... the importance of the common ...

 ... good, the common weal, in Wales, Germany, Hong Kong and the USA.

In Wales we have Jac who considers the common weal to be a narrow view of the xenophobic, the intense and irrational dislike or fear of people from England ...

In Germany there are the considerations of the Euro, is the financial rescue fund considered crucial to the future of the euro to get the green light.  A poll published on Friday on Spiegel Online showed that 54% of Germans were in favour of the court blocking the legislation, reflecting the degree to which public opposition to bailouts is increasing.  Is the common weal the good of Germany, or has the definition extended to people of one country extending their largess to other nations ?  Do the German people see themselves as kin with the peoples of Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France .......


In Hong Kong it's very serious, will Beijing allow universal suffrage, even though it doesn't exist as a democratic process in China itself, universal suffrage has little value in a single party state.  The effect of extending democracy to Hong Kong which has a semi-autonomous status in China, is to open the doors to a "China Spring", in effect the demise of Communist China.  When  thousands of demonstrators protest against the plan for mandatory patriotism lessons, you know there is trouble ahead ! 

Whilst in the USA the battle between Republican and Democrats will be resolved when the peoples who vote decide who are the stakeholders, is it all the peoples of the states, or just a small group who hold the wealth, an important consideration when considering the Common Good, and lets not forget the prayers !

Back to Britain and there is a kind of hush, our politicians are driven by opinion polls rather than the Common Good, it's quite pathetic.

behind every ...

... great fortune lies a great crime, Honoré de Balzac.


And what a crime, $21 trillion (£13tn) crime, a crime as big as the combined economies of the USA and Japan.  Fortunes created on the backs of populations pushed beyond the reach of taxation, beyond the reach of the societies that created these buckets of coin hoarded by such a very few people.

In the USA there is the Apple Corporation that holds its wealth offshore, it avoids paying the taxes that could pay for healthcare for the poorest in its society, in the UK we have similar crimes where companies and individuals establish off-shore vehicles to avoid passing back to society a share of the wealth created by the little people in the form of taxes.

The misconception is the owners of capital are wholly entitled to every penny of the surplus (profit) a business makes, this conveniently avoids any responsibility for poverty level wages that require redistributed government expenditure (taxes and borrowings) to pay for subsidised housing, healthcare, education ....... the list is endless.

All profits, as with income, should be taxed at source where it was made .... that way every fortune will have avoided the stigma that ...

... "behind every great fortune lies a great crime".

... and the taxes will help the little people that they might live without the poverty that seems to accompany great fortunes !

These crimes are not restricted to the USA and the UK, the people of Germany, Canada, France, Australia, Japan, China, India ............ are all losers in this great crime of "cheat the people of their dues".

Germany calling ...

... we can't prop them all up Angela !!!!!!!!!!

Does Wales have a Plague Party ...

... in waiting, waiting for that crisis that will send the electorate over the edge into "a plague on all your houses" state of mind.

Today's (£/$) Times has an analysis of Greece where Bill Emmott writes that he would vote for the Greek Plague Party (real name Syriza), Alexis Tsipras, the young head of Greece’s Plague Party (Syriza), says that he intends to call the Germans’ to demand better terms on the financial rescue loan and so stay in the euro.  Angela Merkel is going to agree to that, particularly as she has her own plague party snapping at her heals, in Germany it is called the Pirate Party.

The commonality between Syriza and the Pirate Party seems to be a frustration born out of austerity and disconnected politicians, the aftermath of a decade or more where everybody maxed out on their finances including governments, a frustration that doesn't see any end in sight.  In Wales we have the unusual circumstance that in the face of national austerity, we have a regional administration diametrically opposed to the Westminster administration which has been dealt the most uncomfortable hand of political cards, no opportunity for a plague in Cardiff Bay.

I'm sure that our separatist party in Wales would welcome an opportunity to wear the plague party mantel if it thought it could tip the electorate over its edge into independence mode, Alex Salmond has managed a scottish pseudo plague party that might just succeed, but in Wales the commonality is we can always combine to create an opposition to Westminster, we create temporary plague parties at the drop of a hat by combining the unconventional.

For Greece its Plague Party could begin a domino effect upon the Euro where the European underbelly jumps ship, in Germany its Pirate Party is nudging the electorate to ask the question "do we need to share our prosperity with the rest of Europe?"  If I were a banker I would be dumping the Euro, if I were a industrial leader I would be looking for opportunities elsewhere, if I were the UK government I would probably be making preparations for opposition.

In Wales UKIP is probably the party in residence to take up the "Plague Party" mantel, not Plaid Cymru, UKIP can appeal across politics left to right, and there is nothing in its constitution to cause undue concern to the electorate ........ after a crisis everything would return to normal ...

... what's normal in Wales ?

European leaders do not trust Greece ...

... to keep their promises, insulting or a taste of reality ?

Confidence in the ability of Greek politicians to keep their promises is so low that eurozone finance ministers are likely to demand that a special protected account be set up to receive funds from the second bailout that they aim to agree today.  (as reported in today's Times).

In a sign of the lack of confidence in that leadership, some eurozone ministers will push today for all bailout funds to be safeguarded in an escrow account dedicated to paying off Greek debts. There will be many more conditions to the handout, which comes after a rescue package of €110 billion two years ago, including a team of experts stationed in Athens to monitor austerity measures.

If I were a German taxpayer I would want every transaction from the escrow account on-line with an explanation as to exactly why it was made, although it might be less of a German taxpayer burden if the politicians ate crow and let Greece float like Russia did after its default.

The Hellenic Republic has no clothes ...

... can no-one see it.

When Greece was provided with a second huge rescue deal of €109 billion (£95 billion), including €37 billion from the private sector and a significant lowering of interest rates, the circumstances changed not one jot, the country that is Greece does not have the wherewithal to support this European Union largess. 

In the grand scheme of things, would it be such a disaster if Greece defaulted and left the Euro, well individual banks would feel the effect, but so they should, loans were given to a country without a real economy.  Greece is a country that suffers from high levels of political and economic corruption and low global competitiveness relative to its EU partners, were the banks asleep when money was thrown around like so much confetti at a wedding.

I wonder if the Euro is a busted flush, it has all the hallmarks, a family at Christmas coming together to celebrate despite being of different religions, including the atheist step-brother who only pops in to exchange gifts, or in the case of the United Kingdom giving support through the proxy that is the IMF.

Do the people of Germany and France realise how their hard work is being used to support the grand scheme that is the "United States of Europe".

I didn't realise how corrupt ...

... Greek society is, how incomprehensible, and the sheer Greek cheek expecting the poor of Britain to subsidise its debts that have been used for ...

• ... children who inherit dead parents pensions.
• ... MPs paid 16 monthly salaries each year.
• ... bonuses paid to civil servants who wash their hands.
• ... university professors who use research funds to buy card and houses.
• ... luxury holidays for state employees.
• ... €8 billion paid to power workers pension fund.
• ... ministries where only half the staff turn up for work.

... and it goes on and on and on ...

The Greek deputy prime minister Theodros Pangalos, who recently said the people are as much to blame as the government for the country's €350 billion debt when he said "We ate the money together"....

.... and they continue to eat the money together, people retire at 40 but have to turn up in person at the bank once a year in order to prove they were still alive; the children of thousands of dead Greeks had been receiving their parents pensions for decades.

Chemists in Greece earn €35 for every €100 worth of drugs provided, in Germany it is €3.80, there are 4 times the number of teachers per pupil than in Finland which allegedly have the premier European education system.

It seems that Greece has one of the worse investment climates in the world, 96th place between Papua New Guinea and the Dominican Republic; if a Greek island were put on the market there is the issue of 2500 official licences and permits needed to conclude the sale.

It seems that every 6th Greek pays "fakelaki", "small envelopes", the slang for bribes to the tune of €1500 for each household, a total of €1 billion annually.  This is the country that wants the poor of Anglesey to subsidise its corruption.

Investors ask the question "Is there any point in investing", and then walk away, and so should the governments of Europe, walk away and don't look back ...

... unless you can give the honest taxpayers of Europe a good enough reason to continue the bailout of corruption.  I cannot think of a single good reason to bankroll this country.

In Wales our Assembly Government only wasted £100 million on business that generated no business, I think it is small thanks to their ineptitude, it could have been a £1 billion if they had really tried hard.  But we probably have a government neck to match the Greeks, our home grown Hart refuses to speak to our Westminster Government.  Is there something nasty in the Assembly Woodshed I wonder ...

... could it be for Wales read Greece.

It's all GRΣΣK to me, ...

... or is it Greece and Ireland and Portugal and Spain and Italy and Belgium, because each country is top heavy with debt.

In each case we are discussing the debts accumulated by the political leadership of each country, seemingly acting in isolation this past decade, but in fact following a "big government" agenda so often found amongst left leaning administrations that wish to push buttons in all areas of life, but each button costs a great deal of money.

Acting much like children in a candy (sweet) store, the politicians were acting out the Dutch "Tulip mania" of the early 1600's, the first recorded economic bubble, the politicians were certain that economic growth in their respective countries would outstrip government spending.  Unfortunately the intrinsic values of the asset base of each country in question, had been compromised by a herd mentality where politicians had become herd members, a herd that believed that prices (taxation) can only rise.

Today the countries in question are finding it difficult to sell probity to their respective populations, people riot in the face of austerity, whilst the politicians look for wriggle room from countries not in the same situation.  The people of Britain are being asked to fund the activities of the countries in question, even the poorest of the poorest part of Britain will be asked to bail out the governments of indebted lands.

The upshot is the prudent countries can either support the spendthrifts or let them sink in their ponds of indebtedness, I say let them sink soonest so as to rise like a phoenix in a few years time much as Russia did following its default in 1998.

Bye, bye GRΣΣCΣ, welcome back Athens.