Tag Archives: portugal

“We Should Make The Legs Of The Bankers Tremble”

17 Dec

Some politicians, at least, are finally waking up.

Since everyone missed the sterling example (pun intended) of Iceland defaulting on British and Dutch bankers, perhaps some will now sit up and take notice of the Portuguese Socialist Party threatening to take the “nuclear option” on German and French bankers:

“We have an atomic bomb that we can use in the face of the Germans and the French: this atomic bomb is simply that we won’t pay,” said Pedro Nuno Santos, vice-president of the Socialist Party in the parliament.

“Debt is our only weapon and we must use it to impose better conditions, because recession itself is what is stopping us complying with the (EU-IMF Troika) accord. We should make the legs of the German bankers tremble,” he said.

Mr Santos is right.

Debt as a weapon can be a two-edged sword. At the level of nations, at least.

The bigger the debt, the bigger the danger for the lender.

If you or I default on our debts, we’re in the poorhouse.

If a nation defaults … things get better. Faster.

Icelandic politicians woke up. Only after nearly the entire population took to the streets, of course.

Rather than have “the nation” (ie, the taxpayer) take on the debts of its collapsed banks, the people insisted on telling the British and Dutch bankers where to go (ie, they defaulted).

In the face of enormous international pressure to “do the right thing”, and “honour the debts” by “socialising the losses”.

The Icelandic people didn’t fall for the “Too Big To Fail” con.

And so, how is Iceland travelling today?

From a must-read article in Business Insider:

Iceland’s basic economic indicators are now stronger than countries that received bail-outs.

Iceland’s economy will have shrunk by an average of 0.75% a year in the 4 year period of 2008-2012. For comparison, Ireland’s economy has declined at a rate just under 2% while Greece will have decline 1.6% a year.

Unemployment has been less of a problem in Iceland as well:

  • Iceland: 5.8%
  • Ireland: 14%
  • Greece: 15%
  • Portugal: 12.4%

Iceland’s economy today is growing, with 3% annual growth expected in 2012, and the government anticipating a budget surplus by 2013:

Click to enlarge

All the fearmongering that is pushed by banksters, their shadow banking overlords in the IMF, World Bank etc, and of course, their political muppets, about the “dire” consequences of letting banks fail or defaulting on national debt … is self-serving lies.

It’s long, long past time that all the rest of the people of the world followed Iceland’s lead, and chose to “make the legs of the bankers tremble”.

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Another Government Raid On Citizens’ Super

5 Dec

Yet another government has joined the ever-growing list of those stealing their citizens’ super to plug holes in their budgets:

Portugal has raided €5.6bn (£4.8bn) of pension fund assets in a controversial scramble to meet its deficit targets.

The cabinet agreed to transfer the assets from four of Portugal’s biggest banks to the state balance sheet.

The assets will be used to bridge a gap needed to meet the fiscal deficit target of 5.9pc of GDP set by the terms of the country’s €78bn bail-out from around 10pc in 2010.

“This measure is more than sufficient to meet the budget deficit goal in 2011,” said Helder Rosalino, secretary of state for central administration, on Friday.

Portugal said it had informed the EU and IMF and assured them it would be a “one-off”. However the 2010 budget was met by shifting three pension plans from Portugal Telecom on to the public social security system. The liabilities don’t count, yet.

What is particularly noteworthy, is that this blatant theft of Portuguese citizens’ superannuation is being done in order to meet an IMF-imposed deficit reduction target.

Just like Ireland earlier this year, when it too was ‘forced’ to raid its citizens’ super.

Your humble blogger has been documenting the wave of largely unreported super thefts that has been rolling around the world since the GFC began in 2007-08.

And warning that Australia’s politicians are already firmly on track to do the same here as well.

Indeed, the Green-Labor government has already quietly introduced a new policy directing your employer to send your future super payments to the ATO.

A sneaky policy neatly stolen from the Liberal Party.

No need to wonder why both “sides” of Australian politics want to increase the super rate from 9% to 12%.

To glimpse the truth – that government theft-by-stealth of your super is inevitable here too – all you need do is look at our ever-rising debt trajectory …

Commonwealth Government Securities On Issue | Source: Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM)

… note that Wayne’s latest budget update predicts a 57% blowout in net debt this year alone, observe the ‘slow-motion train wreck’ occurring in the global economy as a consequence of massive over-indebtedness in the USA, UK, Europe, and China, and above all, remember that our government is on the hook to bail out our Too Big To Fail ponzi banks.

Just like everyone else.

The list of countries that have already stolen citizens’ super to finance government spending, includes some that won’t surprise you (Argentina, Bolivia, Hungary, Ireland, and more), and others that might shock you (USA, UK, France).

If you have not familiarised yourself with the ever-growing global trend of government theft of citizens’ super, and especially the evidence that the first steps have already begun here too, then I urge you to read some of my many previous articles on this topic:

It Has Begun – Labor Steals Liberal’s Idea To Steal Your Super

Labor Begins To Steal Your Super

Stealing Our Super – I DARE You To Ignore This Now

Now The UK Government Is Stealing Super Too

RBA Says Our Banks Are Stuffed … In Other Words

Our Banks Racing Towards A “Bigger Armageddon”

Why They Are Planning To Steal Our Super, Explained In 4 Simple Charts

Fresh Evidence Our Banks In “Race To The Bottom” Means You Can Kiss Your Super Goodbye

No Super For You!!

“Grand Theft Pēnsiō – Europe’s ‘Economic Superstar’ Steals 5% Of Private Super Funds”

A very wise man said long ago, that “the borrower is the servant to the lender”.

Thanks to our foolish willingness to accept the Big Lie that debt is a “necessary evil” (it’s not), not just citizens, but entire nations, are now rendered servants to obey.

Slaves to bankers.

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