Sings ~ The Pain in Spain is Giving us a Migraine

On Friday, IMF head Christine Lagarde was quite pleased with herself.   We know this because when on the Charlie Rose Show on Friday night, she pretty much said so.

She was able to manipulate, bully cajole and arm twist nations into coming up with $430 billion in funds to act as a buffer zone for the EU.  Of course she originally stated she would settle for no less than $500b but you know if you read the previous posting how everyone in politics, finance and media are liars.

According to the Telegraph UK, "“We made a call to action, and our members delivered,” proclaimed Lagarde. Behind the rhetoric, though, donor countries are seething — not least those who aren’t even in the euro. Switzerland, the UK, South Korea and Sweden have respectively stumped up $26bn, $15bn, $15bn and $10bn. Norway has weighed in with $9bn, Australia and Singapore pledging $7bn and $4bn each. "

So the IMF war chest now stands at $800b

What is the US contributing?    Zero

 If the US was to pay its proper share, US taxpayers would be shelling out $70 billion to Europe. Everyone on both sides of the ocean knows if the US agreed to contribute one penny to directly aid and assist Europe, there'd be such a stink, President Obama could for all intent & purposes kiss his coveted re-election 'bye-bye'.

In fact, an interesting little news tidbit came out on Saturday:  Much of the $430bn global bail-out fund agreed in Washington over the weekend may not be available until next year.

"Britain pledged an extra £10bn ($15bn) to the International Monetary Fund but Treasury officials stressed the contribution is contingent on the US ratifying an agreement struck two years ago in Seoul. The US, though, is not expected to sign it off until after November’s presidential election at the earliest... other countries have attached similar conditions to their contributions" (Telegraph UK)

So in other words, everyone was in such a huff-huff rush to secure IMF funding yet attached conditions that don't free up the funding until late 2012 at the earliest..

But the markets are stupid creatures and they will probably still react to the IMF news with positivity come Monday's opening bell.

This last paragraph from the Telegraph article makes for a good segue way..

"Spain is at the epicentre of the latest concerns with fresh fears about the state of its banking system. Spanish officials revealed over the weekend that they are considering plans to take toxic assets off banks’ balance sheets."

All that IMF money.. that's meant to protect the rest of Europe and really by extension the global community from feeling the affects of a Spanish collapse.

A mere drop in the bucket.

We had thought Greece would take down the EU and cause financial pain for banks around the world.  We stand corrected.. more and more it appears Spain will be the nation to pull the global economies down into official depression.  Its simply too large a nation to be bailed out.

Spain is in horrific economic shape.  To give just a sampling of how bad things are, we visited the English version of their Madrid newspaper, 'El Pais'.  These are all headlines/articles from the last couple days:

Cabinet approves massive education and healthcare cuts -- "The conservative Popular Party government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday announced education and healthcare cuts of 10 billion euros... The austerity drive will require retirees to pay for part of their prescription drugs for the first time, a big sacrifice for pensioners"

Government plans 50-percent hike in students' university fees -- "Spaniards pay between 900 to 1,000 euros a year in university fees, some 15 percent of the 6,000-euro average annual cost of a student’s education. Under the plan, student fees could jump to a maximum of 1,500 euros next September. "

~ Students in Spain protesting education cuts

Stock market drops below psychological 7,000-point mark -- "With Spain now at the forefront of the euro-zone crisis, the Spanish stock market on Thursday plunged to close to its lowest level since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008, led by the banking sector"

Iberia strikes blow to pilots with 20-percent wage slash -- "Spanish airline Iberia is to slash its pilots’ salaries by 20 percent as part of a series of measures to reduce its costs and increase productivity by 25 percent."

Economic crisis sees large numbers of Latin Americans heading home -- "the number of foreigners in the country has fallen for the first time: there are 40,447 fewer than in 2010. Spain’s immigrant population now stands at 12.1 percent of the population, a tenth of a percentage point less than in 2010... It appears the economic crisis is the underlying cause of these changes to the demography of Spain"

Spain's unemployment is over 24%.  The number of young people out of work is over 50%.   Recently, the King of Spain Juan Carlos went on TV to apologize to his people.   Why?  Oh nothing much.. He merely returned from an elephant hunt in Africa that cost nearly $60,000, or more than twice the average salary in Spain.

The leaders of Spain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, the UK, America... Wall Street, bankers, financiers..

They just don't get it..  They really don't.

But then again why should they be expected to?

They have gotten away with not having to bear any brunt of the financial pain and with very few expectations, the populaces around the world do not stand up to force them to swallow their fair dosage of bitter castor oil.

Most media will report fairytales and fables to you..

People seem to need that.

We report the truth.  And when people are ready for reality, we'll be here to inform, and if need be, with a heaping plate of vanilla-creme cookies and a steaming cup of marshmallowy hot cocoa.

Why do they Lie..

The full header for this posting is really "Why everyone from politicians to Wall St to the media continually Lie to you about an economic recovery" but that's a bit too long to fit in the Title section..

Nonetheless, that's what we're going to be addressing today..

We've been seeing a lot of fools both write and remark that they're tired of people acting like we're in a recession.  One dimwit, a nobody-nothing who writes for US News & World Report was annoyed that the term 'double dip recession' is still talked about when according to him, we've been in recovery for three years.

Another more famous imbecile, former PA Senator Arlen "Will Switch Political Parties in a Heartbeat" Specter stated today that basically we should be thanking both Bush & Obama for saving this nation from depression, thus the trillions upon trillions in 'stimulus' pissed away to the financial sector was essentially necessary and good.

Ugh..

Look, we're just one blog among millions of news sites and sources no different than a tiny star among the Cosmos.  We do our best to state things truthfully; to burn as bright as we can within the intellectual darkness.

And we know that we can never stop everyone else from incessantly lying about the true state of both the US and global economy.  Too many forces at work.. too many agendas.

But it doesn't mean we will stop trying...

So the question of the day once again--  Why do they all lie to us about the economy and keep hard-selling 'recovery'?   There's many reasons.. here's a sampling (in no particular order)

~ "I did not lie to you...  I lied toward you.."

1)  Nature of their profession-  Think about it honestly-- All politicians lie.. ALL.  They promise on campaign what they can't really deliver to gain donations and votes.  Wall St as an entity lies so to encourage and entice investors to buy stocks, commodities, etc.  And media lies for a multitude of reasons from issues of 'national security' to fear that negative truth will cause loss in viewer and readership.

Let's go back to Arlen Specter for a moment-- he's a good example.  Here's a man of little to no conviction who started his political career as a Democrat, then switched to Republican to benefit his own political fortunes in the 1970s, then after 30yrs or so, in 2008 he switched back to Democrat because he believed he had an agreement in place where he'd be given power to be chair of a committee.  In 2010 he lost in the Dem primaries because no one believed anything the snake said.

So when Specter says Bush & Obama saved the nation, we're sorry but simply the thought of the man, much less his ignorant, lying words make us want to wretch.

Those two utter buffoons, Bush & Obama did Nothing to save this nation.. They simply delayed most of the pain.  Both essentially curled back their right legs and kicked that economic "can" as far as they possibly could by giving trillions in dollars that comes from current and next generation taxpayers to prop up the insidious Cancer which caused the meltdown-- Wall St.

If you look at Reagan's greatest success as President, it was corrupting both the Rep and Dem parties into the belief in Trickle Down economics. For wealth and job creation to occur, the money Must be given to the very top 1%.  They, in their infinite wisdom and moral judgment will know how to best spread it around equitably.

Bush believed this.  You best understand Obama does too.

2)  No motivation -  We could have expressed this point as having agendas but this is simpler.  What is a  politician's motivation to speak candid on the economy?  If he/she is the incumbent, then wouldn't the blame be at their feet?  Wouldn't that mean weakening their chances at re-election?

Presidential candidate Obama spoke nonstop during Election 2008 about how bad the US economy was. Then he successfully defeats a cowardly cadaver named John McCain and wins the Presidency.  Ironically, the President still spoke truthfully about how bad things were for his first few months in office before someone in his staff reminded Obama he was no longer a candidate.  Then the President turned positive.

And what's the motivation of Wall St?  If you're invested, you may pull your money... put it in safer havens.  How can anyone profit from that?   And like we said before with the media, if you're going to stop reading or watching TV because of endless coverage of homeless people living in tents or their cars  and people crying hysterically in their empty homes as their about to be foreclosed, then what's their incentive to show that?

3)  Patriotism -  Yes, this comes into play.   You've heard it before--   'The United States is the Greatest nation in the World.. Love it or Leave it! .. We're #1.. We're #1!!'  and so forth.  Its not true but.. that's the belief.   We expect our politicians to feel that way.. every single one wearing flag pins on their jacket lapel to certify beyond all doubt they love this nation as they conduct policy and pass legislation to weaken it.

Many in the media wear those lapel pins as well when they're reading the words off the teleprompters and shallowly bantering among each other between stories.  The media may try to put a particular President or political party in an evil light, but never the nation itself.  

And notice how many flags are visible on the trading floor of Wall St.  Certainly hard not to notice the gigantic flag hanging in front of the building since 9/11.   Guess it means to show they may love making non-stop profit first and foremost, but their love of the nation they are pillaging, is a close second.

What makes the US great has little to do with its finances.  That's the same warped thinking that allows people to think evil, selfish people like Warren Buffett or the late Steve Jobs are/were great because they amassed more wealth then they could enjoy in 10 lifetimes, and then created some pseudo-humanitarian charities/endowments out of the 'goodness' of their little black hearts.

If those who are in positions of power love America as they say they do, they would not only not be afraid of speaking truthfully and honestly about the state of the nation, but stop hijacking Capitalism for their own purposes.

In a truly capitalistic nation, anyone with ideas, ingenuity and hard work, can generate wealth.  Its not exclusive to Fortune 500 companies. This means encouragement and growth of small to medium sized businesses.  It means you do Not have to go to college and obtain worthless degrees & endless student debt to have any chance to support oneself and a family.  It means American workers making American products to sell to American consumers who can afford them without relying on credit and debt.  And it means you survive, thrive and/or fail on your own.. No Fucking Bailouts!

4) Keeping up morale -   Many believe, if you talk about our faults and weaknesses, you're giving aid and comfort to the enemy and its bad for overall morale.  This is not a new concept, but it is one used to keep up spirits among the populace so they don't get too despondent or worse.. proactive.

The best way to explain this concept is with the following example:  You're very hungry.. You're standing in a long food line with hundreds upon hundreds of others, waiting to be given soup and a sandwich.  The line isn't moving.  If the line was moving, it would still take 30 min for you to receive the food.  As it is, there's no movement at all.  You're getting hungrier..tenser.. more desperate.. But wait!  There is movement.. you see some people getting food.. Horray!  You tell yourself 'OK, I can bear this a little longer'

Now at the front, the soup and sandwich servers, who really don't have enough food to feed 1/4th  of those in line and who are stalling until more food arrives, can see that if the line stays motionless for a long period, things could get ugly quick.  So.. they feed a few.. just enough to get the line moving and give those at the back a little hope.

Surprisingly this tactic works often with people.  Hope and optimism in that "line" moving seems to be preferable to most to accepting reality and being both pro-active and self-reliant.

Like we said at the beginning, there's many, many reasons why you and we are constantly lied to.. we chose to only address a few.  One can't fight the world, as they say, but one is always in control of oneself if he/she has the courage to take the reins.

Ignorance is like victimization.. we only stay in those particular states of mind if we allow ourselves