Daily Archives: December 12, 2011

The economy (someone has to be wrong).

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A certain black german bear has just made a prediction.

The employment sector will readjust. Women will be home in larger numbers, there will be an exodus to other countries, the population will shrink, etc. Private employers are already working at “peak unemployment”, and they’ll soon be unable to maintain their production with fewer workers. The unemployment will mostly rise in future because of the decline of the public sector.

Tyler Durden put together this commentary

Even as Eurozone leaders attempted to instill some meager sense of accomplishment following the latest (but certainly not last) Euro summit culminating with yet another 7-page term sheet which achieved absolutely nothing, and in fact succeeded in alienating the UK even more, the real game continues behind the scenes. And it is a game which the euro looks set to lose. As Bloomberg reports, in the aftermath of the Telegraph’s latest report confirming what has been said here all about the collateral crunch in Europe, Europe’s CEO are now actively preparing for the worst case outcome: the end of the Euro (despite UBS’ and other banks’ repeated calls that such an event would result in an end of the world). To wit: “Grupo Gowex (GOW), a Spanish provider of Wi-Fi wireless services, is moving funds to Germany because it expects Spain to exit the euro. German machinery maker GEA Group AG is setting maximum amounts held at any one bank. “I don’t trust Spain will remain in the euro zone,” said Jenaro Garcia, founder and chief executive officer of Madrid- based Grupo Gowex, which provides Wi-Fi access in 15 countries. “We moved our cash and deposits to Germany because Spain will come back to the peseta”… Contingency planning for an unraveling of the currency involves cutting investment, moving money to Germany, transferring headquarters to northern Europe from southern, and even going out of business.” And to all the chatterboxes on CNBC repeating ad inf that a Eurozone collapse would be “manageable” here is a person who actually knows what he is talking about: ““How do you control an explosion in a controlled way?” Fiat SpA (F) Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne told reporters in Brussels on Dec. 2. “That’s a contradiction in terms. This will be an implosion of some size with potentially disastrous consequences.” He is right, and while the outcome is certain

However, over at the NBR we note that Wall St is bouncing up

Stocks on Wall Street finished their second straight week of gains amid the latest plan to resolve the euro zone’s debt crisis.

With the exception of the UK, all 27 countries of the European Union agreed to a pact to run only minimal budget deficits.

They also agreed to cap the European Stability Mechanism at €500 billion and that member nations would provide up to €200 billion in loans to the International Monetary Fund to increase its funding ability.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 186.56 points, or 1.6%, to 12,184.26, undoing most of the previous day’s losses

And Australian politicians are still saying that Oz is the lucky country

Australia’s economy is “growing solidly” and capital expenditure by businesses is forecast to rise 32 percent to a record A$158 billion ($161 billion) this financial year, Treasurer Wayne Swan said yesterday.

“That spending, although a drag on productivity now, will increase our economy’s capacity down the track,” Swan said in his weekly economic note. His office also released for public comment an interim report on the tax treatment of losses, in a move he said could “encourage investment in businesses that are struggling or that are just starting up.”

Australia, the only economy in the Group of 10 to avoid a recession during the global credit crisis, expanded 1 percent in the third quarter, faster than earlier estimated. Still, the country’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate on Dec. 6 for a second straight month, citing Europe’s “much more difficult” financing conditions.

Ah, what to do? At the Christmas party, one of my friends, seeing that the crash is almost coming in the UK, has deliberately spend his savings… bar his pension. ANother said that his NHS pension has lost half its value (because the sterling has lost value in the last fwo years, and he lives in NZ, where the currency is stable).

In the meanwhile, I’m telling myself to hunker down — but still do things for the kids. Many of the toys I want (my hobbies are the outdoors, computing, photography and music, all of which have gear… lovely gear).

It may be that steady as it goes will work. But there are consideable risks. Either wall st is correct, and I have missed the bottom of the market (and the crisis is being resolved) or they are over reacting to honeyed words from the goblins of the EU.

And this is no longer just a financial game. People can, and if Alte is correct, will lose jobs.

We must endure… and ignore.

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Yesterday the son wanted to know why Isreal has so many enemies, I reminded him that the Arab nations are not many, but the Muslim nations are: and Isreael is but one. Block voting, and a hatred of Judaism that Muhammed the false prophet had has led to hatred to this day. Then I looked at the paper this morning and saw this.

Green MP-in-waiting Mojo Mathers has accepted an apology from a Conservative Party member who questioned whether the deaf Ms Mathers should be an MP because she didn’t have all her “faculties”

I don;t care that Moju is deaf. I care that she is a leftist princess who demands apologies from people who are not in parliament when she is. She has just become an MP, but she is already infected with the love of power.

Which brings us to today’s readings.

Revelation 3:7-13

7″And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens:

8″I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but are lying — I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. 10Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. 11I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 12If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. 13Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

Matthew 24:15-27

15″So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), 16then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; 17the one on the housetop must not go down to take what is in the house; 18the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. 19Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! 20Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. 21For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ — do not believe it. 24For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25Take note, I have told you beforehand. 26So, if they say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look! He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man

Let’s start with the easy stuff. The greens preach a false gospel. The earth is continually being polluted, and we must punish and restrict what we do to rescue this. Quite different from being a careful steward, and being faithful. For we are warned to ignore the false preachers, who call us to see some guru in the desert, or conflate this with some goal — from equality to ecological preservation — that is not ours.

For (and this is the hard bit) Philadelphia is the faithful church. Jesus (who is the one who truly holds the keys of the kingdom) notes that they are faithful. They are called to endure. To keep faithful. To keep the commandments.

An example. In this time of 24/7 commerce, it is very hard to do NOTHING. We are pressured to do something, to shop, to work… every day. If you are a doctor or nurse, you are rostered on. But you need to schedule times of rest. Our Jewish and SDA friends can teach us (again) what we have lost: how to keep a sabbath rest.

For the church of Philadelphia was poor, powerless and without any power or influence. By the standard of the world, it had failed. THey had no special status as disabled, not power to enrorce a tolerence of their lifestyle. Instead they were shunned.

And they had to enture.

As do we.