... 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.

The FBI will heed the ...

... man within, "one's conscience", whilst the British Government will sit on its hands and fail the people from all over the world.

Guided by its very un-civil service, government breasts will be beaten, sackcloth and ashes worn as a public display of contriteness by bankers, but at the end of this sorry affair unless the police arrest those responsible for fixing the LIBOR rates, and those who supervised the fixing, and those who turned a blind eye to the activities of these thieves.

... and those at the very top, nothing will change !  They rely on false compliance ...

Compliance is much more about giving senior management, and the regulators where they exist, cover from culpability than rooting out bad behaviour. “We did our best, the right boxes were ticked, how could we know?” they are able to say.

... that is not compliance, its a comfort blanket for the complicit.

We need rendition of every one of those involved in this scandal, to the only commonwealth that has both the will and the teeth to send a message of worth to the bankers throughout the world that there is "nowhere to hide".  To do this Britain need Uncle Sam like never before.

And because the British Government is a gutless body when addressing issues of morality and ethics amongst its own, and for Bankers read the Bank of England read British Government (of every flavour), people turn to the champion of law and order in the USA, the FBI.  It is time to repay those little people who rarely ask for favours, help clean this cesspit of banking criminal who laugh at the law, people without a conscience, people who cheated every little person with a bank account ...

... and in Europe ... France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, and the other countries that have banking links with London, you have been affected by the scum of LIBOR, its time the call to fix this scandal of morality and ethics was pan-European ......

We want an elected government ...

... is the call by the people of Bahrain, the response by the ruling club (the kingdom) has been repression.

Described as a "constitutional monarch" Bahrain is lives a lie, the country is an absolute monarchy in which the monarch serves as the source of power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution and has the powers to regulate his or her respective government.  In Bahrain this is Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa with his eldest son Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa supported by the unelected Prime Minister His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

In 1775 the war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America kicked off, the result was the birth of a new democracy of the USA, with its own peculiar warts, that is an example of how people can expect to influence their governance;  the other combatant took another 150 years before it resembled a democracy.

The dreadful circumstances in Bahrain are supported by both democracies from that auspicious war of independence, both countries that have supported the other recent North African revolutions and struggles, both countries that fought alongside each other to topple the hideous regime of Saddam Hussein, both countries that are fighting the oppression of the Taliban in Afghanistan, yet not a whisper in support of the call for an elected government in Bahrain.



Obviously it's not convenient for our governments at this time, the people of Bahrain will need to bleed more before they have the support that the people of Libya was given by both Britain and the USA, the quest for democracy is for the faint of heart in the face of hypocrisy, and where are the voices of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal, it must be to difficult a choice .... repression versus democracy.

Myself, as an ardent fan of Formula 1 racing, I will give today's race a miss for the second time, has it been a whole year ............

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.