want to interview me on the subject of jobs offshoring for their documentary film.

America is a strange place. Here are eighth graders far ahead of the economics profession, the President, the Congress, the Federal Reserve, Wall Street, and the financial press in their understanding of one of the fundamental problems of the US economy. Yet, people say the public schools are failing. Obviously, not the one whose students contacted me.

Continue reading “Paul Craig Roberts: Ignored Reality Is Going To Wipe Out The Human Race”

2013/10/292013/10/29

SchwartzReport: Fukushima Fries the West Coast 28 Ways — US Map & Links — Deeply Frightening, Pity There Is No One Attending to the Public Interest….

03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Academia, Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Lessons, Media, Officers Call

This is the latest on Fukushima and the impact it is making on the U.S. West Coast. This directly affects me, as well as tens of millions of other Americans, and there doesn't seem to be a thing we can do about it.

28 Signs That The West Coast Is Being Absolutely Fried With Nuclear Radiation From Fukushima
MICHAEL SNYDER – Global Research – Centre for Research and Globilization

The map below comes from the Nuclear Emergency Tracking Center. It shows that radiation levels at radiation monitoring stations all over the country are elevated. As you will notice, this is particularly true along the west coast of the United States.

Every single day, 300 tons of radioactive water from Fukushima enters the Pacific Ocean. That means that the total amouont of radioactive material released from Fukushima is constantly increasing, and it is steadily building up in our food chain. Ultimately, all of this nuclear radiation will outlive all of us by a very wide margin. They are saying that it could take up to 40 years to clean up the Fukushima disaster, and meanwhile countless innocent people will develop cancer and other health problems as a result of exposure to high levels of nuclear radiation. We are talking about a nuclear disaster that is absolutely unprecedented, and it is constantly getting worse. The following are 28 signs that the west coast of North America is being absolutely fried with nuclear radiation from Fukushima.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Fukushima Fries the West Coast 28 Ways — US Map & Links — Deeply Frightening, Pity There Is No One Attending to the Public Interest….”

2013/10/25

Jim Dean: Government Shut-Down and the Real Crimes Behind the Scenes — Wall Street Rules and Stealing the Gold

01 Brazil, 02 China, 03 Economy, 03 India, 06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Office of Management and Budget, Officers Call

Government shutdown and Chinese gold

EXTRACT

Gordon Duff first reported in Veterans Today another financial scandal motive for the Repubs wanting to hold up Obama Care. New regulations were going into effect to stop the cross collateralization of insurance company reserves, who are all owned by banks, so they could be market traded. The sums involved were astronomical.

“The Obama Care issue is about ‘funds in management.’ The health insurance industry, through investment banks and hedge funds, accounts for 35% of the entire investment capital of the United States.

This sector has been totally unregulated with, not just individual policyholders but industries and government forced to subsidize a health care Ponzi scheme where in some cases fewer than 3% of policy premiums were paid back in benefits.”

Continue reading “Jim Dean: Government Shut-Down and the Real Crimes Behind the Scenes — Wall Street Rules and Stealing the Gold”

2013/10/24

SmartPlanet: The Switching Economy Puts $5.9 Trillion Up For Grabs

03 Economy, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence

The ’switching economy’ puts $5.9 trillion up for grabs

By Tyler Falk | October 23, 2013

For companies around the world there are literally trillions of dollars worth of revenue up for grabs in what Accenture calls, in a new report, the “switching economy.”

According to the ninth annual Accenture Global Consumer Pulse Survey, which surveys consumer attitudes toward marketing, sales and customer service in 32 countries around the world, consumers are feeling more empowered to stop doing business with, say, a mobile phone provider or any other company if the customer service isn’t meeting their expectations.

Last year, there was a four percent jump — from 62 percent to 66 percent — in the number of people switching a company globally because of poor customer service. That’s a big increase from the 49 percent of people who switched in 2005 when the first survey was conducted.

The top five industries which see the most changes by customers are: consumer goods retailers (28 percent), retail banks (20 percent), Internet service providers (18 percent), wireless phone companies (17 percent), and landline phone companies (14 percent).

Those are the industries that have the best opportunity for taking advantage of the estimated $5.9 trillion worth of revenue that’s available worldwide from consumers switching companies.

Continue reading “SmartPlanet: The Switching Economy Puts $5.9 Trillion Up For Grabs”

2013/10/232013/10/23

SmartPlanet: China’s Global Investment in One Map

02 China, 03 Economy, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence

China’s massive foreign investment, in one map

By Tyler Falk | October 22, 2013, 5:32 AM PDT

Living in the United States, the scale of foreign investment by Chinese companies isn’t so obvious. Much of the $57.8 billion of Chinese investment in the U.S. since 2005 has been in the finance sector. I didn’t comprehend the scale of the Chinese investment until I visited Ethiopia earlier this month where nearly all the construction projects — including a major light rail line — were being done by Chinese firms (sub-Saharan Africa has the most investment from China of any region). Many huge factories on the outskirts of the capital city are joint projects between China and Ethiopia with the flags of both countries flying side-by-side. The redevelopment of a major road was paid for by Chinese government and is now dubbed “Ethio-China Friendship Avenue.” In other words, the scale of Chinese investment is overtly apparent in Ethiopia and many other countries around the world, if not as obvious in the developed world.

Heritage Foundation provides more insight into China’s massive investment all over the world with a new report showing moderate growth in Chinese investment so far in 2013 and the map above with total investment and contracts won since 2005. There’s also a fascinating interactive map with detailed information on Chinese investment for every country where it has investments over $100 million.

Most people I talked to in Ethiopia about all the Chinese investment had mixed feelings. They were glad for the investment — in just a few years the country will have its first light rail — but there’s also skepticism. What are their ulterior motives? Will all the investment ultimately help Ethiopians in the long run? Why us?

As Quartz points out, even if Chinese companies have nothing to hide there’s good reason to be skeptical. The main reason? A lack of transparency. In a report on 100 multinational corporations in emerging markets, Transparency International, an anti-corruption organization, shows that Chinese multinationals perform poorly. “Results show that companies from China lag behind in every dimension with an overall score of 20 percent (2 out of a maximum of 10),” the report said. “Considering their growing influence in markets around the world, this poor performance is of concern.”