LIBOR Rate Rigging

I did not watch all of this video because I am mobile this week, and mobile data rates are pricey. 

But I saw enough of it to want to blog about it. If something as basic as the LIBOR bank rate is fraudulent, as is shown in this video, then everything is fraudulent. It will get to the point where markets will break down because no one can trust anyone else. 

The LIBOR bank rate is a base rate that is used to estimate interest rates, and many contracts use the rate to determine that rate of interest in the contract. Fraud at such a basic level is extremely disturbing. 

The Pound Is Sinking

A little obsolete as many of the currencies Paul McCarthy sings about are no more-but I think they will return. For the younger reader of this blog, Paul McCarthy was one of the Beatles. 

I have posted this before, but I think it is a good song worth listening to again. 

John Stossel On Uncommon Knowledge

While I am not a big John Stossel fan, I thought this interview was interesting enough to post on my blog. 

Is Capitalism Dead?

I heard a very interesting interview with Moncef Cheikhrouhou, economist and member of the Tunisian Parliament. He said that little did we know that the fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism was also the fall of capitalism. Looking back over the years since the fall of the wall, I see that he has a point. 

While the Soviet Union was not technically a communist state, nor is the West technically capitalist, the two systems evolved and competed with each other. The idea was that business needed to be big in order to complete with the evil Ruskies. The sheer size of the monolithic corporate capitalistic system is just as non-sustainable as communism was. 

Looking back over my last trip to Russia and comparing it to my first trip I see market improvement in the society. New bridges, new busses, and a general sense of successful business at the shops. In America today our infrastructure crumbles and business is in decline.  

While poverty is greater in Russia than in the US, it is a different kind of poverty. Most Russians own their own apartment, especially the elderly. They have a greater security than the family in America who is just a few paychecks from being out on the streets. 

We are headed for a period of austerity not seen since the Great Depression. I have never seen a beggar in Russia. They are common place here. There will be more, soon. Are you ready? 

Here is an episode of the Max Keiser report. The interview with Moncef Cheikhrouhou is toward the end of the show. 

Corporate Capitalism

This chart speaks volumes to me. The whole system is run by the large companies and for the large companies. It is more and more difficult to avoid "Babylon"-even at the grocery store.