Comments on: Economic Woes

By: Todd

Todd — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 18:28:23 +0000

I know from personal experience, Anonymous, that the IRS can demand nothing. Only request, as they require a signature, an agreement, to levy their alleged income tax. Sure, the IRS may take issue with it or not. I would point to all the online ecurrencies like egold and Ebullion which do not have issue with IRS. Also personal experience. With customer records encrypted and decentralized and numbered the IRS will only have access to the info an individual gives them which is always the case anyhow.

By: Shorts Down!

Shorts Down! — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:36:19 +0000

http://www.escapetheillusion.com/blog/2008/09/mayan-calendar-and-predictions-of-our-financial-system/
in IlluminAlch, Micheal Logos wrote:
SEC bans short-selling!! – Yahoo! News
“Holy US has followed the London lead…
it’s banned short selling altogether [though
temporarily].
We may be off to the races with stocks…”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:17:30 +0000

One flaw Todd is that the IRS will demand tax on its assigned dollar value of such a currency. That tax will have to be paid in dollars.

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:44:57 +0000

So I havent seen anything posted on OjaiEvents.com in regard to the proposed Sunday morning meeting at Libbey Park in #14. Millennium? Like Tyler, I have also had this conversation with various people around town this year. Ojai could be a model community for proving the viability of labor exchange at the local level.
- A local barter bank would be a great way to hold Ojai’s wealth within Ojai.
- A great way to retain value by pegging Ojai Labor Units (OLUs?) to something, anything other than a fiat currency/monetized debt unit like the scummy dollar. Something like the only medium in history that has consistently retained its value against any currency…gold.
- An alternative to going to the local branches of national Fed member banks siphoning off the value of our community and essentially charging Ojaians interest and fees on our own good credit/value/labor/substance being deposited in those same institutions.
- A localized and stabilized trade currency could obviously foster increased economic advantages for the entire community as well.
- Exchange policies could allow conversion into dollars (or soon Ameros) or really any other currency.
- Membership could be limited to full-time Ojai residents.
- Local businesses could offer discounts for tendering OLUs. Point of sale machines for processing OLU’s from one members account to anothers could be offered at no or low cost to local merchants.
- Lithographed paper bills of exchange could be circulated and redeemable by the barter bank.(?) Drafts (checks) could also be used.
- The barter bank could eventually offer local loans at a reasonable interest rate. A 9/10 fractional reserve policy could be considered as opposed to the 1/10 observed by Fed member banks.
- Free of tax on income on all internal transactions since value is not being exchanged in dollars but in private tender for consideration of a private agreement. (Right to Contract)
The true value of a local barter system is retained by the full faith and credit of it’s depositors, it’s creditors and not left to the lecherous policies of non-resident bankers. Nothing can stop this from happening if we all want it enough. I, for one, get sick imagining how much of my labor and substance has been stolen through inflation, interest charges, bank fees, transaction fees, et al by storing my value in a private national banking system that has only ever inflated since it’s inception and despite it’s founders promises otherwise.
Here are some companies that may offer barter systems that may or may not suit our needs and provide insight to the task at hand. Solutions at best and direction at least:
Trade Bank
Barter Bucks
Any local bankers here or known by anyone that would be willing to openly discuss the viability of such a radical idea?

By: Bloomie

Bloomie — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:44:40 +0000

Currencies
Yen Touches Two-Year High Against Euro on Downgrade of Insurer AIG’s Debt The yen touched a two-year high against the euro as the debt-rating downgrade of American International Group Inc. fueled concern credit markets are seizing up after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Brazil’s Real Declines to 10-Month Low as Investors Shed High-Yield Assets Brazil’s real sank to a 10-month low as speculation New York-based American International Group Inc. will fail damped demand for higher-yielding assets.
Americas
Dollar May Fall as Low as 101.45 Yen on Fibonacci Chart, BNP Paribas Says The dollar may fall to 101.45 yen after it dropped below so-called support at 104.95 yen, according to Andrew Chaveriat, a technical analyst at BNP Paribas SA in New York.
Dollar Volatility Rises to Six-Month High to Yen After Lehman, Merrill Volatility implied by dollar-yen options expiring in one month rose to the highest in six months after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy and Bank of America Corp. agreed to acquire Merrill Lynch & Co.
Canadian Dollar Falls as Investors Abandon Risk, Commodities Such as Oil The Canadian dollar fell for a second day as investors sold commodities including crude oil and gold as part of a move toward less risky assets.
Europe
British Pound Declines Against Dollar, Euro on Outlook for Inflation The U.K. pound fell by the most in two weeks against the dollar after Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said inflation will peak ‘soon’ and then slow ‘sharply’ in 2009, boosting speculation of an interest-rate cut.
South African Rand Slides After AIG Credit Downgrades, Global Equity Drop South Africa’s rand dropped for a second day against the dollar after American International Group Inc.’s debt ratings were downgraded and equity markets slid worldwide, prompting investors to pare holdings of higher- yielding assets.
Standard Chartered Closes Bet to Sell Euro on `Extreme’ Market Conditions Standard Chartered Plc, the U.K. bank that gets most of its profit from Asia, closed its recommendation to sell the euro against Australia’s dollar, given the “current extreme conditions” in the global markets.
Asia
Korean Won Declines Most Since 1998 as Stocks Slump on Credit Woes, Lehman South Korea’s won fell the most since August 1998 as global investors accelerated sales of Asian equities in the wake of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy filing.
New Zealand, Australian Dollars Slide Against Yen After U.S. Stocks Tumble The New Zealand dollar dropped to the weakest in more than four years against the yen and Australia’s slid to a 2 1/2-year low as a global stocks rout curbed demand for the nations’ higher-yielding assets.
Asian Currencies: Korean Won, Indian Rupee Slide as Investors Shun Risk South Korea’s won fell by the most since August 1998 as global investors accelerated sales of Asian equities in the wake of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy filing. The Indian rupee weakened.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:15:12 +0000

The crisis comes down to this: These giant institutions, which usually have ready access to credit in order to meet current obligations, have been shut off. So, despite having assets that nominally are worth more than their obligations, they have been unable to find anyone willing to lend them money to meet today’s obligations. Why? Because sophisticated market players with access to the books do not believe the assets these institutions are holding are worth the value they are booked at.
These institutions want the taxpayer to step up, on the theory that the assets they hold are worth what they say and will be repaid in due course, and therefore tiding them over on current payments is only of limited risk.
The problem? It is today’s taxpayer, in his/her role as a consumer who has borrowed, whose inability to pay is causing the credit crunch in the first place. Ultimately, looking to today’s taxpayer to guarantee these institutions’ defaulted assets is a mirage – it will take new taxpayers to make up this shortfall, if the taxpayers are to be held responsible at all.
Systemic change will be required to fix this.
In the meantime, if these institutions truly fail, what that means is that they are not going to repay their current obligations. That will ripple through every financial instrument, from money market funds to bank deposits. Combined with falling real estate, collapsing dollar internationally, state, federal and local deficit spending (on falling tax revenues – if you think the Lehman, etc. situation looks bad, look at the government) and swooning stock markets, there really is a danger of systemic collapse.
What is happening right now is that instead of failing, other, larger institutions are snapping up the troubled players at bargain basement prices, without the usual regulatory oversight that would accompany mergers of this scale. So, for example, BofA, the country’s largest bank, now has Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. Does BofA have the heft to make good on both its own obligations and those of these two acquisitions? If not, we’ve merely delayed paying the piper once more. (While, as the previous post points out, fewer and fewer individuals make another bundle.)
Where are you putting your savings today?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:57:47 +0000

Some people, fewer and fewer all the time, are making a bundle off of all this grief, and all of the little hucksters are busy trying to figure out how to hop onto the gravy train, if only for a fleeting taste.
Until that stops, this is all going to keep getting worse. Therefore, this is all just going to keep getting worse.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:35:02 +0000

Funny how the result of these shocks is not the disintegration of these financial institutions, but their further consolidation, aided (with the apparent exception of Lehman Bros., a former competitor and possibly the receptacle of bad blood from former Goldman Sachs co-chairman Paulson, now Secretary of Treasury) by the taxpayer.
Bear Sterns goes to JP Morgan. Merrill Lynch goes to BofA. Lehman sells choice assets to Barclays. Etc.
Hard to make sense of where this is going. Is it Naomi Klein’s “shock doctrine” writ large, the final push for rapine by fat cats who are seeing themselves being pushed from popular power by democratic change around the world, and possible even here in the U.S. (if Obama turns out to be more progressive than some are counting on)?
Or is it a true crisis, the chickens coming home to roost after thirty years of doomed policies, of shock after shock?
The FDIC itself says it is at risk of being undercapitalized, and a respected NYU economics professor says in blunt terms that Congress will have to recapitalize the FDIC:
http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=658688&pageNum=2062_3100_1
In Main Street language, when Wall Street is talking in plain terms about the need to “recapitalize” the FDIC, that would seem to presage an expectation of significant bank failures coming. What does the potential strain on the FDIC mean for uninsured bonds and money market funds?
Oil is now falling like a stone, although domestically, the price of gasoline is rising and expected to rise further. (Go figure.)
The dollar is falling further against every major currency except the Canadian looney.
“Hyperinflation” looks like a best-case scenario, although since it looks like it will be unaccompanied by wage inflation, calling it hyperinflation is really a misnomer. Still, to the boomers whose retirement funds will be worth pennies on the dollar in purchasing power, it will seem real enough. (For the rest of us, the difference will be meaningfuI. Unlike true inflation, devaluation of the dollar without an accompanying rise in wages results in simple impoverishment, similar to what has repeatedly struck third world countries afflicted by rising prices, too much debt, dependence on foreign imports for basics such as energy, manufactured goods, and the like. Is America ready for that?)
On the bright side, homes in Ojai are now selling at under $300,000 again, and mortgage rates (if anyone can get one) look to be headed back to historic lows. If decent homes drop into the low twos and mortgage rates stay low, absent other factors we might be approaching the possibility that people can live and work in Ojai again. Perhaps we can hunker down here in Ojai and buy ourselves another twenty or thirty years of the good life. Any suggestions on how to make that happen?
Seems to me it is now time to do whatever it takes to ensure that you earn more than you spend, shed what you don’t need, and minimize obligations that are not fixed at rates that are eminently manageable.
(That is, time to give in to common sense, however unsatisfying that may be.)

By: Sky

Sky — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:18:37 +0000

Tuesday September 16, 05:05 AM
Markets Tumble On Tense Tuesday
Shares have tumbled in Japan and Hong Kong this morning as the fallout from the collapse of the leading American investment bank Lehman Brothers continues.
Tokyo financial markets were down 4.7% in early trading while Hong Kong share prices plunged 6.1%.
Both the Japanese and Hong Kong’s markets were closed yesterday when the collapse of the financial institution sent shockwaves around the globe.
This dire start for the eastern markets was initiated by Monday’s meltdown on Wall Street – its worst day for seven years, the Dow Jones closing last night down 504 points, a fall of almost four and a half per cent.
The FTSE saw almost 4% wiped off its value, closing more than 200 points down.
That prompted the Bank of England to pump an extra £5bn into panicked money markets.
The European Central Bank added a further £25bn in a bid to calm traders.
All eyes will be on the FTSE and European markets this morning as financiers brace themselves for the next possible collapse.
The world’s largest insurance company, AIG, is the latest firm to come under pressure.
The firm, whose shares nearly halved last week, is taking steps to raise money amid reports it is seeking a $40bn emergency loan from the Fed.
The collapse of Lehman sent stock markets into freefall and left thousands of workers facing the axe.
Lehman, which has lost billions in the credit crunch, filed for bankruptcy after weekend rescue efforts foundered when the US Government refused to help it.
The future of around 4,500 UK staff looks bleak – PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was called in as administrators of four UK subsidiaries.
Lehman now joins nationalised Northern Rock and US rival Bear Stearns – which hit trouble in March – on the casualty list following a year of turmoil.
Fellow US investment bank Merrill Lynch – another victim of heavy losses linked to the US housing market – was also bought by Bank of America in a deal worth $50bn (£28bn).
Lehman, which has 25,000 staff worldwide, has racked up huge losses following the credit crunch.
Last week, it posted a third quarter loss of £2.2bn with a £3.9bn hit from sliding commercial property and sub-prime mortgage investments – sending its shares plummeting more than 90%.
But unlike recent rescues for US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – as well as Bear Stearns in March – the US Treasury refused to prop up the ailing bank. Barclays considered a bid for Lehman but walked away on Sunday.
Lehman’s collapse led Wall Street to its worst points fall since the derivatives crash of 9/11.
The benchmark Dow Jones index slid 504.5 points, or 4.4%, as investors reacted badly to the meltdown of Lehman and Merrill Lynch.
London’s major banking stocks took a stock market pounding, with Halifax Bank of Scotland down more than a third at one point before closing 18% down.
Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays fell 12% and 10% respectively after recovering from heavier falls earlier.

By: david.

david. — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:16:42 +0000

Dear Jock,
You have on two or three occasions posted here on the Ojai Post articles purporting to uphold conspiracy theories regarding 9/11. In each case, with just a little research, I was able to show, and did show here on the Post, that your articles were full of blatant holes and outright falsehoods.
Evidently you are not capable of learning from your own errors even when they are exposed for all the world to see. For you now to include the Zionists in with your conspiracy theory only confirms the deeply distorted nature of your outlook.
I can understand why Tyler allows you to submit your comments here, because this is a free speech forum. But it is a little hard to understand why he accepts you as an Ojai Post Author, which confers some legitimacy upon you and your views.