DISMANTLING UNCERTAIN, ECONOMIC DISASTER GUARANTEED

TRANSLATED FROM AN ARTICLE BY FRANCOIS LECLERC FROM PAUL JORION'S BLOG, 30/05/12

It’s already well established that Tepco, the operator of Fukushima, is in control of very little in the devastated nuclear plant. Not the ongoing, endemic contamination of the atmosphere and of the sea, not the status of nuclear fuel reduced to a state of three coriums which either can’t be localized or are stocked in pools from which they cannot be removed. Nor, even less so, the potential impact of new seismic shocks on the battered systems, including in the first instance that of Reactor N° 4’s cooling pool , a tremendous source of worry given the enormous mass of fuel it contains.

1535 fuel assemblies* are stocked 30 metres (110 feet) above the ground in a structure which has had to be consolidated and which is open to the air, representing 85 times the quantity of Cesium-137 released during the explosion of the Chernobyl reactor…..Enough to render the whole of Japan uninhabitable and beyond, for it is on this kind of scale that the potential danger can be measured.

KANT WAS RIGHT!

TRANSLATED FROM PAUL JORION'S BLOG, 25/06/12

I feel it is important to focus on the possibility as to whether any measures proposed can be generalized. It was Martin Wolf who pointed out in a Financial Times (*) column that the Germans (in spite of being Kant’s compatriots) seem to have lost sight of the Kantian Categorical Imperative when they ask the other Eurozone nations to become net exporters like Germany. An error of logic has been committed here: nations cannot all be net exporters; if some are net exporters, it follows logically that others must be net importers and that nobody can blame them for this.

THE WEST, ALL ALONE IN ITS LITTLE BUBBLE!

TRANSLATED FROM ENTREFILETS, 31/07/12

At the risk of seeming somewhat naive, we have to confess that here at entrefilets, we never cease to be amazed by the extent of the disinformation diffused by the Western Bloc on the subject of the Syrian and Iranian crises. And also, in more general terms, by the persistence of its astonishing need to put a virtuous gloss on even its most obvious machinations, and even its most outrageous acts of barbarism. It is a phenomenon which fascinates us because it signifies a total rupture with the reality that the rest of the world shares.

From Latin America to Asia, also taking in Africa and the Indies, there is a virtually unanimous rejection of this Atlantic claptrap, which bears witness to a vertiginous change in paradigm - the lies of the West no longer deceive anyone but the West itself. Its human-rights-narrative has fizzled out.

In fact, we are the very last ones, the only ones, who still believe in it.
Whether it’s a matter of Iraq or Afghanistan, or Libya, or Syria – and maybe Iran soon – the phony casus belli advanced by the West to justify their lucrative little attacks are now seen for what they really are.

LIBYA BEFORE AND AFTER

FUKUSHIMA: THE FUEL COOLING-POOLS GIVE THE EXPERTS NIGHTMARES

TRANSLATED FROM AN ARTICLE BY MARC MOLITOR

 

Reactor N° 4

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is meeting up for five days in Vienna to discuss nuclear safety in the world. It will pay special attention to the situation in Fukushima. The damaged reactors are still under high surveillance, in particular the cooling pool containing spent fuel rods.
Above all else it is the now famous reactor n°4 which is proving to be the the most worrying. Situated on high, it contains numerous radioactive fuel assemblies which are protected by water. In spite of it having been reinforced, there are serious fears that a new violent earthquake could cause it to collapse. In this case, it is difficult to predict what the consequences would be. Apocalyptic scenarios, sometimes completely deluded, are sometimes advanced on the internet.

Certain people even talk of the planet being rendered uninhabitable - but this is misguided. Even in the worst case scenario, the radioactivity released if the pool collapsed would render neither Japan, nor the Northern hemisphere, nor the planet uninhabitable. Nonetheless, it would of course have a very significant impact on public health over the long term - especially in Japan. There are several possible scenarios: the water draining completely out of the cooling pool, the collapse of the pool, or a fusion or rupture of lots or some of the fuel rods, leading to a significant or a limited discharge of radioactivity.

GREEK PENSIONS CUTS SINCE 2010 … AND FORTHCOMING MEASURES

TRANSLATED FROM OKEANEWS, 29/08/2012

The Greek government is currently discussing the “necessity” of an additional (additional, additional, additional) cut in pensions and salaries, for the “good” of the country’s financial health,  for the good of the debtors, for the ”reduction” of the debt and for a “return” to growth...(loud applause!)

The coalition’s negotiations don't seem to have gone as well as expected, since Fotis Kouvelis, the leader of the Democratic Left party which obtained 17 seats in Parliament during the recent elections, has announced his refusal to reduce low salaries and pensions. There is no risk, however, of the parliamentary vote not being adopted as long as PASOK stays true to its previous policies - which it subsequently passed on to its longtime enemy, the New Democracy party of Samaras. Together ND and PASOK already hold the majority, and Venizelos declared today: 

“Of course there will be further cuts and sacrifices, but they will be fair.”

Note the use of the term “fair”.  Cue (another) round of applause! It seems that nothing changes in Parliament.
All the same, these discussions provide a good opportunity to review the pension cuts that have been made since the Troïka’s arrival in 2010 and the establishment of the Mordorandum*: an utter folly

·         Start of the hostilities in 2010 with the suppression of the 13th and 14th pension installments, which had been transformed into one payment of 400€ at Christmas and two payments of 200€ for Easter and Summer

·         In August 2010, six months later, pensions above 1400€ were reduced between 3% and 14%. Note that this decision was taken during the holidays.

·         The third round of reductions came in September 2011. Those pensioners receiving more than 1700€ had to endure reductions of between 6% and 10% which were imposed upon them.

·         Two months later, it was even worse: those under 55 years old lost 40% of that part of their pensions exceeding 1000€. The elder (above 55 years old) lost 20% of the corresponding amount.

The next set of measures is likely to be savage:

·         Reductions of 10 – 30% of the lump sum (a sum towards which national insurance contributions are paid as for the pension, but which is paid out in a single lump sum at the cessation of activity) for 23 pension funds. The reduction is likely to be as much as 40% for some funds.

·         A contribution of 1% of the amount of the pension for all those who have already received their lump sum. This contribution will obviously be established independently of the level of the pension and other cuts. This measure is likely to concern around 800 000 workers.

·         The plan being looked at by the Government would reduce all pensions which are above 600 or 700 Euros. The reduction for the lowest pension revenues is expected to be around 1 to 2%. For a pension close to 1000€ there is likely to be a cut of 5%, while for a pension of 2000€ the reduction would be by as much as 20%. For pensions above 2000€ the rate will increase, and a ceiling may be introduced (the talk is of 2500€).

·         Pensions from the OGA (the pension funds  for farmers) could also be reduced

·         An additional levy will be instituted on complementary retirement incomes above 400€. A reduction of 8 to 12% is being discussed when the income does not exceed 1000€, and of 15- 20% beyond that.

·         The unified pay scale will be extended to public utility state-run enterprises (DEKO), which means reductions in salaries of up to 35% (!)

·         Benefits as well as pensions paid to single women will be reduced.

Not to mention of course the fusion and privatization of around fifty public organizations, the dismissal of 150 000 workers between now and 2015 etc., etc., etc., etc.

The farcical electoral pledges that were made (“We will renegotiate with Europe”, “We understand that the people have had enough of austerity”, blah, blah..) risk leaving a bitter taste of treason in the mouth of the population.

The holidaymakers are coming back, Athens is filling back up once again and the first strike has started: that of Athens’ municipal workers. The refuse collectors have indeed attempted to strike this morning but without success: the riot police were waiting calmly to destroy any semblance of demonstration.

After this summer’s incredible heat wave in Athens, the destruction of the social fabric continues its deadly march.

 

 

* ‘Mordorandum’, term first used by Zoe Mavroudi, actress and writer, to designate the ‘Memorandum’ which refers to Tolkien’s Modor in ‘Lord of the Rings’, and associations with the idea of ‘death’.

TAX AND SHOE BOXES IN GREECE. EVEN THE HOMELESS HAVE TO PAY IN GREECE!

AN OLDER ARTICLE TRANSLATED FROM OKEANEWS, 06/06/12

Greeks don’t pay their taxes. Those scroungers want nothing more than to annoy Europe by wanting to stay in the Eurozone without paying the price….

Those Greeks live a life of Riley as they pocket European aid, refuse to pay their fair share, don’t pay their taxes and set fire to their capital city, whilst being the first to complain about their standard of living….

 Shoe box:

 

With the aim of “fighting fraud”, the Greek state, under the expert guidance of the Troïka, has had the brilliant idea of asking the citizens to prove their expenses by supplying proof of their purchases (receipts). Each citizen must therefore prove expenses amounting to 25% of their revenues in order to avoid paying a 10% fine on the 25%. Yes, it’s rather complicated.  But more importantly, these proofs of purchase will be sent to the tax office with the tax return. For a service already bled dry by budget cuts, this means that the officials are therefore going to have to pass their time checking the receipts. Very intelligent!

I still remember a friend showing me a shoe box, full of receipts and saying to me “do you realize what we have come to? This is totally ridiculous - it’s driving me crazy”

THE AMERICAN DREAM CONTEMPLATES THE BLACK HOLE IT IS DISAPPEARING INTO

TRANSLATED FROM DEDEFENSA, 24/08/12

On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published a report which predicts very serious recessionary conditions in the USA for 2013 - with the loss of two million jobs - if Congress does not manage to get to grips with the colossal public finance deficit. In fact, the CBO is really addressing a paralyzed political leadership, with a report that constitutes a fundamental political and psychological shock for the USA.

Here are a few words from the National Post, taking up Reuters, on the 23^rd August 2012, to give us an idea of the tone of the report – a catastrophic tone also found in other studies like that of the PEW Research Center, which paints a scary picture of the material and psychological state of the population, particularly of the middle classes which have been devastated by the crisis. (We use the term catastrophic objectively, in an approving sense rather than a critical one. It is not an alarmist spirit, but a spirit which objectively observes a general and irreversible drift towards catastrophe as a general state of affairs, much more than any announcement of a specific catastrophe, even if this constitutes a part of it.)

BACK TO THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS

TRANSLATED FROM THE BLOG DE PATRICK REYMOND, 24/08/12

The means of communication destroy information, the means of transport waste time, the health system alienates and kills. And to take up another Illich quote: “schools are factories for unemployment”

I have often said that the ‘American economic miracle’ owed more to geographical circumstances than to the merits of one economic system over another.

The USSR had to struggle with its own space, and its communication difficulties; as for the American model, it possessed in the Mississippi river valley, an advantage and an obvious major transport route, reinforced further by the work of man, in the 19^th Century by the digging of the Ohio and Erie canals, which transformed New York into a Mississippi port and multiplied its traffic tenfold.

Today, the model is limping, and even limping badly, at several levels. The Mississippi is finding it difficult, with the drought, to assume its role as a thoroughfare, through which 500 million tons transits every year, particularly cereal and coal.

THE LOBBYISTS AND US

TRANLATED FROM THE BLOG DE PAUL JORION, 24/08/12

 

In the Wall Street Journal today :

A new American law requires US-listed companies to mention on products containing certain minerals that their extraction fuels conflict in Central Africa

Too expensive for businesses, said the lobbyists! Get rid of it !

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the financial regulator in the US, has developed a host of measures designed to prevent a repetition of the collapse in short-term money markets, which cost American taxpayers more than six hundred billion dollars, plus a few hundred billion Euros for European taxpayers.

 Too expensive for the banks, said the lobbyists! Get rid of it!

SURREPTIOUSLY, THE SYRIAN CRISIS IS BECOMING THE GREAT CRISIS

TRANSLATED FROM DEDFENSA.ORG, 22/08/12

 

It was on the 4th February 2012 that the Syrian crisis really took off, with the Russian and Chinese vetoing a resolution proposed to the United Nations by the American & Western Bloc (AWB), which would also have constituted a sort of riposte to the Libyan coup which took place roughly one year before. This time we are seeing the ‘Syrian crisis’ take up its place in the complex web that constitutes the great crisis in the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, in Iran etc. At the beginning when it was just taking off, the Syrian crisis did not hold first place in the Great Crisis – this is no longer the case.

As the weeks and months have passed, the crisis has developed in the manner we have all witnessed, with such extreme communicative stances being taken that the American & Western Bloc’s editing and narrative has trapped it in an extremist position (i.e. the elimination of Assad as a precondition of anything whatsoever), whilst the probability of a rapid victory by the rebels – the only thing propping up this extremist stance – has gradually faded away. Meanwhile, Russia (with the unceasing support of China) has maintained a position of extreme firmness founded on the affirmation of international law (respect for sovereignty) and the presence of all parties concerned in any peace or negotiation process, which obviously includes Assad.

FINANCE'S IMAGE!

TRANSLATED FROM THE Blog de Paul Jorion, 16/08/12

We learnt last Tuesday that the fifth largest British bank, Standard Chartered, had promised the New York State regulator that it would pay a fine of 340 million Dollars for illegal transactions with Iran. The matter is not yet closed, as four other American regulatory bodies continue to pursue their enquiries on this subject.

There was a danger that the affair, dating back to last week, would get bogged down, and it had already started to poison relations between British and American financial authorities ( to which I alluded in my article on the 12^th August: The Goldman Sachs Affair: Corrupted Justice, or an Untouchable Financial Sector? )

What is causing this sudden urgency on the part of Standard Chartered? Its image in the eyes of the public!