This was the first collaboration I ever did with Chalie Boy, for Rapid Ric’s Fistful of Dollars mixtape hosted by Trae and Paul Wall five years ago.

Ric called all giddy, and emailed me an mp3 with the hook on it. I was impressed, and started venting on the uncharacteristically long verse immediately.

I don’t think I’ve done as many joints with anyone as I have with J (of Reelaktz), Element7D and Chalie aka the only one of them who still raps.

For what it’s worth, he was #6 on BET’s 106th & Park today.

You can download the original “Fuel to My Fire Fleaux (2004)” mp3 if you click for more…

Bavu Blakes & Chalie Boy – Fuel to My Fire Fleaux by mr.blakes@gmail.com

It is better to travel than arrive. Following strong markets across the board the road continues seemingly in one direction. All major asset classes are performing well. Only the government bond markets are only moving along without providing any strong gains over the current year.

Gold is moving head to head with S&P 500 leading the way to the so well known correlated trade of weaker US-Dollar, stronger global equity markets ad rising commodities.

Obviously October jitters have been forgotten and the current seasonality is supporting the possible continued rally into year end and possibly early 2010.

Once we approach and enter 2010 it will be necessary to address the sustainability of the current rally. Obviously timing being the most difficult issue.

The years ending with 0 tended notoriously to be the most negative for the equity markets. The last one being 2000 but also 1990 did not provide good returns. Sine 1886 the mean return for all the years ending with 0 is – 4,3% and the median negative 8,3%. There were only two notable exceptions following the WWII: 1950 and 1980, with 21.8% and 25,8% return.

Looking at the current bond yields spreads in US it appears that we may be about to hit a high as seen before only at the important equity market junctions in 1993 and 2003. This could mean that despite a negative seasonality impact the market could still master a positive year.

Both peaks heralded a multi-year expansion in equity prices.

The major question is the spread could contract. On the one hand the long yields could fall and on the other hand the short yields could rise. A reversal in this spread was a good guide to the end of low interest rate policy by the Fed. Watch for a turn.

Obviously short-term volatility is possible but the trend is your good friend till it ends.

30year yield spread to a 2 year yields. Source: Bloomberg

Federal Funds Target Rate. Source: Bloomberg

The British East India Company was a projection of force, though a commercial enterprise, to further British interests. The movement of goods across oceans from west to east and back again spread the cultural attributes of nations, though a case can be made that the spread of force was primarily a west to east affair. A negative impact on the east carried out exclusively for the return of profits was the imposition of Opium on the Chinese people. The character Burnham, in Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies says that “The war, when it comes [between Britain aka the East India Company, and China] will not be for opium. It will be for a principle: for freedom – for the freedom of trade and for the freedom of the Chinese people. Free trade is a right conferred on Man by God, and its principles apply as much to opium as to any other article of trade. More so perhaps, since in its absence many millions of natives would be denied the lasting advantages of British influence.” Is it man’s right to trade? Let’s take God out of the picture, and ask this a different way – Is “Manifest Destiny” or rather our country’s “expansion through trade”, only a western ideal, or have people been trading since we climbed out of the trees?

The importation of silks, spices, coffee, and of course tea, was of such value to the retail markets that global trade has always thrived. There have been land routes dating to pre-history in the fertile cresent. Naval routes between Aden, Yemen and Africa and India existed long before the Spanish, Dutch, and British, and American firms took risks while the Italian city states started western trading and banking prior to the rise of those western dominated trade routes.

But differences today manifest themselves in technology used to move goods; a tiered cost system that incorporates more modes of travel than donkey, camel and sailing schooners, i.e. rail, truck, supercargo/tanker, and jet. The profit motive hasn’t changed much. Viewed within the overall framework of globalization it is business as usual. But viewed within the framework of liberating women, and freeing the oppressed, it is as it always shall be; an ongoing fight. I, for one, wonder that if those ends were met tomorrow what would happen? Would trade cease? Would low paying jobs disappear overnight? How would business run better? Would it in fact become more cut throat because there are now twice as many people competing for the same job? Wouldn’t global trade be even more necessary if all peoples are allowed unrestricted movement to give them access to their own foods and other commodities? Who would run those businesses? How large would the multi-national corporations become then? Let us be clear that equality is essential to enlightened thinking and actions. No one deserves to be abused. All deserve an equal chance. But the logistics involved will be tremendous and bashing globalization which is and will continue to be the instrument of change in the coming centuries is biting the hand that feeds that change.

Maybe all the protestors and screamers have no plan and only want to delay the inevitable so they can come up with one that encompasses the fallibility of mankind in the areas of greed and power.

Globalization has yet to reach its zenith and will continue as technology works to integrate the entire world into a grid. Some say the loss of cultures in the 3d world, to use a 1st world term, is something to fight for. Others insist that these cultures are better off as jobs and modern goods are moved abroad and help bring these cultures into the future. Of course there is no right answer to this question, as there is no right answer to the question “Should mankind continue to populate a planet that has finite resources?” The answers are not available in any quantifiable measure, no one will listen to the logical answers, and as such it is left open for endless debate that has no near end in sight.

Jeg husker det så godt – min egen opplevelse av 9/11- det var som det var i går – og jeg har valgt å aldri glemme.

Arbeidsdagen var nesten slutt. Jeg hadde planer om å gå litt før, så jeg var på vei for å si hadde til mine kolleger. Det ble med planen. Vi hadde alltid tv stående på - for å kunne følge med på børsen, men svitsjet innimellom over på nyheten. Plutselig ropte en kollega at jeg må komme og se - og der på skjermen ser jeg det som kunne vært en actionfilm. Det var helt uvirkelig og vi blir alle stående som saltstøtter - uten hverken å kunne røre oss eller si noe. Vi trodde ikke det vi så. En ulykke? Ett fly har klar å fly inn i world trade! Det går ikke mange minuttene før vi ser det andre flyet som kommer - og vi forstår da alle sammen at dette ikke dreier seg om en ulykke - men om ren skjær ondskap, eller terror.

I tiden etter har vi kunne lese om historier, telefoner og sms, som ble tatt og sendt i timene før alt kollapset. Det er vondt å lese om tanker og følelser som raste igjennom hodene til alle de utsatte  – en ondskap som noen gav sitt liv for. Helt uforståelig for meg.

Det var hjertekjærende å se mennesker lete etter sine kjære – det beste de hadde i livet. En mor, en far, en sønn eller datter. Alle var de like elsket. Svarte, hvite, røde eller gule. De var alle mennesker med tanker og drømmer som de ikke fikk leve ut. Noen fikk aldri oppleve sine barn, eller det å holde sine kjære en siste gang og si ordene “jeg elsker deg”. Dette var mennesker som om morgenen stod opp som deg og meg og trodde at det ble nok en hverdag som alle de andre – men dagen ble en dag de aldri hadde drømt om. Plutselig stod de i en situasjon de aldri trodde de skulle komme opp i. Det å stå ansikt til ansikt med terroren og døden. Ja hva tenkte disse stakkars personene – som enten var isolert i World Trade Center som stod i brann eller i alle de fire flyene som ble kapret? Vi har i ettertid sett filmer om både World trade og det ene flyet, men en film kan ikke få frem hva de egentlig følte.

 8:46:30 (14:46:30 norsk tid) fløy American Airlines flight 11, rett inn i nordsiden av det nordligste hovedtårnet.

 9:03:11 fløy United Airlines flight 175, Boeing 767, inn i sørsiden av det sørligste tårnet med en hastighet på omlag 980 km/t, dette ble sendt direkte på fjernsyn av fjernsynsselskapene som hadde ankommet for å filme nordtårnet. Flyet traff tårnet mellom 78 og 84 etasje hvor en intens brann startet, en av redningsveiene var intakte gjennom treffsonen.

9:37:46 (15:37:46 norsk tid) ble United Airlines flight 77, en Boeing 757, fløyet inn i vestsiden av Pentagon og startet en intens brann. 

9:59:04 kollapset det sørlige tårnet, ca. 55 minutter etter at det ble truffet av flight 175. Hele området ble omgitt av en enorm gråhvit sky av pulverisert gips og betong.

10:03:11 styrtet United Airlines flight 93, en Boeing 757, i en åker i det sørvestlige Pennsylvania, ca. 240 km nordvest for Washington D.C. Flyet styrtet antagelig fordi passasjerene prøvde å ta kontroll over flyet.

10:28:25 raste det nordlige tårnet sammen, ca 1 time og 42 minutter etter at det ble truffet av det første flyet.

 17:20 kollapset bygning 7 i Verdens handelssenter, bygningen ble skadet da hovedtårnene raste sammen og det oppsto også mindre branner i bygningen.

Det ble et enormt vakuum i verden. Luften stod stille og alle satt målløse og stille tilbake. Hadde dette virkelig skjedd, eller var det nok en dårlig film. Nei dette var virkelighet – men virkeligheten var så smertefull at vi ikke klarte å tenke tanken.

Har livet blitt det samme etter 9/11- eller har vi alle begynt å tenke annerledes? Jeg har forstått at livet er så mye skjørere enn vi tror og at det skal ikke mye til før livet aldri blir det samme. Det som har skjedd har satt sine spor hos de fleste. Bildene av mennesker som grunnet varme kaster seg ut av world trade har gått verden rundt. Hvor fortvilet er du når du gjør noe slik. Et håp i havet? Dette må aldri skje igjen – men det skjer allikevel.

 I tillegg til 19 kaprere døde 2973 personer i terrorangrepet, derav alle 246 ombord på flyene, 2602 i tårnene og på bakken i Verdens Handelssenter og 125 i Pentagon. I tillegg er 24 personer fortsatt meldt savnet. Blant de døde er 343 brannkonstabler, 23 politimenn og 37 ansatt ved New Yorks havnevesen. Dette er mennesker som gav sine liv for å hjelpe – en kamp som var umulig å vinne.

Ut fra kaprernes bakgrunn og annen informasjon var det naturlig å anta at islamske ekstremister sto bak angrepene, og terrornettverket Al-Qaida ble utpekt til å være ansvarlige. Nettverkets leder Osama bin Laden gikk tidlig ut og benektet at de hadde hatt noen befatning med angrepene - men innrømmet senere at det var en Al-Qaida aksjon.

Terror er ingen løsning – hva med litt dialog. Jeg tror det ville være så mye bedre for menneskeheten. Vi må passe på så vi ikke utrydde hverandre!

“Du må ikke tåle så inderlig vel,
den urett som ikke rammer deg selv”

Name: jwinderl [mikrokiko]
Location: Munich, Germany
Link: http://mikrokiko.de/y2

Title: alerta(!)
Description:
<> is a digitally reconstructed warn-signal.
it inofficially rings the alarm and raises
the awareness of where to draw the line between world trade
and world hunger.

There is an old proverb, beloved of fisherfolk in Pakistan, that says when all else fails the sea will provide. Now, after centuries of surviving on fish such as the tuna and shrimp that thrive in Pakistan’s coastal waters, many traditional fishing communities are facing ruin as the sea is stripped bare by foreign trawler fleets and industrial overfishing.

According to trade campaigners, it is a story that is being replicated in poor fishing communities in developing countries across the world. And as the current round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations splutter back to life, the demise of Pakistan’s fishing communities is being held up as a warning of the impact that the moves to further liberalise global fishing could have on some of the world’s most deprived communities.

The Pakistani Maritime Security Agency (MSA), which polices fishing along Pakistan’s coastline, says there are currently 23 mid-size trawling boats and 21 trans-national trawlers operating with licences in Pakistani waters.

Local fishermen in Ibrahim Hydri, a small fishing town in the sparse Sindh coastal province, unload their fishing boats just yards from half-a-dozen trawlers with Chinese insignia in the town harbour. Many dispute the official figures, insisting that around 100 foreign ships have been spotted in local waters in the last 12 months.

“Since the government has let these foreign ships into our waters, our stocks have depleted and there is nothing left,” says local fisherman Abbas Ali. “For hundreds of years, our forefathers have fished these waters, but our children are going to end up beggars.”

He says the town’s small wooden fishing boats are no match for the trawlers. “It’s like trying to race a truck with a bicycle,” he says. “In just a few years, these people have come here, destroyed the sea, and stolen our livelihoods from us.”

Click here to read this article in full

D Day, Dooms Day, 9-11-01, 3 Tombstones of Democracy. What will happen if 9/11 truth & justice is not served? Everything points to a huge cover-up… Fiction clip based on facts by Mon Rasz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIeve1CG_GM

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xar6ly_v01-video-clip-d-day-911_school

Tags: 9-11, 9-11-01, 9/11, 9/11 Truth, Alex Jones, Architects & Engineers, Jean Marie Bigard, 911 Blogger, Bilderberg Group, Charlie Sheen, corruption, D-Day, David Ray Griffin, deaths, democracy, dictatorship, Dooms-Day, drumbeat, end, Enron, Eric Laurent, fear, freedom, history, Hitler, illogic,  justice, lives, logic, Mathieu Kassovitz, monuments, Nazi, Neils Harrit, neocon, peace, police state, politics, society, Sept-11-01, SS, Trilateral Comission, terrorists, trust, truth, Twin Towers, war, World Trade Center, WTC7

One of the highlights of my childhood was when my parents took my two brothers, my twin sister and me to the World’s Fair in New York. The year was 1964 and car travel from Maryland to New York was not quite as convenient as it is today.

The exhibits were awe inspiring! I remember the exact details of many of them. General Electric had a pavilion called “Progressland” which had a revolving theatre. As a child, I felt like I was a member of the Jetson family, circumnavigating the earth in outerspace, as I sat in the theatre seat. The exhibit was an audio-animatronics presentation of the progress of  the use electricity in our homes. Our world has gone so far beyond the use of electricity exhibited at the New York World’s Fair that it is unfathomable.

Disney’s creation of the “It’s a Small World” exhibition at the Pepsi pavilion was the exhibit that took the cake, for me, though. We were treated to a boat ride around the world with little dolls in their native garb dancing to the wonderful song the exhibit was named after. The song will be remembered by all of us in my generation. What vision Disney had back in 1964 for their company and our world’s economy!  I just read on msn.com that Disney has gotten the okay to build a theme park in China. That’s progress!

Yes, indeed, “It is a Small World” and it keeps getting smaller with each generation of bright, imaginative  young people. They are all our future!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com

World wide the equity markets are uneasy about global economics and the possibility of falling global trade. Even as COSCO, the large Chinese shipping company stated that they expecting a strong performance from the Baltic Dry Index and from shipping generally, few people listened.

Historically Q4 tended to be a week period for shipping into China. This could be due to stronger demand in Q1 as the Chinese New Year approaches. However this year could be different. Chinese imports featured predominantly over the last 6 months as China imported commodities on a large scale. It was greatly doubted that this pace of imports can be sustained due to slow global growth and the low but fast growing domestic consumption.

Now the missing part is falling into place. Chinese exports are increasing. Showing that possibly the global economy is gaining more speed than most of the investors is ready to admit.

The Baltic Dry Index is showing again some strength after months of consolidation. The new breakout could herald another lag higher which could bring the index closer to the highs experienced in 2008. This could be a bit too overoptimistic. Baltic Dry Index halved from the recent high of close to 4400 and move now some 40% higher. Judging by history it could reach new highs around 6000.  Does it sound unreasonable? See attached chart.

If this happens we may enjoy stronger global economy for longer which would help all the participants.

A pretty tall order I hear you say! Well I think it has been proved to us that the economic systems that have already been tried and failed are not the way forward.

Communism, showed us that the poor stayed poor and those within the Party were rewarded with power and wealth.

The recent financial crisis has also demonstrated that the few with control of the money in a Capitalist system become corrupted by their own success.

Both systems will fail, and with communism most of the world has moved on from that model. However we are still clinging to the vain hope that Capitalism will bring us all the Dream of wealth and luxury!

You have a greater chance of winning the Lottery than believing this will be the future. Already the seeds are sown for the next financial downturn.

What we need is the likes of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the G8 to realize that leaving the bankers in charge will not bring the prosperity their countries strive for.

Simply put, economies need to be managed in a way that brings dignity to all.

The WTO’s Free Trade model ensures that Global Businesses will always move jobs to the countries with the lowest cost of operation. This works for a while, but in the end the countries they movede out of, hoping to sell their goods and services back to at greater profit cannot sustain their spending through continual borrowing.

With the Global warming crisis adding to the need to find a sustainable solution quickly, my plan would help maintain the current level of production of goods and services, but reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and provide meaningful employment for those countries currently experiencing ever growing levels of unemployment.

The solution is to manage the Global Economy, by moving manufacturing and services closer to their place of consumption. This can be achieved by limiting the amount of goods and services a country can export, and imposing environmental taxes on the transport of goods, and services over long distances.

India will seek continuance of the stimulus package that was devised to get the global economy out of the worst crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh .

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who leads the Indian delegation at the summit being hosted by President Barack Obama, will voice developing countries views that the developed countries should return to the trend growth and stabilization of the banking and financial sectors.

Such measures affects exports, capital flows and investment of the developing economies.

Indian PM is going to pitch strongly against any attempts at protectionism and advocating reforms of the international financial institutions in this G 20 Summit .

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla are among the members of the Indian delegation which attending the summit.

This Summit will also be attended by world leaders including British Prime Minister, German Chancellor, French President  among others.

The summit represents 90 per cent of the world’s GDP, 80 per cent of the world trade and two-thirds of humanity.

The summit is important for emerging economies like India, which have been affected by the global economic crisis not of its making, to tell the world that there was need to continue the stimulus package that was agreed at the Washington summit last November and a decision to pump in USD 1.1 trillion was decided at the London Summit in April last.

Indian delegation are of view that the continuance of the stimulus package was in the interest of the poor countries and the emerging economies and developed economies should not adopt any strategy to exit from it.

India will voice strongly the need for avoiding the temptation to resort to protectionism by the developed countries under the present crisis.

WASHINGTON – The world’s major powers are repeatedly breaking their pledges not to erect trade barriers, and there is no sign the “protectionist juggernaut” will ease as countries recover from the global downturn, an influential monitoring organization said Friday.

Since first taking a no-protectionism vow at a summit meeting last November, the world’s 20 major economies have been responsible for as many as 121 “blatantly protectionist” measures, with 134 more in the pipeline, said Global Trade Alert, a monitoring service overseen by the London-based Centre for Economic Policy Research and supported by the World Bank and other international organizations.

The findings, bound to come up at next week’s Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, follow a report earlier in the week by the Geneva-based World Trade Organization that cited “continued slippage toward more trade restricting and distorting policies” by the U.S. and its major trading partners.

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Baltimore Docks

I’m starting to really love night photography.  Nothing excites me more when I am on the road then to take a walk to get some great night skyline photos.  Downtown Baltimore has so many places to go to get great pics.  Every corner you turn is another great shot.  Like Boston, the water and beautiful boats just make the scenery that much more amazing.  I grabbed the below shot of the docks next to the Rusty Scupper over looking the harbor.  The tall building in the back is the World Trade Center and the indoor rain-forest and Baltimore Aquarium sit to the right.  I tried to do some HDR here.  I took my first shot at f/3.5 2.5 s ISO 100 18mm and then -2, and +2.  3 merged photographs.  I think it turned out pretty good.

President Obama did the right thing in putting a tariff on the Chinese tires that were being dumped in America. If we are ever going to get our country back on its feet, we need to manufacture more than movies and software. And as manufacturing becomes more automated the Chinese cheap labor will become less of an advantage.

Of course the MSM recoils at any thought of a trade war, positioning this as Obama just doing the Unions bidding, and worrying that the Chinese will stop buying our Treasury Bills. But the reality is quite different.

But China now finances a much smaller portion of American borrowing than a year ago. The savings rate in the United States has climbed during the recession and many private investors around the world have been seeking the safety of Treasuries.

At the same time, the Chinese economy relies heavily on exports to the United States, while the American economy is much less dependent on exports in the other direction. Exports to the United States, at 6 percent of China’s entire economic output, account for 13 times as large a share of the Chinese economy as exports to China represent for the United States economy.

The Chinese cannot sell their treasury position easily, and besides as Vince Farrell points out, there are many other foreign buyers.

The week of Treasury financings finished with a flourish on Thursday when an offering of 30-year bonds was well received. The bid-to-cover ratio was 2.92 (meaning $292 was bid for every $100 in bonds offered), and indirect buying (foreign buying) was a robust 46.5%. Recent ratios were 2.36 bid-to-cover and 43.4% indirect. The strength of our bond market and the ease with which new offerings are placed would indicate that inflation is not on buyers’ minds and that the U.S. is still considered a good place to invest.

The establishment’s obsessive focus on “free trade” as opposed to “fair trade” has left us with 16% of the working population “underemployed” or unemployed. That is unsustainable.

The truly historical perspective of world events begins with the colonial era. It tells the story of the West stealing the world’s wealth and creating the so called “third world” calling it “manifest destiny” and the “white man’s burden”.

One billion are facing starvation due to desertification. In part it is the result of global warming, in part, poor farming techniques. Yet, we in the west have more important news to hear, the President was called a liar by a Senator.

As The New Nation anticipated, the “devastating news” released by the World Food Programme barely even reached the level of “mere ‘news.’” In The New York Times, the WFP report of the reduction in the meager Western efforts to deal with this growing “human catastrophe” merited 150 words on page ten under “World Briefing.” That is not in the least unusual. The United Nations also released an estimate that desertification is endangering the lives of up to a billion people, while announcing World Desertification Day. Its goal, according to the Nigerian newspaper THISDAY, is “to combat desertification and drought worldwide by promoting public awareness and the implementation of conventions dealing with desertification in member countries.” The effort to raise public awareness passed without mention in the national U.S. press. Such neglect is all too common.

It may be instructive to recall that when they landed in what today is Bangladesh, the British invaders were stunned by its wealth and splendor. It was soon on its way to becoming the very symbol of misery, and not by an act of God.

As the fate of Bangladesh illustrates, the terrible food crisis is not just a result of “lack of true concern” in the centers of wealth and power. In large part it results from very definite concerns of global managers: for their own welfare. It is always well to keep in mind Adam Smith’s astute observation about policy formation in England. He recognized that the “principal architects” of policy—in his day the “merchants and manufacturers”—made sure that their own interests had “been most peculiarly attended to” however “grievous” the effect on others, including the people of England and, far more so, those who were subjected to “the savage injustice of the Europeans,” particularly in conquered India, Smith’s own prime concern in the domains of European conquest.
Smith was referring specifically to the mercantilist system, but his observation generalizes, and as such, stands as one of the few solid and enduring principles of both international relations and domestic affairs. It should not, however, be over-generalized. There are interesting cases where state interests, including long-term strategic and economic interests, overwhelm the parochial concerns of the concentrations of economic power that largely shape state policy. Iran and Cuba are instructive cases, but I will have to put these topics aside here.

The food crisis erupted first and most dramatically in Haiti in early 2008. Like Bangladesh, Haiti today is a symbol of misery and despair. And, like Bangladesh, when European explorers arrived, the island was remarkably rich in resources, with a large and flourishing population. It later became the source of much of France’s wealth. I will not run through the sordid history, but the current food crisis can be traced directly to 1915, Woodrow Wilson’s invasion: murderous, brutal, and destructive. Among Wilson’s many crimes was dissolving the Haitian Parliament at gunpoint because it refused to pass “progressive legislation” that would have allowed U.S. businesses to take over Haitian lands. Wilson’s Marines then ran a free election, in which the legislation was passed by 99.9 percent of the 5 percent of the public permitted to vote. All of this comes down through history as “Wilsonian idealism.”

More via Chomsky: What America’s ‘Crisis’ Means to the Rest of the World | | AlterNet.

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via Cato Daily Podcast on 9/10/09

Remember the old sage advice, “Live beyond your means and you’ll pay for it later”? It’s come back to roost. Everyone, the banks, credit card companies, the government and you and I have been living off borrowed time and money. The money has run out, there is no credit to be easily had, probably not again in another generation.

One year after the near collapse of the global financial system, this much is clear: The financial world as we knew it is over, and something new is rising from its ashes.

Historians will look to September 2008 as a watershed for the U.S. economy.

On Sept. 7, the government seized mortgage titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Eight days later, investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, sparking a global financial panic that threatened to topple blue-chip financial institutions around the world. In the several months that followed, governments from Washington to Beijing responded with unprecedented intervention into financial markets and across their economies, seeking to stop the wreckage and stem the damage.

One year later, the easy-money system that financed the boom era from the 1980s until a year ago is smashed. Once-ravenous U.S. consumers are saving money and paying down debt. Banks are building reserves and hoarding cash. And governments are fashioning a new global financial order.

Congress and the Obama administration have lost faith in self-regulated markets. Together, they’re writing the most sweeping new regulations over finance since the Great Depression. And in this ever-more-connected global economy, Washington is working with its partners through the G-20 group of nations to develop worldwide rules to govern finance.

“Our objective is to design an economic framework where we’re going to have a more balanced pattern of growth globally, less reliant on a buildup of unsustainable borrowing . . . and not just here, but around the world,” said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

The first faint signs that the U.S. economy may be clawing its way back from the worst recession since the Great Depression are only now starting to appear, a year after the panic began. Similar indications are sprouting in Europe, China and Japan.

Still, economists concur that a quarter-century of economic growth fueled by cheap credit is over. Many analysts also think that an extended period of slow job growth and suppressed wage growth will keep consumers — and the businesses that sell to them — in the dumps for years.

More via A year after financial crisis, the consumer economy is dead | McClatchy.

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By Stephen C. Webster

Published: September 7, 2009

The Chinese are becoming increasingly wary of the growing supply of U.S. dollars, leading the head of the nation’s green energy initiatives to signal a move away from dollar reserves and toward, gold, euros and yen, according to a published report.

“We hope there will be a change in monetary policy as soon as they have positive growth again,” said Cheng Siwei, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee, according to The Telegraph.

He added: “If they keep printing money to buy bonds it will lead to inflation, and after a year or two the dollar will fall hard. Most of our foreign reserves are in US bonds and this is very difficult to change, so we will diversify incremental reserves into euros, yen, and other currencies.”

Siwei also noted that China is especially interested in purchasing gold, but will move methodically in that arena so as not to agitate the market.

“To the degree that they sell dollars and buy gold, Yen or Euros, there can only be downward pressure on the U.S. dollar,” noted Edward Harrison with economic analysis publication RGE Monitor.

“One cannot rely on the words of one Chinese official to represent policy makers in China,” he added. “And Cheng never said the Chinese are now actively diversifying away from the U.S. dollar. Nevertheless, Chinese officials have been talking along this dollar bearish line for months now and I tend to believe their words will lead to action.”

However, some believe China has already begun this diversification.

“[Siwei's] comment captures exactly what observation of gold price action suggests is happening,” opined Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in a Telegraph op-ed. “Every time it looks as if the bullion market is going to buckle, some big force steps in from the unknown.

“Investors long-suspected that it was China. We later discovered that Beijing had in fact doubled its gold reserves to 1054 tonnes. Fait accompli first. Announcement long after.”

Business Insider added: “It’s going to be slow, and the country is loathe to buy too heavily, else it distorts the market more than it would like, but over time it will keep accumulating the shiny metal.”

On Monday gold exchange rates hit a six-month high at $995.19 an ounce, with some predicting the metal may appreciate over and above the $1,000 mark very soon.

“The underlying factor is still the dollar,” said Dan Smith, a UK-based Standard Chartered Plc analyst, according to Bloomberg News. “If we do see a break in the dollar, it could be one of the triggers to take gold higher.”

Sunday, central bank supervisors from all the world’s most powerful nations agreed, at America’s behest, to strengthen the “Basel II” framework for international commerce and increase currency liquidity in all member nations. They also agreed to empower “global supervision” of financial industries, which they said will ultimately result in markets with greater resistance to economic stress.

China has over $2 trillion in U.S. dollar reserves.

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/07/china-objects-to-dollars-growing-liquidity/

Who is Van Jones? Well, depends on who you ask.  Personally, I am a analytical, nonjudgemental, and have a pretty clear preception being a nerd in public service myself.  Now this story is interesting, as Van Jones has been arrested in protest, was leader of a revolutinary movement, and was always standing up against government acts such as Hurricane Katrina, World Trade Organization, or even Rodney King beating, lol.  One video shows him talking in a townhall meeting as he answers a question about Republican policy and he calls them “assholes”.  He talks about inner city, urban politics as well, trying to help in a strong way.  Now I could judge him compared to my personal decisions in each case, but I give him benefit of the doubt that he is a public servant.  He attended Ivy League College saying he wanted to drop out and only got the degree is to have credit to speak out on urban issues.

Van Jones has balls that most don’t have! And thats the great thing, but is he ready for politics? Obama will not him become too powerful to make a crazy decision, but could review him as an educated man, highly motivated, and has grown up after learning the ropes of politics, powers behind them, and approaches to make change in the world.  The backlash will be heavy as president and showing support.  It may be time Obama takes reign and do what he thinks is good and not trying to please everyone.  Van Jones is no longer a black panther, but a creative environmentalist that has expertise in green jobs that save this planet for all races.  I applaud Van Jones, even though I know he has an extra agenda to help inner city problems with education, poverty, and health.  I’ve researched plenty, and trying to get prison inmates to set up solar energy panels and windmill farms will have a great impact on everyone, but a greater one on the prisoners. These clever strategies seem to help the urban problems of today.  We will keep an eye on Van Jones, but if there’s strategies that will benefit the world, I’m down with the team, lol.  I guess its hard to hate a whole person and not sort out the policy differences in my book.  But enough strikes will get you out the game  Check out news and video clips below and you judge for your self! UPDATED: Van Jones has resigned his position, smh. He now releases this statement!

“On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide”

~Van Jones

Becare, Fox News, lol. GLENN BECK

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VAN JONES TODAY. Live from the White House!

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