Global Economic Crisis

Note that Wen Jiabao’s assessment is that the Eurozone debt crisis continues to get worse. Obviously, the world’s second largest economy has no confidence in the numerous measures and bailouts enacted to date by the Eurozone’s coterie of inept politicians. That Beijing has arrived at such a conclusion regarding economic and fiscal policymaking in Europe is as clear a sign as any that the political class in the European monetary union has failed abjectly in restoring market confidence amongst those actors most critical for Europe, namely China’s ruling elites.

Wen Jiabao goes on to say, “The main worries are two-fold; first is whether Greece will leave the Eurozone. The second is whether Italy and Spain will take comprehensive rescue measures. Resolving these two problems rests with whether Greece, Spain, Italy and other countries have the determination for reform.”

Reading between the lines, it would appear that China’s ruling circles are terrified at what is unfolding in Europe, and are as uncertain as everybody else regarding their future trajectory. They have good reasons for worrying. The Eurozone is a critical trade destination for China’s exports. At a time when artificially stimulated growth is beginning to wane in China, a sharp drop in exports to Europe would have disastrous consequences, economically and politically, for Beijing. It would appear that China’s leadership is hoping, perhaps even praying, that the core economies in the Eurozone, especially Germany, will undertake far more radical measures than implemented to date, in the hope that the entire monetary union will not unwind.

What must be going through the collective minds of China’s ruling Communist Party is that if the Eurozone comes apart, resulting in the spread of financial and economic chaos across the globe, the chickens will come home to roost on China’s shores, leading to political instability and unrest that threatens the Chinese Communist Party’s monopoly on political power. Indeed, Premier Wen Jiabao has a great deal to worry about, and so do his colleagues in China’s ruling Politburo.

 

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 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

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In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

 

 

 

The ifo index of 7000m German businesses and their perception of business trends registered a decline from 103.2 in July to 102.6 in August. The contraction in business confidence was more than analysts had forecast, and is a sign of growing worry among business decision-makers in Germany as many large markets within the Eurozone for German goods face a profound economic crisis related to the ongoing debt crisis.

While Germany remains the largest economy within the Eurozone, the ifo index for Augusts shows that Berlin is not immune to the impact of the worsening Eurozone debt crisis. There are many reasons for worry in Germany. Not only is the European sovereign debt crisis inflicting economic damage; Germany is paying a high fiscal price for being the lender of last result within the Eurozone. German taxpayers are being asked to pick up a major portion of the cost of bailouts for Eurozone economies mired in the debt crisis. A combination of diminished exports to Eurozone members and fiscal damage to Germany’s balance  sheet does not bode well for future prospects for Germany’s economy.

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

 

More political maneuvering  on the Greek debt crisis, which threatens the integrity of the entire Eurozone. After receiving a second massive bailout from Eurozone taxpayers (especially German taxpayers), the Greek political establishment promised that it would adhere to all the austerity conditions, and meet the required timelines. Now, without a trace of embarrassment, politicos are ascending from Greece to towards the decision-makers in the Eurozone, begging for a two-year extension on the formerly sworn promises originally agreed to by Athens.

To be fair to Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, the austerity agreement imposed upon Athens is so crippling, it has plunged the Greek economy into a deep recession, hardly a recipe for the growth required to pay off the massive Greek debts.

These political games seem to point even more strongly towards an eventual exit by Greece form the Eurozone. Once Greece leaves the monetary union, who will be next?

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

 

Almost instantaneously, as soon as governments across the globe went into unparalleled debt to bail out their financial systems beginning in 2008, economists openly were discussing  the impossibility of ever paying back those sovereign loans, and that a different solution was required. The answer, so the economists said amongst themselves, was targeted inflation. In effect, so argued those economists, inflation significantly higher than recent levels, targeted at a level of at least 5 percent, would be “good.”

Why would inflation, a fiscal and monetary circumstance which human beings by instinct regard as an ill omen, be seen in such positive hues by economists as renowned as Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman? The answer is that inflation is viewed as the ideal solution for eliminating sovereign debts that can never be repaid. In effect, inflation is the methodology by which a nation-state defaults on its loan obligations stealthily. The printing presses expand money supply beyond the level generated through real economic productivity, in the process depreciating the value of the currency. The nation-state , on paper, doesn’t default on its loan repayments, since the contractual obligation is repaid in monetary terms. However, inflation depreciates the value of the currency, so the outstanding loan obligation shrinks in real terms. In addition, so argue the economists, inflation, by destroying the value of money, discourages savings, leading to higher spending and improved economic growth.

It is a neat gimmick, one resorted to by indebted sovereigns throughout history. However, despite claims by economists that precisely targeted inflation has worked in the past, history tells a different story. In the great majority of examples where countries deliberately employed inflation as a fiscal and economic policy, the results were not only counterproductive; very often the social anguish created by the policymakers resulted in political consequences of dire proportions. One can look back at Weimar Germany’s bout of inflation, which went out of control and morphed into rampant hyperinflation. There are many countries that experimented with inflation at levels far less  than those experienced by Weimar Germany and, more recently, Zimbabwe, which still did no good and much harm economically and socially.

The basic problem with modern economic policymaking is that it is too fixated on fiscal gimmickry to resolve core problems. Whether it  is quantitative easing and “Operation Twist” by the Federal Reserve or stealth sovereign bond purchases by the European Central Bank,  the “experts” play fiscal games rather than address the fundamental factors underlying the global economic crisis; flawed systems and economic architectures that have transformed nations that formerly focused on production into entities of debt-financed consumption.  Regrettably, instead of coming to grips with the true underlying factors responsible for the first global economic depression of the 21st century, the economists advising our policymakers look increasingly towards inflation, and the destruction of whatever financial assets are still retained by the increasingly beleaguered middle class, as the last best hope for resolving the sovereign debt crisis.

It is unfortunate that our modern-day economic gurus have not read Santayana, who warned that those who disregard the mistakes of the past are condemned to repeat them.

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

Eurozone economic & debt crisis: latest data shows Eurozone GDP overall contracted by 0.2 percent, with deep recession in periphery. In Greece, Spain, Portugal and other weak links in the Eurozone chain, a deep economic recession in underway.

Even the stronger economies in the Eurozone, in particular Germany, registered GDP growth that was so anemic, it is virtually at stall speed. This demonstrates that a negative feedback loop is at work in the Eurozone; those nations most afflicted by the Eurozone debt crisis have now damaged the economies at the core of the monetary union. Clearly, a deep economic crisis is underway in the Eurozone, with global implications.

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

Amid the celebratory exertions emanating from London during the 2012 Olympics, one might think that the Eurozone debt crisis has been “resolved.” Far from it. A minor excursion may have occurred, at least for the public at large. With the Olympics now over, the politicians in debt-ravaged Europe will  again focus on the dire circumstances surrounding their fraying monetary union.

All the latest economic data from Europe reveals  a growing recession afflicting many Eurozone economies, record levels of unemployment in the PIIGS nations most burdened by unsustainable sovereign debt and increasingly panicked calls for the European Central bank to print money  and use the magically created liquidity to purchase sovereign bonds.

Europe and it creditors, in particular major banks in Germany and  France, are just one major crisis away from a full-grown financial crisis. If the nuclear issue with Iran becomes  an armed conflict, that might be the final nail in the coffin of the euro.  The situation for the Eurozone is most fragile economically and financially, and not much better in the U.K., China or the United States.

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

 

 

 

The Italian government just announced Q2 GDP figures, and they are, as they say in Rome, “Not so good.” Italy’s economy shrank by .0.7 percent, and by 2.5 percent from exactly a year ago. It is clear that Italy is immersed in a profound economic crisis, with dangerous ramifications for the entire Eurozone.

Italy is the largest economy within the group of five Eurozone members dubbed the PIIGS, nations with  disastrous sovereign debt problems. Greece was the first, and Italy may be the last, but the Italian economy and its staggering sovereign debt are far too large for a bailout. That is why Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is sounding increasingly desperate, and whispers are growing louder that the only hope of saving the euro is for the European Central Bank to print money at warp speed, in the process inducing massive inflation. In  other words, inflating away the value of Europe’s sovereign debt, even at the expense of the currency’s value-and the integrity of life savings of ordinary citizens- may be the last grasp for Eurozone politicians who are so up against the wall, they may be tempted to undertake policy measures that until recently were deemed unthinkable.

WALL STREET KILLS--A CHILLING NOVEL ABOUT WALL STREET GREED GONE MAD

 To view the official trailer YouTube video   for “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Wall Street Kills-Official Trailer

In a world dominated by high finance, how far would Wall Street go in search of profits? In Sheldon Filger’s terrifying novel about money, sex and murder, Wall Street has no limits. “Wall Street Kills” is the ultimate thriller about greed gone mad. Read “Wall Street Kills” and blow your mind.

Increasingly, amidst the worsening Eurozone debt crisis. the European Central Bank is becoming the center of gravity for not just insolvent sovereigns within the Eurozone; the bulk of the global economy is facing towards the ECB president, Mario Draghi, in much the same way as the pious do towards Mecca. With the bulk of Europe, including not only the Eurozone countries but also the UK mired in recession and unending economic crises, the bond vigilantes and investors have largely given up on the politicians.

Will Mario Draghi follow the pattern of the U.S. Federal Reserve and its chairman, Ben Bernanke, in dropping loads of cash from his virtual helicopter, freshly conjured out of thin air through the magic of the central bank’s printing press? It is a sign of the times, and the incessant global economic crisis, that supposedly sophisticated investors are desperately hoping for the unleashing of a torrent of legal counterfeiting by the central bankers as the final chance to ward off fiscal calamity.

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 To view and listen to the YouTube video audio excerpt  “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

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As a percentage of GDP, China’s economic stimulus program of 2009 was the largest in the world, and second place to the U.S. in monetary terms. Ironically, the supposedly communist economy of the People’s Republic of China became the last best hope of world capitalism, in the wake of the global financial and economic crisis that began in 2008. Now, it appears, things may be unwinding in a bad way for Beijing.

Copying its capitalist rivals, Beijing’s hybrid government/private economy poured massive amounts of cash into creating new asset bubbles, particularly in real estate. China built shopping malls with no customers, cities with no inhabitants and roads with no traffic. Extravagantly redundant infrastructure was constructed with stimulus money, goosing China’s GDP with annual double digit growth rates. This model was clearly unsustainable; China’s leaders were hoping to buy time so that the nation’s major export markets in Europe and the U.S. would recover with their own stimulus programs, and resume  their buying spree of cheap Chinese goods.

“Kick the can down the road” became the official credo of economic policymakers responding to the global economic crisis. As with other economies pursuing this shortsighted policy prescription, China failed to address the fundamentals of its economic challenge. The proportion of domestic consumption as a share of  GDP in China is less than half the ratio of its customers in the developed world. With its economic ascendancy dependant on overseas customers, the stagnation and contraction of the economies of those customers leaves a void that Beijing cannot cover by building the economic version of sand castles.

With the Eurozone tottering on the edge of the abyss, the U.K. mired in recession and the U.S. growth rate so anemic, even with trillion dollar plus annual deficits, that it is now at stall speed, it appears that the policymakers in Beijing may have lost their stimulus spending bet.  Domestically, the Chinese PMI  (Purchasing Managers Index)  has slumped to the lowest level in eight months. Other indicators, even amid the opaqueness of China’s official economic data, point increasingly towards a hard economic landing  for the world’s second largest economy. The consequences will be dire, not only for  China, but also for the global economy as a whole.

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 To view and listen to the YouTube video audio excerpt  “Wall Street Kills,” click image below:

Free Sex Murder Book Excerpt From “Wall Street Kills” (Erotic Snuff Movie Thriller)

Sex, murder, financial power and pathological greed come together in the explosive suspense thriller by Sheldon Filger, WALL STREET KILLS: A NOVEL ABOUT FINANCIAL POWER, VIOLENT SEX AND THE ULTIMATE SNUFF MOVIE.
This video provides a free audio reading from chapter one of “Wall Street Kills.” The scene depicted involves two characters from “Wall Street Kills” having a business conversation in a Los Angeles suburb. One character is Peter Hoffman, director of new business development for a secretive Wall Street hedge fund and private equity group. The other character is Daniel Iachino, president of a major independent film company specializing in “adult entertainment” for niche markets. Hoffman is on a mission to investigate if portraying unsimulated violent death in the form of entertainment would be a lucrative business investment. The conversation between the two men quickly focuses on the phenomenon of snuff movies.