01 Poverty – Page 29 – Public Intelligence Blog

2011/08/18

John Robb: 147 Banks & Corporations as Global Financial Cancer, Gray Markets Fairs, Urban Foraging

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, Blog Wisdom, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Communities of Practice, Corporations, Corruption, IO Impotency, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth

JOURNAL: Global Financial Cancer

EXTRACT: A new paper, The Network of Global Corporate Control by Vitali et. al. from ETH in Zurich. This paper finds, through extensive network analysis, that a small group of tightly intertwined financial institutions control the bow of the global financial system. It is in effect, the world's first super-organism. 147 trans-national companies that the global core that is owned by itself (3/4 of the ownership of firm's in this organism are owned by firms in the organism). This organism is beyond governments. If it is self serving (and this shouldn't be too hard to assume), it is the equivalent of a biological cancer that has metastasized.

JOURNAL: Grey Market Fairs

Maker grey market ecosystem in China. Note how the Shanzhai Rules are reminiscent of the standing orders of OSW.

Foraging on vacant lots. The NYTimes dives in.

Phi Beta Iota: The day will come when the executives of the 147 transnational companies find themselves kidnapped, renditioned, and tortured until they make restitution by giving up the majority of their ill-gotten gains. We anticipate a mix of vigilante, criminal, and third world governments getting into this business. On the other end of the spectrum, we anticipate a massive withdrawal of normal people from the fraud-ridden world of banking and government-printed money. The two go together.

2011/08/16

Chuck Spinney: The S&P Downgrade Market Plunge Myth

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corporations, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement, Media, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy

editor spinney time — Chuck Spinney Sounds Off....

The S&P Downgrade Market Plunge Myth

Monday 15 August 2011

by: Dean Baker, Truthout | News Analysis

The Wall Street crew that wants to cut your Social Security and Medicare benefits are sensing that victory is in sight. They have managed to knock jobs completely off the agenda and have made deficit reduction the near exclusive focus of economic policy in Washington. They are now setting the stage to have the Congressional “super committee” produce a deal that will mean large cuts in both programs.

The backdrop for these cuts is that the country is in crisis and that we have no choice. A central part of this story is that the stock market crashed last week in response to the Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgrade of US government debt. The Wall Street crew and their allies in the media and Congress will tell the country that if we don't have the cuts in Social Security and Medicare demanded by S&P then we run the risk of further downgrades. This raises the prospect of further market panics and the complete wreckage of the economy.

This story has as much credibility as John Edwards' tales of marital bliss during his presidential campaign.

Read rest of article.

Phi Beta Iota: A couple of things are clear, the first being that Barack Obama is not in charge of anything, the second being that New York–Wall Street, Goldman Sachs, the Koch Brothers–is. From the Tea Party funded and manipulated by the Koch brothers, to the idiotic lack of intellent analysis from the newspapers and broadcast stage, what we have here is theater. The truth is nowhere to be found between New York and Washington.

2011/08/092011/08/09

John Robb: Soros Dumps Gold, Could Local Virtual Currencies and Local Water, Food, Energy, and Production be Next Big Thing?

01 Poverty, 02 Infectious Disease, 03 Environmental Degradation, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Policies

BIG QUESTION: Gold or Virtual Currencies?

As anticipated, we're on the brink of a global economic depression (again).

There's a strong possibility that a long running global depression will lead to a reshuffling of the global economic and political landscape. IF that happens, many of the fiat currencies we currently use will simply evaporate.

Given this backdrop, here's today's big question:

If the dollar and euro implode…

…will the next global currency be gold or networked virtual currencies (like bitcoin)?

Until the new currency platform emerges, the safest hedge for the future is building, buying, or trading for anything that can produce food, energy, water, and products locally.

Phi Beta Iota: George Soros has dumped gold and is largely off the stock market. John Robb is one of the best observers of chaos versus resilience–his advice above coincides with William Greider's finding in Come Home America, to wit, financial offerings are fraud, asset investments (at the local level) are real. What all of this leads up to is that we should all stop investing in old systems, and instead do the right thing: invest in bottom-up localized resilience that yields sustainable benefits for all–real assets for real people.

2011/08/052011/08/06

Koko: Bloomberg & Soros Do Wrong Thing Righter

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 06 Family, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Gift Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of Peace, Methods & Process, Reform

Can George Soros, Michael Bloomberg save New York's troubled young men?

CSM, 4 August 2011

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a $127.5 million plan Thursday to help young black and Hispanic men. The effort includes money from financier George Soros and his philanthropy.

Education

Socioeconomic and Health issues

Employment

Incarceration

UN + Start-Up Seek to Get Poor Online with Cell Numbers

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 04 Education, 06 Family, 07 Health, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Ethics, Gift Intelligence, Hacking, Key Players, Mobile, Non-Governmental, Real Time

Startup Aims to Get the Poor Online With Phone Numbers

By Stephen Lawson, IDG News

U.K. startup Movirtu plans to help 3 million or more people in poor countries use mobile services by giving them personal phone numbers, not phones.

Working with a U.N.-affiliated initiative called Business Call to Action (BCtA), Movirtu will offer the numbers, which it calls mobile identities, through commercial carriers in developing countries in Africa and South Asia. People in those countries who typically borrow phones from others will be able to log into the carrier's network and use their own prepaid minutes and bits of data.

The service is called Cloud Phone, though it operates within a carrier's own infrastructure rather than on the Internet as a classic cloud service would. Having a personal mobile identity can save users money in two ways, according to Ramona Liberoff, executive vice president of marketing, strategy and planning at Movirtu. First, they can use mobile services without buying a phone, which is a luxury even at US$15 or $20 for people making $1 or $2 per day.

Second, the cost of prepaid service from a carrier typically is less than what consumers in those countries pay someone to borrow a phone, she said. Though it's customary in many of these countries to lend a phone to someone in need, the borrower is also expected to pay the lender for the usage. The average savings from using regular prepaid service instead is estimated at about $60 per year, Liberoff said.

The service will help people to use mobile banking, insurance and farming assistance services as well as make phone calls, Liberoff said. Some of these services currently can only be delivered to individuals and not to someone sharing a phone. Personal mobile identities could be a boon to NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that want to use mobile technology.

Video: End of Poverty?

01 Poverty, Videos/Movies/Documentaries

Free full length video (1 hour 44 min)

Global poverty did not just happen. It began with military conquest, slavery and colonization that resulted in the seizure of land, minerals and forced labor. Today, the problem persists because of unfair debt, trade and tax policies — in other words, wealthy countries taking advantage of poor, developing countries. Renowned actor and activist, Martin Sheen, narrates THE END OF POVERTY?, a feature-length documentary directed by award-winning director, Philippe Diaz, which explains how today's financial crisis is a direct consequence of these unchallenged policies that have lasted centuries. Consider that 20% of the planet's population uses 80% of its resources and consumes 30% more than the planet can regenerate. At this rate, to maintain our lifestyle means more and more people will sink below the poverty line. Filmed in the slums of Africa and the barrios of Latin America, THE END OF POVERTY? features expert insights from: Nobel prize winners in Economics, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz; acclaimed authors Susan George, Eric Toussaint, John Perkins, Chalmers Johnson; university professors William Easterly and Michael Watts; government ministers such as Bolivia's Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera and the leaders of social movements in Brazil, Venezuela, Kenya and Tanzania.

2011/06/192011/06/19

Black on Black: Cornell West Nails Barack Obama

01 Poverty, 07 Other Atrocities, Academia, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Policies

cornell west plus — Click on Image to Enlarge

For blacks, a rift over Obama

Two Princeton scholars clash over the president's record, but the real divide is between assimilation and racial unity.

By Erin Aubry KaplanLos Angeles Times, June 19, 2011

It was the kind of insular, issue-driven, black-on-black debate that ordinarily doesn't attract the media spotlight, even on the slowest news day. But thanks to the unprecedented profile of Barack Obama, the most famous black person in modern history, this one got hot.

Read rest of above article….

The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic

Chris Hedges

truthdig.com, 16 May 2011

The moral philosopher Cornel West, if Barack Obama’s ascent to power was a morality play, would be the voice of conscience. Rahm Emanuel, a cynical product of the Chicago political machine, would be Satan. Emanuel in the first scene of the play would dangle power, privilege, fame and money before Obama. West would warn Obama that the quality of a life is defined by its moral commitment, that his legacy will be determined by his willingness to defy the cruel assault by the corporate state and the financial elite against the poor and working men and women, and that justice must never be sacrificed on the altar of power.

Read rest of above article….

Phi Beta Iota: Cornell West is a Nobel-level philosopher (when the Nobel is not being pimped by Nowegian politicans). He has kept his integrity when white men like Larry Summers and half-white men like Barack Obama have lost theirs–if they ever had it. This discussion is NOT about race. It is about integrity. West wins, Obama loses…as do we all.

Review: Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era

Review: Waiting for Lightning to Strike–The Fundamentals of Black Politics

Reference: Legitimate Grievances by Robert Steele

Reference: On the Issues from Abortion to War & Peace